Why CSP matters I: Keeping things in sync (2016)

[tosh]

https://www.reaktor.com/blog/why-csp-matters-i-keeping-things-in-sync/

[skybrian]

The FDR4 checker [1] looks pretty slick. I'm not that familiar with the area, though, so I'm wondering how it compares to model checkers? How does using a model checker compare to using a refinement checker? (I've read that there are model checkers for TLA+.)

[1] https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/projects/fdr/

[peteretep → skybrian]

I used FDR4 extensively for a week. It's as much a simple IDE as anything.

[sdenton4]

I wonder if the real solution here is just better UX... The WhatsApp model for message delivery gives visual confirmation when a message is sent, and then more once it's been ACK'ed by the receiver's phone. This manages the uncertainty, instead of trying to solve it. I know that my change to the grocery list isn't 'real' until I've gotten ACKs back from everyone.

[lathiat → sdenton4]

iMessage almost does this if the recipient turns on "Message Receipt" - you get sent to server, and then received by the person.

I fully understand in a privacy conscious scenario wanting to have the option to opt out of the second step.

[amelius]

Differential sync is not a very clean solution, because it doesn't encode the intention of differences.

If one person increments a variable from 10 to 11, and another person sets the variable from 10 to 11 independently, does that mean that the final value should be 11 or 12?

Of course, in practice, you can work around cases like this. It is just not very clean and feels like a hack.

[idle_processor]

Saw "CSP" and immediately thought of constraint satisfaction problems [0].

Unfortunate acronym.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constraint_satisfaction_proble...

[atticusCr → idle_processor]

When I saw "CSP" I thought of Content Security Policy instead https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP

[m0dest → atticusCr]

Me too.

[hinkley → idle_processor]

Tony Hoare coined CSP in '78. I think he might have the precedent for the acronym.

[bugmen0t → hinkley]

That doesn't make it any less confusing in 2017

[avodonosov → bugmen0t]

"CSP" and "sync" in one sentence leave no space for confusion.

[askafriend → idle_processor]

My mind thought "Chase Sapphire Preferred".

Credit Card churning is a weird hobby.