Why are invariants important in Computer Science

Posted by Antony Thomas on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Antony Thomas
Published on 2012-09-22T17:55:56Z Indexed on 2012/09/22 21:49 UTC
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programming-languages

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language-agnostic

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great-programmer

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invariants

I understand 'invariant' in its literal sense. I also recognize them when I type code. But I don't think I understand the importance of this term in the context of computer science.

Whenever I read conversations\white papers about language design from famous programmers\computer scientists, the term 'invariant' keeps popping up as a jargon; and that is the part I don't understand. What is so special about it?

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