Bugs and Loopholes (Re: The State of Python)

[Kirby Urner]

Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote:

>I figure much of the design of laws (the structure part, anyway) could best
>be done by people with training in the latest software design and coding
>techniques than by people who, I assume, are using a design methodology and
>"coding style" which is probably over 100 years old!

Lots of insurance policies are today written using software
like Mosaic or Calligo, document assemblers driven by the 
data stored in some SQL database.  Legal boilerplate is 
stored in snippets, and assembled using IF ELSE ENDIF style 
statements (and others) -- a derivative of Xbase in the 
case of the products mentioned.  

The result is an insurance policy and contract written in 
legalese, but customized to fit the specs hammered out in 
a sales session with the client.

Kirby
ex Document Specialist