Postel's law en · PROPN
Etymology
Named after Internet pioneer Jon Postel (1943–1998).
Meanings
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The design principle that software should be conservative as to its own behaviour (i.e. strictly compliant with specifications) but liberal in the behaviour it tolerates from other systems.
Contravariance is consistent with Postel's Law: “Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send.”
2005, Jesse Liberty, Visual C# 2005: A Developer's Notebook, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 47:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postel's Law | alternative | lexicographic |