Illegal vs Unwanted States

Legal invariants define which states a system must never reach, while 'unwanted' states are legal but undesirable outcomes. The post argues that distinguishing these helps design safer domains, better error handling, and clearer API boundaries. By treating 'illegal' states as guarantees to fail fast, developers can enforce correctness without overconstraining legitimate behavior.

Source

Lobsters

Ingested

APR 28, 2026 · 09:54

Editorial score

3.0 / 5