the.com/precondition
The fine print reality checks before your code even gets to be wrong.
means A requirement that must already be true before an action, process, or agreement is allowed to proceed.
from Straightforward compound: 'pre-' (before) plus 'condition' (a stipulated requirement), both from Latin — 'prae' meaning before, and 'condicio' meaning agreement or stipulation, itself from 'con-' (together) plus 'dicere' (to say). So a precondition is literally a thing 'said together' in advance — the terms agreed before the deal, or the code, can even start.
- origin
- formal logic, borrowed by programmers to sound rigorous
- contract role
- caller's job, not the function's problem
- violation result
- undefined behavior, not a graceful error
- sibling term
- postcondition handles the promise, not the entry fee