Chapter 1. The essential software requirement

“Hello, Phil? This is Maria in Human Resources. We’re having a problem with the personnel system you programmed for us. An employee just changed her name to Sparkle Starlight, and we can’t get the system to accept the name change. Can you help?”

“She married some guy named Starlight?”

“No, she didn’t get married, just changed her name,” Maria replied. “That’s the problem. It looks like we can change a name only if someone’s marital status changes.”

“Well, yeah, I never thought someone might just change her name. I don’t remember you telling me about this possibility when we talked about the system,” Phil said.

“I assumed you knew that people could legally change their name anytime they like,” responded ...

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