Comment by jsight
1 year ago
I feel like that outcome is inevitable. All implementations have bugs, and developers implement for reality rather than for a spec. Inevitably it leads to drift and the need to retain things that weren't right to begin with.
See also, the referer header. :)
> I feel like that outcome is inevitable. All implementations have bugs, and developers implement for reality rather than for a spec.
It depends. If the spec is clear then developers will generally implement the spec. If the spec is a mess then it becomes easier to just do what works on the popular implementations. Things like spec conformance suites, or even just writing up the spec well, can move the needle.