Lesson plan
Edge case
An edge case is a problem or situation that occurs only at an extreme (maximum or minimum) operating parameter. For example, a stereo speaker might noticeably distort the audio when played at maximum volume, even in the absence of any other extreme settings or conditions. An edge case can be expected or unexpected. In engineering, planning for and gracefully addressing edge cases can be a significant task, yet it may be overlooked or underestimated. Some common causes of edge cases are: * Unpredictable user behavior * Evolution of use cases (e.g., user behavior may change over time) * Limited test coverage * Product complexity (for instance, in distributed systems or microservice architectures) * Resource limitations (e.g. limited processing power, computer memory, or computer storage) * Other external causes Some basic examples of edge cases include: * A long username in an app overflows and displays incorrectly * A booking system does not handle reservations correctly on a leap day (February 29) Non-trivial edge cases can cause an engineered object to fail. They may not have been foreseen during the design phase, and they may not have been thought possible during normal use of the object. For this reason, attempts to formalize good engineering standards often include information about edge cases.
Article summary
An edge case is a problem or situation that occurs only at an extreme (maximum or minimum) operating parameter. For example, a stereo speaker might noticeably distort the audio when played at maximum volume, even in the absence of any other extreme settings or conditions. An edge case can be expected or unexpected. In engineering, planning for and gracefully addressing edge cases can be a significant task, yet it may be overlooked or underestimated. Some common causes of edge cases are: * Unpredictable user behavior * Evolution of use cases (e.g., user behavior may change over time) * Limited test coverage * Product complexity (for instance, in distributed systems or microservice architectures) * Resource limitations (e.g. limited processing power, computer memory, or computer storage) * Other external causes Some basic examples of edge cases include: * A long username in an app overflows and displays incorrectly * A booking system does not handle reservations correctly on a leap day (February 29) Non-trivial edge cases can cause an engineered object to fail. They may not have been foreseen during the design phase, and they may not have been thought possible during normal use of the object. For this reason, attempts to formalize good engineering standards often include information about edge cases.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.