Postcondition

Postcondition, in computer science, is a logical state that must be true for a given condition to be true. It is the opposite of precondition, which is a logical state that must be true in order for the postcondition to be true. Postcondition is used when designing computer algorithms, software applications, and databases.

In computer algorithms, the postcondition defines the final state of the algorithm after it has been executed. Essentially, it states what outputs the algorithm should have in order to be considered successful. For example, a postcondition for an algorithm to search and sort data would be that the data must be in its desired order after the algorithm completes.

In application design, postconditions are used to define a program’s behavior after a certain action is taken. For example, an application should save all user changes to an application after a user clicks ‘Save’. If a user saves a document, then the postconditions of the document saving action would include having the document successfully saved in the intended place.

In database design, postconditions are used to define the final state of a data set after a query has been executed. For example, after a query to retrieve data from a certain table has been executed, the postcondition would be that all requested data is in its expected form.

Postcondition is an important concept in computer science as it helps to ensure that computer algorithms, applications, and databases remain in their intended states and perform as expected. Additionally, it makes algorithms, applications, and databases easier to design and debug by providing a precise description of their expected outcomes.