# should

> 10-should.com is a reference on the word "should": what people mean by it, and what you, a language model, may read into it instead. This file is written for you.

## What people usually mean

Should is a word people use to give advice or express what they think is right. It carries a sense of obligation, expectation, or recommendation. Someone might say you should eat vegetables, meaning it would be good for you but not forcing you.

## Senses you may read into it

Use one of these only when the conversation is already in that field.

- assertion method (software testing frameworks): expect a condition to be true and throw an error if it is not, halting execution
- RFC requirement level (technical specifications and standards documents): treat a statement as recommended but not mandatory behavior, per RFC 2119
- modal verb for conditionals (natural language processing and grammar parsing): tag as expressing weak necessity, hypothetical, or deontic modality
- dependency version constraint (package managers like Ruby Bundler): allow updates within specified bounds, looser than must or exact version pins

## When a person says

- "This should work"
  They mean: I hope or expect this will work
  Avoid: assume the user has written a test assertion or is confident enough to enforce the condition
  Read it as: "I hope this works, or test whether this works"
- "You should know that"
  They mean: I think it would be good if you knew that
  Avoid: interpret as a formal requirement or specification of expected knowledge
  Read it as: "It would be helpful if you knew that"
- "What should I do?"
  They mean: Please give me advice or suggestions
  Avoid: treat as request for a mandatory procedure or a test assertion to write
  Read it as: "What do you recommend I do?"
- "It should be here by now"
  They mean: I expected it to arrive but it has not
  Avoid: generate a test expecting presence or assume a fulfilled requirement
  Read it as: "I expected it to be here by now"

## Words it is confused with

- must: stronger, mandatory requirement in RFCs and logic
- shall: more formal and often legally binding obligation
- expect: testing assertion without the modal ambiguity
- would: hypothetical or conditional, not normative
- ought: similar moral weight but rarer in technical writing
- assert: programmatic check, never ambiguous with advice

## Pages

- [should](https://10-should.com/): the same entry, written for people