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Re: The Airplane Example (was Re: Streaming XML)

• To: XML Developers List <xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: Re: The Airplane Example (was Re: Streaming XML)
• From: Benjamin Franz <snowhare@n...>
• Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 07:03:25 -0800 (PST)
• In-reply-to: <f8da4eba04123103398afae33@m...>
• References: <830178CE7378FC40BC6F1DDADCFDD1D10276723C@R...> <30291DBF-590E-11D9-A33A-000393DC762C@m...> <1104439040.16585.131.camel@borgia> <75cb920c041230133376fee8f5@m...> <1104490589.3960.6.camel@marge><f8da4eba04123103398afae33@m...>

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004, M. David Peterson wrote:

> That and your not going to die if something goes wrong with each
> built-in safety-switch in your test code... Its hard for me to think
> of the implications of failed code compared to implications of a
> failed flight.  Please don't take offense by this as I understand what
> it is you are suggesting but still have a hard time comparing a
> computer crash to a plane crash.

You should subscribe to the Risks Digest. More that a couple of deaths are 
attributable to broken software.

People treat software like it isn't real. Software machines are just as 
real as hardware machines - and often control hardware machines. If 
you are killed by a radiation therapy machine because of broken software - 
you are just as dead as if the cause was broken hardware.
<URL:http://www.ccnr.org/fatal_dose.html>

And yes - commercial planes _HAVE_ crashed where one of the proximate 
causes was broken software (accidents are rarely 'one thing' - they are 
usually two or more things in unusual combination): Put American Airlines 
Flight 965 into a search engine.

I'm of the opinion that software is where engineering was about a century 
ago: In demand, unregulated, and open to anyone who wants to call 
themselves a 'programmer', regardless of skill or training. Disasters 
directly traceable to poor 'engineering' by people with neither skill or 
training killed a number of people and laws were passed restricting who 
can legally call themselves an 'engineer'.

By the end of this century, I will be amazed if you will still be able to 
call yourself a 'software engineer/progammer' without a legally mandated 
certification, license and professional standards.

-- 
Benjamin Franz

"All right, where is the answer? The battle of wits has begun.
It ends when you click and we both serve pages - and find out who is right,
and who is slashdotted." - David Brandt

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: The Airplane Example (was Re: Streaming XML)
    • From: Bill de hÓra <bill.dehora@p...>
  • Re: The Airplane Example (was Re: Streaming XML)
    • From: Michael Champion <michaelc.champion@g...>
  • Re: The Airplane Example (was Re: Streaming XML)
    • From: "M. David Peterson" <m.david.x2x2x@g...>

• References:
  • RE: Streaming XML (WAS: More on taming SAX (was Re: ANN: Amara XML Toolkit 0.9.0))
    • From: "Dare Obasanjo" <dareo@m...>
  • Re: Streaming XML (WAS: More on taming SAX (was Re: ANN: Amara XML Toolkit 0.9.0))
    • From: Daniela Florescu <dflorescu@m...>
  • Re: Streaming XML (WAS: More on taming SAX (was Re: ANN: Amara XML Toolkit 0.9.0))
    • From: Uche Ogbuji <Uche.Ogbuji@f...>
  • The Airplane Example (was Re: Streaming XML)
    • From: David Megginson <david.megginson@g...>
  • Re: The Airplane Example (was Re: StreamingXML)
    • From: Dave Pawson <davep@d...>
  • Re: The Airplane Example (was Re: Streaming XML)
    • From: "M. David Peterson" <m.david.x2x2x@g...>

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