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Comparing the production line for F1 with your average software shop is an unfair comparison. If you are ready to pay the same amount of money - you can get th

Comparing the production line for F1 with your average software shop is an unfair comparison. If you are ready to pay the same amount of money - you can get the same level of quality in software too. The problem is most people do not even think software should cost anything.

pmelendez 11y ago
Not only that... I don't think they will "refactor" the engine in the middle of the production, or include new features in the transmission before a deadline.
- VLM 11y ago
  The boss saw an article in "racing weekly" about using square wheels and our salesman told him you'll have it done by tomorrow.
walshemj 11y ago
Its not f1 its small batch production of sports cars - f1 you effectively build a pair of new cars for each race/test.
efaref 11y ago
Exactly. We know how to build reliable (nearly) bug-free software. The problem is, for most things, it's too expensive. What we have is good enough.
- catnaroek 11y ago
  > We know how to build reliable (nearly) bug-free software. Do we? Let's say, starting tomorrow, you have to write rocket-guiding software. If your program has bugs, you will be summarily executed. What are the odds that you will survive the process? I wouldn't estimate mine at anything significantly above zero.
  - dllthomas 11y ago
    How long can I take?
    - catnaroek 11y ago
      I have no idea how much time this would take in the real world. Pulling a number totally out of my ass, let's say five years. You may not use subcontractors to develop the software.
      - dllthomas 11y ago
        Well, then I'm pretty confident I could survive at least five years... :P
        catnaroek 11y ago
        Which I guess is enough time to buy life insurance. At least your family won't have money problems. :-)
        dllthomas 11y ago
        To be honest, for commensurate reward, I'd probably be sufficiently confident that I could get something done bug-free in 5 years if it was something that I felt could hack out bug-full in a week. Much of that time would go toward task-specific verification-related tooling...

pmelendez 11y ago

Not only that... I don't think they will "refactor" the engine in the middle of the production, or include new features in the transmission before a deadline.

VLM 11y ago
The boss saw an article in "racing weekly" about using square wheels and our salesman told him you'll have it done by tomorrow.

walshemj 11y ago

Its not f1 its small batch production of sports cars - f1 you effectively build a pair of new cars for each race/test.

efaref 11y ago

Exactly. We know how to build reliable (nearly) bug-free software. The problem is, for most things, it's too expensive. What we have is good enough.

catnaroek 11y ago
> We know how to build reliable (nearly) bug-free software. Do we? Let's say, starting tomorrow, you have to write rocket-guiding software. If your program has bugs, you will be summarily executed. What are the odds that you will survive the process? I wouldn't estimate mine at anything significantly above zero.
- dllthomas 11y ago
  How long can I take?
  - catnaroek 11y ago
    I have no idea how much time this would take in the real world. Pulling a number totally out of my ass, let's say five years. You may not use subcontractors to develop the software.
    - dllthomas 11y ago
      Well, then I'm pretty confident I could survive at least five years... :P
      - catnaroek 11y ago
        Which I guess is enough time to buy life insurance. At least your family won't have money problems. :-)
        dllthomas 11y ago
        To be honest, for commensurate reward, I'd probably be sufficiently confident that I could get something done bug-free in 5 years if it was something that I felt could hack out bug-full in a week. Much of that time would go toward task-specific verification-related tooling...