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The main problem with software 'engineering' is the fragility of software. In a structure you know there will be cracks, so you choose a material that is ductil
by kjhgfvgbjnm 17y ago
The main problem with software 'engineering' is the fragility of software. In a structure you know there will be cracks, so you choose a material that is ductile enough that a crack can't grow to dangerous size in the lifetime of the component. The problem with software is that generally a single bit wrong is a total failure.
I was involved in a case with a turbine blade fracture. The user claimed that there must have been a flaw, and yes the crack must have started at a single atom sized crystal flaw in the meta. But the choice of alloy was such that the crack would have grown at a rate which means it was under the failure size for at least twice the inspection interval - where the customer missed it.
- khafra 17y agoPerhaps the problem with software is that, after the original QA process, there's seldom a regular inspection except adversarially.
- abstractbill 17y agoThe problem with software is that generally a single bit wrong is a total failure. This doesn't mesh with my experience to be honest. I often come across code that contains nasty bugs but is still somehow working accidentally. And even more often, there are bugs that stop just one feature from working while the rest of a large system pretty much acts as if the bug didn't exist.