> In software engineering you can test things in something on the order of seconds to minutes. Functions have fixed contracts which can be unit tested. I think

> In software engineering you can test things in something on the order of seconds to minutes. Functions have fixed contracts which can be unit tested. I think this only applies to a certain subset of software engineering, the one that rhymes with "tine of christmas". Implementing bitstream formats is an area I'm very familiar with, and I dance when an issue takes seconds to resolve. Sometimes you need to physically haul a vendor's equipment to the lab. In broadcast we have this thing called "Interops" where tons of software and hardware vendors do just this, but in a more convention-esque style (actually is often done at actual conventions).