4 ms·

I have no evidence, but it seems like as a community people significantly underestimate the challenges of hardware development. I'm not sure whether it's becau

I have no evidence, but it seems like as a community people significantly underestimate the challenges of hardware development. I'm not sure whether it's because the community thinks "Oh, hardware is so much easier than software! This will be a snap!" or if it is the more subtle "We haven't done this before, so we aren't aware of the pitfalls"

greenyoda 12y ago
"Oh, hardware is so much easier than software!" I'm not sure how people could think this. Hardware is a much less forgiving medium than software: - If your web application requires three times the resources you thought it would, you can easily add more servers. But a device that needs to fit in a USB key has hard limitations on size, memory, power dissipation, etc. You can't ask people to carry around a briefcase-sized device (or even another phone-sized device) to hold their passwords. - If your web application has a horrible bug, you can wake up your developers and have them fix it at 3:00 AM. If you find a bug in your embedded software after you ship, it can only be fixed by getting all your users to upgrade their software (assuming your embedded software is in flash memory, not in ROM). If you find a bug in your hardware after you ship, you need to send everyone a new device.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  I'm not sure how people could think this. People like to think that their discipline is the hardest discipline- that means they are smart just by association. Also, if you are a software guy you might never have even heard of key steps like DFM, DFT, etc, which makes it easier to say "hardware seems so easy"
mbesto 12y ago
Planning fallacy is planning fallacy. Perhaps it's more exaggerated in hardware, but doesn't negate the fact that it will always exist and planning is hard.
morgante 12y ago
> Oh, hardware is so much easier than software! This will be a snap! I've literally never heard anything say or think that. Myself included, nearly every software developer I know is intimidated by how hard hardware seems.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  I used to hear it frequently when I rubbed elbows with more software guys. Maybe not in exactly those words, but you can tell, when a software guy budgets 1 month to design the hardware and 11 months to "do the majority of the work" (aka write the software)
  - PhantomGremlin 12y ago
    This works both ways, both equally wrong. E.g. at one company the engineering VP was a quintessential hardware guy. He understood hardware complexity; he knew little about software. He never could understand that software could also be hard to do. I didn't mind, I was a hardware guy. But the software people were definitely sucking hind tit.
- Balgair 12y ago
  Whew! it's not just me then! I've been picking at a bluetooth/arduino 9 degree of freedom accelerometer for about 6 months now. It's terribly difficult to deal with. All the wires, the voltages, the heat and power, the damn bluetooth, letting all the magic smoke out, etc. All the physical details that aren't 'documented' like with a language or other programming project, mostly because...physics ...isn't well documented. I love, it don't get em wrong, but yes, hardware/software interfacing is like pulling teeth. I think the main issue is that you don't even know what to ask Google, let alone anyone else. It's hard just to formulate the right questions, let alone get answers.
  - sliverstorm 12y ago
    Maybe it's just because we approach it from different sides of the fence, but I always found accelerometers very easy to use in hardware but impossible to use in software! I'm not good enough at DSP to isolate the signal from the noise.
seanflyon 12y ago
> "Oh, hardware is so much easier than software! This will be a snap!" I think "Hardware won't be THAT much harder" is more like it

greenyoda 12y ago

"Oh, hardware is so much easier than software!" I'm not sure how people could think this. Hardware is a much less forgiving medium than software: - If your web application requires three times the resources you thought it would, you can easily add more servers. But a device that needs to fit in a USB key has hard limitations on size, memory, power dissipation, etc. You can't ask people to carry around a briefcase-sized device (or even another phone-sized device) to hold their passwords. - If your web application has a horrible bug, you can wake up your developers and have them fix it at 3:00 AM. If you find a bug in your embedded software after you ship, it can only be fixed by getting all your users to upgrade their software (assuming your embedded software is in flash memory, not in ROM). If you find a bug in your hardware after you ship, you need to send everyone a new device.

sliverstorm 12y ago
I'm not sure how people could think this. People like to think that their discipline is the hardest discipline- that means they are smart just by association. Also, if you are a software guy you might never have even heard of key steps like DFM, DFT, etc, which makes it easier to say "hardware seems so easy"

mbesto 12y ago

Planning fallacy is planning fallacy. Perhaps it's more exaggerated in hardware, but doesn't negate the fact that it will always exist and planning is hard.

morgante 12y ago

> Oh, hardware is so much easier than software! This will be a snap! I've literally never heard anything say or think that. Myself included, nearly every software developer I know is intimidated by how hard hardware seems.

sliverstorm 12y ago
I used to hear it frequently when I rubbed elbows with more software guys. Maybe not in exactly those words, but you can tell, when a software guy budgets 1 month to design the hardware and 11 months to "do the majority of the work" (aka write the software)
- PhantomGremlin 12y ago
  This works both ways, both equally wrong. E.g. at one company the engineering VP was a quintessential hardware guy. He understood hardware complexity; he knew little about software. He never could understand that software could also be hard to do. I didn't mind, I was a hardware guy. But the software people were definitely sucking hind tit.
Balgair 12y ago
Whew! it's not just me then! I've been picking at a bluetooth/arduino 9 degree of freedom accelerometer for about 6 months now. It's terribly difficult to deal with. All the wires, the voltages, the heat and power, the damn bluetooth, letting all the magic smoke out, etc. All the physical details that aren't 'documented' like with a language or other programming project, mostly because...physics ...isn't well documented. I love, it don't get em wrong, but yes, hardware/software interfacing is like pulling teeth. I think the main issue is that you don't even know what to ask Google, let alone anyone else. It's hard just to formulate the right questions, let alone get answers.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  Maybe it's just because we approach it from different sides of the fence, but I always found accelerometers very easy to use in hardware but impossible to use in software! I'm not good enough at DSP to isolate the signal from the noise.

seanflyon 12y ago

> "Oh, hardware is so much easier than software! This will be a snap!" I think "Hardware won't be THAT much harder" is more like it