|
Their understanding of 'monkeys dying' is different than my understanding of 'monkeys dying.'
|
|
|
|
|
In the early 1960s, Margaret Hamilton began her career as a pioneering programmer and systems designer. "No software bug was ever found on any manned space flight Apollo mission."
|
|
|
|
|
Despite several well-publicized software bugs (the Mars English/metric thing comes to mind), NASA's software development methodology which Ms. Hamilton created and others have expanded upon is awe-inspiring.
Development practices during the Shuttle program were extraordinary, according to an article I read. Most of the code was in 'C' as I recall. There was a rule book that listed both mandated and prohibited practices. Validity checking on all arguments. Single exit on all functions. Argument lists had to be short. No multiple levels of pointer indirection. Certain library functions were prohibited. Automated testing tools were used a lot, and 100% test passage was required. Every line of code went through review. According to a member of the team, it meant that development was slow. It could take weeks to get a change of a couple hundred lines through the gauntlet.
Software Zen: delete this;
|
|
|
|
|
Gary Wheeler wrote: No multiple levels of pointer indirection. Well that takes all the fun out of it!
|
|
|
|
|
If you’re one of the 4.5 million software developers in the United States, chances are that much of your experience — to use a technical term — sucks. "The cobbler's children have no shoes"
|
|
|
|
|
Tool chains make our experience suck? I honestly wish it that was the reason my experience sucks. I
I would say that 99.9% of my suckage is evenly distributed between over-the-top security crap, and micro-managing managers. Most of our tool chain tools are environment and product-specific, which means we have to write a lot of them them on our own.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010 ----- You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010 ----- When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
modified 22-Mar-22 5:59am.
|
|
|
|
|
The fact that your toolchain sucks isn't going to go away unless you single-source everything in it, and make sure that the source you go to makes things cooperate efficiently and intelligently. Now that you're all either laughing hysterically or wondering what I'm smoking and why I didn't bring enough to share, let me tell you how we deal with the problem.
Our toolchain includes the following:
Visual Studio 2008, 2015, and 2019
Visual SourceSafe
Greenhills C compiler (embedded stuff)
Inno Setup (installer authoring)
Madcap Flare (help authoring)
Visual Studio and SourceSafe are the only two tools common to the entire team. The others are the province of single team members who do all of the development using those tools. This results in the benefits of single-sourcing the tool chain as far as the tools go, without doing so from the entire team's perspective.
The more important factor is our automation. Our philosophy is to automate any and every process that has multiple steps or for which the error consequences are significant. The automation ranges from a few simple batch files to a Windows service implemented in C# that builds our products. You can request a build from the service with a couple clicks. It extracts source from SourceSafe, compiles, builds installers and constructs install media, publishes installs to network shares, builds an ISO file for archiving the build, and emails the build results to interested parties.
If this leads you to think we must be a big group, you're wrong. Over the last several years we shrank from 15 down to 4, and we're now back up to 6 engineers. Our automation makes us more efficient since we're not nearly as worried about the process, and far more about our problem domain.
Software Zen: delete this;
|
|
|
|
|
An NFT collector says he lost his net worth "in a single click" by accidentally selling an NFT for a fraction of a cent The line for passing on your condolences begins after the laughing man over there
I'd say it's not even worth $0.0012, but that's because I just don't understand...
|
|
|
|
|
Yet another crypto story in two parts:
1) Dunning-Krugerrands.
2) Money with wings.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
|
|
|
|
|
I am so stealing "Dunning-Krugerrands". Thank you so much.
TTFN - Kent
|
|
|
|
|
You're welcome. I can't remember where I stole it from originally.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
|
|
|
|
|
IBM and its Red Hat subsidiary are working with Microsoft to port the .NET Framework to Power "The people have the power. All we have to do is awaken the power in the people."
|
|
|
|
|
When code with millions of downloads nukes user files, bad things can happen. World War III will be fought with JavaScript?
|
|
|
|
|
Anyone who uses downloaded packages without verifying that
A) they work as advertised
B) there are no security issues
C) recurse into all their dependencies to do A and B
deserve what they get. Unfortunately those who don't do the above also impact everyone else.
|
|
|
|
|
FIDO Alliance says it’s found the missing piece on the path to a password-free future. Everyone promises not to look at anyone else's stuff
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: says Andrew Shikiar, "...Not using a password should be easier than using a password.” He's already succeeded! It is easier that way! (But the consequences may be a bit bothersome.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stupid world we live in now, with stupid kiddies coding for our appliances making them question what they identify as.
I was disgusted that my new "smart" samsung uwave can't auto adjust to dst.
I guess I should count my blessings.
|
|
|
|
|
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed a lower court decision concluding what we’ve always known: that it’s false advertising to claim that software is “open source” when it’s not licensed under an open source license. "Open" doesn't qualify
|
|
|
|
|
Wait, found it! It was hiding in barely legible (but legal) fine print...
!Open source
|
|
|
|
|
The really interesting point is that the AGPL allows removing the Common Cause Clause that made it non FOSS; but the court said the company wasn't allowed to remove it (and that's what they got dinged for). OSI's next - not yet published - article will be addressing that point. Definitely a case of watch this space.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
modified 18-Mar-22 10:16am.
|
|
|
|
|
That was my thought as well. I'd like to see the reasoning the court made this claim/decision.
|
|
|
|
|
|
us all! We're doomed!
(Well, not really, but it sure seems like it sometimes. )
|
|
|
|
|
You want SkyNet? Because that's how you get SkyNet.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
|
|
|
|