Comments on: Liability or reality? http://softwareengineeringblog.com/http:/softwareengineeringblog.com/software_engineering/liability-or-reality/52 Software - Art Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:23:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Se Blog http://softwareengineeringblog.com/http:/softwareengineeringblog.com/software_engineering/liability-or-reality/52/comment-page-1#comment-80 Se Blog Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:54:31 +0000 http://softwareengineeringblog.com/?p=52#comment-80 Good and Interest information thx Good and Interest information thx

]]> By: Aardvark Engineering http://softwareengineeringblog.com/http:/softwareengineeringblog.com/software_engineering/liability-or-reality/52/comment-page-1#comment-79 Aardvark Engineering Fri, 28 May 2010 10:48:13 +0000 http://softwareengineeringblog.com/?p=52#comment-79 Systems are built by humans so by there very nature are flawed until they have been used, proven, tested and evolved such that the process produces the same predictable results every time. Things get worse when systems run on other systems made by humans such as software running on hardware, as the problems get compounded. Emotion though is always the breaking point when using and testing systems that don't perform as we expect. Instead we need to remain clear headed and objective, but then we wouldn't be human..... Systems are built by humans so by there very nature are flawed until they have been used, proven, tested and evolved such that the process produces the same predictable results every time.

Things get worse when systems run on other systems made by humans such as software running on hardware, as the problems get compounded.

Emotion though is always the breaking point when using and testing systems that don’t perform as we expect. Instead we need to remain clear headed and objective, but then we wouldn’t be human…..

]]> By: Sumeet Grover http://softwareengineeringblog.com/http:/softwareengineeringblog.com/software_engineering/liability-or-reality/52/comment-page-1#comment-75 Sumeet Grover Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:56:18 +0000 http://softwareengineeringblog.com/?p=52#comment-75 You are right, we can't make error free programs. It is not an excuse for lazy coding, but even software testing is based on the premise that we can show the presence, not absense of errors. We can use mathematical notations like 'Z' to search the execution space of an algorithm and rule out errors, but as you rightly pointed out, software programs don't execute in isolation. There are different factors and parameters, like OS, Compiler, binary code, main memory etc that affect what it does. Linux is flawless when we compare it to windows, but I remember having brought it to a halt on a University network when I forgot to de-allocate memory after an accidental while loop was allocating it again and again. Learning - Yes, Linux itself is still flawless but other factors e.g. poorly written code and screw it up. Food for thought! Cheers. You are right, we can’t make error free programs. It is not an excuse for lazy coding, but even software testing is based on the premise that we can show the presence, not absense of errors.

We can use mathematical notations like ‘Z’ to search the execution space of an algorithm and rule out errors, but as you rightly pointed out, software programs don’t execute in isolation.

There are different factors and parameters, like OS, Compiler, binary code, main memory etc that affect what it does.

Linux is flawless when we compare it to windows, but I remember having brought it to a halt on a University network when I forgot to de-allocate memory after an accidental while loop was allocating it again and again. Learning – Yes, Linux itself is still flawless but other factors e.g. poorly written code and screw it up.

Food for thought!

Cheers.

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