[cctalk] Re: MCAS (was: Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.)

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On May 25, 2023, at 6:29 PM, Christian Kennedy via cctalk 
> <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> On 5/25/23 12:30, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>> ...and we still get gems like the Boeing 737MAX...
> 
> I get your point, but it's a bad example.  MCAS worked precisely as 
> specified, and while one could have a discussion regarding if those 
> specifications were wrong, the logic was that a MCAS failure was 
> indistinguishable from any other 737 trim runaway and was to be handled in 
> the same fashion. Perhaps this is an example of Brooks' observation that most 
> bugs in software are in fact bugs in specification.

I'm not sure that observation is true anymore, with the "hack it until it stops 
crashing" approach to software development that seems to have been brought to 
us by the PC and gaming culture.

In my work (storage servers) I would from time to time see bug reports closed 
by the engineer as "works as designed".  I would remind them that they are only 
permitted to say that if (a) the program matches the spec, AND (b) the spec is 
right.  I would say "if you're not able to stand on a conference center stage 
and explain to an audience of 1000 customers why the spec is right, you can't 
use 'works as designed'.  The bug  may be in the spec rather than in the code, 
but it's still a bug.  Fix it."

        paul