> What if the computer suddenly ceases to function either in the > car or within the system? And don't tell me that cannot happen.
In a VMware conference keynote address, a Stanford CS prof said something very interesting about the software/computer engineering field. He said in all other engineering disciplines, they'd say "okay, these conditions are sufficient for the requirements, so let's double it just to be on the safe side." This is true of things like airliners, bridges, etc. They would withstand a lot more "punishment" than advertised. But in the software industry, it is customary to have "if <condition> then" statements in fairly critical parts of the program and the <condition> can be quite complex and convoluted logic. And, that's the only check. I know that I'm not doing justice to his talk by my paraphrasing job here, but his argument was that the software/computer engineering has a long way to go to produce reliable products. So, a computer controlled car would have to have _reliable_ software, independently redundant systems, etc. ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
