microcode, compilers, and supercomputer architecture

From: Dwight Elvey <elvey_at_hal.com>
Date: Mon Apr 5 19:17:05 1999

Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com> wrote:
> > In fact, most modern airplanes (especially jet fighters) are fly-by-wire.
>
> But only recently has this been true of commercial aircraft.

Hi
 This reminds me of a story I heard once. It goes something
like this:

There was a lecturer at a conference of embedded software
developers. He asked the crowd, "How many of you would
get on a plane that you knew had the flight code written
by your software team?"

 In the crowd of some 300, one fellow raised his hand.
The lecturer was puzzled, no one had ever answered this
question positively before. He had to know why this man
was so confident. He asked the one with his hand up,
"Why do you think your software writers are so good?"

The fellow answered, "Oh! It isn't that my team is
so good. In fact they are the worst I've ever seen.
It is just that if my team had written the code, the
plane wouldn't taxi let alone take off!"

Take Care
Dwight
Received on Mon Apr 05 1999 - 19:17:05 BST

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