Therac-25 (was: microcode, compilers, and supercomputer architecture)

From: Max Eskin <max82_at_surfree.com>
Date: Wed Apr 7 21:32:23 1999

On Wed, 7 Apr 1999, Bill Yakowenko wrote:

>That's the same URL that I have bookmarked. I very strongly recommend
>that every programmer read through it, at least once. It is long, but
>enlightening. Correctness is a lot more than "seems to work".

I just read this, I found it quite upsetting. If there were any one person
who could be blamed for this, I would say stick 'em under the electron
gun and blast them with all it's got.

Honestly, I think that this thing didn't "seem to work". This software was
clearly designed and implemented very poorly. What kind of professional
delivers a finished product that leaves garbage on the screen? Last I
checked, Microsoft did not make linear accelerators...

 --Max Eskin (max82_at_surfree.com)
Received on Wed Apr 07 1999 - 21:32:23 BST