The Limits of Software

Thanks to Jason Bennett, who wrote this review of The Limits of Software. Robert N. Britcher explores in this book what software is and where software is going -- and what it really means.

The Limits of Software author Robert N. Britcher pages 214 publisher Addison Wesley rating 7 reviewer Jason Bennett ISBN 0-201-43323-0 summary Where we've been, where we're going, and the implications therein

Background

Before I launch into my latest review, I'd just like to say thanks to Hemos and Slashdot on the occasion of my twentieth review posted here. It's been 25 months since the first one (August, '98), and I've really appreciated the opportunity they've given me. Nice excuse to do something I should do anyway! :-)

The Scenario

"But it is not the practitioners alone who are so moved. A thousand years in the making, the religion of technology has become the common enchantment, not only of the designers of technology but also those caught up in, and undone by, their godly designs. The expectation of ultimate salvation through technology, whatever the immediate human and social costs, has become the unspoken orthodoxy, reinforced by a market-induced enthusiasm for novelty and sanctioned by a millenarian yearning for new beginnings. This popular faith, subliminally indulged and intensified by corporate, government, and media pitchmen, inspires an awed deference to the practitioners and their promises of deliverance while diverting attention from more urgent concerns. Thus, unrestrained technological development is allowed to proceed apace, without serious scrutiny or oversight -- without reason. Pleas for some rationality, for reflection about pace and purpose, for sober assessment of costs and benefits -- for evidence even of economic value, much less larger social gains -- are dismissed as irrational. From within the faith, any and all criticism appears irrelevant, and irreverent." (TLOS, xxiii)

-- David F. Noble, The Religion of Technology, as quoted in The Limits of Software

I had the privilege of spending a few weeks with a good friend of mine in Eastern Europe back in July. Of course, to go anywhere on a budget in Europe requires a lot of train travel. Alas, there are no bullet trains in Slovenia, which gave me plenty of time to take in some reading when I wasn't chatting with my fellow passengers ...

The Limits of Software is a unique book in many ways, not the least of which is that it reads more like a collection of life stories than a lecturing textbook. Most computer books simply give you data, or even information, in a straightforward manner, hopefully punctuated by some interesting anecdotes. Britcher, instead, has packaged with words slices of time which illustrate various points about where computer programming has been, and where software development is going (note the terminology change). I certainly won't try to describe them all, but theme which runs through the book is illustrated in the opening quotation: software is not our savior. There is no "one great system" that will be able to handle things. The FAA's botched air traffic control system is used as one illustration in the book, but the point is made about all software: we cannot and must not worship it.

There's one point that I find simultaneously funny and sad: It's in the chapter on testing, and the inherent futility of such an activity on complex programs. Britcher discusses the Y2K bug, and mentions the survivalist movement.

"Just as regular folks built bomb shelters in the 1950s and 1960s to add life time to a planet white with nuclear snow, regular folks are now storing large caches of food, water, toilet paper, clothing, and, of course, the American twinship: sacred literature and ammo. One man who agreed to be interviewed for the piece was quoted: 'When you first hear about it, most people are in total denial. They can't believe that Bill Gates won't come up with a magic bullet.' (That the general population believes that Bill Gates has the answers to our programming problems is more frightening than the rollover of the millennium.)" (TLOS, 59)

I quote this not as a shot at Bill (although, this being Slashdot, I'm sure some will take it that way), but to point out the inherent risks in the statement, which illustrate Britcher's point. Software is dangerous, because it does so much yet is so fragile. We (even we programmers at times) view it as a holy grail. We cannot understand how our mechanical saviors could possibly fail us. Yet, software failures are rampant, in every facet of our society (see the Risks Digest if you need examples). Software cannot solve our problems. Our problems are inherent within ourselves. As we continue to rely more and more on machines to live for us, we must remember that they, like their creators, are fallible. What's Bad? / What's Good?

When I finished TLOS, my first reaction was to think of the old saw about the life of a fighter pilot: "hours and hours of sheer boredom, punctuated by moments of sheer terror." Britchner's stories seemed to drone on at points. The FAA story was left to the end. Why did he have to go on and on about all this random stuff?

In retrospect, though, I think I have a better grasp of what Britcher was trying to convey. This is not a disaster movie told in the guise of software engineering; this is a story about one man's journey through software, and the conclusions he's come to. Read this as an technological autobiography, and I think you'll appreciate the points being made. As I said earlier, it's different, but rewarding in the end.

So What's In It For Me?

A reminder that the Tower of Babel still lives in the hearts and minds of men.

You can purchase this book at Fatbrain.

Table of Contents

• Foreware by Robert L. Glass
• Prologue
• Part I
  1. Early Systems
  2. Theories of Programming
  3. The Human Element
  4. Designing
  5. Code: The Stuff of Programs
  6. Testing Computer Systems
  7. The Impossible Profession
  8. Life on the Project
• Part II
  1. Supervision Through Language
  2. How Technology Changes Methods
  3. Size and Intellectual Gravity
  4. The Marketing of Science
  5. Errors
  6. The One Great System
  7. The Government of Programming
  8. The System to End All
  9. The End-All of Programming
• Afterward
• Reading List

Comments

How Ironic

[guinsu]

I find it ironic that the opinion that technology can't solve our problems comes right after a story about Dean Kamen, who thinks technology can solve our problems.

My personal feeling is that it can solve a lot of our problems permanently (hunger, disease, etc) however it won't spontaneously happen, it does require people and their priorities to change too. If a large enough portion of this planet decided tommorow that clean burning engines, safe drinking water and better agriculture were the areas they wanted to focus research on instead of the latest electronics gadget, then eventually we would solve those problems. In a certain way, technology is the answer, but only if society puts effort/money into moving technology ina certain direction.