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Debug your Code, or Else!
Trevor Lovett writes "I ran across a collection of famous software bugs that have caused large scale disasters including the explosion of the Ariane 5 rocket due to integer overflow and the misfiring of a US Patriot missile that caused 28 deaths because of accumulated floating point error. "
Remember that time when that kid dialed into NORAD and used that security exploit to get into the Thermo-nuclear war simulator and everyone thought it was real until he and the inventor were able to trick the computer into playing Tic-Tac-Toe? I see a LOT of bugs in the software there but no one ever seems to care about that...
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
2) 2000 - Poorly coded garbage collection causes Word 97 to crash, lose last 2 hours of research paper. Class was in 30 minutes, paper was late. I lost my scholarship.
3) 2002 - IE Crashes while writing AWESOME first post for /., My karma never recovered.
What, me worry?
Lets see I was on 15 out of the 44 projects there. Not bad, eh?
Currently, I'm working on a system to contain virus outbreaks so scientists can study virii within major cities...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I seem to remember PowerBook 3500C was known to catch fire. Not a bug, per se, but it could have killed somebody. I know I almost threw mine out the Window and that could have caused serious damage.
I know a lot of people who threw out Windows when they got their Macs...
Michael-
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
So much for poor Visual Basic Programmers :)
Damn, they never get to do fun stuff like this.
Rapid Nirvana
This one time I missed closing an /a tag on a post, and missed getting a wicked killer First Post.
It hurts when I pee.
I was a consultant at a major bank 3-4 years ago. An FTE made a one line error in a Cobol program for printing bank statements. Everyone in a small town of about 6000 got Their first page of statement and pages 2,3,4 etc. of someone else's statement.
I'm sure we all have those bugs that we catch in bench testing. Mine was forgeting to add a cancel button to the following dialog box:
... well, you read the papers. Glad I caught that one before I released it to test.
"OK to delete database"
When I caught that one I had visions of a user who had his/her million dollar database deleted charging into our office with a shotgun and
Incoming missile sir! What do we do?
<officer> Don't worry, it's one of ours.
<private> But sir, it's still going to HIT us!
This not only sounds like something that belongs in a Dilbert strip, but also the basis for the logic that allows the spreading of all these e-mail viruses.
Ah well you see, that's the problem of becoming overly dependent on paper-based systems for mission-critical applications.
Cheers,
Ian
Pedestrians were also asked not to sway anymore.
A few years ago, I remember reading an article about a US Navy warship that ran WinNT and the system got a BSOD and left the boat crippled for at least a few days...
:)
Can you just imagine the following situation?
Mr. President: Fire the nukes!
NORAD: Firing now, sir....wait...
MS Nuke has caused a general protection fault at address 0x0324324h:8901. The application will now close. Please contact Microsoft Support.
(a few seconds later after the crash)
An annoying popup message comes up:
"Register your userid at Passport.NET!"
I think the situation speaks for itself.
My software always works perfectly on my system. Zero bugs.
I have no idea what the hell the users do to it to screw it up.
When after sitting down for 36 hours straight when I first learned to program in C, I wrote a small, but usefull, payroll program. By the end, during the function that would print out the check, I added "Press any key to continue, any other key to abort". Lucky for me I never released that program.
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All comments are not factual unless stated otherwise.
Thats why I like hiring sales people and 2-year olds to test my code at the unit/integration level
You didn't need to repeat yourself
In the old USSR (Stalin times), there was a standard bridge acceptance test:
1) put project managers, lead architects and engineers under the bridge;
2) put heavy loaded trucks on the bridge.
That was real extreme testing.
Then don't use GPL code you stupid fuck. If you want to take my stuff, you better give me your stuff in return. If you don't want to give me your stuff, you should write the whole thing yourself because you are obviously exteremly l33t, or self-delusional.
The GPL makes software more like your mom. Free and open to all.
You'd better not -- I patented the logic behind those mistakes; if you even think about making the same mistakes, I'll see you in court!
Living better through chemicals
In the early 1990s, before this part of the Eastern U.S. had ten digit dialing, our SCO server would dial out, at 1:00 am, to all the little Pep Boys stores in PA and New Jersey in an attempt to update their inventory tables. Alas, one programmer forgot about the New Jersey area codes, and of course there are some overlapping 7 digit numbers between the two states. Oh, and did I mention that the system was coded to KEEP TRYING every ten minutes minutes until it was successful? Heh, heh...at least it wasn't my phone they were ringing at one am...
What are you saying! The Corilois effect is one of the main causes of huricanes!
Yes, crashing planes and scuds hitting army barracks are funny, but patients losing their lives is not.
Be wary of any facts that confirm your opinion.
It's not a UI bug, just that some people don't surive the mutation:
X-RAY METER:
[Off--Low--Med--High--Glow--Kill--Mutate]
Wrong Starting Estimate of Uranus mass
But I thought Uranus is a hole...
Any hole sufficiently big enough is bound to have some mass in there, somewhere.
"And like that
What do you have against 2-year-olds!? That was simply uncalled for.
qslack.com