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Programmers and the "Big Picture"?

Posted by Cliff on from the distinguishing-the-forest-from-the-trees dept.

FirmWarez asks: "I'm an embedded systems engineer. I've designed and programmed industrial, medical, consumer, and aerospace gear. I was engineering manager at a contract design house for a while. The recent thread regarding the probable encryption box of the Columbia brought to mind a long standing question. Do Slashdot readers think that the theories used to teach (and learn) programming lead to programmers that tend to approach problems with a 'black box', or 'virtual machine' mentality without considering the entire system? That, in and of itself, would explain a lot of security issues, as well as things as simple as user interface nightmares. Comments?"

"Back working on my undergrad (computer engineering) I remember getting frustrated at the comp-sci profs that insisted machines were simply 'black boxes' and the underlying hardware need not be a concern of the programmer.

Of course in embedded systems that's not the case. When developing code for a medical device, you've got to understand how the hardware responds to a software crash, etc. A number of Slashdot readers dogmatically responded with "security through obscurity" quotes about the shuttle's missing secret box. While that may have some validity, it does not respect the needs of the entire system, in this case the difficulty of maintaining keys and equipment across a huge network of military equipment, personnel, installations."

5 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by twofidyKidd · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know what you're trying to say here man, but no amount of programming or "Fatal Error: Wing no longer attached to craft" terminal prompts would've saved them from what happened.

    If you're trying to make a case for programming paradigm shifts based on security procedures, it isn't working in this context.

    --


    Hades, PoD: Official Advocate
  2. IMHO by Em+Emalb · · Score: 5, Funny

    People tend to focus exclusively on their area of expertise.

    Otherwise they become managers :D

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    Sent from your iPad.
    1. Re:IMHO by hendridm · · Score: 5, Funny

      > Otherwise they become managers :D

      At my last job you were allowed to make 3 major mistakes, then they made you a manager.

  3. Oh like in the grand scheme of things ... by nicodaemos · · Score: 5, Funny

    Okay the "big picture" college profs should be showing you is this one.

  4. The funniest post I've read yet! by K'tohg · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude. I have never laughed so hard! I can only imagine a bad cartoon:

    "Frank!!! I think we have a problem!!!"
    "What?... I'll check the console logs..... Oh No!!"
    "What's wrong?"
    "Theres a 'Fatel Error: Wing no longher attached!' message!!"
    "What do we do Frank?!??"
    "I don't know... um... I'll open up the debugger!"

    Sick man, sick. I am very proud of you. ^_^

    --
    > SELECT * FROM brain_cells WHERE synaptic_rate > 0
    0 row returned