[465] in Humor
HUMOR: pesky software bugs
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andrew A. Bennett)
Tue Sep 27 09:15:44 1994
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 09:12:53 EDT
From: "Andrew A. Bennett" <abennett@MIT.EDU>
Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "system crash"...
-Drew
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 18:01:44 -0600 (MDT)
From: Espacionaute Spiff domine! <MATOSSIAN%ARIES@VAXF.Colorado.EDU>
...
Forwarded-by: Chris LaFournaise <lafourc@sequent.com>
From a talk given by Professor Nancy Leveson, Dept of Computer
Science and Engineering, University of Washington, on Software
Safety & Reliability (IEEE & ACM Sponsored 4/20/94):
* An F16 pilot was sitting on the runway doing the pre-flight
and wondered if the computer would let him raise the landing
gear while on the ground - it did...
* When initially developing the sidewinder missile pylon
mounting there were a few problems. The software would
release the latch and fire the missile - initially however
the latch was closed shortly thereafter not allowing enough
time for the missile to leave the wing. Imagine the pilots
dismay when there was a bunch of extra thrust attached to
one of the wings!
* The F16 has a sophisticated software system that performs
load balancing to optimize flight performance. This includes
dropping empty fuel tanks in such a way as to balance the
plane. A minor prerequisite to dropping the tanks was
overlooked in the software - it's usually a good idea to be
upright when releasing the tanks. Imagine flying upside
down and having empty fuel tanks come flying off...
* A manufacturer of torpedoes for the Navy wanted to make a
'safe' torpedo. Their initial solution was to cause the
torpedo to self-destruct if it made a 180 degree change in
course. On the test run for this new 'safe' torpedo the
captain fired the torpedo and nothing happened. So the
captain ordered the sub back to base, executing a 180 degree
turn...
