How good is this: tip 5 for anyone purporting to be “maintaining safety-critical software”?
Question:
Constantly develop and extend your test infrastructure, not the application software. It is not the application software that needs to grow, it is the confidence in it.
Answer:
Not good at all, in my opinion. Here's an example of the way I see it:
I've built a complex program to control a failsafe mechanism on an assembly line that stops an automated welding torch from operating if it detects a human within a certain radius of the machine. This program needs to control the machine's emergency stop controls, as well as the machine's sensors, in order to "see" the endangered worker.
My boss comes in one day and says that he is going to move my well-protected machine to another part of the plant, one with more human traffic. The sensors now need to detect more than one human in proximity, as well as allowing the humans to get closer without putting them in danger.
The program is still controlling the same machine with the same sensors, but the environment has changed. I can test all I want with the current system, but at best the machine will shut itself down due to the workers' proximity, and at worst someone will get seriously hurt. The software has to be changed to meet the new requirements.
Software without the capability to be changed and improved is of limited usefulness, unless the environment and input/output never change (a rare thing in any profession, much less computing).
i would like to learn greek :-)
B+
I sense you have an agenda with this series of "tips"
are you frustrated by poor quality where you work?
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