Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!weretis.net!feeder4.news.weretis.net!usenet.ukfsn.org!not-for-mail From: Martin Gregorie Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer Subject: Re: Space probes was Re: in praise of type checking Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:03:16 +0000 (UTC) Organization: UK Free Software Network Lines: 33 Message-ID: References: <7sudncbWtOTsrQjTnZ2dnUVZ876dnZ2d@telenor.com> <9LqdnfdVAsdGkQvTnZ2dnUVZ876dnZ2d@telenor.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 84.45.235.129 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: localhost.localdomain 1318456996 6183 84.45.235.129 (12 Oct 2011 22:03:16 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@localhost.localdomain NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:03:16 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: Pan/0.135 (Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea; GIT 30dc37b master) Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.java.programmer:8742 On Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:55:39 -0500, Leif Roar Moldskred wrote: > Gene Wirchenko wrote: >> >> AIUI, it had to do with a type conversion that lost precision. >> Either the exception was not thrown or was not handled. (My sources >> did not go into that detail.) > > Yes ... but not really. The error manifested as an arithmetic overflow > exception in the hardware, but that is an immaterial detail. The > _actual_ problem didn't have anything to do with exception handling or > even with programming errors. > > What had happened was that that they took a piece of code that had been > written for the Ariane 4 rocket -- and which was correct and without > defects -- and put it onto the much larger and more powerful Ariane 5 > rocket without considering if the code was fit for its new purpose and > without testing the way the code interacted with the rest of the system. > > It was the wrong code, but there was nothing wrong _with_ the code: like > a traffic cop trying to measure the speed of a passing car with a hair > dryer -- there's nothing wrong _with_ the hair dryer, but the hair dryer > is clearly the wrong choice. The full report, which makes interesting reading, is here: http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/esa-x-1819eng.pdf -- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org |