Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming?

From	yatremblay@bel1lin202.(none) (Yannick Tremblay)
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c++
Subject	Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming?
Date	2011-09-26 11:04 +0000
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<j5pm7f$ig2$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<4e7aff26$0$283$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> <4e7c6952$0$16755$a729d347@news.telepac.pt> <j5is3m$gud$1@node2.news.atman.pl> <4e7e4339$0$16765$a729d347@news.telepac.pt>

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In article <4e7e4339$0$16765$a729d347@news.telepac.pt>,
Rui Maciel  <rui.maciel@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>Which mailing list are we talking about?  Are you referring to 
>comp.lang.c++?  Because claiming that this newsgroup is "dedicated to 
>engineering", or even insinuating that writing C++ code is engineering, 
>would be an even more glaring mistake.
>
>
>> or
>> maybe you are right that software makers should be responsible
>> for bugs, I've heard of some EU efforts towards such laws, which
>> are meant to protect consumers; they are not meant to result
>> in criminal punishments though.
>
>I haven't made such a claim, nor I believe I will ever do, mainly because it 
>goes against society's best interests to increase the costs associated with 
>developing software.  Society doesn't grind to a halt, nor does it suffer 
>any relevant losses, if a text editor segfaults or if an OS throws a blue 
>screen of death.

This statement is rather confused.  You give two examples of what you
consider software bugs with minor consequences.  However, in the
modern world, the consequences of a bug in software have to potential
to dwarf almost any other traditional engineering discipline mistakes.

Society wouldn't grind to a halt either if a construction project of a
local shopping mall gets delayed because the Civil Engineer didn't do
his computations correctly, a roof collapse and they need to demolish
a large part of the building in order to restart on solid fundations. 

On the other hand, society would pretty much grind to a halt if the
software that is used to compute peoples income tax starts misbehaving
and starts sending a large amount of overdue tax claims all around the
country. 

Society would pretty much grind to a halt if a bug in fly-by-wire or
ILS caused a few aircrafts to crash.

Society could literally grind to a halt if the traffic control system
software of a major city started misbehaving.

So certainly, the difference between engineering and not engineering
can't be based solely on the potential consequences of a mistake.

Yannick

Thread

Is there a term for all tasks around programming? DeMarcus <use_my_alias_here@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-22 11:25 +0200
  Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Fulvio Esposito <esposito.fulvio@gmail.com> - 2011-09-22 02:33 -0700
  Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-22 21:35 +1200
    Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2011-09-22 11:36 +0000
      Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-23 07:43 +1200
  Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2011-09-22 11:17 +0000
    Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? DeMarcus <use_my_alias_here@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-22 14:13 +0200
      Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2011-09-22 12:47 +0000
        Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? yatremblay@bel1lin202.(none) (Yannick Tremblay) - 2011-09-22 13:21 +0000
          Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? DeMarcus <use_my_alias_here@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-22 15:34 +0200
            Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? yatremblay@bel1lin202.(none) (Yannick Tremblay) - 2011-09-23 15:32 +0000
  Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? yatremblay@bel1lin202.(none) (Yannick Tremblay) - 2011-09-22 13:12 +0000
    Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? DeMarcus <use_my_alias_here@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-22 15:45 +0200
      Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2011-09-27 18:59 +0000
  Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? red floyd <no.spam.here@its.invalid> - 2011-09-22 11:51 -0700
    Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-22 12:23 -0700
      Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? DeMarcus <use_my_alias_here@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-23 10:36 +0200
        Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-26 22:39 -0700
    Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-23 11:26 +0100
      Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org> - 2011-09-23 20:30 +0900
        Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-23 14:06 +0100
          Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Victor Bazarov <v.bazarov@comcast.invalid> - 2011-09-23 09:25 -0400
            Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Keith H Duggar <duggar@alum.mit.edu> - 2011-09-23 09:37 -0700
            Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-23 20:43 +0100
              Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? yatremblay@bel1lin202.(none) (Yannick Tremblay) - 2011-09-26 10:34 +0000
          Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org> - 2011-09-24 05:06 +0900
          Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-25 07:39 -0700
      Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2011-09-23 12:09 -0500
        Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-23 19:44 +0100
          Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Martin Shobe <martin.shobe@yahoo.com> - 2011-09-25 19:03 +0000
  Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Keith H Duggar <duggar@alum.mit.edu> - 2011-09-22 12:36 -0700
    Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-23 11:11 +0100
      Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-23 22:56 +1200
        Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-23 12:11 +0100
          Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-24 08:46 +1200
            Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-24 21:55 +0100
          Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Edek <edek.pienkowski@gmail.com> - 2011-09-23 22:59 +0200
            Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-24 21:53 +0100
              Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-25 11:05 +1300
                Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-25 13:00 +0100
                Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Edek <edek.pienkowski@gmail.com> - 2011-09-25 15:43 +0200
                Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-25 07:54 -0700
                Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-26 08:15 +1300
                Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Ebenezer <woodbrian77@gmail.com> - 2011-09-25 21:26 -0700
                Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-26 17:32 +1300
                Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org> - 2011-09-26 17:10 +0900
              Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? yatremblay@bel1lin202.(none) (Yannick Tremblay) - 2011-09-26 11:04 +0000
      Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-25 07:45 -0700
        Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-25 19:28 +0100
          Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2011-09-26 02:03 -0700
            Re: Is there a term for all tasks around programming? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-09-26 12:43 +0100

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