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Groups > comp.lang.forth > #15684 > unrolled thread

Olympic Spririt for Forth

Started by"Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk>
First post2012-09-15 22:28 +0100
Last post2012-10-15 18:00 -0400
Articles 20 on this page of 143 — 26 participants

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  Olympic Spririt for Forth "Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk> - 2012-09-15 22:28 +0100
    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-09-18 02:08 -0700
      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2012-09-18 11:58 +0000
        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-09-18 05:55 -0700
          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2012-09-19 12:50 +0000
          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-10-06 01:40 -0700
            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "A. K." <akk@nospam.org> - 2012-10-06 11:18 +0200
      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Spam@ControlQ.com - 2012-09-18 11:13 -0400
      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Hugh Aguilar <hughaguilar96@yahoo.com> - 2012-09-19 15:56 -0700
      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-09-29 00:56 -0700
        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-09-30 12:31 -0400
          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-09-30 11:53 -0700
            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-09-30 17:38 -0400
            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-10-02 04:16 -0700
              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-02 10:52 -0700
                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-02 20:20 +0200
                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Spam@ControlQ.com - 2012-10-02 15:58 -0400
                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-02 13:31 -0700
                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-03 02:59 +0200
                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-02 19:08 -0700
                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-03 15:50 +0200
                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2012-10-03 14:04 +0000
                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-03 10:29 -0700
                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2012-10-04 16:07 +0000
                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-03 20:27 +0200
                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2012-10-04 16:11 +0000
                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-04 20:12 +0200
                                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2012-10-05 13:08 +0000
                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-05 17:48 +0200
                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Pablo Hugo Reda <pabloreda@gmail.com> - 2012-10-03 07:39 -0700
                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-03 20:24 +0200
                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Hugh Aguilar <hughaguilar96@yahoo.com> - 2012-10-03 18:13 -0700
                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-03 12:05 -0700
                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-03 22:20 +0200
                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-04 12:41 -0700
                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-04 22:40 +0200
                                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-04 18:11 -0700
                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2012-10-04 15:26 -1000
                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-04 18:54 -0700
                                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "A. K." <akk@nospam.org> - 2012-10-05 08:19 +0200
                                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2012-10-04 22:18 -1000
                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Gerry Jackson <gerry@jackson9000.fsnet.co.uk> - 2012-10-05 08:20 +0100
                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2012-10-05 11:08 +0000
                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-07 08:32 -0700
                                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-07 21:39 +0200
                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-07 21:03 -0700
                                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-08 19:09 +0200
                                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-08 21:57 -0700
                                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-10-09 01:10 -0700
                                                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-09 14:12 -0400
                                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk> - 2012-10-10 09:29 +0100
                                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-10 21:13 -0400
                                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-10-10 02:02 -0700
                                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-10 21:23 -0400
                                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-10 18:24 -0700
                                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2012-10-11 17:21 +0000
                                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <markrobertwills@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-10-11 12:33 -0700
                                                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-10-11 13:42 -0700
                                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-11 18:59 -0400
                                                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2012-10-11 13:49 -1000
                                                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-12 03:27 +0200
                                                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-12 19:18 -0700
                                                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Elizabeth D Rather <erather@forth.com> - 2012-10-12 18:53 -1000
                                                                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-12 22:55 -0700
                                                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-13 22:07 +0200
                                                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-13 00:56 -0400
                                                                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Doug Hoffman <glidedog@gmail.com> - 2012-10-13 18:41 -0400
                                                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-13 16:05 -0700
                                                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-14 02:57 +0200
                                                                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-14 00:26 -0700
                                                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-14 19:28 +0200
                                                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth kenney@cix.compulink.co.uk - 2012-10-15 04:21 -0500
                                                                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <markrobertwills@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-10-14 03:17 -0700
                                                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Alex McDonald <blog@rivadpm.com> - 2012-10-14 15:43 -0700
                                                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-14 21:18 -0400
                                                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth kenney@cix.compulink.co.uk - 2012-10-15 04:21 -0500
                                                                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2012-10-15 10:03 +0000
                                                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2012-10-15 04:04 -0700
                                                                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk> - 2012-10-15 21:34 +0100
                                                                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-15 17:51 -0400
                                                                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-10-16 01:09 -0700
                                                                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2012-10-16 02:15 -0700
                                                                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2012-10-16 02:30 -0700
                                                                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-16 15:18 -0400
                                                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-14 21:05 -0400
                                                                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-14 18:19 -0700
                                                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-15 17:58 -0400
                                                                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-15 15:21 -0700
                                                                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-15 18:51 -0400
                                                                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-15 17:20 -0700
                                                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk> - 2012-10-12 22:41 +0100
                                                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk> - 2012-10-12 22:24 +0100
                                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-10-09 01:20 -0700
                                                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-09 08:56 -0700
                                                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2012-10-09 11:14 -0500
                                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-09 22:47 +0200
                                                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-09 18:31 -0700
                                                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2012-10-09 22:55 -0500
                                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-10-09 01:04 -0700
                                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2012-10-09 17:30 +0200
                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2012-10-04 11:31 -1000
                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth kenney@cix.compulink.co.uk - 2012-10-03 16:53 -0500
                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-03 16:50 -0700
                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Hugh Aguilar <hughaguilar96@yahoo.com> - 2012-10-03 18:06 -0700
                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth kenney@cix.compulink.co.uk - 2012-10-03 16:53 -0500
                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-10-03 00:38 -0700
                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-03 02:06 -0700
                    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-10-03 03:38 -0700
                      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-03 13:40 -0700
                        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-10-04 01:00 -0700
                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2012-10-03 22:32 -1000
                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-10-04 04:49 -0700
                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-10-04 01:35 -0700
                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Howerd <howerdo@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-10-06 06:17 -0700
                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth arc <arc.deletethis@vorsicht-bissig.de> - 2012-10-07 23:45 +1300
                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-10-10 09:34 -0700
                                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Mark Wills <forthfreak@gmail.com> - 2012-10-10 12:16 -0700
                                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2012-10-10 20:04 -0500
                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-04 11:41 -0700
                            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-10-05 12:29 -0700
                              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-06 19:26 -0700
                          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2012-10-05 19:09 +0000
              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk> - 2012-10-02 22:03 +0100
              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Ilya Tarasov <ilya74.tarasov@gmail.com> - 2012-10-06 08:30 -0700
    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth ilya74.tarasov@gmail.com - 2012-09-29 07:09 -0700
    Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2012-10-09 14:30 -0700
      Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-09 18:27 -0400
        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth "Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk> - 2012-10-10 09:46 +0100
        Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2012-10-10 03:52 -0700
          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-10 06:01 -0700
            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2012-10-10 07:42 -0700
              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth theoriginalsnial@gmail.com - 2012-10-10 09:10 -0700
              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-10 10:34 -0700
                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2012-10-11 17:17 -0700
                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-13 01:03 -0400
          Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-10 21:59 -0400
            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-10 20:57 -0700
              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2012-10-11 02:05 -0700
              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Matthias Koch <koch@pci.uni-hannover.de> - 2012-10-15 11:20 +0200
            Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2012-10-15 11:53 +0000
              Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-10-15 08:52 -0700
                Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2012-10-15 11:53 -0700
                  Re: Olympic Spririt for Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2012-10-15 18:00 -0400

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#16206

FromBernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de>
Date2012-10-12 03:27 +0200
Message-ID<2128900.5Hn9xTrNC3@sunwukong.fritz.box>
In reply to#16204
Elizabeth D. Rather wrote:
> So, where are we? Were any of these written in Forth? (not AFAIK).
> Could these errors have been prevented by data type checking? (no).

Richard Feynman's conclusion on the Challenger disaster was that they 
have a typical big-corporation style of risk management.  When the 
engineer estimates the risk at 1:100, his boss will tell 1:1000 further 
up, and at the end of the day, it's one in a gazillion.  As it's a 
Richard Feynman paper, it's entertaining to read, and really worth it.  
In a Forth context, especially the part about top-down design vs. 
bottom-up design in terms of reliability.

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-
commission/Appendix-F.txt

The engineering of conventional aircraft engines, as Feynman puts it, 
are created bottom up.  You start with simple components, you test them, 
and you put them together.  Feynman notes that the software used for the 
Space Shuttle is indeed tested carefully from bottom up, so he's quite 
confident that at least from a software point of view, things are good 
(the obsolete computer hardware is another problem).

-- 
Bernd Paysan
"If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself"
http://bernd-paysan.de/

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#16228

FromPaul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid>
Date2012-10-12 19:18 -0700
Message-ID<7xmwzrm7wf.fsf@ruckus.brouhaha.com>
In reply to#16204
"Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> writes:
> So, where are we? Were any of these written in Forth? (not
> AFAIK). Could these errors have been prevented by data type checking?
> (no).

There are several Haskell packages for compile-time dimensional unit
checking using the type system.  I myself wrote a simple dimensional
library in Python a while back, that used runtime tagging of units, so
if you added feet to meters, you'd get an automatic conversion, and if
you added feet to volts, you'd get a runtime error (maybe not a good
thing for a rocket).  I don't know whether Ada or Java programmers use
any automated tools for this.  A friend of mine who worked on aerospace
stuff some years back, said they had Ada style rules requiring units be
specified as part of variable names, eg. "velocity_in_meters_per_second"
instead of "v".  Maybe someone would have noticed.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]


#16230

FromElizabeth D Rather <erather@forth.com>
Date2012-10-12 18:53 -1000
Message-ID<FrGdnR_1RLspbuXNnZ2dnUVZ_oOdnZ2d@supernews.com>
In reply to#16228
On 10/12/2012 4:18 PM, Paul Rubin wrote:
> "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> writes:
>> So, where are we? Were any of these written in Forth? (not
>> AFAIK). Could these errors have been prevented by data type checking?
>> (no).
>
> There are several Haskell packages for compile-time dimensional unit
> checking using the type system.  I myself wrote a simple dimensional
> library in Python a while back, that used runtime tagging of units, so
> if you added feet to meters, you'd get an automatic conversion, and if
> you added feet to volts, you'd get a runtime error (maybe not a good
> thing for a rocket).  I don't know whether Ada or Java programmers use
> any automated tools for this.  A friend of mine who worked on aerospace
> stuff some years back, said they had Ada style rules requiring units be
> specified as part of variable names, eg. "velocity_in_meters_per_second"
> instead of "v".  Maybe someone would have noticed.
>

AFAIK the different units were in two programs from different suppliers, 
probably even two devices, so they wouldn't have been caught in a 
compile-time check. And it's doubtful that each company was reading the 
other's source code, so that wouldn't have worked either.

No, this was a failure of the specifications.

Cheers,
Elizabeth

-- 
==================================================
Elizabeth D. Rather   (US & Canada)   800-55-FORTH
FORTH Inc.                         +1 310.999.6784
5959 West Century Blvd. Suite 700
Los Angeles, CA 90045
http://www.forth.com

"Forth-based products and Services for real-time
applications since 1973."
==================================================

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#16231

FromPaul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid>
Date2012-10-12 22:55 -0700
Message-ID<7xy5jax6e5.fsf@ruckus.brouhaha.com>
In reply to#16230
Elizabeth D Rather <erather@forth.com> writes:
> AFAIK the different units were in two programs from different
> suppliers, probably even two devices, so they wouldn't have been
> caught in a compile-time check....
> No, this was a failure of the specifications.

Maybe they needed an interchange protocol that included units with the
data.

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#16245

FromBernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de>
Date2012-10-13 22:07 +0200
Message-ID<2471183.E4LpRUe72c@sunwukong.fritz.box>
In reply to#16231
Paul Rubin wrote:

> Elizabeth D Rather <erather@forth.com> writes:
>> AFAIK the different units were in two programs from different
>> suppliers, probably even two devices, so they wouldn't have been
>> caught in a compile-time check....
>> No, this was a failure of the specifications.
> 
> Maybe they needed an interchange protocol that included units with the
> data.

No, this is definitely the wrong solution.  More complicated, more 
potential errors.  The interchange protocol in such a device should have 
addresses and binary numbers.  Not something like TeX, where you can 
write "12.5in" or "23pt" in ASCII or such.

If you allow such a protocol to have units, you have to test *all* the 
possible units.  You can do that for a typesetting system like TeX, 
where people will typeset lots of documents, and none of them is mission 
critical, but you should abstain from even thinking about that idea when 
you build a "first time right" program - the mission is done only once, 
and your program must not fail.

The only solution is to make absolutely clear in the specification that 
there is one and only one system of units used, and that this is metric.  
The solution to create reliable and robust systems is not ample choice, 
it's simplistic rigid non-choice.

And you have to take every device into your lab, and test it, hands on, 
using calibrated equipment.  The responsibility of this testing is on 
both sides - the subcontractor *and* the integrator.  Only when the two 
agree that the device is operating correctly, it is operating correctly.

-- 
Bernd Paysan
"If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself"
http://bernd-paysan.de/

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#16240

Fromrickman <gnuarm@gmail.com>
Date2012-10-13 00:56 -0400
Message-ID<k5c91c$otl$6@dont-email.me>
In reply to#16228
On 10/12/2012 10:18 PM, Paul Rubin wrote:
> "Elizabeth D. Rather"<erather@forth.com>  writes:
>> So, where are we? Were any of these written in Forth? (not
>> AFAIK). Could these errors have been prevented by data type checking?
>> (no).
>
> There are several Haskell packages for compile-time dimensional unit
> checking using the type system.  I myself wrote a simple dimensional
> library in Python a while back, that used runtime tagging of units, so
> if you added feet to meters, you'd get an automatic conversion, and if
> you added feet to volts, you'd get a runtime error (maybe not a good
> thing for a rocket).  I don't know whether Ada or Java programmers use
> any automated tools for this.  A friend of mine who worked on aerospace
> stuff some years back, said they had Ada style rules requiring units be
> specified as part of variable names, eg. "velocity_in_meters_per_second"
> instead of "v".  Maybe someone would have noticed.

This was not an issue with programming.  This was an issue with the unit 
and interface design.  The specification of units should have been part 
of the interface specification and should have been well documented so 
that both programmers were working to the same spec.  I have no idea how 
this level of mistake could have been made with the level of 
documentation that is typically done on these systems.

In addition, I have no real understanding of why we are still using 
English units here in the US.  I think it was in the 70's that we had a 
joint program with Canada to convert to metric.  It consisted of a 
number of steps in the program (12 perhaps?) and the first two or three 
had to do with spreading information about the program and education 
such as teaching metric in the schools.  That is why US car speedometers 
started indicating kph in addition to mph.  But when we reached the 
first step where we needed to actually change something (I think it was 
highway signs) we said to Canada, "Why don't you go on ahead and we'll 
catch up later?"  Needless to say, here we are still trying to convert 
feet to meters in spacecraft!!!

I was working at a company that made Military radios and found that the 
mechanical engineers were still using inches!  I expressed my 
incredulity and the guy I was talking to was totally unimpressed.  90% 
of electronic components are in metric these days, but these guys were 
still designing the cases and boards in inches.  I just don't get it.

There are some systems that will not change for a LONG time to come. 
I've heard that the US Navy is adamant about not changing to metric.  It 
seems that historically they have always done ranging in yards, which 
you know is close to a meter.  I can see that in the process of 
converting it might be very difficult for humans to sanity check a 
number that is 1200 rather than 1100, but the results of a conversion 
error can be very catastrophic.  Captains don't like missing targets 
that shoot back!

Rick

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#16254

FromDoug Hoffman <glidedog@gmail.com>
Date2012-10-13 18:41 -0400
Message-ID<5079ee2d$0$281$14726298@news.sunsite.dk>
In reply to#16240
On 10/13/12 12:56 AM, rickman wrote:

> In addition, I have no real understanding of why we are still using
> English units here in the US.  I think it was in the 70's that we had a
> joint program with Canada to convert to metric.  It consisted of a
> number of steps in the program (12 perhaps?) and the first two or three
> had to do with spreading information about the program and education
> such as teaching metric in the schools.  That is why US car speedometers
> started indicating kph in addition to mph.  But when we reached the
> first step where we needed to actually change something (I think it was
> highway signs) we said to Canada, "Why don't you go on ahead and we'll
> catch up later?"  Needless to say, here we are still trying to convert
> feet to meters in spacecraft!!!

Yes.  There was a "firm" plan for the US to go metric in 1978.  I 
clearly recall the events just prior to that.  Most all interstate 
freeways had metric speed limit signs installed, with covers, awaiting 
the big day. Then at the last minute some state legislator decided he 
didn't like the metric system and he was able to scuttle the whole 
thing.  Or something like that.  So the general US conversion never 
happened.  Today the evening news still reports the weather in degrees 
fahrenheit, etc.  Once again a government lead effort was botched.  Most 
private industry, such as US auto, have self-converted to hard metric in 
order to compete globally.  The English units of measure should have 
been abandoned long ago.  Not to say that would have guaranteed the Mars 
mission a success, but it couldn't have hurt.

-Doug

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#16255

FromPaul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid>
Date2012-10-13 16:05 -0700
Message-ID<7xhapyas6q.fsf@ruckus.brouhaha.com>
In reply to#16254
Doug Hoffman <glidedog@gmail.com> writes:
> Yes.  There was a "firm" plan for the US to go metric in 1978.  I
> clearly recall the events just prior to that.  Most all interstate
> freeways had metric speed limit signs installed, 

No country on earth has ever used metric speed limits or metric
speedometers on automobiles.  The US uses traditional units (miles per
hour) and some other countries use a mixture of metric and traditional
units (kilometers per hour).  I think aircraft still use *nautical*
miles per hour.  AFAIK, among transportation technologies, only
spacecraft use actual metric units (meters per second).  This has always
been a peeve of mine.

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#16258

FromBernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de>
Date2012-10-14 02:57 +0200
Message-ID<32933940.D9QKNufn74@sunwukong.fritz.box>
In reply to#16255
Paul Rubin wrote:
> No country on earth has ever used metric speed limits or metric
> speedometers on automobiles.

With a "humpty dumpty" defintion of "metric"?  The hour is defined as 
"acceptable non-SI unit" in the tables of SI units.  Note that the SI 
system has another anomality: The base unit of mass has a prefix (kg).

http://www.ebyte.it/library/educards/siunits/TablesOfSiUnitsAndPrefixes.html

> The US uses traditional units (miles per
> hour) and some other countries use a mixture of metric and traditional
> units (kilometers per hour).

Yes, nobody uses m/s, which would be the metric base unit.

> I think aircraft still use *nautical* miles per hour.

Aircraft and boat speed is indeed still measured in knots.  This is a 
deprecated unit of measurement according to the SI.  Deprecated means 
that it is still in use in most countries, and it is well-defined in 
terms of SI units, but it is deprecated.

The US system is not even deprecated.  It is the old imperial system of 
an empire that hasn't been an empire for nearly 70 years now.  Most of 
the ex-colonies have gone metric, the UK partly had (low temperatures 
are measured in °C, high temperatures in °F ;-), and the US is still 
completely resisting.

> AFAIK, among transportation technologies, only
> spacecraft use actual metric units (meters per second).  This has
> always been a peeve of mine.

m/s is a base unit.  km/h is a scaled unit, both the km and the hour are 
at least acceptable scales in the metric system (the acceptable time 
scale factors are non-decimal, as the metric system didn't change the 
traditional units of time - while you use ms, you don't use ks or Ms for 
larger scales - you use hours (3.6ks) and days (86.4ks)).  Note that the 
day in the SI system is *not* related to earth rotation - that's what we 
have leap seconds for.

The SI units are standardized units, they are issued by a standard body.  
Various countries have taken intermediate steps to standardize these 
units - e.g. China has rounded traditional units to reasonably near SI 
units, like the Chinese mile (li) to 500 meter, or the Chinese pound to 
500g (the traditional European pound - slightly different in each city - 
was also rounded to 500g, and many recipies still tell you "use 1/2 ℔ 
butter", which is the 250g bar).  Chinese people often enough confuse 
traditional units with SI units, especially since the names of the SI 
units differ only by the prefix "gong" - when I asked my girlfriend how 
much kg she weights, she said 94.  Since Chinese girls are both small 
and slim, this can't be kg.

-- 
Bernd Paysan
"If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself"
http://bernd-paysan.de/

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#16261

FromPaul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid>
Date2012-10-14 00:26 -0700
Message-ID<7xfw5h346h.fsf@ruckus.brouhaha.com>
In reply to#16258
Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> writes:
> m/s is a base unit.  km/h is a scaled unit, both the km and the hour are 
> at least acceptable scales in the metric system..
> The SI units are standardized units, they are issued by a standard
> body.  

Bah, I'm sure the mile, inch, etc. are also standardized.  If they can
scale to 3600 seconds (1 hour) they can scale to 0.0254 meters (1 inch)
and so on.

Actually the meter itself is a weird artifact, from an earlier
technological era.  With modern understanding we can use a more
fundamentally natural and logical unit of speed, the "nano", which at
about 1.07925 km per hour should also be comfortable for car drivers.
I'm sure you can figure out how the nano is derived.

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#16266

FromBernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de>
Date2012-10-14 19:28 +0200
Message-ID<6331347.VZBSO0x8Dp@sunwukong.fritz.box>
In reply to#16261
Paul Rubin wrote:

> Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> writes:
>> m/s is a base unit.  km/h is a scaled unit, both the km and the hour
>> are at least acceptable scales in the metric system..
>> The SI units are standardized units, they are issued by a standard
>> body.
> 
> Bah, I'm sure the mile, inch, etc. are also standardized.  If they can
> scale to 3600 seconds (1 hour) they can scale to 0.0254 meters (1
> inch) and so on.

Yes, but the SI units is a standard by a particular standard body.  They 
choose not to standardize inch and friends.  The imperial system is a 
standard, too, or the standardization of units done by the first emperor 
of China.

> Actually the meter itself is a weird artifact, from an earlier
> technological era.  With modern understanding we can use a more
> fundamentally natural and logical unit of speed, the "nano", which at
> about 1.07925 km per hour should also be comfortable for car drivers.
> I'm sure you can figure out how the nano is derived.

I'm indeed a fan of Panck units, too, since they make calculations much 
easier; especially being dimensionless is a good thing (which is why the 
"nano" is only a prefix, not a dimension). Furthermore, they are 
universal, only derived from fundamental "constants" (which are set to 
1, i.e. they aren't constants, but only necessary for scaling the SI 
system to a proper system).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_units

Many people who support the imperial system say that it's "human scale" 
(Bigfoot feets with 30cm???), while e.g. the Planck unit of length 
scales to 1.61m, which is very human scale, as many people are only 
slightly larger than 10^35 of these units.

-- 
Bernd Paysan
"If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself"
http://bernd-paysan.de/

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#16280

Fromkenney@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date2012-10-15 04:21 -0500
Message-ID<EaKdncp26asUSObNnZ2dnUVZ8mWdnZ2d@giganews.com>
In reply to#16261
In article <7xfw5h346h.fsf@ruckus.brouhaha.com>, no.email@nospam.invalid 
(Paul Rubin) wrote:

> Actually the meter itself is a weird artifact, from an earlier
> technological era.

 The meter originated as a political matter as part of the drive to  
replace Anciene Regime systems of measurement which included a new 
calendar. There s nothing weird about it, it was defined as a fraction 
of circumference of the earth at the equator. 

 By the way the US is using a system of units that dates from the 17th 
century and is not identical to Imperial Measurements. The US gallon for 
example is not the same as the Imperial gallon. 

 Ken Young

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#16263

FromMark Wills <markrobertwills@yahoo.co.uk>
Date2012-10-14 03:17 -0700
Message-ID<b4ccbe91-940f-4489-a0c2-f879c51ce5df@b6g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>
In reply to#16258
> Most of
> the ex-colonies have gone metric, the UK partly had (low temperatures
> are measured in °C, high temperatures in °F ;-)

Nope. All temperatures in the UK are measured in Centigrade. You will
*never* hear a weather report, or a school lesson where temperatures
are measured in °F.

We're not fully metric though. If you order a beer in a pub, your
choices are a half pint, or full pint. If you buy a can of beer from
the supermarket, it will be 500ml!

Same with speed measurements, and weight. Miles per hour, and stones.
Miles per hour I can live with; I'm used to it. Stones is just silly,
since practically nobody else knows what the hell we're talking about!
If you ask a Brit how much he weighs, he will give you a figure in
stones. Bonkers.

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#16272

FromAlex McDonald <blog@rivadpm.com>
Date2012-10-14 15:43 -0700
Message-ID<b4d9e968-3315-445b-96bc-4caaf1ccfeb4@ro10g2000pbc.googlegroups.com>
In reply to#16263
On Oct 14, 11:17 am, Mark Wills <markrobertwi...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > Most of
> > the ex-colonies have gone metric, the UK partly had (low temperatures
> > are measured in °C, high temperatures in °F ;-)
>
> Nope. All temperatures in the UK are measured in Centigrade. You will
> *never* hear a weather report, or a school lesson where temperatures
> are measured in °F.

Agreed. Fahrenheit died in the UK years ago. Never heard it used, even
for high temps.

>
> We're not fully metric though. If you order a beer in a pub, your
> choices are a half pint, or full pint. If you buy a can of beer from
> the supermarket, it will be 500ml!

Only beer & cider on draught, and milk in glass bottles can be sold by
the pint. All other fluids are sold by the litre.

>
> Same with speed measurements, and weight. Miles per hour, and stones.
> Miles per hour I can live with; I'm used to it. Stones is just silly,
> since practically nobody else knows what the hell we're talking about!
> If you ask a Brit how much he weighs, he will give you a figure in
> stones. Bonkers.

My quack measures me in kilos; the medical profession has adopted it
for body weights for many years now. My daughters (22 and 25) don't
know what a stone is; you're giving your age away ;-)

We're nearly there. The last real hold out of non-metric in the UK is
that odd combination of beer and cars.

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#16277

Fromrickman <gnuarm@gmail.com>
Date2012-10-14 21:18 -0400
Message-ID<k5fo95$5tv$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#16263
On 10/14/2012 6:17 AM, Mark Wills wrote:
> We're not fully metric though. If you order a beer in a pub, your
> choices are a half pint, or full pint. If you buy a can of beer from
> the supermarket, it will be 500ml!

Same here for liquor and wine, but not beer.  The liquor industry went 
metric years ago when they realized that there were odd metric sizes 
that were slightly smaller than the odd English sizes they were using 
(e.g. a fifth of a gallon).  So they could downsize a bit and charge the 
same price!

We've been buying 750 ml or 1.5 liters of wine ever since.

Rick

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#16281

Fromkenney@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date2012-10-15 04:21 -0500
Message-ID<WLKdnTaoMJ8USObNnZ2dnUVZ8jGdnZ2d@giganews.com>
In reply to#16263
In article 
<b4ccbe91-940f-4489-a0c2-f879c51ce5df@b6g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, 
markrobertwills@yahoo.co.uk (Mark Wills) wrote:

> We're not fully metric though.

 Network Rail still uses chains and horses are measured in hands. Still 
all the measurement systems have a rational origin if you go back far 
enough. Where it is a source of confusion is historical records. Cubits 
had at least three different values at various times and places. Then 
off course you get the attempts by modern archaeologists etc to find 
systems of measurements in monuments. This resulted in the Pyramid Inch 
and the Megalithic Foot.

 Ken Young

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#16285

Fromanton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl)
Date2012-10-15 10:03 +0000
Message-ID<2012Oct15.120322@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at>
In reply to#16258
Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> writes:
>Yes, nobody uses m/s, which would be the metric base unit.

Which gets us back to the bike computer project: If you can program it
yourself, you can use it to measure speed in m/s, or knots if you
want, and still get the distance traveled in km or miles.

- anton
-- 
M. Anton Ertl  http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/home.html
comp.lang.forth FAQs: http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/faq/toc.html
     New standard: http://www.forth200x.org/forth200x.html
   EuroForth 2012: http://www.euroforth.org/ef12/

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#16288

Fromvisualforth@rocketmail.com
Date2012-10-15 04:04 -0700
Message-ID<46641239-eebb-496b-aa52-2c6d26b161b6@googlegroups.com>
In reply to#16285
On Monday, October 15, 2012 12:05:04 PM UTC+2, Anton Ertl wrote:
> Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan.de> writes:
> 
> >Yes, nobody uses m/s, which would be the metric base unit.

> Which gets us back to the bike computer project: If you can program it
> yourself, you can use it to measure speed in m/s, or knots if you
> want, and still get the distance traveled in km or miles.
> - anton
> 

So we are back to START: 
"It seems that the community needs to instill the "Inspire a Generation" spirit that pervaded the London 2012 Olympics event. By this we mean that we need to raise theons for self express level of enthusiasm for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics within the upcoming generations from primary school level upwards." 


Let's do it!

Dirk Bruehl
http://4e4th.com
We are all tolerant - as long as the other behaves as expected!

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#16305

From"Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk>
Date2012-10-15 21:34 +0100
Message-ID<ae3acuFm8piU1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#16288
visualforth@rocketmail.com wrote:

> So we are back to START:
> "It seems that the community needs to instill the "Inspire a Generation"
> spirit that pervaded the London 2012 Olympics event. By this we mean that
> we need to raise theons for self express level of enthusiasm for Science,
> Technology, Engineering and Mathematics within the upcoming generations
> from primary school level upwards."

It will obviously take a few add-on boards to help the kick-start projects 
get the young minds fired up. Such add-ons should have some things that 
would be desirable add-ons to the initial starter board. How about a double 
or three digit display add-on, or a relay interface board as a starting 
point for when they want to go further than the morse code or LED flasher 
programs. Maybe even stepper motor drivers, simple inter-processor comms 
modules and encoder input module. With the ability to couple any of that to 
Lego or Meccano and we begin to get into the area of robotics.

 
> 
> Let's do it!
> 
> Dirk Bruehl
> http://4e4th.com
> We are all tolerant - as long as the other behaves as expected!

-- 
********************************************************************
Paul E. Bennett...............<email://Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk>
Forth based HIDECS Consultancy
Mob: +44 (0)7811-639972
Tel: +44 (0)1235-510979
Going Forth Safely ..... EBA. www.electric-boat-association.org.uk..
********************************************************************

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#16313

Fromrickman <gnuarm@gmail.com>
Date2012-10-15 17:51 -0400
Message-ID<k5i0h8$gm$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#16288
On 10/15/2012 7:04 AM, visualforth@rocketmail.com wrote:
> On Monday, October 15, 2012 12:05:04 PM UTC+2, Anton Ertl wrote:
>> Bernd Paysan<bernd.paysan.de>  writes:
>>
>>> Yes, nobody uses m/s, which would be the metric base unit.
>
>> Which gets us back to the bike computer project: If you can program it
>> yourself, you can use it to measure speed in m/s, or knots if you
>> want, and still get the distance traveled in km or miles.
>> - anton
>>
>
> So we are back to START:
> "It seems that the community needs to instill the "Inspire a Generation" spirit that pervaded the London 2012 Olympics event. By this we mean that we need to raise theons for self express level of enthusiasm for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics within the upcoming generations from primary school level upwards."
>
>
> Let's do it!

I've already said I'm in.  I'll design all the hardware you want.  Who 
will write the software?

Rick

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