Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!news.swapon.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Jim Gibson Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer Subject: Re: Autoboxing and Performance ? Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 16:38:29 -0700 Lines: 36 Message-ID: <230820131638297961%jimsgibson@gmail.com> References: <5csRt.197906$jW3.50636@fx23.iad> <92908c21-7db9-4ddc-8dc5-ed14d4ab8406@googlegroups.com> <7ud24v7thir5.1fbfrgyz5jy5n$.dlg@40tude.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net IwT2QQUYoFnyDH+q7hZ1KQwp+zfYkhKBJ1l+HwmfmVhQdS9hX7 X-Orig-Path: jimsgibson Cancel-Lock: sha1:A6OZmlEOcKjFNUFQ4keMOf7AcOU= User-Agent: Thoth/1.9.0 (Mac OS X) Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.java.programmer:25131 In article <7ud24v7thir5.1fbfrgyz5jy5n$.dlg@40tude.net>, Joerg Meier wrote: > On Fri, 23 Aug 2013 11:08:00 -0700 (PDT), Lew wrote: > > > A certain Mars probe would have landed if that unit were properly > > communicated by > > memo. It need not have been encoded in the computer. > > > You are correct that the problem was that the unit was unstated. That is > > not at issue. > > What is at issue is where that statement should be made. In the case of the Mars Climate Orbiter, apparently, the unit (newton) was stated in the contract, but ignored by the contractor, who used pound-force instead: > I would argue the other way around: the problem wasn't that the unit was > unstated, which would be perfectly fine, the problem was that someone used > a number that had no unit stated and didn't bother to find out what unit it > was. If you use X, you don't get to say "Oh, nobody told me Y about it". > It's your job to find out about X if you want to use it. > > That being said, it seems to me that whoever thought it would be alright to > use imperial units in a Mars rover should be immediately fired for poor > judgement. Well, it wasn't a rover, and it wasn't supposed to land, but go into orbit. Because of the units mix up, it went too low during its first pass around the planet and broke up in the atmosphere (supposedly, since it was on the back side of the planet when it happened.) -- Jim Gibson