Chris Hardie » software_engineering

Links for the Week - April 28, 2008

Chris — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:12:37 +0000

The “pros and cons of a global distributed network” edition:

Do you depend on Gmail or Google Calendar? Did you know they’re not ready for production use yet?
The Rockridge Institute, a progressive think tank (THE progressive think tank for many) abruptly closes its doors because there wasn’t enough money coming in. But as a part of their exit, the description of “The Big Job” to be done is compelling, and so life goes on.
I love a good idea I’ve never heard of before, and this place has lots of them
Can you survive for 24 hours without your computer? I didn’t think so.
One of the best YouTube videos I’ve seen in a long time: An Engineer’s Guide to Cats
The Palladium-Item will be updating its website this week – and once again wiping out any archive of past reader discussions in their forums. I can’t decide if this is a blessing or a shame, and it’s probably both. I hope the new beginning represents a new mode of conversation, but I won’t hold my breath.

Teaching software engineering

Chris — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 16:51:38 +0000

Today is the first day of the course I’m co-teaching at Earlham this semester, CS345: Software Engineering. I’m excited to be back in a classroom again and thinking in new ways and on different levels about a topic that’s very much a part of what I do every day for Summersault (and why Summersault exists at all). Like the last course I taught at Earlham, this is sure to be a challenge and a joy. Wish me luck! I’ll hopefully have some time to post general thoughts about teaching software engineering here, but the course website will be my main tool for collecting and sharing information and resources related to the class.

Comair flight cancellations caused by a 16-bit counter

Chris — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 23:35:46 +0000

Over the holiday weekend, Comair had to cancel over 1,000 flights because of software problems. It turns out that, as I read in the F-Secure Weblog, the flight planning software they were using was using a 16-bit counter to keep track of flight staff changes…so after 32768 changes it would simply stop working. Details are available from an article in Cincinnati Post. This is the kind of madness I was expecting for Y2K, not four years later when we’re supposed to have learned that lesson by now.

No error occurred

Chris — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 17:35:36 +0000

I was working hard on a project today and this error window came up. It pretty much describes the kind of month I’m having.

Philosophically interesting and outrageously frustrating at the same time.

Gas Pump Buffer Overflow

Chris — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 22:56:52 +0000

Random rant: In 1970, Intel produced a memory chip, the first, capable of storing 1 kilobyte of data – a couple of paragraphs of text or so. Today, one can obtain memory chips that store many gigabytes of data – enough to hold entire movies, encyclopedias, and more – for mere hundreds of dollars. So, why is it that when I finish pumping gas at a gas station and hit the “RECEIPT YES” button, the piece of crap machine can’t store that one simple keystroke in its input buffer long enough that it doesn’t have to ask me 5 seconds later, “RECEIPT? (YES/NO)”. It can remember a credit card number, do complex fuel tax calculations, and even tell me about the latest sugar-coated crap I can buy inside, but not that I pressed that button a few seconds ago. It’s a scary, scary world we live in, folks. Bah!