Find out why 1. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#WhyBad 2. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#Good
Software vs. Hardware. The Harsh Truth
Started by ●October 22, 2005
Reply by ●October 22, 20052005-10-22
Reply by ●October 22, 20052005-10-22
Now I'm sure we talked about not saying things unless they bring
something meaningful to the group...
These postings of yours surely do not.
A quick quote from the link you posted:
Sure brains make mistakes, but the things that they do are so complex,
especially the myriads of little things that we are oblivious to, that
the mistakes pale in comparison to the successes. And when they do make
mistakes, it is usually due to physical reasons (e.g., sickness,
intoxication, injuries, genetic defects, etc...) or to external
circumstances beyond their control (e.g., they did not know). Mistakes
are rarely the result of defects in the brain's existing software.
Now that's just stupid...
Is a programming error not a 'genetic defect' of some sorts, surely the
softwares creator ('father' or 'mother') did not mean for it to happen,
but in producing the software they introduced some kind of inherent
fault, exactly the same as a genetic defect is in a human.
Suggesting that the way forward is to stop using algorithmic approaches
is also just plain dumb. Algorithms exist whether in hardware or
software, it's just so much easier to make changes in software that
people often don't put as much thought into them. No one would just
throw in an inverter or a multiplier to try and solve some hardware
problem they were having, instead they'd spend many hours working out
the best way, simply because implementing any change is much harder.
Software is just typing three or four characters.
Please Radium, go to university, or high school, learn some stuff about
engineering concepts (software, and hardware) and some reasoning skills,
then come back to post. You're just being annoying otherwise.
Reply by ●October 22, 20052005-10-22
Reply by ●October 22, 20052005-10-22
"Radium" <glucegen1@excite.com> writes:> Algorithms are okay. Software is bad.What a crock. -- % Randy Yates % "My Shangri-la has gone away, fading like %% Fuquay-Varina, NC % the Beatles on 'Hey Jude'" %%% 919-577-9882 % %%%% <yates@ieee.org> % 'Shangri-La', *A New World Record*, ELO http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr
Reply by ●October 23, 20052005-10-23
in article PnA6f.1982$S24.139798@news.xtra.co.nz, Bevan Weiss at kaizen__@NOSPAMhotmail.com wrote on 10/22/2005 19:59:> Now I'm sure we talked about not saying things unless they bring > something meaningful to the group... > > These postings of yours surely do not. >...> > Please Radium, go to university, or high school, learn some stuff about > engineering concepts (software, and hardware) and some reasoning skills, > then come back to post. You're just being annoying otherwise.in article r7adezhk.fsf@ieee.org, Randy Yates at yates@ieee.org wrote on 10/22/2005 22:30:> "Radium" <glucegen1@excite.com> writes: > >> Algorithms are okay. Software is bad. > > What a crock.hey guys, i got just one word for you: killfile (FYI: my killfile is less effective when i see provocative subject lines from follow-up posts. i know, i gotta deal with my own lack of resistance to click on those.) -- r b-j rbj@audioimagination.com "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Reply by ●October 23, 20052005-10-23
"Radium" <glucegen1@excite.com> wrote in message news:1130017709.670750.190780@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...> Find out why > > 1. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#WhyBad > > 2. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#Good >This is no longer a black and white topic. In the near future all hardware will be derived from software. eg algorithms will be simulated in software and go straight to hardware via FPGA compilers and such like. They already exist in a limited capacity for LabVIEW. Yuu draw your virtual instrument block diagram, press a button and its hardware! The days of fiddling with transistors are over. McC
Reply by ●October 23, 20052005-10-23
>Find out why > >1. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#WhyBad > >2. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#Good > >HW: Pentium floating point bug. Resolution: Buy a new chip SW: Security hole in IE Resolution: Patch Software does suffer from the problems mentioned, of course that hasn't stopped the entire world being completely revolutionized by software! None of those failures are surprising, and all of them are the subject of on-going study by people determined to minimize or reduce their effects. Compare today's development env/languages/run-time systems to those of the 60's or even 80's... Things are improving that are allowing us to scale up our software systems and make them more reliable. This message was sent using the Comp.DSP web interface on www.DSPRelated.com
Reply by ●October 23, 20052005-10-23
Real_McCoy wrote:> "Radium" <glucegen1@excite.com> wrote in message > news:1130017709.670750.190780@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com... > >>Find out why >> >>1. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#WhyBad >> >>2. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#Good >> > > > This is no longer a black and white topic. In the near future all hardware > will be derived from software. eg algorithms will be simulated in software > and go straight to hardware via FPGA compilers and such like. They already > exist in a limited capacity for LabVIEW. Yuu draw your virtual instrument > block diagram, press a button and its hardware! > The days of fiddling with transistors are over.Over for whom? Who will design the FPGAs? Progress centralizes and categorizes. The days when every family rendered tallow to made its own candles are long gone, but prudent households still keep candles handy. Jerry -- Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
Reply by ●October 23, 20052005-10-23
"Jerry Avins" <jya@ieee.org> wrote in message news:GpmdnZd0qJSNCMbeRVn-iQ@rcn.net...> Real_McCoy wrote: > > "Radium" <glucegen1@excite.com> wrote in message > > news:1130017709.670750.190780@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com... > > > >>Find out why > >> > >>1. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#WhyBad > >> > >>2. http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/Reliability.htm#Good > >> > > > > > > This is no longer a black and white topic. In the near future allhardware> > will be derived from software. eg algorithms will be simulated insoftware> > and go straight to hardware via FPGA compilers and such like. Theyalready> > exist in a limited capacity for LabVIEW. Yuu draw your virtualinstrument> > block diagram, press a button and its hardware! > > The days of fiddling with transistors are over. > > Over for whom? Who will design the FPGAs? Progress centralizes and > categorizes. The days when every family rendered tallow to made its own > candles are long gone, but prudent households still keep candles handy. > >Yes I meant for the majority of applicatiosn guys - of course we still need engineers to design the lower level stuff in the first place. I look at it this way though - look at the history of tools (ordinary tools). Most joiners use automatic screwdrivers nowadays and power saws and drills. 30 years ago or more it was all done by hand for the most part. Once you design the basic tools, they in turn are used to design more sophisticated ones and the systems bootsraps itself. Its still good to have an ordinary screwdriver at hand though! Do you still sue your slide-rule? McC
