Re: smart people doing stupid things

On Fri, 17 May 2024 17:11:53 -0400 (EDT), Martin Rid
<martin_riddle@verison.net> wrote:

John Larkin <jjSNIPlarkin@highNONOlandtechnology.com> Wrote in
message:r

On Fri, 17 May 2024 15:36:55 -0400 (EDT), Martin Rid<martin_riddle@verison.net> wrote:>John Larkin <jjSNIPlarkin@highNONOlandtechnology.com> Wrote in> message:r>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Peima-Uw7wSee graph at 9:50 in.I see this a lot, engineers wanting to do complex stuff because it'samusing to them, when simple common-sense things would work and bedone.>>My current project requires iec62304  and it is amusing .>>CheersYikes. What does it cost to buy the standard? Does it reference otherstandards?

>
Only $348,  surprisingly  it does not reference other standards.
At least I dont see any.   I got a big 4" binder of paper work
that should be sufficient to prove we followed the
standard.

Big process effort.  The only thing I know of that is worse is DO-178,
the process for development of avionics software that is
safety-critical in the sense that failure leads to loss of airplane
and all aboard.

I hope you are able remain sane.

The problem is getting the old guys to get on board , none of them
are interested.

Yeah.  I'm with the old guys on this.  We paid our debt to process and
was paroled for good behavior decades ago, and don't want to repeat
the experience.

Reminds me of Structured Programming (which forbids Go-To statements):
.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_programming>

Problem was that the Process Police tried to force me to follow this
in operating-system kernels.  Well, I'd like to see somebody build a
kernel without go-to statements. 

The deeper problem is that structured programming basically requires
that the flow chart can be drawn on a 2D surface without any
cross-overs - the nesting must be perfect.  Well, good luck following
that with real computer hardware, never mind the special hardware that
the computer controlled.

Think parallel Finite State Machines interacting and interweaving at
random, driven by random external events.  Not even a 3D flow diagram
suffices.

So in this case, I didn't even attempt to document according to
Structured Programming, instead telling the Process Police to buzz
off.  I only had to show them a real kernel listing once - a wall of
assembly code.  They had seen only toy examples in textbooks.

Joe Gwinn