[net.lang] Dangerous compiler bug anecdote

peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (02/22/84)

Quoted without comment,
from ACM SIGSOFT SOFTWARE ENGINEERING NOTES, Vol 9 No 1 Jan 84, Page 11

" ... A stress analysis program was written in FORTRAN for vendor X's
machine.  It was then ported to vendor Y's machine without recertification.
A pressure containment vessel was then designed using this program running
on vendor Y's machine.  The pressure containment vessel was built,
instrumented with stress gauges, etc., and tested under pressure.  It
exploded, hurting or killing several technicians.  The problem was that the
FORTRAN compiler for vendor Y's machine produced incorrect code. "

  (excerpt from a letter to the editor by David Benson, Wash. State U.)