shore%nrl-css@sri-unix.UUCP (06/06/83)
From: John Shore <shore@nrl-css>
This isn't necessarily unix-related, but wizards know more than
ordinary folk....
In discussions of software and software engineering, it sometimes helps
to cite famous bugs. To this end, I am collecting a list.
I have in mind bugs that caused major problems as well as bugs that
could have but were prevented by suitable human intervention.
Some examples of bugs I've heard about but for which I don't have
documentation: (a) bug forced a Mercury astronaut to fly a
manual re-entry; (b) bugs were problems in the first two Apollo
moon landings; (c) bug caused NORAD to alert U.S. forces about
incoming Soviet missiles (the moon); (d) process synchronization
bugs delayed the first space shuttle launch.
Can you help? I would appreciate receiving brief descriptions of
famous or should-have-been famous bugs of all types (space program,
banking, nuclear power, census, etc.). If possible, please include
references that will help me to filter out the apocryphal bugs.
Please pass this message on to others who might be interested.
I will send a copy of the resulting bug-list to all who contribute.
Thanks in advance.
John Shore
Code 7591
Naval Research Laboratory
Washington, D.C. 20375
(202)767-3056
shore@nrl-css
___berry@zinfandel.UUCP (06/10/83)
#R:sri-arpa:-181400:zinfandel:12400027:000:1589 zinfandel!berry Jun 9 09:13:00 1983 In the April 1980 issue of ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes, editor Peter G. Neumann (NEUMANN@SRI-KL at that time) relays information that Earl Boebert got from Mark Groves (OSD R&E) regarding bugs in the software of the F-16 fighter. Apparently a problem in the navigation software inverted the aircraft whenever it corssed the equator. Luckily it was caught early in simulation testing and promptly fixed. In the July issue, J.N. Frisina at Singer-Kearfott wrote to Mr. Neumann, "concerned that readers might have mistakenly believed there was a bug in the flight software, which was of course not the case." [At least they fixed THAT one. Wasn't it Hoare who said that acceptance testing is just an unsuccessful attempt to find bugs?] Mr. Frisina wrote: "In the current search for reliable software, the F16 Navigation software is an example of the high degree of reliability and quality that can be obtained with the application of proper design verification and testing methodologies. All primary misison functions were software correct." In the April '81 Issue it is revealed that the F18 range of control travel limits imposed by the F18 software are based on assumptions about the inability of the aircraft to get into certain attitudes. Well, some of these 'forbidden' attitudes are in fact attainable. Apparently so much effort had gone design and testing of the software that it is now preferable to modify the aircraft to fit the software, rather than vice-versa! Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (decvax!sytek!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900