Desperate situation

[Mike McCarty]

Anne Wilson wrote:
> On Monday 13 February 2006 17:29, Mike McCarty wrote:
> 
>>Anne Wilson wrote:
>>
>>><g>  Just how anomalous can you get?  This was two drives, same
>>>manufacturer, same model number.  They did not work correctly when cabled
>>>as the diagram on the drive label suggested, but did if I removed the
>>>jumper on the master drive.  Crazy!
>>>
>>>Once upon a time I used to tell people that computers were logical.  I
>>>don't risk my neck any longer <g>
>>
>>Computers *are* logical. It's the *designers* who need to be taken
>>out and shot. Especially the ones who came up with CS. :-)
>>
> 
> In fairness, computers are now so complex that it is almost inevitable that 
> some unforeseen circumstances will arise.  Not that this has any relevance to 
> the problem I've just had, but I don't feel that it is possible, today, for 
> any systems designers to be absolutely sure that nothing odd could happen.

Umm, not so. I recall my "software engineers" complaining that
their software/firmware could not anticipate every possible
circumstance. I would point out to them that "Your code is going to
do *something* in every circumstance. What it does can either
be something you *chose* for it to do, a *considered* decision,
or it can be something you simply *let* it do, *without*
any consideration. Which do you prefer to have to support?"

These days, all the "complex interactions" are pretty much due
to intelligent devices with uCs running firmware. If it does
something weird, then that's just some firmware writer being
in a certain sense "lazy".

Mike
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