An article in the Boston Business Journal talks about recent system failures caused by software bugs. The article is titled, "Software bug problem grows with programs’ complexity". The article mentions software problems that can cause Toyota Prius hybrid cars to stall at highway speeds, a crash on the Verizon 911 service in California, malfunction in the radar system at Denver International Airport (remember their baggage handling problems before the airport opened?), and a failure in a New York power plan warning siren system.
Software problems in complex systems isn’t a new phenomena. What may be at hand is the number and frequency of bugs affecting consumer products and systems as software continues to move further into the mainstream of our everyday lives.
More than ten years ago, in an article in the September 1994 issue of Scientific American, Wayt Gibbs, staff writer, said “Despite 50 years of progress, the software industry remains years, perhaps decades, short of the mature engineering discipline needed to meet the demands of an information-age society”. Well, here we are in 2005 and we’lre still having problems.
Some amous software flaws that have affected interesting systems include:
BMW 745i bug - “a desynchronization of the valvetronic motors for engine banks I and II may occur“
Toyota Prius - "software problem is causing some cars to stall or shut down while driving at highway speeds"
Ariane 5 Launcher - "Destruction of the launcher caused by complete loss of guidance and and attitude information due to specification and design errors in the software of the inertial reference system"
Mars Climate Orbiter - "The ‘root cause’ of the loss of the spacecraft was the failed translation of English units into metric units in a segment of ground-based, navigation-related mission software."
Focusing on improving software processes, people skills, and technology will lead to fewer defects. Our software industry is only 60 years old. While we have come very far since the first programs were used, we still have a lot more work to do. Software Delivery Optimization (SDO) is Borland’s vision for better software today and tomorrow.
Lists of other Software problems and horror stories:
http://www.cs.tau.ac.il/~nachumd/verify/horror.html
{ 35 } Comments
My experience has shown me that software bugs in complex systems are the results of a combination of improper documentation, lack of skilled developers / staff, a single authority on the functional and logical behaviour / perspective of the system from a high level view.
It is my view that in the future, these problems will become more widespread due to more people moving to software development.
… and how exactly is SDO supposed to solve all of these problems? Do I wave my wallet and make all those problems disappear?
M
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More than ten years ago, in an article in the September 1994 issue of Scientific American, Wayt Gibbs, staff writer, said “Despite 50 years of progress, the software industry remains years, perhaps decades, short of the mature engineering discipline needed to meet the demands of an information-age society”. Well, here we are in 2005 and we’lre still having problems.
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In my humble opinion, part of the problem lies in the misunderstanding of the software problem. It is LIKE engineering in some respects NOT engineering. LOL
The above qoute is part of the problem, not the solution.
So, what exactly is Borland doing to reduce/eliminate software defects in its own products?
Does Borland eat its own dog food?
We do drink our own champagne. We eat our own cooking. We are using more test tools, profiling, unit testing and will continue our quality push for years to come. We have also dedicating more R&D resources to quality engineering for this version and they are continuing their architecture and performance work post-ship. For BDS 2006 the team also spent more time in "bug fix mode" than ever before. The teams are also taking on more agile methods (specifically SCRUM) and we are also using our own, Borland Services, CMMI expertise to improve the maturity of our software development efforts. We call this "Borland on Borland".
bad news… i have a BMW 745i
yes i also had 745 and i knew it… now i change 525;)
I haven´t BMW and all is okey !!!
Someone else below asked this already.
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Thanks
So, what exactly is Borland doing to reduce/eliminate software defects in its own products?
> So, what exactly is Borland doing to reduce/eliminate software defects in its own products?
We are hiring more r7d engineers, more qa engineers, we are dedicating more time and effort to fixing problems, improving our processes, to help reduce/eliminate software defects in our products. thanks for asking
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Great and excellent article ts realy helpful. Thanks again.
Fantastic article covering some points I really needed some good usability info for.
I think these blog is really useful for new comers and Excellent resource list.
I think these blog is really useful for new comers and Excellent resource list.
It´s a very interesting Blog and simple answer of many questions.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks it helps me a lot…
Very intresting article!
Good read! Thanks!
*It is my view that in the future, these problems will become more widespread due to more people moving to software development. *
We are hiring more r7d engineers, more qa engineers, we are dedicating more time and effort to fixing problems, improving our processes, to help reduce/eliminate software defects in our products. thanks for asking
.
The problem really does exist.
I think these blog is really useful for new comers and Excellent resource list.
It´s a very interesting Blog and simple answer of many questions.
Wayt Gibbs’ quote, ““Despite 50 years of progress, the software industry remains years, perhaps decades, short of the mature engineering discipline needed to meet the demands of an information-age society” is actually so ‘right-on’ it’s a little scary.
I’m pretty happy to see I’m not the only one who thought so.
The bottom line is that this industry is still plagued with the ‘get it out the door’ sort of attitude, where other engineering lines of work may be a little more patient about getting it working right before releasing it. You can see this in the software industry all over – it’s pretty standard to launch before complete testing, and then have the public / client do a lot of the testing for you. Not cool. This could be the client’s fault a lot of the time (rushing the developer) but someone should put their foot down (or not, depending if you’re driving a Toyota… lol)
It’s really good written and I fully agree with You on main issue, btw. I must say that I really enjoyed reading all of Your posts.
It’s very good article. Great site with very good look and perfect information.
They really need to iron out the bugs in certain software programs like the author implys the interferences are just going to get worse as the amount of technology increases.
Interesting article!
Thanks
Thanks very iternetsi cicicocuk
There have been a lot of lists released regarding software flaws. What most of us, who are working in the Internet, are interested to know are the ways on how to eliminate or remedy these flaws. I think that’s far better than just presenting to us a list of flaws. A list of flaws with corresponding solutions are more interesting, don’t you think?
There have been a lot of lists released regarding software flaws. What most of us, who are working in the Internet, are interested to know are the ways on how to eliminate or remedy these flaws. I think that’s far better than just presenting to us a list of flaws. A list of flaws with corresponding solutions are more interesting, don’t you think?
next 50 years to be very good technology systems . hovercrafts. nobut have small bugs
As with any system, computers and software will solve a whole set of problems yet create more…its like evolution tech style.
They really need to iron out the bugs in certain software programs like the author implys the interferences are just going to get worse as the amount of technology increases.
yes i think next 50 years to be very good technology systems
good technology
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