[Cryptography] Ada vs Rust vs safer C

[Ron Garret]

On Sep 21, 2016, at 8:33 AM, Peter Gutmann <pgut001 at cs.auckland.ac.nz> wrote:

> Arnold Reinhold <agr at me.com> writes:
> 
>> The literature on organizational behavior and even psychological abuse may be
>> more relevant here than formal language design or type theory. (“You didn’t
>> perform your overflow check in exactly the approved way, so you must be
>> punished.” “We can’t change our standard because of computer designs from the
>> 1950s that were obsolete before work on C began.” “Other people will suffer
>> if we make the changes you request.” An abuse counselor would have no
>> difficulty recognizing the constructs.)
> 
> This is actually similar to a comment I made a few years ago on another list
> about the computer-geek response to a problem where pilot over-use of rudder
> controls could result in the vertical stabilizer becoming detached.  The FAA
> response to this was that it was a one-off accident because the industry would
> identify and correct the problem and make sure it never happened again.
> Here's my sketch of the same issue if computer geeks were assigned to it:
> 
> Bugzilla Bug 123456: A300 vertical stabilizer falls off if rudder controls
>  overused
> April 2004: FIXME: Needs to be resolved
> July 2005: I'm sorry, I can't reproduce this on my 737.
> September 2005: Have you tried downloading the latest nightly build?
> March 2006: OK, try it now.
> October 2006: Resetting status due to new code release
> May 2007: Are we sure this is a bug?  Isn't this pilot error?
> May 2007 - June 2008: 57-page debate on whether it's pilot error.
> November 2008: What about the following patch? <attachment>
> December 2008: This doesn't comply with submission guidelines, correct and
>  resubmit.
> July 2009: Is anyone still working on getting this fixed?
> February 2010: Could we get the UI guys to look at perhaps resolving this?
> August 2010: This issue is clearly documented in the appendix to the apocrypha
>  to the Howto, and therefore isn't a problem that needs addressing.
> Resolved: Wontfix.
> 
> Although the above is intended as satire, it's scarily close to way too many
> bugzilla threads I've followed.

The salient difference being that in the software world it’s actually possible to just go build your own plane the way you like it.

rg