Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by df5t0rw 3011 days ago
[unconstructive but still..] So the day I could be emprisoned because of an error of coding... Like a segfault on an highway... as finally came :D Is the disclamer "no waranty of anykind" shield us from that kind of thing ? ;) (I code on some mainstream C libraries)
2 comments

If you don't offer warranties, your user will have to review your library so they can offer warranties.

Someone has to sign that stuff as "production worthy or I go to prison".

you already can? our lives depend on all kinds of software every day. In Canada at least you'd need a P.Eng to work on stuff that directly endanger lives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therac-25

If I'm not mistaken, P.Eng are merely needed the rubber stamping, not to do the grunt work. I doubt they'll go through all the specs, re-run all the simulations, and verify all the parameters.

Also, where is your P.Eng be any useful to justify the learning coefficients of your AI, or to protect about the cosmic ray bit-flip in the hardware your proven correct software is running on ?

Engineering for safety is about testing, not manufacturing quality. Or course you need to build quality in order to pass tests, but perfection is not a goal of any component. Tests measure quality, and failsafes and control layers reduce failure rates.
Thanks for the Therac-25 reference :)