[mcguire]

I tend to worry that an error in the code will be baked into the theory for generations.

I don't deal with much scientific code myself, but at one point I dealt with a proof-of-concept cryptographic library from a reasonably well-respected researcher. The code behaved correctly from the outside, but when I dug into it, deviated wildly from the published specification.

[forgottenpass]

Recent Eurpoean economic policy was based on a paper that relied on an Excel formula error http://theconversation.com/economists-an-excel-error-and-the...

It only lasted a few years, but I find the idea of exiting long lasting research founded on bad code a to be very real possibility.