> Eeek! Remind me not to work on the same codebase as you!
My only point is that software does wear out with use. It remains the
same regardless of how often it is used. That is not true in Automotive
Engineering. Even the best automotive engineering solutions wear out
with use.
I was lead architect for years of a system which processed engineering
designs (from several different Design Automation systems) of electronic
computer parts -- cards, boards, chips and modules and translated them
into manufacturing Numerical Control data and Manufacturing floor
routings. Our SINGLE system had to run for new technologies as well as
20 years of existing manufacturing historical designs. We/I designed
hierarchical database systems which could hold data at various historic
levels -- 20 years or more, and which the software applications could
read/update at the data element level without knowing the exact
structure/version of the database. And it was not the crude
keyword/value pair kind of stuff in use in XML today.
I understand dealing with changing requirements and the need for
flexibility in software design to meet future unknown requirements more
than most. New technologies and new requirements were always right
around the corner.
Don Malling
Trevor Boicey wrote:
>>I am learning that software engineering and automotive engineering are
>>very different. In software it works or it doesn't, and if it works once
>>it will work forever
>
>
> Eeek! Remind me not to work on the same codebase as you!
>
> Writing software that works once is something any kid can do. Writing
> software that will work in the real world, be maintained, be changed,
> and be repaired, is what brings Engineering to software.
>
> Software just rots in a different way. If you underdesign your
> driveshaft, it'll snap as soon as it's used. If you underdesign your
> software, it means that you have to scrap the whole project as soon as
> the first raft of changes come in.
>
> Imagine having to redesign a whole car from scratch because the first
> few demos showed "abnormally fast seat wear". ;>
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