RE: How do we improve s/w developer awareness?

["Peter Amey" <peter.amey () praxis-his com>]

[snip]
> Remember that little incident in 2000 when the London 
> millennium bridge was
> closed immediately after opening due to excessive wobbling when people
> walked across it? I can't guarantee that my recollection is 
> accurate, but
> I'm sure they were trying to put this down to that software classic, a
> 'Design feature'.

The Millenium Bridge wobble is indeed instructive.  Engineering is usually a profession that is conservative and places 
great emphasis on codifying and learning from past mistakes.  Much bridge design work uses well-established, 
trustworthy principles.  The Millenium Bridge designers deliberately pushed the boundaries to produce something novel 
and exciting.  Never before had a suspension bridge had the suspension and decking in the same plane (i.e. the deck 
doesn't "hang" from the suspension, its balanced on/between the suspension).  The result was strong enough but had 
unexpected dynamics i.e. it wobbled!
I am confident that this experience is already in the text books, standard data tables and CAD tools.  The engineering 
body of knowledge had been added to and the problem should not recur.

This is where the software community can learn:

1.  We are appalling at learning from previous mistakes (other than in perfecting our ability to repeat them!)
2.  We routinely push the boundaries of what we try and achieve by leaping instead of stepping.
3.  We routinely adopt novel and untried technology in preference to proven and trustworthy alternatives.  Indeed, 
mature technology often seems to be rejected precisely because it is not new, novel or exciting enough.

The Millenium Bridge made news precisely because such engineering faiures are rare; software engineering failures make 
the news because they are so common the papers would be empty if they weren't reported! 

[snip]

Peter


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