A small point, perhaps, but one I had not thought of. This seems right.
Skilled people can customize things. This may compete with canned customization schemes using programmable machine tools, but retrofitting stuff you already bought is always likely to be manual. (Italics mine)
Most of the work of installing a new release of a software product is retrofitting the customization you made the first time, and verifying it works will all the other existing software products. The actual install process is pretty rote, and actually often performed by a kind of robot (automated install script).
"Only when the environment can be tightly controlled does programming become easy and easily verified. Think tunnels or elevated tracks, not streets with dogs and schoolkids and potholes. And snow."
Even with tunnels and tracks, rigid programming can lead to disaster. See my post Blood on the Tracks
No one KNOWS all the conditions that may apply to any given situation, but the person on the scene is more likely to recognize what they are than is the person back at the office 50, 100, hundreds, or even a thousand miles away.
Most of the work of installing a new release of a software product is retrofitting the customization you made the first time, and verifying it works will all the other existing software products. The actual install process is pretty rote, and actually often performed by a kind of robot (automated install script).
ReplyDeleteGood link.
ReplyDelete"Only when the environment can be tightly controlled does programming become easy and easily verified. Think tunnels or elevated tracks, not streets with dogs and schoolkids and potholes. And snow."
Even with tunnels and tracks, rigid programming can lead to disaster. See my post Blood on the Tracks
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/43911.html
No one KNOWS all the conditions that may apply to any given situation, but the person on the scene is more likely to recognize what they are than is the person back at the office 50, 100, hundreds, or even a thousand miles away.
ReplyDelete