[Info-vax] Rust as a HS language, was: Re: Quiet?

[plugh]

On 4/7/22 08:46, chris wrote:
>
> Many years ago, worked on an avionics project where all the code
> was written in micro assembler. That and other products
> typically had a set of documents describing every aspect and stage
> of the project. The was no concept ef mathematical provability,
> and this was a safety critical system.

I can't fix The Olden Times. I consider software engineering to be a process, not an art. Art is that spontaneous flash of cultural creation. 
Engineering is the slow process of putting an observatory into solar orbit at L2.

> Each module was individually
> tested, where every line of the code was exercised to verify what
> was in most cases, the obvious, but done anyway. At a higher level,
> the whole system was subjected to rigorous testing with valid and
> invalid data, stress testing,  to confirm that it was doing as
> expected. 

And how repeatable was that process?

> What i's saying is that code integrity can be improved by various
> means, but the main factor is always the process involved.

I'm glad we agree on that point!

> Full documentation at every stage of development, audit trail, peer
> group code reviews, and a thorough test program to verify operation
> to spec and reliability under extreme conditions. Problem is
> that such a process is very expensive to do right and most companies
> are not prepared to invest in that, 
Full stop. Matter not do the following predicates
> especially with short product lifetimes and pressure to get the product to market. 

It's Dilbert cartoons all the way down

> So the typical process these days is rapid development, which skimps
> on process and testing and debugs the product at the customer. I
> don't think any language can cure that, as it's the process and
> attention to detail that are missing and no fault of the language
> involved. To suggest that sort of thing can be fixed by the
> current language fashion of the month is fantasy and ignores
> the main problem... 

With all respect, your confirmation bias is showing.

cheers,
jec