Notes on the software craft.
I explore technology and how to build software that is reliable, safe, and affordable, quickly.
by Pete Houghton peterhoughton.com LinkedIn
“Works on my machine!” “Fails most epicly on my test system!” “Oh, wait… it works on CI but fails in Test env 3.” Sound familiar? These sorts of conversations are thankfully a thing of the past. Wait, hold on are you still having these sorts of conversations? That's probably…“Works on my machine!” “Fails most epicly on my test system!” “Oh, wait… it works on CI but fails in Test env 3.” Sound… more »
Sometimes people discuss test engineers and QA as if they were a sort of police force, patrolling the streets of code looking for offences and offenders. While I can see the parallels, the investigation, checking the veracity of claims and a belief that we are making things…Sometimes people discuss test engineers and QA as if they were a sort of police force, patrolling the streets of code… more »
This is the story behind the VW emissions scandal, that so far has cost the company over $33bn. We look into the technology issues VW faced and the investigations that uncovered the problem. The MP3 (Audio) file is available here.This is the story behind the VW emissions scandal, that so far has cost the company over $33bn. We look into the… more »
As part of an ongoing project to learn more about what we've got wrong to help us improve, I look at the Therac 25 incidents, a devastating collection of software failures that often rank in the top 10 of civilian radiation accidents. The Therac 25 radiation therapy device…As part of an ongoing project to learn more about what we've got wrong to help us improve, I look at the Therac 25… more »
In this episode, we look at the Post Office Horizon scandal, an app that caused what some people are describing as the largest miscarriage of justice in British legal history. We look at some bugs, the legal judgements and what might have gone wrong at the Post Office to allow…In this episode, we look at the Post Office Horizon scandal, an app that caused what some people are describing as the… more »
We wind the clock back to November 2019 and investigate the failure of voting machines in Northampton County, Pa., USA. We break down what went wrong, what caused the problem and what we can learn about the risks of software development from this high profile incident. The show…We wind the clock back to November 2019 and investigate the failure of voting machines in Northampton County, Pa., USA.… more »
When I’m debugging a complex system, I’m constantly looking for patterns. I just ran this test code... What did I see in the log? I just processed a metric $^&\ load of data, did our memory footprint blip? I’m probably using every freedom unit of screen space to tail logs, run a…When I’m debugging a complex system, I’m constantly looking for patterns. I just ran this test code... What did I see… more »
There's no such thing as a small bug. Customers, be they people or businesses, do not measure Software bugs in metres, feet or miles or kilograms. They use measures like time wasted, life lost and money. Take a recent bug from Facebook. It affected thousands, maybe millions of…There's no such thing as a small bug. Customers, be they people or businesses, do not measure Software bugs in metres… more »
A long time ago, in a country far away, a cunning politician suggested a way to reduce crime. He stated that a simple test that could be used to catch all the criminals. When tested, all the criminals would fail the test and be locked up. There’d be no need for expensive courts…A long time ago, in a country far away, a cunning politician suggested a way to reduce crime. He stated that a simple… more »
Sometimes finding out why something is broken is a long and painful process. You might have to trawl through a tonne of data, logs or equipment. Filtering out what looks OK from what looks, suspect. These laborious investigative tasks are in the back of our mind when we’re asked…Sometimes finding out why something is broken is a long and painful process. You might have to trawl through a tonne of… more »