Everyone who writes safety critical software should read this

[Chris]

On Wednesday, 30 October 2013 at 03:24:54 UTC, Walter Bright 
wrote:
> Take a look at the reddit thread on this:
>
> http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1pgyaa/toyotas_killer_firmware_bad_design_and_its/
>
> Do a search for "failsafe". Sigh.

One of the comments under the original article you posted says

"Poorly designed firmware caused unintended operation, lack of 
driver training made it fatal."

So it's the driver's fault, who couldn't possibly know what was 
going on in that car-gone-mad? To put the blame on the driver is 
cynicism of the worst kind.

Unfortunately, that's a common (and dangerous) attitude I've come 
across among programmers and engineers. The user has to adapt to 
anything they fail to implement or didn't think of. However, 
machines have to adapt to humans not the other way around 
(realizing this was part of Apple's success in UI design, Ubuntu 
is very good now too).

I warmly recommend the book "Architect or Bee":

http://www.amazon.com/Architect-Bee-Human-Technology-Relationship/dp/0896081311/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383127030&sr=8-1&keywords=architect+or+bee