[SystemSafety] A Fire Code for Software?

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

On 2018-03-13 04:48 , W.L. Mostia wrote:
> " From what Bill Mostia described, the solution seems obvious. Everyone should get all their software engineered in Texas."
> 
> I never proposed that what Texas was doing was "the solution" to the issue of producing high quality and safe software but rather what Texas is doing in this regard.  

Sorry, Bill, I didn't mean to put words into your mouth.

> Whether licensing of software engineer will result in improved software design is a controversial subject, 

Yes, it is.

Licencing is one social move, and all such moves occur in a complex social context. Part of that
context, by analogy with other technical licencing schemes, is that ultimately only one SE at a SW
firm would need to be licenced. If things went badly wrong then that SE could theoretically be held
responsible, sanctioned, and the firm could hire another one - things would not necessarily have
changed engineering-culturally at all. One can even argue that that is essentially what happens at
the moment.

Another move could be holding SW and SW-based-kit supply companies more accountable for deficits in
their products. But the question of assigning responsibility for such a deficit is already
fiendishly complicated, because of the complexity of the supply chain. It might just result in
expanded legal departments everywhere, along with ensuing price rise to pay for them.

I don't think the question of getting everyone to use more reliable development methods for SW is an
easy one. Neither do I think it will be the solution to the "SW problem". Requirements engineering
poses challenges that are at least as big, and to my mind less susceptible to pro forma solution.

PBL

Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Bielefeld, Germany
MoreInCommon
Je suis Charlie
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs-bi.de





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