[SystemSafety] McCabe¹s cyclomatic complexity and accounting fraud

[Steve Tockey]

Les,

“... I am in furious agreement. BUT we can’t ignore the reality that this is a common occurrence, has been for decades and is not improving. ”

I think there is still hope. For most of those decades the function of the software was “non-essential”. It didn’t matter much if the game crashed and erased your high score. But software is being used for much more critical purposes: medicine, finance, etc. At least the Avionics and Medical software people have a clue of what making better software is about. That can be used as a model, for when the others realize how much they can be liable for if their software fails. Baby steps, yes, but steps nonetheless.



“We got rid of the ‘go to’, now it’s time to get rid of source code altogether. Replace it with executable models. This is why I am so excited about state engines.”

Yes, at a minimum. But we usually need more than just state machines.



“Wear snow shoes Steve, build better tools”

And write books on said tools? (Smile)



Cheers,

— steve




From: Les Chambers <les at chambers.com.au<mailto:les at chambers.com.au>>
Date: Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 1:34 PM
To: Steve Tockey <Steve.Tockey at construx.com<mailto:Steve.Tockey at construx.com>>
Cc: "systemsafety at lists.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de<mailto:systemsafety at lists.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de>" <systemsafety at lists.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de<mailto:systemsafety at lists.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de>>
Subject: Re: [SystemSafety] McCabe¹s cyclomatic complexity and accounting fraud

Steve
Re your comment:
Imagine a ChemE, CivE, or any other *real* engineer letting supporting documentation get out of synch with the product. I’m back to my earlier observation that the software industry is dominated by highly paid amateurs. That has got to change.

... I am in furious agreement. BUT we can’t ignore the reality that this is a common occurrence, has been for decades and is not improving.

The hand wringing we engage in over this and other lapses in discipline is familiar.
I cite King Naram Sin of Chaldea, 3800 years B.C.:

We have fallen upon evil times
and the world has waxed very old and wicked.
Politics are very corrupt.
Children are no longer respectful to their parents.

There is an element here of the dogs barking while the caravan moves on. The only way we will make change happen is by using better tools. Bit like taking the steering wheel away from the driver to reduce the road toll. I hear tell that the authors of Ada viewed programmers as criminals. Just don’t give them a chance to do crime.

We got rid of the ‘go to’, now it’s time to get rid of source code altogether. Replace it with executable models. This is why I am so excited about state engines.

Sorry to sound so cynical but we have to except that where ever value is exchanged there will be fraud, as long as  society continues to worship money people will act, not from principle but in short term self interest and take disastrous shortcuts.

So look down at your feet. You think that’s solid ground? It’s just a thin crust. And underneath is the ooze. Wear snow shoes Steve, build better tools.

Les

On 17 Apr 2018, at 1:58 am, Steve Tockey <Steve.Tockey at construx.com<mailto:Steve.Tockey at construx.com>> wrote:

Imagine a ChemE, CivE, or any other
*real* engineer letting supporting documentation get out of synch with the
product. I’m back to my earlier observation that the software industry is
dominated by highly paid amateurs. That has got to change.
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