{"id":25756,"date":"2020-02-04T09:14:02","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T14:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=25756"},"modified":"2020-02-04T21:42:28","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T02:42:28","slug":"iowa-caucuses-boeing-737-max-and-apollo-11-software-is-usually-the-weakest-link","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/04\/iowa-caucuses-boeing-737-max-and-apollo-11-software-is-usually-the-weakest-link\/","title":{"rendered":"Iowa Caucuses, Boeing 737 MAX, and Apollo 11: software is usually the weakest link"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Techcrunch<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A smartphone app tasked with reporting the results of the Iowa caucus has crashed, delaying the result of the first major count in nominating a Democratic candidate to run for the U.S. presidency.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Previously, I wrote about how a handful of lines of code could have prevented the Boeing 737 MAX’s software from trimming the airliner into a dive-bomber-at-Midway nose-down attitude (see “Boeing 737 MAX crash and the rejection of ridiculous data”<\/a>, for example).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently visited the Kennedy Space Center visitor center. In the building housing one of the leftover Saturn V rockets there is a compelling “Lunar Theater” presentation explaining that software overloaded the computer system in the Lunar Module<\/a> during Apollo 11, the first landing on the moon. According to the dramatic retelling, the mission was saved only because the crew hand-flew the spaceship to a successful landing. In other words, all of the civil, mechanical, electrical, and aeronautical engineering challenges were met, but the software failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Update: See comments below for how the the software in this case may have been blameless!]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The books for sale at the KSC do not encourage young visitors to become computer programmers…<\/p>\n\n\n\n