Re: Supporting POSIX *users*

[Filip Brcic]

Дана Tuesday 01 November 2005 20:45, Christopher Nelson је написао(ла):
> > I don't know about guns, but riffles don't have any safety switch.
> > And comparing a gun to software is utterly silly, I have
> > never been able to kill my self with software, but I won't
> > even try to point a riffle up my nostril even if I know the
> > barrel is empty.
>
> 1) all legal semi-automatic or automatic weapons have a safety. (in the
> U.S.)
All legal weapons and as far as I know all illegal weapons as well in Serbia 
have a safety.
> 2) other types of weapons have *implicit* safeties which require you to
> deliberately unlock, load, and relock a mechanism.  Bolt action rifles
> meet this requirement.  Revolvers have an implicit safety in that you
> must first cock the hammer.  Double-action revolvers have a safety.
Knifes have safety for closing the holster. Even Japanese Katanas have some 
sort of safety (the sword cannot get out of the case on it's own, most of the 
time).
> 3) I was talking about shooting yourself in the foot.  I have a friend
> who shot himself in the leg with a .44 because his horse shied while he
> was roping another horse, the lariat got wrapped in the holster, and
> *boom*.  He didn't have his safety on, or else the safety was badly
> designed if it could be accidentally depressed.

Has anybody heard the saying: "In C you can easily should yourself in the leg, 
but in C++ you can chop your arm off"? I thought you were referring to 
that...

> 4) bad software *does* kill people.  Software controls pacemakers,
> airplanes, cars, and many other devices that people depend on for their
> life.
All control systems (except analog ones which are not used too much at this 
time) use some sort of micro-controller. Those control systems control the 
behaviour of elevators, water supply, nuclear plants, etc. Therefore, not 
only that bad software can kill people... it can kill clusters of people at 
once!

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