Re: A new name for software failure : the glitch

["Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>]

On Sat, 4 Aug 2012 12:58:01 -0700 (PDT), Maciej Sobczak wrote:

> W dniu sobota, 4 sierpnia 2012 20:18:21 UTC+2 u�ytkownik (Nieznane) napisa�:
> 
>> In finance, software failure can be very expensive very fast.
> 
> Interestingly, this can also mean that there is something fundamentally
> broken with the way we do "finance" today. If you have a broken structure,
> then a genuine glitch in one place can turn the whole into dust. It's
> still a glitch and the actual problem is in the structure - the glitch can
> be merely a trigger for the collapse and the same glitch could be much
> less catastrophic if it happens in a structure that is in overall more
> resilient.

I am not an expert in software for trading stocks. But my guess is that
there is nothing wrong with it. It looks like an automated system. What you
described can be summarized in one word: instability. Yes, it is instable,
considering code variations as the input and functional behavior as the
output. All software systems are. Which is a problem far more important
than fabulous global warming etc.

> (Now ducking away to write my trading algos in Ada. ;-) )

Ada is not so important as the attitude to the language and software design
it promotes.

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de