From: Marin Condic <condicma@bogon.pwfl.com>
Subject: Re: Confusing language, was Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing
Date: 1999/11/08
Date: 1999-11-08T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <38270DC7.86553BB1@pwfl.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 807109$8m0$1@nnrp1.deja.com
Robert Dewar wrote:
> Personally I find treating Y2K this way technically
> unsupportable, but my technical views do not govern the law!
>
Y2K is not a bug. It is a feature. Y2K is simply caused by a design
limitation that does not allow the software to work past 1999. This was
a conscious choice to sacrifice useful life span in exchange for space
efficiency. It would be no more a bug if someone were to state: "My Ada
compiler correctly compiles any legal Ada program which is under 1000
lines in length." or "My spreadsheet software can do 100% correct
integer math as long as the numbers are in the range -32768..32767." The
software behaves exactly as it was designed to do, only within certain
designed in limitations.
I can see why Congress provided protection (aside from the obvious
problem of clogging the courts with cases they couldn't handle and the
potential to bankrupt every company that ever had anything to do with
computers). Any software that has a Y2K limitation is just that -
limited. It was state of the art, industry standard practice at the time
that the software was built. (Maybe some very recent products should be
exempt from this protection?) The limitation was widely known. In the
absence of someone claiming Y2K compliance when their product was, in
fact, not compliant, the law ought to protect the manufacturer from
lawsuits that may result from using their software outside of its
designed limitations.
An analogy might be if you had some less than successful surgery years
ago prior to the general availability of surgical microscopes. Suppose
the surgery would have had vastly better results if done with a surgical
microscope? Should you today be allowed to sue the doctor for performing
a surgery with known risks using what were widely accepted medical
techniques at that time?
MDC
--
Marin David Condic
If you hurry you can, for a short time only, still find me at:
Real Time & Embedded Systems, Propulsion Systems Analysis
United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines
M/S 731-95, P.O.B. 109600, West Palm Beach, FL, 33410-9600
***To reply, remove "bogon" from the domain name.***
Visit my web page at: http://www.mcondic.com/
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1999-11-08 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 128+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1999-10-29 0:00 Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing vico
1999-10-29 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-29 0:00 ` David Botton
1999-10-29 0:00 ` Gautier
1999-10-29 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-30 0:00 ` Dave Taylor
1999-10-30 0:00 ` gnat on macintosh James E. Hopper
1999-10-30 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-10-30 0:00 ` James E. Hopper
1999-10-31 0:00 ` Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing Robert Dewar
1999-10-29 0:00 ` Tucker Taft
1999-10-29 0:00 ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
1999-10-30 0:00 ` Siow Wey Hua
1999-10-29 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-29 0:00 ` David Starner
1999-10-31 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-31 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-31 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-01 0:00 ` Tucker Taft
1999-11-01 0:00 ` Gautier
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Aidan Skinner
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Free Software -- was, " Richard D Riehle
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Gautier
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-03 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04 0:00 ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-04 0:00 ` Stanley R. Allen
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Preben Randhol
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Confusing language, was " tmoran
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04 0:00 ` Richard D Riehle
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-11-04 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-04 0:00 ` David Starner
1999-11-04 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-11-04 0:00 ` David Starner
1999-11-04 0:00 ` Aidan Skinner
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Craig Spannring
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-06 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04 0:00 ` Hyman Rosen
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-10 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-06 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-11-06 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-08 0:00 ` Tarjei Jensen
1999-11-08 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Tarjei Jensen
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Y2K liability, was " tmoran
1999-11-08 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-08 0:00 ` Marin Condic [this message]
1999-11-08 0:00 ` Ehud Lamm
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Ehud Lamm
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Marin Condic
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Richard D Riehle
1999-11-10 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-10 0:00 ` Richard D Riehle
1999-11-11 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-11 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-11 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-12 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11 0:00 ` Marin Condic
1999-11-12 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-12 0:00 ` Marin Condic
1999-11-12 0:00 ` Marin Condic
1999-11-13 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-19 0:00 ` GNAT.Calendar (was: Re: Confusing language, was Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing) Mario Amado Alves
1999-11-19 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-12 0:00 ` Confusing language, was Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing Robert I. Eachus
1999-11-12 0:00 ` Marin Condic
1999-11-13 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-13 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-11-15 0:00 ` Samuel T. Harris
1999-11-15 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-15 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-10 0:00 ` Confusing language etc Nick Roberts
1999-11-11 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-09 0:00 ` Confusing language, was Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing Robert Dewar
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-03 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-11-04 0:00 ` Charles Hixson
1999-11-04 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-08 0:00 ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-08 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-05 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04 0:00 ` Georg Bauhaus
[not found] ` <01bf25cc$5d390fc0$022a6282@dieppe>
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-04 0:00 ` David Botton
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02 0:00 ` Gautier
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Aidan Skinner
1999-11-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
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