Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!motcid!murphyn
From: murphyn@cell.mot.COM (Neal P. Murphy)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Programmer Licensing?
Summary: References to related discussion
Keywords: software safety, government regulation
Message-ID: <242@cherry5.UUCP>
Date: 18 Oct 89 14:37:39 GMT
References: <39400056@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Heights, IL 60004
Lines: 35

In article <39400056@m.cs.uiuc.edu> render@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
>
> ...
>
>From the Champaign (IL) News-Gazette (Oct. 15, 1989):
>
>	Report: Billions wasted on computer software
>
>	SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRN) -- Errant computer software has killed
>	patients with too much radiation, caused a civilian airliner
>	to be shot from the sky, produced gigantic defense cost
>	overruns -- and is still inadequately regulated, according to a
>	congressional report.
>
> ...

For those who may be interested, please refer to the following articles in comp.software-eng
for a discussion on software safety.
    <1321@cs.rit.edu>
    <195@cherry5.UUCP>
    <1989Oct4.055359.15145@paris.ics.uci.edu>
    <209@cherry5.UUCP> <10901@riks.csl.sony.co.jp>
    <1989Oct12.184705.11620@paris.ics.uci.edu>
    <13097@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU>

I abhor the idea of licensing programmers:  either it will be another piece
of worthless paper one must pay $50 to receive, or we will all become
bogged down in bureaucratic paperwork.  The latter would be an effective
cure for software ills, since we would be too busy filling out forms to get
any software written!  Voila!  No more software bugs!  Seriously, I don't
see the need for any government meddling.  The software engineering
community is pretty much self-regulating.  Besides, a government mandate
would not have eliminated those errors.

NPN