Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!portal!cup.portal.com!Jake-S From: Jake-S@cup.portal.com (Jake G Schwartz) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: Re: The mythical bug-free code Message-ID: <38870@cup.portal.com> Date: 5 Feb 91 01:31:28 GMT References: Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 40 Xeno writes: > As a side-line, HP should have tested their ROMs more thoroughly... If they > didn't even try to invert a matrix larger than 8x8, they deserve the penalty > of replacing every flawed calculator. It is not OUR fault that the entire > calculator must be replaced. HP, in their infinite wisdom, could have > worked out a scheme where the ROMs were replacable. Software is covered > by the same warranties that hardware is - it is to be free from manufacture > defects... Revision Ds are flawed, and so are A, B, and Cs... If I bought > a car and the 2nd gear position on my automatic transmission control didn't > work, I'd sure have it fixed even if I didn't use it! Give me a break. There is no such thing as bug-free code, anywhere, especially when the code is 262 thousand bytes long. All there may be is code where the bugs haven't been found yet. Let's suppose that HP's ROMs *did* invert 8 by 8 matrices correctly, but they didnt invert 111 by 111 matrices correctly. How would you propose to test THIS one ? How about if it inverted ALL matrices correctly except for ones whose element in row 47 column 16 was a -1? How would you then pro- pose to test THAT one out? If you have an answer, you are better than most of us. My guess is that you just haven't thought our your statements before typing them to this newsgroup. Software is never free from defects..it's a fact of life. There are many hardware problems with socketing the ROM and allowing the user to go in and change it. Static electricity is just one of these. Breaking pins is another. Opening and closing the machine easily without making it too susceptable to dust and moisture is still another. It would simply cost a signicant amount more if the ROM was socketed. Testing four or five gears of a car is one thing. But testing each and every permutation of 256K of code is another. There is no comparison. I think they've done a pretty splendid job with what we've got. It simply surprises me that HP is upgrading machines as much as they are. Lucky for them that only a small minority of their HP48 users won't accept a really simple workaround for inverting matrices that is virtually as easy as the original method. Jake Schwartz