Careless Code Reuse Causes Killer Kangaroos Mutant Marsupials Take Up Arms Against Australian Air Force From Bede Ireland in Australia.
Wednesday, November 06, 2002 7:50 AM
UTRC
Careless Code Reuse Causes Killer Kangaroos Mutant Marsupials Take
Up Arms Against Australian Air Force
& Technology Organization's Land Operations/Simulation division reportedly
instructed developers to model the local marsupials' movements and
reactions to helicopters. Being efficient programmers, they just
re-appropriated some code originally used to model infantry detachment
reactions under the same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a soldier
to a kangaroo, and increased the figures' speed of movement. Eager to
demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting American pilots, the
hotshot Aussies "buzzed" the virtual kangaroos in low flight during a
simulation. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the visiting
Americans nodded appreciatively... then did a double-take as the kangaroos
reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of Stinger missiles
at the hapless helicopter. Apparently the programmers had forgotten to
remove that part of the infantry coding. The lesson? Objects are defined
with certain attributes, and any new object defined in terms of an old one
inherits all the attributes. The embarrassed programmers had learned to be
careful when reusing object-oriented code, and the Yanks left with a
newfound respect for Australian wildlife. Simulator supervisors report
that pilots from that point onward have strictly avoided kangaroos, just
as they were meant to. From June 15, 1999, Defense Science and Technology
Organization Lecture Series, Melbourne, Australia, and staff reports. Item
taken from Software Testing and Quality Engineering magazine, Volume 1,
Issue 6 (November/December 1999).
8:45:23 PM 
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