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Subject:
From:
"Kester, Rush W." <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Kester, Rush W.
Date:
Wed, 8 Dec 1999 10:18:26 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
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text/plain (73 lines)
Whether it's true or not, it's a great lesson on how inheritance can come
back to haunt you.  Or why you should submit all software to DNA analysis,
before having children.  ;-)  Thanks Daniel!  :-)

The jury is currently deadlocked:  Geoff Bull [[log in to unmask]] saying
it's fantasy and Alan E and Carmel J Brain [[log in to unmask]] saying
it's a true C [or should it be C++] story.  The rules for further jury
deliberation are that only individuals with first hand knowledge can vote.
The rest of us can only observe your deliberations.

Rush Kester
charter member Team-Ada

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Daniel McDonough [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 2:32 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Objects fight back!
>
> I haven't checked out the reference at the end of this, but even if it
> isn't true, it is a good story for teaching.
>
> I wonder if the simulation was coded in Ada? <-- Ada content
>
> Daniel McDonough                              Team Ada
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> Careless code recycling causes killer kangas --
> Mutant Marsupials Take Up Arms Against Australian Air Force
>
> The reuse of some object-oriented code had caused tactical headaches for
> Australia's armed forces.
>
> As virtual reality simulators assume larger roles in helicopter combat
> training, programmers have gone to great lengths to increase the realism
> of their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and -- in the case of
> the Northern Territory's Operation Phoenix -- herds of kangaroos (since
> disturbed animals might well give away a helicopter's position).
>
> The head of the Defense Science & Technology Organization's
> LandOperations/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 helpless
> 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)

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