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Sender: "Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 13:30:51 -0700
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Agree, true or not its a great story and an even better lesson about not
getting carried away with code reuse. I can only imagine the shear terror on
the pilot's face as the roos smoked him!

John T Apa                              [log in to unmask]
L-3 CSW                                 (801) 594-3382
PO Box 16850                            Fax: (801) 594-2195
640 North 2200 West                     Salt Lake City, UT. 84116-0850



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kester, Rush W. [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 8:18 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: Objects fight back!
>
> 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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