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This programmer discovered the hard way the importance of testing:

in 1998, i made a C++ program to calculate pi to a billion digits. i coded it on my laptop (pentium 2 i think) and then ran the program. the next day i got a new laptop but decided to keep the program running. it’s been over seven years now since i ran it. and this morning it finished calculating. the output: "THE VALUE OF PI TO THE BILLIONTH DIGIT IS = "

mindblowing eh? i looked in the code of my program, and i found out that i forgot to output the value :(.

Comment: true story, i fixed the code and am running it again.  (Source)

This cautionary tale reminds me of a certain fictional computer that worked for 7-1/2 million years to calculate the meaning of life, only to output the number 42:

"I think the problem is that the question was too broadly based…"

"Forty two?!" yelled Loonquawl. "Is that all you’ve got to show for seven and a half million years’ work?"

"I checked it very thoroughly," said the computer, "and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is."  (Source)

A creed is a statement of belief or faith often recited as part of a religious service or organizational gathering.  The word “creed” derives from the Latin credo (I believe) or credimus (we believe).  Perhaps the oldest is Apostle’s Creed cited in Christianity.  However, the Rifleman’s Creed is arguably the most famous, made popular by the Stanley Kubrick war movie “Full Metal Jacket” (warning: language).  This has inspired me (with tongue planted firmly in cheek) to write a creed for our noble profession of software development.

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“To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.”  –Paul Ehrlich

Software errors cost the U.S. economy $60 billion annually in rework, lost productivity and actual damages.  We all know software bugs can be annoying, but faulty software can also be expensive, embarrassing, destructive and deadly.  Following are 20 famous software “disasters” in chronological order:
 

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This is Part 2 of “20 Famous Software Disasters.” 
See also Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4.
 

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This is Part 3 of “20 Famous Software Disasters.” 
See also Part 1, Part 2 and Part 4.
 
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This is the final Part 4 of “20 Famous Software Disasters.” 
See also Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
 
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“Men Behaving Badly” was a cheeky British comedy from the 90’s that was voted “Best Sitcom in BBC History” for the BBC’s 60th anniversary in 1996.  The series featured two men in their thirties taking a keen interest in “booze, birds and football” (that’s alcohol, women and soccer to our American readers).  The otherwise lovable pair often behaved badly, causing those around them to suffer with comedic results.  Today we discuss a few examples of otherwise good software that occasionally behaves badly, causing its users to suffer with frustrating results.

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