![]() This case demonstrates the consequences of not giving enough attention to good programming practices and testing as a result of wanting to launch the product. Toyota recalled millions of vehicles and Toyota’s stock price decreased 20% a month after the cause of the problem was discovered. In this case, there was a series of things wrong with the software installed in Toyota cars: Memory corruption, wrong memory handling, disabling safety systems, systems with single points of failure, and thousands of global variables. After a series of accidents, which lead to investigations, investigators discovered that software errors were the cause of the unintended acceleration. In the mid-2000’s many Toyota drivers were reporting that their car was accelerating without them touching the pedal. The outage affected 800 flights across the country. After it reached zero, it could not time itself so it would shut down. The cause of the error was that the communication system had an internal timer that ticks off in milliseconds. To top it off the backup system failed a few minutes after it was turned on. So what happened? The primary voice communication system shut down unexpectedly. air traffic control at the LA airport lost voice communication with approximately 400 airplanes being tracked in the southwestern United States and many planes were headed towards each other. Failing to communicate with aircraft pilots promptly could result in catastrophe. The air traffic control has the important responsibility of informing aircraft pilots about relevant information regarding weather, routes, the distance between other airplanes, and more. Case #3: Air Traffic Control in LA Airport As a result, many patients suffered heart attacks or strokes since they were told they were at low-risk, while other suffered from the side-effects of taking unnecessary medication. So, what happened? In the year 2016, it was discovered that the clinical computer system SystmOne had an error that since 2009 had been miscalculating patient’s risk of heart attack. Either way, at least 300,000 heart patients were given the wrong drug or advise as a result of a software fault. I don’t know what is worse: Not taking your medicines at all or taking the wrong medication. It is not clear how Case #2: National Health Service The erroneous data was not only sent to the patients but also to insurance companies and the local Social Security Office. However, a mapping error in the software resulted in the system assigning a code of 20 (which means “expired”) instead of 01 which meant the patient had been discharged. ![]() So what happened? It turns out the hospital had recently upgraded its patient-management software system. Well, that is precisely what happened to 8500 people who received treatment between Oct 25 and Dec 11 at St. Imagine waking up one day, checking your mailbox an receiving a letter from your hospital saying you died. ![]() To give you an idea of possible consequences that may result from software failure, in this article, I will be presenting cases of software failure and its effects. A research study done by software testing company Tricentis revealed that in the year 2017 software failure affected 3.6 billion people and caused $1.7 trillion in financial losses. Software systems have become such an essential part of our economy that whenever they fail, there are economic consequences. Therefore, it is natural that the software systems we build contain errors and are prone to failure. And we humans make mistakes… lots of them. However, the more I learn about software and its development process, the more I learn about their weaknesses and potential threats.Īlthough software systems are effective at calculating large and complex data, they have one main weakness: humans create these systems. As a software engineer myself, I can appreciate the power and complexity involved in many of the software systems I use daily. The role of software is apparent in multiple areas of our lives: educations, finance, healthcare, communication, and more. The beauty of software development is that with just a computer and access to the internet amazing things can be created.
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