[NTLUG:Discuss] [Fwd: UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF CODE RECYCLING]

[Greg Edwards]

I thought everyone might get a kick outta this one:)

Greg E

> I don't know about the validity of this, but it is a great software
> development story.
>
> CARELESS CODE RECYCLING CAUSES KILLER KANGAS
>
> Mutant Marsupials Take Up Arms Against Australian Air Force
>
> The reuse of some object-oriented code has 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 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