Telecom/1996-04-telecom-walnutcreek.iso/book.reviews/digital.woes-wiener

Text File | 1995-01-05 | 7.5 KB | 153 lines

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Date:         Sun, 6 Feb 1994 18:25:00 CST
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From:         "(Jim Thomas)" <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Cu Digest, #6.13

CONTENTS, #6.13 (Feb 6, 1994)
File 2--"DIGITAL WOES" by Wiener (Book Review)
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Date: 31 Jan 1994 16:26:51 -0600
From: [e-mail](Rob Slade, Ed. DECrypt & ComNet, VARUG rep,
Subject: File 2--"DIGITAL WOES" by Wiener (Book Review)

BKDGTLWO.RVW  931223

Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
Heather Rignanesi, Marketing, x340, [e-mail]
P.O. Box 520
26 Prince Andrew Place
Don Mills, Ontario
M3C 2T8
416-447-5101
fax: [phone]
or
Tiffany Moore, Publicity  [e-mail]
Bob Donegon  [e-mail]
John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing [e-mail]
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1 Jacob Way
Reading, MA   01867-9984
800-822-6339
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Fax: [phone]
5851 Guion Road
Indianapolis, IN   46254
800-447-2226
"Digital Woes", Wiener, 1993, 0-201-62609-8, U$22.95/C$29.95
[e-mail]

When reviewing books on technical topics, one quickly learns to dread
the work of those who do not actually practice in the field.  (Yes, we
are told that Wiener is a technical writer.  They may very well be
professionals, but the overwhelming majority are not technical
professionals.)  With this prejudice firmly in place, it came as a
delightful surprise to find that "Digital Woes" is an accurate,
well-researched, and thoroughly engaging treatment of the subject of
software risks.

Chapter one is a list of specific examples of software failures, large
and small.  The stories are thoroughly documented and well told.  The
choice of examples is careful, and useful as well, covering a variety
of problems.  One could, of course, add to the list.  In the virus
field programs are extremely limited in function and rarely exceed
3000 bytes in length, yet almost every viral strain shows some
programming pathology; most of the damage seems to be done by mistake.
The user interfaces of antivirals are subject to hot debate, perhaps
more importantly than in other systems because of the risks involved
in misunderstanding.  In regard to decision support, I recall the
assumption, on the part of Excel, that everyone wants to use linear
forecasting.  Everyone involved in technical fields will be able to
add other specific examples.  For those uninvolved, Wiener's work is
quite sufficient and convincing.

Chapter two is an explanation of why software contains bugs, and why
software errors are so deadly.  Techies will feel somewhat
uncomfortable with the lack of jargon, but persevere.  Initially, I
thought she had missed the point of the difference between analogue
and digital systems--until I realized I was in the middle of a
complete and clear explanation that never had to use the word
"analog".  (Technopeasants will, of course, appreciate the lack of
jargon.  Rest assured that the same ease of reading and clarity of
language holds throughout the book.)

Chapter three examines the various means used to try to ensure the
reliability of software--usually with a depressing lack of success.
As with all who have worked in the field, I can relate to the comments
regarding the difficulty of testing.  At one point I uncovered a bug
in the third minor variant of the fourth major release of the fifth
generation of a communications program.  Apparently I was the first
person on staff who had ever wanted to keep a running log between
sessions--and the functions I used combined to completely lock up the
computer.

Most RISKS-FORUM readers will by now be nodding and muttering, "So
what else is new".  However, Wiener here proves herself capable of
some valuable and original contributions beyond the pronouncements of
those working in the field.  Noting that she is familiar with
programmers who have never, in twenty years of work, had their code
incorporated into a delivered product, she raises the issue of what
this type of work environment does to the psyche of the worker.  My
grandfather carved the wooden decorations in our church, and, fifty
years after his death, I can still point that out.  However, in a
career of analysis, training and support, I can point to little beyond
an amount of Internet bandwidth consumed.  (Many would say "wasted".)
To the ephemeral nature of the craft, though, one must add the legacy
of constant failure.  Martin Seligman's "Learned Helplessness" points
out the danger quite clearly.  A similar thought was voiced some years
ago over the impact on developing youth of the then new video games,
and the fact that you could advance through levels but never,
ultimately, win.  These children are grown now.  You may know them as
"Generation X".

Chapter four deals with means to prevent failure.  Actually most of
the material discusses recovery--assuming that the system will
eventually fail, how to ensure that the failure causes the least
damage.

Chapter five is entitled "Big Plans" and looks at various proposed new
technologies and the risks inherent in them.  In this discussion
Wiener warns against those who are overly thrilled with the promises
of the new technology.  I agree, but I would caution that public
debate is also dominated by those strident with fear.  The arguments
of both sides tend to entrench to defeat the opposition, while the
public, itself, sits bemused in the middle without knowing whom to
believe.  It is a major strength of Wiener's work that the field is
explored thoroughly and in an unbiased manner.

Many books which try to present an objective view of a controversial
problem tend to trail off into meaningless weasel-words, but the final
chapter here concerns "The Wise Use of Smart Stuff."  Wiener lists a
good set of criteria to use in evaluating a proposed system.  The one
item I would recommend be toned down is the axiom that personal care
be excluded.  I keep an old Berke Breathed "Bloom County" cartoon in
my office wherein Opus, the Penguin, berates a computer for depriving
him of his humanity until the bemused machine attempts to confirm that
Opus is human.  The perceived coldness of our institutions is often
illusory.  I once worked in a geriatric hospital and thought it a
shame that our culture did not keep aging parents at home.  Until,
that is, I lived in a culture that did, and found that the
"technology" of our hospitals provided more human contact to the old
folks than did the "organic" home care.  I also note that the
belittled ELIZA is the only program to have passed the Turing test so
far.  A limited, unexpected, and hilarious pass, perhaps, but a pass
nonetheless.

I note, as I am reviewing this book, a press release by a headhunting
agency that half of all executives are computer illiterate.  The
survey method is extremely suspect, and I assume these figures are so
kind as to be ridiculous.  I would heartily recommend this work to
technical and non-technical workers alike.  Particularly, though, I
recommend it to those executives who are the ones to make the ultimate
decisions on major projects.  Please re-read it after the next vendor
demo you attend.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993   BKDGTLWO.RVW  931223

Postscriptum - my wife agrees with Peter Denning that I tend to
editorialize in my reviews.  This is likely true.  "Digital Woes",
however, deals with a topic which has prompted many editorials--and
deals with it well.  Permission granted to distribute with unedited
copies of the Digest