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Comment: Huge Problem with Clause 2 (Score 1) 508

by JBrow (#37562726) Attached to: Outlining a World Where Software Makers Are Liable For Flaws

Clause 2. In any other case, you are liable for whatever damage your software causes when used normally.

This is too broadly stated. Define "when used normally". If the purpose is well-defined and performance is agreed to by spec via signed contract, then yes Clause 2 is fine. Now let's go into the real world shall we?

In the real world software is continually modified, changed, enhanced, etc. Thus "when used normally" is difficult to nail down.

A glaring omission of this software liability discussion is the area of software testing and, even further, software certification. The bottom line here is that such a simplistic treatment of software in terms of product liability is doomed.

Robotics

The World's Heaviest Robot 142

Posted by timothy
from the or-at-least-r/c-truck dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "This distinction goes to a future autonomous version of the 700-tons Caterpillar mining truck. In this article, Discovery News reports that Caterpillar engineers and computer scientists from Carnegie Mellon University have teamed up to develop this autonomous truck. Japan-based Komatsu has already delivered autonomous mining trucks to its customers, but these are smaller than the Caterpillar ones. Both companies are transforming their trucks into 'robots' for three reasons. Improvements in safety, efficiency and productivity will reduce costs and increase availability."

Comment: Emacs - ~/.saves directory (Score 5, Informative) 286

by JBrow (#24338011) Attached to: Programmer's File Editor With Change Tracking?
Aside from using version control, I also have Emacs set up with an extensive save history. My settings are:

; backup
(setq make-backup-files t)
(setq
backup-by-copying t
backup-directory-alist '(("." . "~/.saves"))
delete-old-versions t
kept-new-versions 6
kept-old-versions 2
version-control t)

Chinese Mathematicians Prove Poincare Conjecture 288

Posted by Zonk
from the late-night-math dept.
Joe Lau writes to mention a story running on the Xinhua News Agency site, reporting a proof for the Poincare Conjecture in an upcoming edition of the Asian Journal of Mathematics. From the article: "A Columbia professor Richard Hamilton and a Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman have laid foundation on the latest endeavors made by the two Chinese. Prof. Hamilton completed the majority of the program and the geometrization conjecture. Yang, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with Xinhua, 'All the American, Russian and Chinese mathematicians have made indispensable contribution to the complete proof.'"

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