Ted comments:
> I wonder what a reasonable strategy would be for increasing
> the reliability of a system as complex as the BMW 745?
Systems that are that complex are running all over the place (the net is a good
example, aircraft, power stations, medical systems, etc...). And sometime in
the future, use Embedlets! So there is no excuse.
There are many ways to increase the reliability of such complex systems.
Good architecture. Loosely-coupled, layered functionality. Encapsulation.
Clean interfaces with common transport protocol definitions. Formalized and
extensive Unit, Integration and System testing. And the list goes one.
The real issue I see is that the 745 never should have been released with such
poorly implemented software. If you are not willing to do all of the above, then
you should stay away from writing software in mission critical (and very
possibly life critical) applications.
> I can not imagine how horrible it would be to try to
> trouble shoot one of the more modern automobiles.
If it was architected to best practices, this would not have been very difficult at
all. I think BMW underestimated the effort required to produce such software
and did not invest in the architecture/design (or quality people that do such) of
the system. It sounds like it was just "hacked" together, rather than
"engineered". Rather ironic given BMW's reputation for engineering. ;-)
Andrzej Jan Taramina
Chaeron Corporation: Enterprise System Solutions
http://www.chaeron.com
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