Fatal Defect: Chasing Killer Computer Bugs - Couverture souple

Peterson, Ivars

 
9780679740278: Fatal Defect: Chasing Killer Computer Bugs
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 0679740279 ISBN 13 : 9780679740278
Editeur : Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1996

Synopsis

An airplane crashes, killing eighty-seven passengers. A cancer patient receives a fatal dose of radiation from a machine designed to be foolproof. The ATMs at a New York bank debit customers twice their actual withdrawals, resulting in a loss of millions of dollars. In every case, the culprit was a computer bug, a software error or design defect that may escape detection until it erupts into the real world with sometimes catastrophic results.

This arresting and at times terrifying book tells us just how prevalent these defects are and how they are multiplying as computers become more sophisticated and more deeply embedded in our daily lives. It is also a riveting portrait of the men and women who find and "exterminate" those bugs, whether they occur in pocket calculators or nuclear reactors.

Fatal Defect reveals what you should know about the computers in our lives. Read it before you buy a computer, use a cash machine, or book an airplane flight. Then pray that one of its real-life heroes was on the job.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Présentation de l'éditeur

An airplane crashes, killing eighty-seven passengers. A cancer patient receives a fatal dose of radiation from a machine designed to be foolproof. The ATMs at a New York bank debit customers twice their actual withdrawals, resulting in a loss of millions of dollars. In every case, the culprit was a computer bug, a software error or design defect that may escape detection until it erupts into the real world with sometimes catastrophic results.

This arresting and at times terrifying book tells us just how prevalent these defects are and how they are multiplying as computers become more sophisticated and more deeply embedded in our daily lives. It is also a riveting portrait of the men and women who find and "exterminate" those bugs, whether they occur in pocket calculators or nuclear reactors.

Fatal Defect reveals what you should know about the computers in our lives. Read it before you buy a computer, use a cash machine, or book an airplane flight. Then pray that one of its real-life heroes was on the job.

Revue de presse

"The book is both amusing and a quite serious argument for never assuming computers are flawless."

-- San Diego Union-Tribune"Peterson's book is an entertaining introduction to the problems of creating reliable computer systems."

-- Christian Science Monitor

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Date d'édition
1996
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0679740279
ISBN 13 
9780679740278
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
288
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9780812920239: Fatal Defect: Chasing Killer Computer Bugs

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  0812920236 ISBN 13 :  9780812920239
Editeur : Times Books, 1995
Couverture rigide