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Story at CNN:
The first footsteps on the moon belonged to two men, but they may never have made it there if not for Margaret Hamilton.
The software engineer developed the onboard computer programs that powered NASA's Apollo missions, including the 1969 moon landing.
So, it's only fitting that in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, a portrait of the bespectacled pioneer reflected the light of the moon.
Not just Hidden Figures? Click on the full article to see the display.
Hamilton effectively invented the term "software engineer" with her work developing the Apollo guidance computer, the lifeline for astronauts that controlled the spacecraft, Google said in announcing the artistic honor.
She regularly brought her young daughter, Lauren, to work with her on weekends, according to the search giant. Lauren played in the simulator that her mother built to test in-flight programs and inadvertently led Hamilton to rethink her strategy.
Lauren once crashed the simulator, ending the mission prematurely by hitting a button while the craft was in flight.
So, Hamilton programmed backstops to prevent an astronaut from doing the same midflight, a mistake that would yield far more dire consequences in space, Google says.
"There was no second chance. We knew that," Hamilton wrote in 2009 for MIT. "We had to find a way and we did."
Whatever you do, do not push the big red button, M'kay?
See also: These 6 Accidents Nearly Derailed Apollo 11's Mission to the Moon
How to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Saturday July 20 2019, @04:40AM (4 children)
Quite a different thing.
If she did invent the term I want to give her a sarcastic award in return. It's newspeak nonsense, engineers are professionals with a solid background in applied physics and risk analysis, strict ethical obligations, and liability for their mistakes.
"Software engineers" are exactly none of that.
If she was doing CS for NASA in the time period in question, however, well I can't really diss her. You have to judge people of the past by the standards of the past, she was working in a relatively rigorous environment and no doubt aspiring correctly. She couldn't have anticipated the mess that would be made of the field in the intervening decades.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rupert Pupnick on Saturday July 20 2019, @12:39PM (3 children)
Your definition of “engineer” is interesting, but I’m not sure I agree with it. I think it fits well with the job descriptions of the first engineers who designed and ran the steam engines used to pump water out of coal mines, but I think the accepted definition has broadened over time in some areas, and shrank in others, particularly in the area of ethical obligation. I’ve never received any kind formal ethical training in my career as a hardware type, but I can certainly appreciate that the tech world would be better place if it placed more importance on ethical behavior.
As to the claim of invention of the term, it does seem rather lofty, but the Wikipedia citation is surprisingly detailed. Would Fred Smith have been celebrated pretty much the same way if he had been the “inventor”? Probably. I don’t see a need to make this into a culture war issue by either side.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday July 20 2019, @03:10PM (2 children)
And you're which kind of engineer exactly? "Hardware type" could refer to any of them. You should not have been certified without demonstrating good knowledge of your professional ethical obligations, and the certifying body can strip you of the title very quickly if you're shown to have violated them.
"I don’t see a need to make this into a culture war issue by either side."
Neither do I, which is why I didn't do that.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rupert Pupnick on Saturday July 20 2019, @04:54PM (1 child)
Let me clarify.
First of all, I’m not certified. It’s never been a requirement for any of the engineering jobs I’ve held over the past 35 years in computers and telecom. For more excruciating detail on exactly what I’ve done, please have a look at my journal.
Secondly, it wasn’t entirely accurate to say I’ve never gotten ethical training. It’s been mandatory at nearly every place I’ve worked, but it’s the same training program for every employee, and so not at all specific to engineering. Mostly it’s a cover for the legal department to be able to say they have it, and the actual course material teaches things like “never accept a gift from a vendor” and other similar non-technical stuff.
I’d love to see all engineers held to high ethical standards, and I’ll just stop right there on that one.
I think of PE type certifications as being required in fields where public safety is a dominant concern like civil engineering. I’m sure you know more about it than I do.
Lastly, did not at all mean to give you the idea I think you’re a culture warrior. You certainly are not. Just a general comment about the prevailing discussion on this topic.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Saturday July 20 2019, @05:07PM
Well there you go. That's exactly what I'm saying.
Public safety hasn't been a great (or even tiny) concern of 'software engineering' so far as I can tell, and that's a good reason to deny the term legitimacy.
It *should have* been. But it wasn't. Still isn't.
We've got computers running critical infrastructure from power plants and trains and roadways (and self-driving cars on those roadways!) and also military systems; tanks and ships and planes and even hydrogen bomb tipped missile systems, and we *still* don't understand that public safety needs to be a dominant concern in designing and building those computer systems.
I laughed at the idea they would run a warship with windows. Then I laughed when it blue-screened and the ship had to be towed back to harbor. But you know what?
They're all running windows now, despite that.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?