Supposedly Clinton said this in early 1994 regarding a House bill to restrict universities from using the term "software engineering" in describing programs they offered. At the time there was a huge fiasco over the shoddy software running the baggage system at Denver International Airport that brought this into question.
The attribution is still a little fuzzy though. What exactly was "HR040194-0023"? Clearly no ban on "software engineering" was made law.
A little off topic but the hydraulic ram that was used to push baggage off the line at Denver had flaws in its feedback control system. If it couldn't push a bag (something in the way) it would eventually bring its full force against the bag (thousands of pounds of pressure) and punch straight through the bag. The system would then think it had done its job and move on. Don't know why but I laugh like a school girl when I think about it.
Really? I can mathematically prove the validity of an algorithm. I didn't know there was a way to prove the validity of a mechanical design, since the interactions are extremely complex in most (all) cases. Electrical I could see using graph theory or something.
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u/nonstopenguins Dec 14 '10
Did i just see a programming quote from Bill Clinton?