Languages, Operating Systems, and Networks

“The three biggest advancements in computers: languages, operating systems, and networks” ~ Ken Thompson

TIL John McCarthy was a big part in time-sharing systems.

Infamous Bugs

• Ariane 5: rocket explodes; overflow; $500M
• USS Yorktown: zero entry leaves dead in in water
• Near Nuclear War: Oct. 5, 1960 Early Warning System mistakes moon for missle attack
• Pentium FDIV error: $475M
• Denver Baggage System: $1.1/day for over 9 months
• Therac-25 radiotherapy: multiple deaths

TIL the original version of Unix only had 20 system calls and they still exist amongst the 1000s of system calls in its descendant, Linux. Though there is no resource I have found that states the original 20, the closest thing I could find was the first edition “Unix Programmer’s Manual”.

Related:

• Systems Architecture, Design, Engineering, and Verification https://web.archive.org/web/20161125081247/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsMKJKTOte0
• Ariane 5 Explosion https://web.archive.org/web/20110409150846/https://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/~baber/Courses/3J03/StudentPresentations/Ariane5Chu.pdf
• USS Yorktown Windows NT 4.0 Divie-by-Zero Exception (page 54) https://web.archive.org/web/20160924172828/https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~wkahan/Boulder.pdf
• Near Nuclear War of Oct. 5th, 1960 https://web.archive.org/web/20150616000431/https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/04/Close%20Calls%20with%20Nuclear%20Weapons.pdf
• Pentium DFIV Division Bug https://klein.mit.edu/~edelman/homepage/papers/pentiumbug.pdf
• Denver Baggage System https://web.archive.org/web/20090419083406/https://calleam.com/WTPF/wp-content/uploads/articles/DIABaggage.pdf
• Therac-25 Radiation Overdoses https://archive.org/details/giftoffiresocial0000baas_r4k3/page/424/mode/2up
• Unix Programmer’s Manual https://web.archive.org/web/20151123034255/https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/1stEdman.html

Tags:

#ken-thompson #unix #bugs