Axil Axil <[email protected]> wrote: There is a tried and true method that is used to avoid failure modes. When > you build your LSI-11 computer systems, you used structured software > development and unit level debugging. But you stated out a long time ago > using machine code and fingerboned that machine code into the computer > using toggle switches. . . . > That is true. But no action is need to remove imaginary problems that experiments prove do not exist.
I used those old computers, and in some cases they did have excessive safeguards against problems that never occurred. They were over-designed because the designers did not know what the problems would be. Data General and the early microcomputers had toggle switches and LED readouts of processor states. I never saw anyone use these controls, or read them for any purpose. They were left-overs from earlier models. They were an unnessary layer, like the spikes on the locomotive driving wheels. (Note that insufficient friction is a real problem with railroad locomotives, with wet or icy rails. It was solved by spreading sand on the rails. Steam locomotives had sand domes for this purpose. So, the problem was not totally imaginary, but spikes were not needed.) - Jed
