On 07/09/2012 03:46 PM, scott wrote:
>> Sure, there are autonomous machines all around us. I don't think that
>> designing or programming them requires a vast amount of technical
>> knowledge - just extensive testing and experimentation.
>
> That's a very bad way to design products, it's expensive and time
> consuming, and liable to create a product with lots of bugs you don't
> find until they're out in the field. Far better to get people with vast
> technical knowledge to properly design the product in the first place,
> the actual product testing should just be a formality, not a tool to
> find the best design.

I take it you don't subscript to "test-driven software development" as a 
methodology either? ;-)

> But don't worry, you're not alone in underestimating the amount of
> design work that goes into everyday products. Once you've been to a few
> conferences on design and simulation software you realise that nothing
> is just designed by trial and error. For example even the part of your
> dishwasher that contains the salt to soften the water has been carefully
> studied, designed and simulated to minimise salt use, pressure drop and
> material costs. Certainly some person didn't just draw it out and say
> "that'll work, let's test it" and then maybe make a couple of tweaks.
> You wouldn't survive 5 minutes if your company worked like that.

I can imagine a lot of design work goes into a brand new product. But if 
you're making a dishwasher, you're not making a brand new product. 
You're making a product which is nearly identical to several hundred 
thousand existing products, but with one or two trivial differences. 
Most of the research has already been done. You just need to 
double-check that your new design doesn't contain any unexpected flaws.

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