Lessons From Ariane 5: Reuse With Caution And Test Thoroughly
Reusing code without validating context can be catastrophic. Ariane 5's $500m failure was due to a tiny numeric conversion bug. Learn from their mistakes: validate reused code, test edge cases & handle numbers with precision.
In 1996, the European Space Agency’s Ariane 5 Flight 501 met a fiery end just 40 seconds after launch—all because of a tiny numeric conversion bug. This catastrophic failure, caused by a 64-bit floating-point number overflowing when converted to a 16-bit integer, destroyed a $500 million mission. What can developers learn from this? Let’s explore practical lessons, with examples from my own open-source PHP repositories. Lessons from Ariane 5 (and How They Apply to Your Code) 1. Reusing Code? Validate the Context The Ariane 5 reused code from Ariane 4 without considering the...