If only some of my former students could program a system like #volkswagen ...



You may think that this post is disrespectful to my many former students, some of whom are now very experienced and capable programmers. But, there was a time when they were struggling with basic concepts, types of loops and why brackets are meaningful.

We have to face it, while there is considerable and probably deserved furore over the Volkswagen emissions scandal. You have to look at it from a computer science perspective - that was some nifty programming. It took the inconsistent data to catch them out, not the coding itself.

It is every programmers dream to write a system back door and/or adaptation that conceals some elements of a system. I am sure some of you may have done it, I could not possibly comment. Here, a large international car manufacturer that uses computer systems to control their vehicles and employ very capable programmers. Has accomplished what many geeks only desire and what I would have hoped for in many of my former students when they were submitting their code for assessment.

So ... children, wannabe programmers, system developers everywhere. While there is considerable media hurrah about the naughty corporation. Please do feel pride and admiration for the quality of the work accomplished by these programmers.


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