Found in 2 comments on Hacker News
coleca · 2020-03-28 · Original thread
Since Show Stopper was already mentioned and I didn't see this one mentioned, so I'll throw this one out there:

Fatal Defect by Ivars Peterson https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Defect-Chasing-Killer-Computer/...

It's a few stories about the impact software bugs can have on real life. For example, the THERAC-25 bug that literally killed people.

It's been eons since I read the book, but I recall a passage about how computer scientists had been so opposed to Reagan's Star Wars program, Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), not because it's a war machine, but because it was so complex that there would be no way to be sure it was bug free. I'm sure it was more nuanced than that but that's my 20+ year recollection of that part of the book.

coleca · 2016-08-29 · Original thread
This story reminds me of the Therac-25 (although no deaths were attributed to this bug). The book "Fatal Defect" should be required reading for any software engineer.

https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Defect-Chasing-Killer-Computer/...

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