Originally Posted by
kilomikedelta
perhaps if the software and sensor device drivers were written in assembler by programmers who understood the hardware inter-relationships,these accidents could have been avoided.
I suppose machine language and assembler are foreign languages these days with few practitioners but the MBA's want things done cheap and dirty especially if they can outsource if offshore.
Having programmed in machine language, I would NOT recommend it. It would be very difficult to reach the level of confidence for direct machine code (or even assembly) that would be required for this software.
Just to be clear, we are talking about software that must not allow the MAX to do a mid-flight back flip and/or break up while also not dooming the plane to a high-speed nose dive. And if it fails and is disabled, the pilot may not be able to act fast enough to recover. It's hard to image a software component on an ATP flight that is more critical.
The sequence would be: requirements, requirements review, design, design review against the requirements, test development based on the design, test procedure review, coding, code review, code testing. This requires code that can be examined by several team members with no chance of misinterpretation.
So what is needed it a well exercised development environment - one that's been around for several years and has been very widely used - with a good reputation and version release notes that reflect a solid tool.