(Stuf4) writes:

Those sound like excellent points. I expect that all of this was
taken into consideration by NASA.

I know it is. They do extensive ground testing of the software by
running it on the same hardware found in the shuttle. The shuttle
flight software development process is one of the best to be found in
terms of high quality, bug free code.

The software development process I'm used to at work isn't anywhere
near a Level 5, but we have a fairly extensive suite of automated
tests that are run on every build of the software (you've got to do
something productive with your computers at night). Before releasing
to the customer, the complete suite of regression tests are run (these
take a weekend or more to run, even when running in parallel on as
many machines as we can lay our hands on). These are based on
covering functionality as well as past problems and issues encountered
(to prevent them from cropping up again). Any problems found are
flagged as "must-fix before release". We simply don't allow
regression in quality, it's not acceptable to our customers.

This is in addition to alpha and beta testing with both internal users
and actual customers. I'm sure NASA wouldn't release a new version of
the shuttle flight software without many simulations involving actual
astronauts at the controls of the simulators.

Jeff
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