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JavaScript in space
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Yesterday the "Crew Dragon Demo-2" flight launched, with live
streaming. I noticed that the flight computers there feature seemingly
decorative visual effects, and wondered what they run (and why would
something unnecessary and potentially buggy be used there); I knew
that more or less mainstream hardware is usually used (possibly
hardened, but the same masks -- apparently in part because they are
better tested, even if full of hacks), and didn't quite expect
anything special or nice (say, RISC-V), but expected there to be a
system like seL4 or minix, with all the software on top of it being
simple and/or verified. Yet apparently it's Linux, C and C++ for
important code, Chromium and JavaScript for the UI.
Perhaps that's the last place I could have still imagined caring about
reliability and/or simplicity at least as much as hobbyists do:
evidently it's not the case with ISPs and government services, with
industrial automation software, with (most of?) medical or military
software, or even with software used on nuclear facilities (see
Stuxnet with MS Windows machines and bugs).
I've actually mused on making Star Trek-themed comics where the crew
would experience issues with software (not just bugs, but all the
commercial stuff as well), and possibly with bureaucracy, but it seems
it may be too realistic and just sad instead of being amusing.
