Think static analysis cures all ills?

Mark Pitchford explains:

"Static code analysis has been around as long as software itself, but you'd swear from current tradeshows that it was just invented. Here's how to choose the right code-analysis tools for your project."

NHTSA-NASA Study of Unintended Acceleration in Toyota Vehicles

NHTSA-NASA Study of Unintended Acceleration in Toyota Vehicles @ http://www.nhtsa.gov/UA

The report may be found @ http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/NHTSA-UA_report.pdf

NASA team applied static source-code analysis, formal logic model checking, and algorithm analysis through simulation.

The report states "The team's experience is that there is no single analysis technique today that can reliably intercept all vulnerabilities, but that it is strongly recommended to deploy a range of different leading tools."

For code analysis, the team used Coverity, CodeSonar, and Bell Labs' Uno to identify common coding defects and suspicious coding patterns. The team also used CodeSonar to compare Toyota's code against a Jet Propulsion Lab coding standards (1,2,3).

For model checking, the team used open-source Spin and Swarm. To use a formal model checker, one first has to write formal models. The team built models only for those software modules it believed could be culprits; the formal analysis depended on human judgment.

The algorithm analysis began with building models in Matlab. This process started with reading Toyota documentation and talking with Toyota engineers, and then progressed to analyzing the source code and finally testing the models against actual Camrys. Once the NASA team was satisfied with the models, they explored failure scenarios in Simulink and checked delays with AbsInt aiT.

Some conclusions suggest themselves. First, there are no silver bullets: effective debug means using everything you've got.

Second, even when it's grounded in exhaustive and formal techniques, an evaluation is circumscribed by the evaluators' beliefs about the possible behavior of the system.

Third, there is no certainty. Despite Toyota's great care in developing their code, NASA's analysis found significant errors, including serious underestimates of delays in the multiprocessing system.

But the investigation could not link those errors to any proposed mechanism for unintended acceleration. NASA Executive Summary stated "Because proof that the ETCS-i caused the reported UAs [unintended accelerations] was not found does not mean it could not occur."

Good News on Jobs

Prepare for talent wars, IT poaching, Dice.com warns @ http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/030311-talent-poaching.html

Is your company at risk of an IPv6 brain drain? @ http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/010311-outlook-careers.html

Career Watch: Six promising technology job titles @ http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/030711-career-watch-six-promising-technology.html?page=1

Four more iOS apps for IT

http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2011/030311-gearhead.html

Hacking Nook Color

Free article from WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703662804576188901890884360.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLETopStories

Check the comments tab for more details.

And a “how-to” posting:

http://reviewhorizon.com/2011/01/how-to-root-your-nook-color-and-transform-it-into-a-cheap-android-tablet/

Welcome to the Mobile Battlefield, HP

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4212983/Welcome-to-the-mobile-battlefield-HP

A German Car Factory

http://www.youtube.com/embed/nd5WGLWNllA

Google Art Project

http://www.googleartproject.com/

GPS-Encoded Pictures

Just a bit of information ...........you may wish to know.

I understand this feature exists on cell phone pix and later model cameras.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=7621105

More on Cyber-security

From CSIS

http://csis.org/publication/cybersecurity-two-years-later

http://csis.org/files/publication/110128_Lewis_CybersecurityTwoYearsLater_Web.pdf


http://csis.org/files/publication/101111_Evans_HumanCapital_Web.pdf

Interactive Tableware

Using embedded systems to enhance the culinary experience:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-interactive-tableware-vibration.html

From Kennedy Space Center‏

Front row seat at Kennedy Space Center‏ (It is silent until the last few seconds)

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=KZrFC988Thc

Best Photos of 2010

Best Photos of 2010 from US National Geographic Society

(7.5 Mega-Bytes)


http://cid-58aac97211c98e70.office.live.com/view.aspx/.Public/NationalGeographicPhotos.pps

Naked Clock

http://lovedbdb.com/nudemenClock/index2.html

Click anywhere in the clock and it becomes digital, another click and it returns to analog.

Pencil Art

Scrum Resources

Implementing Scrum @ http://www.implementingscrum.com/

Scrum Log Jeff Sutherland @ http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/

Scaling Software Agility @ http://scalingsoftwareagility.wordpress.com/

Scrum Content on InfoQ @ http://www.infoq.com/scrum

Scrum Alliance @ http://www.scrumalliance.org/

Free book (requires registration) @ http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/scrum-xp-from-the-trenches

200 countries over 200 years in 4 minutes.

A very nice data visualization exercise of transition of 200 countries over 200 years in just 4 minutes.

http://www.flixxy.com/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes.htm

Taking a Shotgun to a Hard Drive

http://online.wsj.com/video/ces-taking-a-shotgun-to-a-hard-drive/7BB84E24-8D2B-40E7-B6C1-8148CD1816B1.html

Beauty in Hiring

http://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/orsp_shahani-denning_spring03.pdf

Another World Clock

http://www.qlock.com/time/