Individual Research Projects 4-4

Project 4.5

“I became operational at the HAL Plant in Urbana, Ill., on January 12, 1997,” the computer HAL declares in Arthur C. Clarke’s 1968 novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now that time has passed and many advances have been made in computer technology between 1968 and today. Write a paper showing the similarities and differences between HAL and the computers of today.

Project 4.6

Software bugs can have devastating effects, for example the Y2K Millennium Bug. During the Persian Gulf War, a bug prevented a Patriot missile from firing at an incoming Iraqi Scud missile, which crashed into an Army barracks, killing 28 people. Another example involves Ashton-Tate company that never recovered its reputation after shipping bug-filled accounting software to its customers. Do some research to find recent (within the last 5 years) examples of major problems caused by software bugs.