From the Oracle...

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Hare Krishna --

 

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(o o) ORACLE SERVICE HUMOR MAILING LIST

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The reuse of some object-oriented code has caused tactical

headaches for Australia's armed forces. As virtual reality

simulators assume larger roles in helicopter combat training,

programmers have gone to great lengths to increase the

realism of their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and,

in the case of the Northern Territory's Operation Phoenix,

herds of kangaroos (since disturbed animals might well give

away a helicopter's position).

 

The head of the Defense Science & Technology Organization's

Land Operations/Simulation division reportedly instructed

developers to model the local marsupials' movements and

reactions to helicopters.

 

Being efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some

code originally used to model infantry detachment reactions

under the same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a

soldier to a kangaroo, and increased the figures' speed of

movement.

 

Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting

American pilots, the hotshot Aussies "buzzed" the virtual

kangaroos in low flight during a simulation. The kangaroos

scattered, as predicted, and the visiting Americans nodded

appreciatively... then did a double-take as the kangaroos

reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of

Stinger missiles at the hapless helicopter. (Apparently the

programmers had forgotten to remove that part of the

infantry coding.)

 

The lesson? Objects are defined with certain attributes,

and any new object defined in terms of an old one inherits

all the attributes. The embarrassed programmers had learned

to be careful when reusing object-oriented code, and the

Yanks left with a newfound respect for Australian wildlife.

 

Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point

onward have strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were

meant to.

 

Hare Krishna --

 

ys, Balarama Dasa