Comment by dadrian
12 hours ago
Hamilton invented the idea of error handling in software, and that error handling in the Apollo computer is why Buzz Aldrin was able to handle the error 1201/1202 in the minutes before the Eagle landed on the moon, instead of having to abort the mission.
Certainly that could be described as "error handling", but I would describe what saved the landing as priority scheduling combined with restart protection.
I wonder if that was just an outgrowth of NASA's "plan for failure" ethos.
But, I also wonder if that ethos was apart of early NASA before they had failures to learn from... Hmm...
You are misremembering something you read. Software written in 1950s already had error handling in it.
[flagged]
Assume it’s not obvious and offer an interesting contribution, such as an alternative.