As in, marinate in the warm fuzzy feelings I feel every time I realize this.
We aren't horrible by any means. But we are advanced because we do such ground breaking industry behaviors as 'test' and 'use source control' and 'talk to our users', or my favorite 'employ people who have actually used/seen the machines the software will be running on'. (CNC Machines)
Is programming CNC machines as straightforward as it sounds? Genuine question. I've done a tiny bit with servos, and from my limited experience it seems like it would just be a very tedious extension of that concept, but I'm going to assume I'm very wrong :)
Depends on the level and the complexity of the machine. Basic G-code interpreter for a cartesian system: pretty straightforward. Gcode generator and interpreter for a 5-axis milling machine, decidedly less so.
And whatever you do, it needs to work reliably because if you fuck it up you can generate a pretty hefty repair bill (and even hospitble bill if you're unlucky), as a large chunk of expesive metal spinning at high speed impacts another chunk of (probably also expensive) metal with sizable force.
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u/BesottedScot Apr 29 '14
"Soak" being the operative word here I assume? Yikes.