Orwellian Programming in Safety-Critical Systems

摘要

Computers are being used increasingly in situations where lives will be at hazard if they fail. Failures resulting from software errors are both avoidable and unforgivable. This paper is concerned with the final refinement in the production of a critical program from an elementary language via a compiler to bits in some rom in the critical system. It argues that existing languages are inherently unsuitable for this purpose since they allow freedoms of expression and thought which, although convenient in some applications, lead to misconceptions and obscurities. Orwellian programming should limit one's freedom of expression so that these heretical tendencies are unthinkable by using a NewSpeak which permits only Good Thoughts.