Issues in Software System Safety: Polly Ann Smith Co. versus Ned I. Ludd

This paper is a work of fiction, but it is fiction with a very real purpose: to stimulate careful thought and friendly discussion about some questions for which thought is often careless and discussion is often unfriendly. To accomplish this purpose, the paper creates a fictional legal case. The most important issue in this fictional case is whether certain proffered expert testimony about software engineering for safety critical systems should be admitted. Resolving this issue requires deciding the extent to which current practices and research in software engineering, especially for safety-critical systems, can rightly be considered based on knowledge, rather than opinion.