@Cfiraguston

When Floating-Point Failed Catastrophically

Oct 14, 2025 · 2 min read · IEEE-754 gave us a common way to handle decimals on computers. But even with a standard, tiny numeric mistakes can grow into big failures. Here are four famous ones. 1) The Patriot Missile Failure (1991) A U.S. Patriot missile system failed to interc...

Oops I goto It Again

Oct 14, 2025 · 1 min read · Back in 2014, Apple’s SSL code had a tiny flaw: just one extra goto fail; line, that broke secure connections. On a public Wi-Fi, your iPhone’s “lock” icon could lie. That duplicated goto made a security check skip critical steps. Attackers could int...

The Car That Would Not Stop

Oct 14, 2025 · 1 min read · In 2009, a Lexus suddenly started speeding on a California highway. The driver, off-duty police officer Mark Saylor, called 911. “We can’t stop… we’re going 120…” Moments later, the car crashed. Everyone inside was killed. At first, Toyota blamed f...

The Forbidden Intel Opcode That Melts CPUs

Oct 14, 2025 · 1 min read · In the 1990s, a strange bug in Intel’s Pentium processors caused real panic. A few bytes of machine code, F0 0F C7 C8, could completely freeze the CPU. No error message. No reboot. No recovery. The system just died. This flaw became known as the F00F...

Statement Coverage Is Not Enough

Oct 10, 2025 · 2 min read · Every now and then, I see someone say they’ve stopped caring about coverage metrics or that “50% coverage is good enough” (or other arbitrary number). But I think a major point is being missed. Coverage isn’t just a number. It’s a way to understand h...