+1 for having a personal Slack workspace - I think this is an under-appreciated way to host side projects and learn how to develop with Slack. There are so many services which already include Slack integration, you can wire everything up into your personal notification space.
Another +1 from me for Central Computers - I've bought assembled desktops as well as components there. Prices seem recent (they need to keep up with online price matching) and the service/knowledge is really good.
I'm assuming the development process for embedded auto software like this would be pretty rigorous, meaning it would be fairly difficult to sneak in code like this.
I also assume that testing of emissions software like this would involve a lot of lab/road testing with the vehicles against the EPA test profile and therefore a lot of people would be involved. Suggesting this is the stealthy work of just a couple of software engineers is very hard to believe.
Can anyone who's worked on embedded software in the automotive environment comment?
The investigations regarding Toyotas(?) unexplained/unintended acceleration suggest otherwise. The code was apparently pretty bad, halfheartedly reviewed and just unmaintainable. While there the software seemed to have (a huge number of) errors put in by mistake, of course most independent reviews should also spot intentional mischief.
I don't claim that VW had comparably crappy code, but "industry practice" likely wouldn't have caught it either way.
