One idea from the reading that really stood out to me is how Margaret Hamilton’s work highlighted the importance of accounting for human error in design. Her insistence on adding error checking systems even when others believed “that would never happen” ultimately helped prevent serious failures and showed how crucial software was to the Apollo mission.
A moment that stuck with me was when “the software realized it didn’t have enough room to do all the functions it was supposed to be doing, it went through its error detection process and focused on the highest priority job.” This shows how the system was designed to think logically under pressure, prioritizing what mattered most instead of failing completely.
This really connects to how we write code in interactive media. For example, when we use it/ else statements, we’re also creating systems that make decisions based on different conditions basically preparing for different possible outcomes, including errors. It’s a similar mindset of anticipating what could go wrong and guiding the system to respond correctly.
I also found it interesting how they had to “simulate everything before it flew,” which reminds me of how we test our projects, especially with Arduino. Before fully running a system, we constantly test and debug to make sure everything works as expected. It shows that even at a much larger scale, the same fundamental process of testing, refining, and preparing for failure is essential.