>Subject: SEC: UNCLASSIFIED:- ONLY IN AUSTRALIA - AKA The Roos strike Back
>Only in Australia
>
>The re-use of some object-oriented code has caused tactical headaches for
>Australia's armed forces. As virtual reality simulators assume larger roles
>in helicopter combat training, programmers have gone to great lengths to
>increase the realism of their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and,
>in the case of the Northern Territory's Operation Phoenix, herds of
>kangaroos (since disturbed animals might well give away a helicopter's
>position).
>
>The head of the Defence Science & Technology Organisation's Land
>Operations/Simulation division reportedly instructed developers to model
>the local marsupials' movements and reactions to helicopters.
>
>Being efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some code originally
>used to model infantry detachment reactions under the same stimuli, changed
>the mapped icon from a soldier to a kangaroo, and increased the figures'
>speed of movement.
>
>Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting American pilots,
>the hot-shot Aussies "buzzed" the virtual kangaroos in low flight during a
>simulation. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the
>visiting Americans nodded appreciatively... then did a double-take as the
>kangaroos reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of Stinger
>missiles at the hapless helicopter. (Apparently the programmers had
>forgotten to remove that part of the infantry coding.)
>
>The lesson? Objects are defined with certain attributes, and any new object
>defined in terms of an old one inherits all the attributes. The embarrassed
>programmers had learned to be careful when
>reusing object-oriented code, and the Yanks left with a newfound respect
>for Australian wildlife.
>
>Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point onward have
>strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were meant to.
>
From June 15 1999 Defence Science and Technology Organisation Lecture
>Series and staff
>reports Melbourne, Australia
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Received on Tue Jun 10 2003 - 00:25:02 UTC