How 30 Lines of Code Blew Up a 27-Ton Generator

12/12/2020

This article recounts the story of how 30 lines of faulty code caused a 27-ton generator to explode, resulting in significant damage. The incident occurred at a power plant where a software bug, combined with a series of other errors, caused a cascading failure that ultimately led to the explosion. The article explains how a seemingly minor glitch in the code went undetected and eventually caused the generator to overheat. It highlights the importance of thorough testing and the potential consequences of overlooking even small coding errors in complex systems. The incident serves as a cautionary tale for the need for rigorous software development practices, especially in critical infrastructure.

engineering ꞏ coding ꞏ software development ꞏ programming ꞏ computer science ꞏ technology ꞏ electrical engineering ꞏ generator ꞏ power systems ꞏ software bugs ꞏ programming errors ꞏ disaster ꞏ failure ꞏ technical malfunction ꞏ debugging ꞏ code review ꞏ software testing ꞏ software maintenance ꞏ software reliability ꞏ computer programming ꞏ software engineering ꞏ system failure ꞏ computational errors ꞏ software performance ꞏ it infrastructure ꞏ industrial accidents ꞏ electrical accidents ꞏ code optimization ꞏ software architecture ꞏ code analysis ꞏ software debugging ꞏ software vulnerabilities ꞏ software updates ꞏ disaster recovery ꞏ software documentation ꞏ code efficiency ꞏ fault analysis ꞏ system architecture ꞏ software deployment ꞏ software optimization ꞏ software security ꞏ catastrophic failure ꞏ industrial safety ꞏ computer viruses ꞏ system maintenance ꞏ system optimization ꞏ system performance ꞏ system reliability ꞏ computational analysis ꞏ disaster prevention