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Re:If you're going to do good science, release the computer ... by barrkel on Monday February 08, 2010 @01:30PM (#1110303)
Yes, but such arguments apply at different levels of abstraction.

I doubt one would rewrite the OS, compiler or runtime libraries because they couldn't be trusted; though all these can also have bugs.

Re:If you're going to do good science, release the computer ... by btilly on Monday February 08, 2010 @02:08PM (#1110393)
One would probably not rewrite them. However people both can and do take their software and run it on a different operating system, compiled with a different compiler, linked with different run-time libraries, on a different type of hardware. And yes, I've seen bad software assumptions flushed out by doing so. (Don't use floating point for complex financial calculations please. OK??)