Secret-squirrel military tech bureau DARPA has designed a series of computer games which can help to verify open source software. It is working on the games under the auspices of its Crowd Sourced Formal Verification programme. The idea is to perform the soft of software verification which is generally conducted by technical …

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Monday 9th June 2014 08:18 GMT jake

Yawns.

DARPA produces decent kit, hardware & code.

Advert-driven web-sites? Maybe not so much.

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1. Tuesday 10th June 2014 22:01 GMT MonkeyFedge
  
  Re: Yawns.
  
  jake, did you actually look at the website - or just make assumptions?
  
  Personally, i'd like to know how this works in more detail, but i suppose its easier just to write it off without looking at it.
  
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Monday 9th June 2014 08:40 GMT Anonymous Coward

What if there is a bug in the software ?

Wouldn't that also create a bug in the game ?

(also... what if there is a bug in the software of the game itself ?)

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Monday 9th June 2014 09:47 GMT Omniaural

Darpa making games?

I guess you can justify any approach in the US military with the right argument and willing participants.

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Monday 9th June 2014 10:27 GMT Arachnoid

Shall we play a game?

How about Global Thermonuclear War

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1. Monday 9th June 2014 10:31 GMT Elmer Phud
  
  Re: Shall we play a game?
  
  O.K., I baggsy being the Norks.
  
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Monday 9th June 2014 11:30 GMT M Gale

Wasn't this already covered?

Like, several months back?

Aha, looks like last time it was for "commercial software". Well I guess that makes all the difference.

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Monday 9th June 2014 12:36 GMT Destroy All Monsters

I don't understand

...how this actually works.

Is this acceptance testing of certain classes of programs? I imagine one could "test" to a certain degree a missile targeting algorithm in a virtual environment by having players try to evade it in a virtual plane, but in general I don't see how to test software this way.

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1. Monday 9th June 2014 15:20 GMT Gordon 10
  
  Re: I don't understand
  
  I presume this is just smoke testing where you map a set of code variables to a set of in game equivalents then let the internet go through all the possible combinations. Not sure why that is more effecient than another route?
  
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  1. Tuesday 10th June 2014 08:24 GMT Pascal Monett
    
    Re: I don't understand
    
    I don't get it either.
    
    I am pretty sure though, that DARPA employs people that are actually intelligent. I am convinced that they have their case covered and are ready.
    
    I will be waiting for the report of a bug (or security hole) in the programs that are being "game-tested". That, in my mind, will prove whether or not this method has merit.
    
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