Chapter 8

In Chapter 8 Brooks describes two differences between rationalism and empiricism. He states that rationalist believe that man is sound and that man can make a flawless design. Empiricist, in contrast, think that humankind is flawed and that all designs by humans are inherently flawed as well. Brooks talks about how software design is very empiricist, they prototype often and test the results. Brooks claims to be a empiricist through experience. He states that often he would run into code problems that rooted from a human error. Contrary to the empiricist ideology that it is possible for humans, although rare, to make perfect code. He explains a story of how him and a partner were able to place code into a Harvard Mark IV, and their code worked perfectly the first time. He explains that they desk-tested the code using simulated execution before they implemented the code. He then talks about how groups, because of the empiricist ideology, are formed to perform correctness testing in operating system kernels. Even though a flawed humans are performing these task, Brooks believes this procedure is a way to correct the flaws of humanity when it comes to design. Brooks believes that, unlike software design, design of physical  objects tend to be harder to perform correctness testing. He states some ways of how designer test the correctness of their products, but Brooks demonstrates some of its flaws (including monetary issues).