Python for air traffic control?

[Fredrik Lundh]

Bengt wrote:
>
> I am wondering if using non-deterministic[1] memory allocation is
> permissible in a safety-critical system.

note that CPython uses reference counting, which is at least as
deterministic as malloc/free or auto_ptr stuff.

(if you keep feeding a CPython program the same kind of data, it
tends to either leak all the time, or not at all).

> What kind of testing could you specify to guarantee that code
> would continue to run?

I've built mission-critical, real-time Python systems.  With careful
design, and a few months in a "sandbox" environment, such systems
tend to run just fine.

And I'm pretty sure people doing safety-critical systems know a lot
more about advanced testing than we do.

So I agree with Gordon: "Go for it (just be careful)."

Cheers /F