Python and spacecraft onboard or ground control scripting

[Dave Kuhlman]

Cameron Laird wrote:

> Folklore has it that Tcl *did* travel to Mars, and its
> interpretive nature was crucial in responding to some
> mission contingency; the control team needed to upload
> new code during flight.  We ought to document this ...
> 
> While I understand the observations that Python, Tcl, 
> and so on surely aren't safe enough for medical devices,
> nuclear plants, air traffic control, military devices,
> and so on, I have reasonably certain knowledge of instances
> of each of these.
> 


The idea that Python, Tcl, and so on aren't safe enough for medical 
devices sounds like conventional wisdom to me.  Someday a scripting 
language will come along which is so good that it proves this 
conventional wisdom wrong, and does this so conclusively that we are 
forced to give up that idea.  I believe that Python was/is/will be that 
language.

Are there examples and evidence that Python fails when applied to 
long-running, mission critical tasks?

By the way, I write C++ code.  And, the idea that C++ code is safer than 
Python code seems screwy to me.  Can you say "seg fault"?  I thought so.

   - Dave