Case Materials
Case Navigation
Therac-25 Case
General
Teaching Tools
Case Materials
Exercises for Therac-25
Some initial considerations in teaching this case
The Therac-25 case is complex and multi-layered enough to require more than a simple once over to understand. There are multiple actors, some of them representing the same entity at different times. There are closely interwoven networks of action and reaction guided by multiple and mixed motives, where the real state of the information available to an actor at any one time is unclear.
This is not, however, simply the uniqueness of the Therac-25 case, it is a property of all cases if they are studied closely enough. Finally, it is a property of the real life of technology in use. We provide here some exercises to help students grapple with the complexity of these situations.
But first a comment on simple answers. We recommend you read the section on pitfalls before teaching this case. It outlines ways to approach this case that bring only a shallow level of understanding to the complexities. In the Therac-25 case, one of these pitfalls (single causation) leads to the tendency to fix each error one discovers with a local "patch." This usually increases the complexity of the system, provides false confidence in its safety, and does not address the design issues that led to the existence of the error in the first place. This is clearly the kind of thinking that AECL indulged in during its initial reactions to the early accidents. We recommend you help your students avoid it as they approach this case.
Bill Frey and Jose Cruz provide many other exercises associated with cases from computingcases.org.
Exercises Table of Contents
2.Computer Control Choices Exercise
3. Tracing the Coding Errors to the Hazards