473: Math Is Not the Answer

Embedded

Philip Koopman joined us to talk about how modulo 255 vs 256 makes a huge difference in checksum error detection, how to get the most out of your checksum or CRC, and why understanding how they work is worth the effort.

Philip has recently published Understanding Checksums and Cyclic Redundancy Checks. He’s better known for Better Embedded System Software as well as his two books about safety and autonomous vehicles:

The UL 4600 Guidebook: What to Include in an Autonomous Vehicle Safety Case

How Safe Is Safe Enough?: Measuring and Predicting Autonomous Vehicle Safety

Phil’s YouTube page has a number of videos with great visuals to go along with his books. He also has three(!) blogs:

Safe Autonomy

Better Embedded System SW

Checksum and CRC Central (including a post on checksum speed comparison)

Currently, Phil is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University (his page there). You can follow him on LinkedIn.

Elecia read (and give 2.5 stars to) Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature by Marcus du Sautoy: “Interesting but uneven, I kept reading to find out what horrible things math profs do to their children in the name of fun. Worth it when I finally got to a small section with Claude Shannon (and Richard Hamming). It didn’t help with this podcast but it was neat.”

Transcript