gcc vs. commercial C compiler (Sun's)

[Leslie Mikesell]

In article <9052 at bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> scs at adam.pika.mit.edu (Steve Summit) writes:

>Ideally, hardware (electronic or
>mechanical) interlocks should prevent unsafe operation no matter
>how confused the software gets.

This is an interesting concept (hardware being inherently more reliable
than software) and perhaps true when comparing existing and well tested
hardware to new software controlled devices.  Is there any reason to
believe that the hardware of a totally new device would be more reliable
than the software?

Les Mikesell