Really, Erik, I fail to see the connection. Unnecessary code had nothing to do with rescuing the vehicle to which you refer.

There's no way in which unnecessary code can help anything but your line count, and that won't help you unless you need to pad your count. Many years ago it was proven that much unanticipated behavior came about as a consequence of code present in the system not to meet a requirement in the design specification, but to satisfy the imagination of the programmer. As a consequence, including unnecessary code is a "firing offense" in many aerospace and military organizations and certainly violates specified guidelines.

I think you'll find that what saved the Mars rover was code that was very much specified for just such an anticipated event, though the event definition was not anticipated, which was a provision for extreme circumstances and not just the inclusion of some feature on a programmer's whim.

Extra code is like extra parts. It increases the likelihood of a failure.

RE