personnel of the Sturdivant Electric company were ready to run final acceptance tests on a special purpose computer they had subcontracted to supply to the armed services. One of the stipulations in the contract was a demonstration by the supplier that the computer would function correctly and reliably under test condition. The special operating system of the computer was prepared by Sturdivant Electric's chief programmer, Al Abrams. Several days before the test began,Abrams submitted his work to his immediate superior,Bill Eden,who was computer project engineer Eden was to review the design of the operating system and compare it to the specification.it was not intended that Eden check the correctness of the operating system itself,since forthcoming operational tests would accomplish that check.