system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How software that runs traffic lights avoids fatal errors while consumer programs crash the time

I'm sure they're better optimized, but if that's it, then why can't it be applied to other software is there something else to it? How do designers ensure that vital programs like the ones that operate traffic lights or electrical grids don't crash or malfunction?
gpt
They do one comparatively very simple task, all the time, on standardized hardware that's exactly the same for all traffic lights using that software, with few and very well defined inputs, very well defined outputs and if they ever get locked up the hardware running the code has means to detect it and reset. Basically: take everything that applies to general purpose computer environments and it's the opposite.