Later this summer NASA will celebrate the golden anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, during which humans first landed and walked on the lunar surface. The computing power and complexity of software required to achieve this historic feat was almost inconceivable at the time, requiring computers in both the command and lunar modules that weighed in excess of 70 lbs. each, not to mention what was on the ground at Launch Control in Florida, Mission Control in Houston, and at NASA facilities around the world.

Fast-forward 50 years and that 7-ounce smartphone carried in your pocket (and in the pockets ...