In 1989 I Asked The Dumbest Question Ever, But...
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Fellow Lounger's, In 1989 I purchased the book, Learn QuickBasic. It came with a code editor. You could type in your code and run the program. After I learned the language, I wanted to use Btrieve as my record manager. So I got the Btrieve manual and read the instructions for using their libraries. But I couldn't figure out how to use the libraries with the Learn QuickBasic editor. So, I called up Novell tech support. The lady I spoke with told me to link their library in when I compile my application. My question to her was, "
what is compile?" Some would have burned me on the front lawn for such a stupid question. But sometimes (not always) it is a matter of experience, training and context. You see, Learn QuickBasic didn't compile, it ran inside the editor. So from a Learn QuickBasic perspective, it was a valid question. End Result That day I went back to the store and purchased QB 4.5 and learned how to link in libraries and compile an application. Just a year later, Novell came out with Extended Operations for Btrieve. All their examples were in C. Novell couldn't figure out how to tell their QB 4.5 and BC7 customers, how to use the new Extended Operations feature, because Extended Operations required using C UNIONS. UNIONS are not in QB 4.5 or BC7. A very short time after this came out, I was invited to Novell's class on Extended Operations, they even waived my entrance fee. I got to the class and the room was filled with C programmers. After attending the first day of class and learning about UNIONS, I went back to my room and figured out how to do this in QB 4.5 and BC7. In fact the solution was so simple; just use an LSET statement to move the returned data into another data structure. You could also use $BCopy but Novell only wanted standard QB 4.5 statements. Novell wrote their documentation, I got credit and everyone moved on. And this from the guy who asked the dumbest question ever, "what is compile?" Maybe we should cut some of the less experienced developers just a little slack...Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on t
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Fellow Lounger's, In 1989 I purchased the book, Learn QuickBasic. It came with a code editor. You could type in your code and run the program. After I learned the language, I wanted to use Btrieve as my record manager. So I got the Btrieve manual and read the instructions for using their libraries. But I couldn't figure out how to use the libraries with the Learn QuickBasic editor. So, I called up Novell tech support. The lady I spoke with told me to link their library in when I compile my application. My question to her was, "
what is compile?" Some would have burned me on the front lawn for such a stupid question. But sometimes (not always) it is a matter of experience, training and context. You see, Learn QuickBasic didn't compile, it ran inside the editor. So from a Learn QuickBasic perspective, it was a valid question. End Result That day I went back to the store and purchased QB 4.5 and learned how to link in libraries and compile an application. Just a year later, Novell came out with Extended Operations for Btrieve. All their examples were in C. Novell couldn't figure out how to tell their QB 4.5 and BC7 customers, how to use the new Extended Operations feature, because Extended Operations required using C UNIONS. UNIONS are not in QB 4.5 or BC7. A very short time after this came out, I was invited to Novell's class on Extended Operations, they even waived my entrance fee. I got to the class and the room was filled with C programmers. After attending the first day of class and learning about UNIONS, I went back to my room and figured out how to do this in QB 4.5 and BC7. In fact the solution was so simple; just use an LSET statement to move the returned data into another data structure. You could also use $BCopy but Novell only wanted standard QB 4.5 statements. Novell wrote their documentation, I got credit and everyone moved on. And this from the guy who asked the dumbest question ever, "what is compile?" Maybe we should cut some of the less experienced developers just a little slack...Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on t
But in this day and age you would have used google to research what "compile" is, a lot of the time it is not the lack of experience that deserves the scorn but the lack of effort. Yes less experienced developers need to be encouraged and nurtured and most experienced developers do have a fairly arrogant attitude at times*, but answering a question that could be found with a couple of minutes on google is wasting both your own and the askers time. Still that was a cracking story and definitely has a point as to making sure your open to new developers and will to help them grow. Got my 5 :) *I think this comes from the fact that you have to believe in yourself and your abilities, I know personally that if I thought I was doing a substandard job then I wouldn't want to do that job anymore.
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But in this day and age you would have used google to research what "compile" is, a lot of the time it is not the lack of experience that deserves the scorn but the lack of effort. Yes less experienced developers need to be encouraged and nurtured and most experienced developers do have a fairly arrogant attitude at times*, but answering a question that could be found with a couple of minutes on google is wasting both your own and the askers time. Still that was a cracking story and definitely has a point as to making sure your open to new developers and will to help them grow. Got my 5 :) *I think this comes from the fact that you have to believe in yourself and your abilities, I know personally that if I thought I was doing a substandard job then I wouldn't want to do that job anymore.
I'm with you 100%. I have an article for Mentors and Mentorees here.[^] Here is a quote from the article: Tip for Mentorees (men’tôr-e) 1. (n.) One having a mentor; the beneficiary of a mentorship. Do your own homework. Before posting questions or emailing, please use the free resources available like Google, Yahoo, Code Project, etc. Secret; those mentors hide information in books too. This will help our mentors keep their sanity. Think, RTFM (Read The Free Manual) and you’ll do fine. Thanks for your comments.
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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I'm with you 100%. I have an article for Mentors and Mentorees here.[^] Here is a quote from the article: Tip for Mentorees (men’tôr-e) 1. (n.) One having a mentor; the beneficiary of a mentorship. Do your own homework. Before posting questions or emailing, please use the free resources available like Google, Yahoo, Code Project, etc. Secret; those mentors hide information in books too. This will help our mentors keep their sanity. Think, RTFM (Read The Free Manual) and you’ll do fine. Thanks for your comments.
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
There was a dude on IRC today talking about a problem he said he'd spent half a day on, I took the 3 key words from his question and popped them into google ... out pops the answer as result 1 ... *sigh* Edit: I suppose the answer might poop out of google :P but I changed it to pops as I intended it to be lol
modified on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:28:10 AM
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There was a dude on IRC today talking about a problem he said he'd spent half a day on, I took the 3 key words from his question and popped them into google ... out pops the answer as result 1 ... *sigh* Edit: I suppose the answer might poop out of google :P but I changed it to pops as I intended it to be lol
modified on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:28:10 AM
I was thinking the other day, how did I ever get by without the Internet and Google back in those days. We developers are very blessed in this day and age where so many share their code, techniques, work arounds, etc. Anyone can look up answers in just a few seconds for FREE.
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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I'm with you 100%. I have an article for Mentors and Mentorees here.[^] Here is a quote from the article: Tip for Mentorees (men’tôr-e) 1. (n.) One having a mentor; the beneficiary of a mentorship. Do your own homework. Before posting questions or emailing, please use the free resources available like Google, Yahoo, Code Project, etc. Secret; those mentors hide information in books too. This will help our mentors keep their sanity. Think, RTFM (Read The Free Manual) and you’ll do fine. Thanks for your comments.
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
Karl Shifflett wrote:
RTFM (Read The Free Manual)
So that's what F stands for! :)
[My Blog]
"Visual studio desperately needs some performance improvements. It is sometimes almost as slow as eclipse." - Rüdiger Klaehn
"Real men use mspaint for writing code and notepad for designing graphics." - Anna-Jayne Metcalfe -
Karl Shifflett wrote:
RTFM (Read The Free Manual)
So that's what F stands for! :)
[My Blog]
"Visual studio desperately needs some performance improvements. It is sometimes almost as slow as eclipse." - Rüdiger Klaehn
"Real men use mspaint for writing code and notepad for designing graphics." - Anna-Jayne MetcalfeKeeping in 'G' :cool:
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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Fellow Lounger's, In 1989 I purchased the book, Learn QuickBasic. It came with a code editor. You could type in your code and run the program. After I learned the language, I wanted to use Btrieve as my record manager. So I got the Btrieve manual and read the instructions for using their libraries. But I couldn't figure out how to use the libraries with the Learn QuickBasic editor. So, I called up Novell tech support. The lady I spoke with told me to link their library in when I compile my application. My question to her was, "
what is compile?" Some would have burned me on the front lawn for such a stupid question. But sometimes (not always) it is a matter of experience, training and context. You see, Learn QuickBasic didn't compile, it ran inside the editor. So from a Learn QuickBasic perspective, it was a valid question. End Result That day I went back to the store and purchased QB 4.5 and learned how to link in libraries and compile an application. Just a year later, Novell came out with Extended Operations for Btrieve. All their examples were in C. Novell couldn't figure out how to tell their QB 4.5 and BC7 customers, how to use the new Extended Operations feature, because Extended Operations required using C UNIONS. UNIONS are not in QB 4.5 or BC7. A very short time after this came out, I was invited to Novell's class on Extended Operations, they even waived my entrance fee. I got to the class and the room was filled with C programmers. After attending the first day of class and learning about UNIONS, I went back to my room and figured out how to do this in QB 4.5 and BC7. In fact the solution was so simple; just use an LSET statement to move the returned data into another data structure. You could also use $BCopy but Novell only wanted standard QB 4.5 statements. Novell wrote their documentation, I got credit and everyone moved on. And this from the guy who asked the dumbest question ever, "what is compile?" Maybe we should cut some of the less experienced developers just a little slack...Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on t
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I was thinking the other day, how did I ever get by without the Internet and Google back in those days. We developers are very blessed in this day and age where so many share their code, techniques, work arounds, etc. Anyone can look up answers in just a few seconds for FREE.
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
Karl Shifflett wrote:
how did I ever get by without the Internet and Google back in those days
Easy. Like the best of 'em, you kept at it until you got it right, then you re-did it again so that you can see how you can improve on it. After that, the world was your oyster. I used to do that, this is how I learned to code, kept at it like a gopher digging a hole.
"Every time Lotus Notes starts up, somewhere a puppy, a kitten, a lamb, and a baby seal are killed. Lotus Notes is a conspiracy by the forces of Satan to drive us over the brink into madness. The CRC-32 for each file in the installation includes the numbers 666." Gary Wheeler "The secret to a long and healthy life is simple. Don't get ill and don't die." Pete O'Hanlon, courtesy of Rama "I realised that all of my best anecdotes started with "So there we were, pissed". Pete O'Hanlon
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I was thinking the other day, how did I ever get by without the Internet and Google back in those days. We developers are very blessed in this day and age where so many share their code, techniques, work arounds, etc. Anyone can look up answers in just a few seconds for FREE.
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
Indeed and this is both the blessing and curse of modern development, it is a blessing that programming is open to many more people, including those who previously might not have been able to afford the resources needed. It is a curse because it no longer requires the drive and struggle which weeded out those who are lacking either the passion or the skill for programming. I realise that can sound a bit elitest but it is the same for any job which is more of a calling than a means to an end, would you want someone who wasn't passionate about thier work operating on your or working in your garden?
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Karl Shifflett wrote:
how did I ever get by without the Internet and Google back in those days
Easy. Like the best of 'em, you kept at it until you got it right, then you re-did it again so that you can see how you can improve on it. After that, the world was your oyster. I used to do that, this is how I learned to code, kept at it like a gopher digging a hole.
"Every time Lotus Notes starts up, somewhere a puppy, a kitten, a lamb, and a baby seal are killed. Lotus Notes is a conspiracy by the forces of Satan to drive us over the brink into madness. The CRC-32 for each file in the installation includes the numbers 666." Gary Wheeler "The secret to a long and healthy life is simple. Don't get ill and don't die." Pete O'Hanlon, courtesy of Rama "I realised that all of my best anecdotes started with "So there we were, pissed". Pete O'Hanlon
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
I used to do that, this is how I learned to code, kept at it like a gopher digging a hole.
Guess those were the good old days we can chat about now. Your correct in what you say. I call it; "The School of Hard Knocks." You just keep banging your head until you get it.
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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I remember ringing Microsoft in 1990, about populating the Serial Comms DCB structure couldn't understand what the DWORD fBinary:1; meant.
WPF - Imagineers Wanted Follow your nose using DoubleAnimationUsingPath
Glad I'm not the only one!
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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Indeed and this is both the blessing and curse of modern development, it is a blessing that programming is open to many more people, including those who previously might not have been able to afford the resources needed. It is a curse because it no longer requires the drive and struggle which weeded out those who are lacking either the passion or the skill for programming. I realise that can sound a bit elitest but it is the same for any job which is more of a calling than a means to an end, would you want someone who wasn't passionate about thier work operating on your or working in your garden?
Again, I'm with you 100%. You gotta want it and you have to put your time in if you want to make it.
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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Fellow Lounger's, In 1989 I purchased the book, Learn QuickBasic. It came with a code editor. You could type in your code and run the program. After I learned the language, I wanted to use Btrieve as my record manager. So I got the Btrieve manual and read the instructions for using their libraries. But I couldn't figure out how to use the libraries with the Learn QuickBasic editor. So, I called up Novell tech support. The lady I spoke with told me to link their library in when I compile my application. My question to her was, "
what is compile?" Some would have burned me on the front lawn for such a stupid question. But sometimes (not always) it is a matter of experience, training and context. You see, Learn QuickBasic didn't compile, it ran inside the editor. So from a Learn QuickBasic perspective, it was a valid question. End Result That day I went back to the store and purchased QB 4.5 and learned how to link in libraries and compile an application. Just a year later, Novell came out with Extended Operations for Btrieve. All their examples were in C. Novell couldn't figure out how to tell their QB 4.5 and BC7 customers, how to use the new Extended Operations feature, because Extended Operations required using C UNIONS. UNIONS are not in QB 4.5 or BC7. A very short time after this came out, I was invited to Novell's class on Extended Operations, they even waived my entrance fee. I got to the class and the room was filled with C programmers. After attending the first day of class and learning about UNIONS, I went back to my room and figured out how to do this in QB 4.5 and BC7. In fact the solution was so simple; just use an LSET statement to move the returned data into another data structure. You could also use $BCopy but Novell only wanted standard QB 4.5 statements. Novell wrote their documentation, I got credit and everyone moved on. And this from the guy who asked the dumbest question ever, "what is compile?" Maybe we should cut some of the less experienced developers just a little slack...Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on t
what is WPF? Yes. I get frustrated when some one asks me basic questions especially programmers who I assume should know more. One of the thing I remind myself is that not everyone has exposure to the same environment. What matters is not whether the person knows a particular concept but how willing and capable he is to learn the concept.
You have, what I would term, a very formal turn of phrase not seen in these isles since the old King passed from this world to the next. martin_hughes on VDK
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what is WPF? Yes. I get frustrated when some one asks me basic questions especially programmers who I assume should know more. One of the thing I remind myself is that not everyone has exposure to the same environment. What matters is not whether the person knows a particular concept but how willing and capable he is to learn the concept.
You have, what I would term, a very formal turn of phrase not seen in these isles since the old King passed from this world to the next. martin_hughes on VDK
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
what is WPF?
Wild Pleasurable Freetime! :cool:
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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Glad I'm not the only one!
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
what is WPF?
Wild Pleasurable Freetime! :cool:
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
Now I wonder what this answer will do to me. :rolleyes: What should I go and buy/get?
You have, what I would term, a very formal turn of phrase not seen in these isles since the old King passed from this world to the next. martin_hughes on VDK
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One year later I'd had written my own Windows Terminal Emulator (Serial Based) for McDonnel Douglas Pick systems, after that the rest is history (along with Pick).
WPF - Imagineers Wanted Follow your nose using DoubleAnimationUsingPath
You just never know... Great job and story.
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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Now I wonder what this answer will do to me. :rolleyes: What should I go and buy/get?
You have, what I would term, a very formal turn of phrase not seen in these isles since the old King passed from this world to the next. martin_hughes on VDK
Josh always tells me to get my Geek on! :rolleyes:
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
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Josh always tells me to get my Geek on! :rolleyes:
Cheers, KarlMy Blog | Mole's Home Page | How To Create Screen Capture Videos For Your ArticlesJust a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.
In this case, perhaps it's more appropriate to get your Geek off. ;)
:josh: My WPF Blog[^] All of life is just a big rambling blog post.