The Developer Is Always Wrong
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MehGerbil wrote:
customer is always right
Only if you're a prostitute. The customer isn't a specialist, has little information on legal implications, has no idea of ROI or TCO, and in general - doesn't care about these things. That's why they pay for an expert. If the expert acts like a prostitute, and gives the client exactly what he asked for merely to obtain the payment, then he is in fact acting in the same way. For a professional, I expect a professional attitude. If the client wants to cross the pacific ocean in a volkswagen, I'l tell him he'll die.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss:
Funny, how no one thought of just suggesting that the car be carried in a boat across the Pacific. :-)
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It's the corollary to the customer is always right. I created a program that imports records from a customer provided text file. The file is tab delimited and it has a particular format. I wrote up a document that describes the format and our clients are to send us the file using that format. There is nothing complicated about any of the requirements. Most files we receive look like someone turned a monkey loose in Notepad. So a manager calls me up and wants to know why the file wouldn't import. I guess the error message "File has an invalid format" wasn't clear enough, but I digress. The point is that the manager was frustrated and the client was frustrated and despite the fact that they were breaking the rules (of the program) the long and short of it was my program wasn't working. In short, the developer is always wrong. I'm going to revisit the program today with an eye on making it so that you can freakin' import a terribly broken tab delimited text file, a comma delimited text file, a text file that is missing fields, a .PDF file, a .JPEG, a porn video or Doritos stuffed into the CD slot - I don't care. Whatever the case, it won't show an error message that describes the problem because that is obviously a waste of time.
Personally, I'd approach the problem by going back to the people providing the data and see where their data comes from (DB, Excel, etc.). Try to reduce the number of hoops they need to go to, as they don't seem to be experts at providing TSV data. Btw, random plug for the GenericParser[^]. :-D
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It's the corollary to the customer is always right. I created a program that imports records from a customer provided text file. The file is tab delimited and it has a particular format. I wrote up a document that describes the format and our clients are to send us the file using that format. There is nothing complicated about any of the requirements. Most files we receive look like someone turned a monkey loose in Notepad. So a manager calls me up and wants to know why the file wouldn't import. I guess the error message "File has an invalid format" wasn't clear enough, but I digress. The point is that the manager was frustrated and the client was frustrated and despite the fact that they were breaking the rules (of the program) the long and short of it was my program wasn't working. In short, the developer is always wrong. I'm going to revisit the program today with an eye on making it so that you can freakin' import a terribly broken tab delimited text file, a comma delimited text file, a text file that is missing fields, a .PDF file, a .JPEG, a porn video or Doritos stuffed into the CD slot - I don't care. Whatever the case, it won't show an error message that describes the problem because that is obviously a waste of time.
instead of changing your program, why not write a preprocessor to fix common problems the files you receive?
m.bergman
For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire
In most cases the only difference between disappointment and depression is your level of commitment. -- Marc Maron
I am not a chatbot
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If you say the words "tab-delimited file" to most people, they won't have a clue what you're talking about. Just tell 'em to use Excel. If the files aren't saved as TSV, it won't take a trice for you (or your prog) to open them and re-save them.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
Excel in some respects is easier to parse than CSV/TSV. I'd just keep it in Excel and read it from there.
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MehGerbil wrote:
In short, the developer is always wrong.
I have actually heard this from a Manager once(A very top level guy). He also said one thing that was very condescending and upsetting. He said
"The reason I am not updating the technology is if our developers learn the new and cutting edge stuff then they will leave my company".
Every now and then say, "What the Elephant." "What the Elephant" gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future.
"A man's got to know his limitations" - Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry. Clearly your manager knew he wasn't worth working for.
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MehGerbil wrote:
customer is always right
Only if you're a prostitute. The customer isn't a specialist, has little information on legal implications, has no idea of ROI or TCO, and in general - doesn't care about these things. That's why they pay for an expert. If the expert acts like a prostitute, and gives the client exactly what he asked for merely to obtain the payment, then he is in fact acting in the same way. For a professional, I expect a professional attitude. If the client wants to cross the pacific ocean in a volkswagen, I'l tell him he'll die.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss:
Will you please be my coworker or manager? I will pay you.
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MehGerbil wrote:
In short, the developer is always wrong.
I have actually heard this from a Manager once(A very top level guy). He also said one thing that was very condescending and upsetting. He said
"The reason I am not updating the technology is if our developers learn the new and cutting edge stuff then they will leave my company".
Every now and then say, "What the Elephant." "What the Elephant" gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future.
I've heard that more than once!
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Eddy Vluggen wrote:
If the client wants to cross the pacific ocean in a volkswagen, I'l tell him he'll die.
And if he still insists, you probably throw a life vest and an oxygen bottle onto the back seat and wish him a good voyage :) I call that learning by pain.
At least artificial intelligence already is superior to natural stupidity
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It's the corollary to the customer is always right. I created a program that imports records from a customer provided text file. The file is tab delimited and it has a particular format. I wrote up a document that describes the format and our clients are to send us the file using that format. There is nothing complicated about any of the requirements. Most files we receive look like someone turned a monkey loose in Notepad. So a manager calls me up and wants to know why the file wouldn't import. I guess the error message "File has an invalid format" wasn't clear enough, but I digress. The point is that the manager was frustrated and the client was frustrated and despite the fact that they were breaking the rules (of the program) the long and short of it was my program wasn't working. In short, the developer is always wrong. I'm going to revisit the program today with an eye on making it so that you can freakin' import a terribly broken tab delimited text file, a comma delimited text file, a text file that is missing fields, a .PDF file, a .JPEG, a porn video or Doritos stuffed into the CD slot - I don't care. Whatever the case, it won't show an error message that describes the problem because that is obviously a waste of time.
Well...the customer isn't always right, bt he does tend to get an unnatural amount of slack!
Along with that, always remember the First Rule of Management:
"Everything is easy for the man who doesn't have to do it himself."
[Scott Adams, I think.]
(This message is programming you in ways you cannot detect. Be afraid.)
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I used to work for the military in the UK, in SW. The guys were doing a project for the Swedish navy, a sonar system. They left, by mistake, an error message that read "You tit Sven" in the code. And guess what. Yep, the Swedish Navy hit that line of code, and were mighty pissed off! :laugh:
Well that's not really the same as the OP's original complaint. That's just bad coding practices. NEVER put in anything that would upset someone, even in early stages. You never know what is going to ship by accident.
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It's the corollary to the customer is always right. I created a program that imports records from a customer provided text file. The file is tab delimited and it has a particular format. I wrote up a document that describes the format and our clients are to send us the file using that format. There is nothing complicated about any of the requirements. Most files we receive look like someone turned a monkey loose in Notepad. So a manager calls me up and wants to know why the file wouldn't import. I guess the error message "File has an invalid format" wasn't clear enough, but I digress. The point is that the manager was frustrated and the client was frustrated and despite the fact that they were breaking the rules (of the program) the long and short of it was my program wasn't working. In short, the developer is always wrong. I'm going to revisit the program today with an eye on making it so that you can freakin' import a terribly broken tab delimited text file, a comma delimited text file, a text file that is missing fields, a .PDF file, a .JPEG, a porn video or Doritos stuffed into the CD slot - I don't care. Whatever the case, it won't show an error message that describes the problem because that is obviously a waste of time.
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It's the corollary to the customer is always right. I created a program that imports records from a customer provided text file. The file is tab delimited and it has a particular format. I wrote up a document that describes the format and our clients are to send us the file using that format. There is nothing complicated about any of the requirements. Most files we receive look like someone turned a monkey loose in Notepad. So a manager calls me up and wants to know why the file wouldn't import. I guess the error message "File has an invalid format" wasn't clear enough, but I digress. The point is that the manager was frustrated and the client was frustrated and despite the fact that they were breaking the rules (of the program) the long and short of it was my program wasn't working. In short, the developer is always wrong. I'm going to revisit the program today with an eye on making it so that you can freakin' import a terribly broken tab delimited text file, a comma delimited text file, a text file that is missing fields, a .PDF file, a .JPEG, a porn video or Doritos stuffed into the CD slot - I don't care. Whatever the case, it won't show an error message that describes the problem because that is obviously a waste of time.
Had a similar issue when writing an online booking system for a hotel chain. The Manager was happy as a pig in poop with things, but then all of a sudden it stopped letting her sign in to the system. As she was the main admin this was a bit of a problem. Her username was the name of her second cat or something equally peculiar, and her password was her home postcode. Can you guess the problem? Got to love end users... Danny
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Had a similar issue when writing an online booking system for a hotel chain. The Manager was happy as a pig in poop with things, but then all of a sudden it stopped letting her sign in to the system. As she was the main admin this was a bit of a problem. Her username was the name of her second cat or something equally peculiar, and her password was her home postcode. Can you guess the problem? Got to love end users... Danny
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Danny Martin wrote:
... Her username was the name of her second cat or something equally peculiar, and her password was her home postcode.
Can you guess the problem? ...Let me guess. Did she move to an area with a different postcode? :doh:
She did... My software's good and all - but Geolocation was not on the spec sheet! ;P
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It's the corollary to the customer is always right. I created a program that imports records from a customer provided text file. The file is tab delimited and it has a particular format. I wrote up a document that describes the format and our clients are to send us the file using that format. There is nothing complicated about any of the requirements. Most files we receive look like someone turned a monkey loose in Notepad. So a manager calls me up and wants to know why the file wouldn't import. I guess the error message "File has an invalid format" wasn't clear enough, but I digress. The point is that the manager was frustrated and the client was frustrated and despite the fact that they were breaking the rules (of the program) the long and short of it was my program wasn't working. In short, the developer is always wrong. I'm going to revisit the program today with an eye on making it so that you can freakin' import a terribly broken tab delimited text file, a comma delimited text file, a text file that is missing fields, a .PDF file, a .JPEG, a porn video or Doritos stuffed into the CD slot - I don't care. Whatever the case, it won't show an error message that describes the problem because that is obviously a waste of time.
Here's another data import nightmare for you... I have a data import routine where one file contains "remark" entries. There are 17 million lines in this file and it's not tab-delimited, not comma-delimited, the lines are delimited by the string "~~~" between columns. Now for the fun... each line might be a self-contained remark containing 38 columns. Or the line might be a "starter" line that contains the first 30 columns. Or the line might be a "middle" line that is just an additional line of the current remark text. Or the line might be a useless line that just contains "..", which needs to be ignored. Or the line might be an "ending" line that contains the final eight columns, of which the first column may or may not contain the very end of the remark text. I have gone around and around with methods to import and process this data. My latest seems to be working OK, but it takes like 20 minutes to import and process this file. Unfortunately I have no leverage to get the source of this data to change, just got to live with it and do the best I can...
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It's the corollary to the customer is always right. I created a program that imports records from a customer provided text file. The file is tab delimited and it has a particular format. I wrote up a document that describes the format and our clients are to send us the file using that format. There is nothing complicated about any of the requirements. Most files we receive look like someone turned a monkey loose in Notepad. So a manager calls me up and wants to know why the file wouldn't import. I guess the error message "File has an invalid format" wasn't clear enough, but I digress. The point is that the manager was frustrated and the client was frustrated and despite the fact that they were breaking the rules (of the program) the long and short of it was my program wasn't working. In short, the developer is always wrong. I'm going to revisit the program today with an eye on making it so that you can freakin' import a terribly broken tab delimited text file, a comma delimited text file, a text file that is missing fields, a .PDF file, a .JPEG, a porn video or Doritos stuffed into the CD slot - I don't care. Whatever the case, it won't show an error message that describes the problem because that is obviously a waste of time.
Maybe there is a separate job here to write a program that helps the customer create the file in the appropriate format?
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That's always been the issue with using text files, it's too easy to put in something that wasn't expected and then the program doesn't work. Maybe you can force them to do it a certain way by doing something different, maybe make a simple GUI or a spreadsheet that has the fields defined instead of a text file. Customers aren't always all that computer savvy... X|
Albert Holguin wrote:
Customers aren't always all that computer savvy...
I've heard this so many times... One dose not need to be computer savvy to press Tab after each second word(for example).
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That's always been the issue with using text files, it's too easy to put in something that wasn't expected and then the program doesn't work. Maybe you can force them to do it a certain way by doing something different, maybe make a simple GUI or a spreadsheet that has the fields defined instead of a text file. Customers aren't always all that computer savvy... X|
Surely you jest.... I never see stupid stuff building websites... Client has an eCommerce site, wants the developers to tell him shipping works. Not from the aspect of a website, just everyday shipping. Also wants us to tell him how to set up a Customer Service department. Another client couldn't get into their administration menu.... they weren't typing the URL into the address bar, they were doing a search for the URL on Y!
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MehGerbil wrote:
customer is always right
Only if you're a prostitute. The customer isn't a specialist, has little information on legal implications, has no idea of ROI or TCO, and in general - doesn't care about these things. That's why they pay for an expert. If the expert acts like a prostitute, and gives the client exactly what he asked for merely to obtain the payment, then he is in fact acting in the same way. For a professional, I expect a professional attitude. If the client wants to cross the pacific ocean in a volkswagen, I'l tell him he'll die.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss:
Eddy Vluggen wrote:
If the client wants to cross the pacific ocean in a volkswagen, I'l tell him he'll die.
I'm pretty sure you haven't seen this movie: http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi146512921/[^]
CEO at: - Rafaga Systems - Para Facturas - Modern Components for the moment...
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It's the corollary to the customer is always right. I created a program that imports records from a customer provided text file. The file is tab delimited and it has a particular format. I wrote up a document that describes the format and our clients are to send us the file using that format. There is nothing complicated about any of the requirements. Most files we receive look like someone turned a monkey loose in Notepad. So a manager calls me up and wants to know why the file wouldn't import. I guess the error message "File has an invalid format" wasn't clear enough, but I digress. The point is that the manager was frustrated and the client was frustrated and despite the fact that they were breaking the rules (of the program) the long and short of it was my program wasn't working. In short, the developer is always wrong. I'm going to revisit the program today with an eye on making it so that you can freakin' import a terribly broken tab delimited text file, a comma delimited text file, a text file that is missing fields, a .PDF file, a .JPEG, a porn video or Doritos stuffed into the CD slot - I don't care. Whatever the case, it won't show an error message that describes the problem because that is obviously a waste of time.