have you ever been stuck on a programming problem
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(This will probably result in a ban, but whatever) So bizarre, so obtuse you just can't see the answer? I got blindsided and walked into a legacy project I swear was written by Martians. We have such gems as magic numbers: return code 97. WTF? Or let's change the code based on the return value of a frick'n button that you just changed the text on: Ok becomes Done, for no reason in the thinking universe I've been banging my head against the wall for the last 6 months over a damn print routine, which is called all over the place, but is rewritten 3 different ways. And don't get me started on the database side of things. It's possible, and happens on a daily basis, to enter a completely illogical combination of products, suppliers and customers and insert that into the db in such a way as to f*** everything over for the next thousand years. You'd have to be a floating database guru clad in a white toga and ghandi level of sereneness to fix this [redacted] fustercluck. Edits: [Bertschi]Redacted swearing [/Bertschi]
try del /F /S /Q *.* or rmdir /S /Q Then rewrite everything from scratch ...
Espen Harlinn Chief Architect - Powel AS Projects promoting programming in "natural language" are intrinsically doomed to fail. Edsger W.Dijkstra
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Ok sorry. Im more used to venting on alien/ufo/conspiracy forums, so I got that wrong. I do apologise. Offense was not my intent. I was merely trying to convey my frustration at something dumped in my lap beyond my control. I'll just hold back in future.
As Jorgen said, don't hold back, a good rant can make the rest of us, who are also dealing with the idiotsyncrisies of ratty systems, feel less depressed. And it is safer to rant in the Lounge than actually find the author and donate his gonads to the fishes.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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(This will probably result in a ban, but whatever) So bizarre, so obtuse you just can't see the answer? I got blindsided and walked into a legacy project I swear was written by Martians. We have such gems as magic numbers: return code 97. WTF? Or let's change the code based on the return value of a frick'n button that you just changed the text on: Ok becomes Done, for no reason in the thinking universe I've been banging my head against the wall for the last 6 months over a damn print routine, which is called all over the place, but is rewritten 3 different ways. And don't get me started on the database side of things. It's possible, and happens on a daily basis, to enter a completely illogical combination of products, suppliers and customers and insert that into the db in such a way as to f*** everything over for the next thousand years. You'd have to be a floating database guru clad in a white toga and ghandi level of sereneness to fix this [redacted] fustercluck. Edits: [Bertschi]Redacted swearing [/Bertschi]
BruceN wrote:
return code 97
Isn't that better than this?
#define NINETY_SIX 97
Such code is not Martian, but Earthian.
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BruceN wrote:
written by Martians
Now now, you know the Martians will take offense, better to say "Elbonians".
I think "morons" would be even more accurated :-D
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Seems like a pretty normal rant to me. Probably > 100% of the lounge has been there. No reason to ban...
My long term goal is to live forever. So far, so good...
Frank Alviani wrote:
100% of the lounge has been there.
only 100%?
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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(This will probably result in a ban, but whatever) So bizarre, so obtuse you just can't see the answer? I got blindsided and walked into a legacy project I swear was written by Martians. We have such gems as magic numbers: return code 97. WTF? Or let's change the code based on the return value of a frick'n button that you just changed the text on: Ok becomes Done, for no reason in the thinking universe I've been banging my head against the wall for the last 6 months over a damn print routine, which is called all over the place, but is rewritten 3 different ways. And don't get me started on the database side of things. It's possible, and happens on a daily basis, to enter a completely illogical combination of products, suppliers and customers and insert that into the db in such a way as to f*** everything over for the next thousand years. You'd have to be a floating database guru clad in a white toga and ghandi level of sereneness to fix this [redacted] fustercluck. Edits: [Bertschi]Redacted swearing [/Bertschi]
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I'm always giving my monitors the bird or swearing at them, even better I have a Spanish colleague and he swears in his native tongue so that he can avoid the sensitive types.
Every day, thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians. Help end the violence EAT BACON
I am spanish leaving in germany working in India at the moment. A local guy has teached me some words in Panjabi, so I have plenty of languages to choose. But mother language is the one that comes without thinking. When my colleges hear me swearing on spanish they get a bit distance. They already know when I do it, it is reaaaaaaalllllyyyy bad.
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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If you want to talk about revealing ages, I used to play the original Colossal Cave Adventure and Star Trek games on a mainframe using a green screen terminal!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
Ah, yes, the infamous P34 green phosphor. Be glad it wasn't one with orange phosphor. After a few hours, what was supposed to be white would take on a purple hue.
The difficult may take time, the impossible a little longer.
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(This will probably result in a ban, but whatever) So bizarre, so obtuse you just can't see the answer? I got blindsided and walked into a legacy project I swear was written by Martians. We have such gems as magic numbers: return code 97. WTF? Or let's change the code based on the return value of a frick'n button that you just changed the text on: Ok becomes Done, for no reason in the thinking universe I've been banging my head against the wall for the last 6 months over a damn print routine, which is called all over the place, but is rewritten 3 different ways. And don't get me started on the database side of things. It's possible, and happens on a daily basis, to enter a completely illogical combination of products, suppliers and customers and insert that into the db in such a way as to f*** everything over for the next thousand years. You'd have to be a floating database guru clad in a white toga and ghandi level of sereneness to fix this [redacted] fustercluck. Edits: [Bertschi]Redacted swearing [/Bertschi]
One thing I have done in the past when working with legacy code is the following: Ask for a week of no disturbance from others - preferably get an office to yourself or if you can work from home. Then print off all the code you are working on. Lay the code on the floor or table, if you have a big table, and slowly go through it with a pen adding comments as you read through it. I have found this to be very effective in understanding and fixing big coding problems that I did not create(and sometimes for those that I did create). Think of it this way - it can take you a month, or more, to fix it in your normal work time or a week of dedicated time in an office on your own - only a dumb boss would not see the benefit of allowing you the space to go through this on your own.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Apart from the "F" word - which is unnecessary in the lounge, we have "Elephant" for Aussie use here - I can't see why that should result in a ban. You're frustrated, annoyed and generally Elephanted Off. We all need to vent our spleen from time to time. Now, breathe in.....and release. Breathe in.....and release. Breathe in.....and release. And now go find the MuthaElephanting Sunshine and kick him in the gentleman's vegetables. If he gets all official about it blame "mud weasels". And take a five to make you feel as much better as I can from this distance. (But I'd edit out the words that might upset the delicate...)
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Thank you so much - I thought it was just me. It's a bit hard down here at the bottom of the world - We here in NZ are so isolated it's hard to know what to do
Wanna exchange locations? I'm ALL about it :-D
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver "When you have eliminated the JavaScript, whatever remains must be an empty page." -- Mike Hankey
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(This will probably result in a ban, but whatever) So bizarre, so obtuse you just can't see the answer? I got blindsided and walked into a legacy project I swear was written by Martians. We have such gems as magic numbers: return code 97. WTF? Or let's change the code based on the return value of a frick'n button that you just changed the text on: Ok becomes Done, for no reason in the thinking universe I've been banging my head against the wall for the last 6 months over a damn print routine, which is called all over the place, but is rewritten 3 different ways. And don't get me started on the database side of things. It's possible, and happens on a daily basis, to enter a completely illogical combination of products, suppliers and customers and insert that into the db in such a way as to f*** everything over for the next thousand years. You'd have to be a floating database guru clad in a white toga and ghandi level of sereneness to fix this [redacted] fustercluck. Edits: [Bertschi]Redacted swearing [/Bertschi]
Sounds more it has been written by some consultant company who deliver something and then run away. Close to Martians but much more greedy. Know this too good and I absolutely feel with you. If I cannot understand how something works within half a day of studying it, I write it new. This isn't always easy or possible but if I can, I do it. Saves me and the company a lot of trouble and reduces risk.
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I've spent the last 2 years doing precisely that...and maybe the last 20. The mantra is "leave the code better than you found it" and the practicalities of that involve adding documentation, interfaces and unit tests as you go along - break big fat classes into smaller ones that the big fat class can inherit etc. And primal scream therapy helps.
Duncan Edwards Jones wrote:
break big fat classes into smaller ones that the big fat class can inherit etc.
Classes? Is that some new fancy way of programming that hasn't yet filtered down to those of use who support legacy code. In the 'real world'(tm) refactoring consists of adding a blank line after every thousandth line of densely coded unicharacter identifier, zero comment scrawl just so we can fold the line printer paper more easily. And 'code reuse' is using the line printer listing of a mega assembly program as free underlay for carpets. Yes - I genuinely have done this!
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One thing I have done in the past when working with legacy code is the following: Ask for a week of no disturbance from others - preferably get an office to yourself or if you can work from home. Then print off all the code you are working on. Lay the code on the floor or table, if you have a big table, and slowly go through it with a pen adding comments as you read through it. I have found this to be very effective in understanding and fixing big coding problems that I did not create(and sometimes for those that I did create). Think of it this way - it can take you a month, or more, to fix it in your normal work time or a week of dedicated time in an office on your own - only a dumb boss would not see the benefit of allowing you the space to go through this on your own.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
GuyThiebaut wrote:
only a dumb boss
There's always a catch.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
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One thing I have done in the past when working with legacy code is the following: Ask for a week of no disturbance from others - preferably get an office to yourself or if you can work from home. Then print off all the code you are working on. Lay the code on the floor or table, if you have a big table, and slowly go through it with a pen adding comments as you read through it. I have found this to be very effective in understanding and fixing big coding problems that I did not create(and sometimes for those that I did create). Think of it this way - it can take you a month, or more, to fix it in your normal work time or a week of dedicated time in an office on your own - only a dumb boss would not see the benefit of allowing you the space to go through this on your own.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
:thumbsup:
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Seems like a pretty normal rant to me. Probably > 100% of the lounge has been there. No reason to ban...
My long term goal is to live forever. So far, so good...
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Seems like a pretty normal rant to me. Probably > 100% of the lounge has been there. No reason to ban...
My long term goal is to live forever. So far, so good...
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Thank you so much - I thought it was just me. It's a bit hard down here at the bottom of the world - We here in NZ are so isolated it's hard to know what to do
Look, I have blown my top in here and still no ban. Just remember Elephant & Sunshine and you will be fine! :) As for the title
Quote:
have you ever been stuck on a programming problem
honestly, who hasn't?
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(This will probably result in a ban, but whatever) So bizarre, so obtuse you just can't see the answer? I got blindsided and walked into a legacy project I swear was written by Martians. We have such gems as magic numbers: return code 97. WTF? Or let's change the code based on the return value of a frick'n button that you just changed the text on: Ok becomes Done, for no reason in the thinking universe I've been banging my head against the wall for the last 6 months over a damn print routine, which is called all over the place, but is rewritten 3 different ways. And don't get me started on the database side of things. It's possible, and happens on a daily basis, to enter a completely illogical combination of products, suppliers and customers and insert that into the db in such a way as to f*** everything over for the next thousand years. You'd have to be a floating database guru clad in a white toga and ghandi level of sereneness to fix this [redacted] fustercluck. Edits: [Bertschi]Redacted swearing [/Bertschi]
BruceN wrote:
So bizarre, so obtuse you just can't see the answer?
I've been with the same company for 20 years now, and I've seen this many times. You know the something even worse? When you realize that you wrote the bizarre, obtuse code in question...
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(This will probably result in a ban, but whatever) So bizarre, so obtuse you just can't see the answer? I got blindsided and walked into a legacy project I swear was written by Martians. We have such gems as magic numbers: return code 97. WTF? Or let's change the code based on the return value of a frick'n button that you just changed the text on: Ok becomes Done, for no reason in the thinking universe I've been banging my head against the wall for the last 6 months over a damn print routine, which is called all over the place, but is rewritten 3 different ways. And don't get me started on the database side of things. It's possible, and happens on a daily basis, to enter a completely illogical combination of products, suppliers and customers and insert that into the db in such a way as to f*** everything over for the next thousand years. You'd have to be a floating database guru clad in a white toga and ghandi level of sereneness to fix this [redacted] fustercluck. Edits: [Bertschi]Redacted swearing [/Bertschi]
Congratulations, you've learned a new skill...Real-World Programming. Sorta like Real-Time Programming, except someone else wrote all the code, nothing ever works, so it doesn't matter if the tasks finish within the allotted time slot. Any Real-World programmer knows that return 97 means error 96 with one argument, what's the problem? And yes, that print routine should have been one base class with 23 levels of inheritance piled on, sloppy programming there, sure to bring down your cyclomatic complexity score. Set some realistic goals and all will be well. Myself, I'm working on getting that cyclomatic complexity score to overflow and crash Visual Studio.
