technical "regrets" ... do you have them, or, do they have you ?
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This interesting Atlantic Magazine on-line essay starts off by describing the story of the engineer who tried to warn NASA that it was too cold to launch the ill-fated Shuttle flight that ended in the tragedy of seven astronauts dying, and his struggle with regret (and, probably, guilt) that he was not listened to, and, so, indirectly was associated with the tragic results: [^]. fyi: the NPR essay the Atlantic article refers to about the engineer coming forward now, thirty years after the Shuttle accident, is here: [^]. And you, have you ever had "technical regrets" ?
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
Not like that man.
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This interesting Atlantic Magazine on-line essay starts off by describing the story of the engineer who tried to warn NASA that it was too cold to launch the ill-fated Shuttle flight that ended in the tragedy of seven astronauts dying, and his struggle with regret (and, probably, guilt) that he was not listened to, and, so, indirectly was associated with the tragic results: [^]. fyi: the NPR essay the Atlantic article refers to about the engineer coming forward now, thirty years after the Shuttle accident, is here: [^]. And you, have you ever had "technical regrets" ?
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
You go first.
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You go first.
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Well we already know Bill worked for Adobe and left, missing the chance to make it less crappy. (Sorry if I've got the wrong person)
Ah, that explains his status as a font of knowledge. Or at least that he gets paid by the letter.
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This interesting Atlantic Magazine on-line essay starts off by describing the story of the engineer who tried to warn NASA that it was too cold to launch the ill-fated Shuttle flight that ended in the tragedy of seven astronauts dying, and his struggle with regret (and, probably, guilt) that he was not listened to, and, so, indirectly was associated with the tragic results: [^]. fyi: the NPR essay the Atlantic article refers to about the engineer coming forward now, thirty years after the Shuttle accident, is here: [^]. And you, have you ever had "technical regrets" ?
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
Well... in other words... I told you so! ;P
All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar DirectX for WinRT/C# since 2013! Taking over the world since 1371!
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This interesting Atlantic Magazine on-line essay starts off by describing the story of the engineer who tried to warn NASA that it was too cold to launch the ill-fated Shuttle flight that ended in the tragedy of seven astronauts dying, and his struggle with regret (and, probably, guilt) that he was not listened to, and, so, indirectly was associated with the tragic results: [^]. fyi: the NPR essay the Atlantic article refers to about the engineer coming forward now, thirty years after the Shuttle accident, is here: [^]. And you, have you ever had "technical regrets" ?
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
I never regret, every mistake and every bug I make is unique and not unlike a previous one and I try to learn from them. Other than that, I do not regret about people not listening. I know most people has their point of view and emotions to prevent logical thinking (I do, too), but warning people about mistakes is quite enough. If they listen - they learn, if they don't listen - they make a mistake and eventually learn. And learning is personal, it shouldn't be forced through conviction.
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Only the fact that no matter how hard I try, I cannot hang a door to save my life.
Charlie Gilley Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape... "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Hoho I achieved that once, took a lot of little chock and endless patience. Then some bloody chippie comes in and hangs the next one in about 20 minutes, I went back to painting!!!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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This interesting Atlantic Magazine on-line essay starts off by describing the story of the engineer who tried to warn NASA that it was too cold to launch the ill-fated Shuttle flight that ended in the tragedy of seven astronauts dying, and his struggle with regret (and, probably, guilt) that he was not listened to, and, so, indirectly was associated with the tragic results: [^]. fyi: the NPR essay the Atlantic article refers to about the engineer coming forward now, thirty years after the Shuttle accident, is here: [^]. And you, have you ever had "technical regrets" ?
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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Hoho I achieved that once, took a lot of little chock and endless patience. Then some bloody chippie comes in and hangs the next one in about 20 minutes, I went back to painting!!!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
:) I am not alone. We did a major addition on our house. When it came time for interior doors, these two guys hung 10 doors in about 2 hours. I think they'd done it before. I was depressed.
Charlie Gilley Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape... "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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This interesting Atlantic Magazine on-line essay starts off by describing the story of the engineer who tried to warn NASA that it was too cold to launch the ill-fated Shuttle flight that ended in the tragedy of seven astronauts dying, and his struggle with regret (and, probably, guilt) that he was not listened to, and, so, indirectly was associated with the tragic results: [^]. fyi: the NPR essay the Atlantic article refers to about the engineer coming forward now, thirty years after the Shuttle accident, is here: [^]. And you, have you ever had "technical regrets" ?
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
BillWoodruff wrote:
And you, have you ever had "technical regrets" ?
Yes. Not putting a back door into the ATM software. ;) Marc
Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project! Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
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This interesting Atlantic Magazine on-line essay starts off by describing the story of the engineer who tried to warn NASA that it was too cold to launch the ill-fated Shuttle flight that ended in the tragedy of seven astronauts dying, and his struggle with regret (and, probably, guilt) that he was not listened to, and, so, indirectly was associated with the tragic results: [^]. fyi: the NPR essay the Atlantic article refers to about the engineer coming forward now, thirty years after the Shuttle accident, is here: [^]. And you, have you ever had "technical regrets" ?
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
Yes. But it is simply the regret of not putting people first! Which I do now! We had a tight deadline, and the lead web developer was leaving early and supposedly working from home. He kept saying he would meet the deadline, and I kept pushing because I could see it slipping in slow motion. Later he comes in, almost in tears, to tell me his wife has a medical condition and is bed-ridden, and the 4 kids at home are his responsibility right now, and that there was no way we would make the deadline. I changed that day. I put the lives and welfare above the temporary and artificial deadlines. I regret what the stress did to this guy and his family. I regret not knowing, but more importantly, not creating an environment where he felt comfortable sharing his situation. (I was a "wee bit" of a hardaxx, admittedly). In the end, we pulled together as a team, and it all worked out. I was doubly impressed with how the team joined in to help wherever they could. After that, I regret the money I left on the table in a few transactions! :-)
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Only the fact that no matter how hard I try, I cannot hang a door to save my life.
Charlie Gilley Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape... "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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Hoho I achieved that once, took a lot of little chock and endless patience. Then some bloody chippie comes in and hangs the next one in about 20 minutes, I went back to painting!!!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
We have 29 doors in our house, and we just started going through and changing all the interior doors from commercial (paper, plywood) to oak doors that we get raw or build ourselves, then stain and finish. It still takes us 20-45 minutes to finally hang a door, even after hours of measurements and sanding (and that doesn't count the hours we put into the door frames!) I would never be able to make a living out of this.
vuolsi così colà dove si puote ciò che si vuole, e più non dimandare --The answer to Minos and any question of "Why are we doing it this way?"
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Only the fact that no matter how hard I try, I cannot hang a door to save my life.
Charlie Gilley Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape... "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
I hung a door once, doing it all by the book, including double checking everything. When done, I patted myself on the back and closed the door. The half inch gap stared at me and laughed.
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We have 29 doors in our house, and we just started going through and changing all the interior doors from commercial (paper, plywood) to oak doors that we get raw or build ourselves, then stain and finish. It still takes us 20-45 minutes to finally hang a door, even after hours of measurements and sanding (and that doesn't count the hours we put into the door frames!) I would never be able to make a living out of this.
vuolsi così colà dove si puote ciò che si vuole, e più non dimandare --The answer to Minos and any question of "Why are we doing it this way?"
"I would never be able to make a living out of this." Huh! some of that stuff they I memorised for Economics just made sense.
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You go first.
Hi Piebald, A very fair "challenge." Originally I included my own little story in this thread, but, I then deleted it because I just didn't feel right mentioning something that someone might just be able to link back to specific people I worked with at a certain company, who I am still friends with, so many years later. Now that I've thought that over for a while ... and even people I may have felt some "professional career injury" from ... well, those people have moved on ... none of us are the same. Between you and I: It involved a lay-off situation that developed after I made some complaints about a "higher-up" person's behavior (and non-behavior), and, involved my warning the folks who laid me off that doing so would delay launch of a major project that I (believe it or not) played a critical role in because of my very specialized skills (PostScript, color printing, color separation, etc.). The company involved ended up having to hire me back as a contractor, and I charged them a very high rate. I anticipated this happening, and was careful to leave the company without creating any "public" kerfluffle: I kept my mouth shut. Still, I felt a little guilty, at times, that I was making so much money off the company's poor decision, but, I found drowning my sorrow in shopping ... worked to ease the pain :) cheers, Bill
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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Well we already know Bill worked for Adobe and left, missing the chance to make it less crappy. (Sorry if I've got the wrong person)
Indivara wrote:
if I've got the wrong person
Well, all I can say is that in whatever context I am in I am always the "wrong person." Otherwise I wouldn't feel comfortable :) cheers, Bill
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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This interesting Atlantic Magazine on-line essay starts off by describing the story of the engineer who tried to warn NASA that it was too cold to launch the ill-fated Shuttle flight that ended in the tragedy of seven astronauts dying, and his struggle with regret (and, probably, guilt) that he was not listened to, and, so, indirectly was associated with the tragic results: [^]. fyi: the NPR essay the Atlantic article refers to about the engineer coming forward now, thirty years after the Shuttle accident, is here: [^]. And you, have you ever had "technical regrets" ?
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
After much thought, I think it's this one stupid memory leak I wrote on my first contract twenty years ago, it still nags at me.