Old systems in the wild. They hurts.
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It was ported directly from a Visual Basic 6 application, which was upgraded from VB3, which was then translated to VB.NET and then translated to C#. Of course it also went from .NET 1 to 3.5 and it was last updated to 4.0 where it's currently still at, running on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine using IIS 7.5. The last browser it works on is Internet Explorer 10, results may vary for IE11, Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari. The database was upgraded from dBase to SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. As you can see, it's all fairly modern and well maintained. A team of 10 developers and sysadmins is working around the clock to fix work around any issues. Management is talking about migrating to the cloud, but they have safety and privacy concerns. Meanwhile, they just bought a new server to burn some budget before the end of the year. That comment is not half as strange as you think it is... :sigh:
Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Migrating Applications to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly
Interesting stuff, thanks for the insight :)
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Don't tell me that someone out there is still using Intel 4004s! :wtf: :omg:
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
I'm afraid I don't know. The MCU I'm talking about is some NEC.
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We had a delivery from amazon stolen today so I went online to file a police report. I was actually impressed that the boys in blue have such advanced technology here in Toronto. However, it may be that they need to update their data a little. I could report a hay bailer as being stolen. And a toupee. Cassette tapes, duct tape, a key or multiple keys could also be reported. All types of toilets, but only plates that are collector items and signed could be reported. You could not, however, report art. Or any form of audio visual or computer cables. The list of items that could - and could not - be reported was so bizarre that it totally made up for my $12 HDMI adapter. It drove home the issue, though, that we write these systems, deliver them, and then that's it. They are frozen in time unless we (or more realistically the stakeholder) decide to build in a way of having up to date data. Our code is important what ultimately we write software to process data. And keeping that data relevant often seems to end up as an afterthought.
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote:
All types of toilets,
OK, since nobody else has taken the bait: If the toilets were stolen, the police would have nothing to go on. :rolleyes: (Now ask me what would happen if their dog-walking equipment was stolen.)
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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Chris Maunder wrote:
All types of toilets,
OK, since nobody else has taken the bait: If the toilets were stolen, the police would have nothing to go on. :rolleyes: (Now ask me what would happen if their dog-walking equipment was stolen.)
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
I am curious, what would happen if their dog-walking equipment was stolen? Hang on a minute that sounds like a lead to another joke...
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Can you imagine how open that would be for abuse?
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
We had a delivery from amazon stolen today so I went online to file a police report. I was actually impressed that the boys in blue have such advanced technology here in Toronto. However, it may be that they need to update their data a little. I could report a hay bailer as being stolen. And a toupee. Cassette tapes, duct tape, a key or multiple keys could also be reported. All types of toilets, but only plates that are collector items and signed could be reported. You could not, however, report art. Or any form of audio visual or computer cables. The list of items that could - and could not - be reported was so bizarre that it totally made up for my $12 HDMI adapter. It drove home the issue, though, that we write these systems, deliver them, and then that's it. They are frozen in time unless we (or more realistically the stakeholder) decide to build in a way of having up to date data. Our code is important what ultimately we write software to process data. And keeping that data relevant often seems to end up as an afterthought.
cheers Chris Maunder
I guess I'd argue that it's not so much a "age of the system" problem as it is an administrative problem. If you're going to present an enumerated list of options as the user's only interface, someone has to administer that list to current--has nothing to do with how old or new the system is. Maybe one way it could be argued that it's somewhat an "old system problem" is the interface itself--instead of a drop-down, maybe a text box hooked to a service which offers suggestions based on what's been typed in so far.
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I managed to get some actual source code from the police department :D
public List GetPossibleStolenItems()
{
// These items make up for 100% of stolen items.
// Talked to manager, new items are NEVER added to the list because who would want to steal anything else!
var listOfAllPossibleItems = new List { "Hay bailer", "Toupee", "Cassette", "Duct tape", "Key" };// Update: oops, we missed an item after all. listOfAllPossibleItems.Add("Multiple keys"); // Update: special case, handled on form in front-end. listOfAllPossibleItems.Add("One-piece toilet|Two-piece toilet|Upflush toilet|Wall mounted toilet|Square toilet"); // TODO 1998-11-08: Third time we're adding an item... MAKE CONFIGURABLE! listOfAllPossibleItems.Add("Plates, but only collector item and signed"); return listOfAllPossibleItem;}
Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Migrating Applications to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly
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We had a delivery from amazon stolen today so I went online to file a police report. I was actually impressed that the boys in blue have such advanced technology here in Toronto. However, it may be that they need to update their data a little. I could report a hay bailer as being stolen. And a toupee. Cassette tapes, duct tape, a key or multiple keys could also be reported. All types of toilets, but only plates that are collector items and signed could be reported. You could not, however, report art. Or any form of audio visual or computer cables. The list of items that could - and could not - be reported was so bizarre that it totally made up for my $12 HDMI adapter. It drove home the issue, though, that we write these systems, deliver them, and then that's it. They are frozen in time unless we (or more realistically the stakeholder) decide to build in a way of having up to date data. Our code is important what ultimately we write software to process data. And keeping that data relevant often seems to end up as an afterthought.
cheers Chris Maunder
My postal zip code was changed by USPS 10 years ago. There's still websites that won't accept the "new" one. Maybe if I report my collection of cassette tapes stolen... :)
I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.
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I used to work in medical data analysis and the NHS(national health service) has codes to cover injuries including "Falling off a spacecraft" and "attacked by alligator".
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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We had a delivery from amazon stolen today so I went online to file a police report. I was actually impressed that the boys in blue have such advanced technology here in Toronto. However, it may be that they need to update their data a little. I could report a hay bailer as being stolen. And a toupee. Cassette tapes, duct tape, a key or multiple keys could also be reported. All types of toilets, but only plates that are collector items and signed could be reported. You could not, however, report art. Or any form of audio visual or computer cables. The list of items that could - and could not - be reported was so bizarre that it totally made up for my $12 HDMI adapter. It drove home the issue, though, that we write these systems, deliver them, and then that's it. They are frozen in time unless we (or more realistically the stakeholder) decide to build in a way of having up to date data. Our code is important what ultimately we write software to process data. And keeping that data relevant often seems to end up as an afterthought.
cheers Chris Maunder
It sounds like the system is designed with the specific purpose of making it so difficult to file a report that you decline to do so.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
We had a delivery from amazon stolen today so I went online to file a police report. I was actually impressed that the boys in blue have such advanced technology here in Toronto. However, it may be that they need to update their data a little. I could report a hay bailer as being stolen. And a toupee. Cassette tapes, duct tape, a key or multiple keys could also be reported. All types of toilets, but only plates that are collector items and signed could be reported. You could not, however, report art. Or any form of audio visual or computer cables. The list of items that could - and could not - be reported was so bizarre that it totally made up for my $12 HDMI adapter. It drove home the issue, though, that we write these systems, deliver them, and then that's it. They are frozen in time unless we (or more realistically the stakeholder) decide to build in a way of having up to date data. Our code is important what ultimately we write software to process data. And keeping that data relevant often seems to end up as an afterthought.
cheers Chris Maunder
You landed on one of the key elements of the Digital Transformation. It's no longer just about IT, systems, solutions and code. It's actually the Data that is far more useful than the code itself as in the future, they might be no code at all :wtf: With AI and ML trained to recognized patterns, basic (and not so basic) systems like robbery reports will be reduced to inference-engine driven Chatbots with no interface at all. You might even ask Alexa to report something was stolen with thousands upon thousands of synonyms meaning just a single object. Date and time might also be inferred by your response (e.g. "Late night yesterday my 2012 red Honda was stolen from my porch"). Cross reference will show what car type was it ("Honda Civic"), nameplate ("KFC-12345") and where's your porch (Alexa would know your address). Late night yesterday will be between 10:30pm and 12:00am as people will mention "after midnight" if it happened afterwards. So, better buckle up, because "Coding… where we're going we don't need Code" BTF: To be continued BTF: Theme Song
