My favorite was a 49-day crash bug caused by a 32-bit timer rollover. Management wanted to know why test did not find this bug.

Been reading a series of books (April) where AI assistants are referred to as "Artificial Stupids". Seems appropriate.

We use VS2019 and VS2022 on VMs running on a system that is firewalled off from just about everything. For NuGet packages we download them and transfer them to a server that is inside the firewall. The NuGet packages are in a folder that is shared to the VMs. It's irritating to update VS and the NuGet packages, but it works.

The most fun I had was with an app that had two threads. It worked perfectly fine - until hyperthreading showed up. There were about five software developers staring at the code for a day or two until someone finally noticed the bug. It's not good to tell the first thread that the second thread is done until it really is.

If he is really determined to stay analog, I'm betting you could get an analog signal from the laser reflections. Just raise the price even more -- all of those analog-loving audiophiles will still beat a path to your door!

The ELP Laser Turntable plays records without touching them - Decoded Magazine

A strange mix of languages here. One product is nearly pure C++, but is starting to also use C#. Another product is nearly pure C#, but uses a smidgeon of C++ to interact with the first product. Yet another product is pure C#, but uses a batch of P/Invokes to interact with other product written in C++. Finally, a few new web-based products that use a mix of C#, JavaScript, Python, and who knows what else. All of these products are in active development and hiring.

I have a 49" 4K flat monitor that I use when I work from home. I'm starting to think that I would like a curved screen -- the left and right edges are farther away than the center. Not sure if it would make a difference on a smaller monitor.

At home I use a 49" 4K LG TV for a monitor. Now that we're back in the office part time I've ordered a 43" 4K monitor. Flat seems to work fine although I admit to being curious about a curved monitor.

I found a new one today. Copy some resources from one DLL to another DLL. Works for 3 or 4 resources at a time. Try 10 or so and VS just vanishes.

We build software that is integrated as a plugin into multiple applications. One app uses Visual Studio Isolated Shell and has a number of plugins. The others are developed entirely in-house. An earlier app that is still in support used InstallShield. There is one person with a license so he has to do all of the work. Consequently he's the only one who knows much about the installer. The new plugins uses WiX. We've been using WiX for quite a while and find it easier to use than InstallShield. Our plugins have about 25 or so assemblies, most of which are installed to the GAC. Other pieces are installed in the app's local folder (the part of the plugin that interfaces between the app and the common code). WiX is great for this.

Brute force. All in head, no paper or anything else. Wrote the post after doing it. 10x10 = 100 11x10 = 110+11 = 121 (don't remember this one) 12x12 = 144 subtotal = 365 13x10 = 130+39 = 169 (don't remember this one) 14x10 = 140+56 = 196 (don't remember this one) subtotal = 365 total = 730 divide by 365 = 2 Add one more pair of numbers and I might not have been able to do it. I dropped the 169 on the floor once before adding the second pair. I never learned the complete multiplication tables as I could do the above sort of math quickly enough to get by.

PArkway 2-2522

If you want cheap, try the open-source WiX for authoring installers. I use it for work and like it way better than InstallShield. It's not hard to use unless you need to do something unusual (since you mentioned InstallShield Express, i suspect not).

I am required to keep patches up-to-date on all of my tools, so I update within a few days of a new update becoming available. I've had no problems with VS2019 being unstable. Maybe it's an extension that you use that combines with the update to cause problems?

Because they guessed wrong in the beginning and it's too hard to change now.

We use PARAFFIN to generate WiX source code for thousands of files. It can even be used to add files later without disturbing the existing WiX code.

Windows? WiX for the WIN! And it has a Microsoft connection in that it was one of the first Microsoft open source projects.

I wrote one just last night...

Here the IT folk insisted that we couldn't use PEAP to authenticate to a wireless access point to test a new software package. They insisted that we had to use their preferred vendor's solution in spite of the fact that it was not yet available for the handheld platform we were using. It took several half-day meetings to convince them that PEAP would be at least as secure as their preferred vendor's solution. The preferred vendor's solution? LEAP. This was well after ASLEAP was available for download.