Heh. For some reason this reminds me of the "shower scene" from the very first episode of Dilbert (the animated series), where Dogbert is attempting to hack Dilbert's voice-activated shower temperature control.
I have on my shelf my senior year backup tape, which contains all the files from college that I'd accumulated. I graduated in 1978. Fortunately I've not had any reason to attempt to restore any of this lovely SNOBOL or FORTRAN IV code.
I mostly agree -- comments are not proof that the coder understood the problem (although it may be evidence he or she did NOT); instead, comments are an effort by the coder to lift up the next coder who has to maintain, fix, extend or test the code. I think of comments as time-saving work: you are doing a few minutes (or hours) work now, to save Future You (who may wear a different face) from spending hours (or days) and costing your company a lot of money.
However, when you are faced with a block of code you don't understand (whether you wrote it or not), and a block of comments, it's going to be hard to trust that block of comments if it's filled with grammatical or spelling errors.
On a related note: what do you do after almost 30 years of programming? I started in 1980 with an MS-CS. Since then I've done almost nothing but write code. No serious forays into management. A year of teaching college, a year or so of Software QA (both near the front-end of this career).
Now I'm starting to tire of it. I'm not the only one; I have a friend with about 25 years in the biz, all coding, and he's already dropped out.
Heh. We had one open up two years ago here in SW Michigan (you _know_ who you are, you stupid pinheads). They found a unique way to corkscrew into the ground: allegedly, every one of their two dozen PCs was running a bootleg copy of Windows XP.
Age: 48 (49 in March) Degree: MS (U. Pitt, 1979) Jobs held: 12 (ranging from 4 months to 9 years) Non-programming jobs: 1 (and that was a one-year stint as a CS professor)
I'm happy to write code forever. However, after almost 30 years of typing, my hands are starting to wear out... I'm gonna need new ones if I'm going to program into my 60s.
Logitech Trackman Marble; it's an older model I picked up (blush) at a garage sale.
Of course, indulging my RTS addition between Christmas and February may have had something to do with it (oh, but we loves the Tropico; had to give it up though, when I could no longer brush my teeth with my right hand).
I thought so, too, but I must offer a warning: I used a trackball for about a year or two, and had to switch back to a regular mouse and then to a touchpad, because the trackball was killing my thumb. I got tendonitis at the base of my thumb, and it hurt like a sonofa. Three months later, still hasn't healed.
Days of Wonder and Looney Labs got plugs here, so I thought I would also mention Rio Grande. Their business model, so to speak, has been to keep an eye on what's published, popular, and prize-winning in Germany (and let's face it, until very recently Germany was "who's who" in game publishing, with everyone else in a distant second place). Much of what RG has published was first printed in Germany, was nominated for or won an award there, and then was translated into English.
Oh, yes. I have this on VHS, bought it off eBay in a very weak moment. I have watched it, and I can truly say... the costumes of Ben Grimm and Doctor Doom are reasonably authentic, about what you'd expect on a Power Rangers budget. And the rest of this movie? Holy snot, it's bad. Take the worst movie you have ever seen, grab the "bad" knob, and twist it sharply to the left.
The final scene will stay in my scalded brain forever: Reed and Sue are newlywed, and drive off in a limo with a sunroof. Reed waves to the camera as the limo recedes away from us. It looks like they took a six foot pole and mounted his tuxedo sleeve on it.
Heh. Several years ago I was hired as a consultant by Big Midwestern Appliance. All their DBAs worked at a facility in the next state over. My job was to design and implement an Oracle database on a small Unix box. However, I was not granted table-creation access on said database because (a) I was not a DBA, and (b) I was not an employee.
However, once the project reached critical mass, and I was emailing and phoning table change requests every 2 hours (no kidding), the DBA for our project relented.
'Zactly. Your boss will tell you that raises are impossible under current conditions; that your health insurance costs have gone up; that "our competitors do it, so we have to"; and then meekly pay the bottled-water delivery guy a 25% increase.
I got one of those flashlights that strap to your head. From my mom. She said I could use it camping, fishing, or working on my car. I do none of those things, ever.
I installed this, logged on, and found 121 people around me! Considering I'm in the backwater of SW Michigan, this was surprising. Oh, look: some of them are in Texas, one's in Europe. How's this thing work, again?
Slashdot Mirror
Heh. For some reason this reminds me of the "shower scene" from the very first episode of Dilbert (the animated series), where Dogbert is attempting to hack Dilbert's voice-activated shower temperature control.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MqhBL9eEts
I have on my shelf my senior year backup tape, which contains all the files from college that I'd accumulated. I graduated in 1978. Fortunately I've not had any reason to attempt to restore any of this lovely SNOBOL or FORTRAN IV code.
I've been laid off five times in my career; never got free beer for my troubles.
I mostly agree -- comments are not proof that the coder understood the problem (although it may be evidence he or she did NOT); instead, comments are an effort by the coder to lift up the next coder who has to maintain, fix, extend or test the code. I think of comments as time-saving work: you are doing a few minutes (or hours) work now, to save Future You (who may wear a different face) from spending hours (or days) and costing your company a lot of money.
However, when you are faced with a block of code you don't understand (whether you wrote it or not), and a block of comments, it's going to be hard to trust that block of comments if it's filled with grammatical or spelling errors.
In other news, Rush Limbaugh is in town for a 2012 strategy session with Sarah Palin.
On a related note: what do you do after almost 30 years of programming? I started in 1980 with an MS-CS. Since then I've done almost nothing but write code. No serious forays into management. A year of teaching college, a year or so of Software QA (both near the front-end of this career).
Now I'm starting to tire of it. I'm not the only one; I have a friend with about 25 years in the biz, all coding, and he's already dropped out.
Heh. We had one open up two years ago here in SW Michigan (you _know_ who you are, you stupid pinheads). They found a unique way to corkscrew into the ground: allegedly, every one of their two dozen PCs was running a bootleg copy of Windows XP.
http://stevens.senate.gov/contact.cfm/
Age: 48 (49 in March)
... I'm gonna need new ones if I'm going to program into my 60s.
Degree: MS (U. Pitt, 1979)
Jobs held: 12 (ranging from 4 months to 9 years)
Non-programming jobs: 1 (and that was a one-year stint as a CS professor)
I'm happy to write code forever. However, after almost 30 years of typing, my hands are starting to wear out
Logitech Trackman Marble; it's an older model I picked up (blush) at a garage sale.
Of course, indulging my RTS addition between Christmas and February may have had something to do with it (oh, but we loves the Tropico; had to give it up though, when I could no longer brush my teeth with my right hand).
I thought so, too, but I must offer a warning: I used a trackball for about a year or two, and had to switch back to a regular mouse and then to a touchpad, because the trackball was killing my thumb. I got tendonitis at the base of my thumb, and it hurt like a sonofa. Three months later, still hasn't healed.
http://eclectech.co.uk/mindcontrol.php
...
Hip, hip, hip, hooray
My tinfoil hat will save me from your mind-controlling ray!
If you are a US citizen, go sign the petition to support NASA funding.
Days of Wonder and Looney Labs got plugs here, so I thought I would also mention Rio Grande. Their business model, so to speak, has been to keep an eye on what's published, popular, and prize-winning in Germany (and let's face it, until very recently Germany was "who's who" in game publishing, with everyone else in a distant second place). Much of what RG has published was first printed in Germany, was nominated for or won an award there, and then was translated into English.
Oh, yes. I have this on VHS, bought it off eBay in a very weak moment. I have watched it, and I can truly say ... the costumes of Ben Grimm and Doctor Doom are reasonably authentic, about what you'd expect on a Power Rangers budget. And the rest of this movie? Holy snot, it's bad. Take the worst movie you have ever seen, grab the "bad" knob, and twist it sharply to the left.
The final scene will stay in my scalded brain forever: Reed and Sue are newlywed, and drive off in a limo with a sunroof. Reed waves to the camera as the limo recedes away from us. It looks like they took a six foot pole and mounted his tuxedo sleeve on it.
Heh. Several years ago I was hired as a consultant by Big Midwestern Appliance. All their DBAs worked at a facility in the next state over. My job was to design and implement an Oracle database on a small Unix box. However, I was not granted table-creation access on said database because (a) I was not a DBA, and (b) I was not an employee.
However, once the project reached critical mass, and I was emailing and phoning table change requests every 2 hours (no kidding), the DBA for our project relented.
http://www.ampcast.com/LST-72204-mus-24-5358238-0- 0-0-DLZTAGXSGXREDLGXFQ/Keep_Your_Parents_Off_the_I nternet.m3u "Keep your parents off the Internet" [MP3], Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie.
"Latex bondage", indeed.
Umm ... does a "doctor of Hamburgerology" count? If so, then that job at Mikky Dee's would qualify.
http://www.searchstars.com/jobseeker/jsadd.asp - you can even list your Burger degree on your online resume, so it must be legit!
Reminds me of the (inaccurate, somewhat apocryphal) story about Perl and programming contests. Turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration.
Why should I worry about what happens to my data after I "die"? This simulation I'm experiencing will just go away when I unplug from it.
'Zactly. Your boss will tell you that raises are impossible under current conditions; that your health insurance costs have gone up; that "our competitors do it, so we have to"; and then meekly pay the bottled-water delivery guy a 25% increase.
I got one of those flashlights that strap to your head. From my mom. She said I could use it camping, fishing, or working on my car. I do none of those things, ever.
I think my mom's getting a bit old.
I installed this, logged on, and found 121 people around me! Considering I'm in the backwater of SW Michigan, this was surprising. Oh, look: some of them are in Texas, one's in Europe. How's this thing work, again?
Once I played "Afterlife" ...