I saw a variation on this when IBM assisted a company to port their apps from an old system 3x to an AS400. It was quite a sight to see a system that ran the full length of a 30ft computer room replaced by two boxes in the corner!
Having installed and tested everything, the IBM techs left the system with the company programmers, who discovered to their dismay that the overnight batch jobs were taking pretty much the same amount of time to run on the AS400 as they did on the old system.
IBM called in reinforcements and they all looked for disk bottlenecks, timing loop issues, Interrupt & DMA conflicts etc. etc. for what seemed like days until one bright spark from the IT department told them that in order to spread the load on the old disk arrays, there were massive 'sleep' routines to ensure that each job in the batch had finished before another started - in other words, the company programmers knew that on the old system, "job A" took about 45 mins hours to run, so "job B's" first instructions were to 'sleep' for an hour, and then "job C" slept for about 1 hour + the duration of job B etc...in all, this covered about 9 hours of batch work
Once all the delays were taken out, the 'overnighr' processing run took significantly less time to complete!
The database schema sucks big time - for example, every line of case history has a field containing the name of the inputter - not their login ID, but their full name in plain text. This type of bloat continues throughout the entire database and makes the whole thing much bigger (and slower to operate) than necessary.
Oh yes, the coders are doing it horribly wrong. I suspect they have some race/timing/timeout issues with their code, but I doubt they are skilled enough to resolve the matter.
I have made numerous suggestions about the issues and also suggested how their appalling database schema could be vastly improved, but the devs (and the Company MD) just cannot acknowledge that an outsider may have useful input for them.
I could rant all day about the app - but just one example: the software *sometimes* does not calculate pet ages correctly from their DOB - the devs state that 'date calculations are incredibly complex'!
Many years back I was working as a freelancer developing the training material for a customer service app.
The agents input customer details, the app identified the nearest call-out contractor, sent the contractor a text message, started the clock ticking and updated the log.
Unfortunately, the devs used their own GUI and in the top row the 'submit' button was right next to 'form clear' and call centre staff kept clicking the wrong button, erasing the customer details and having to ask for them all again. This did not go down well with customers who'd called due to a domestic emergency (plumbing etc.)
I suggested that the workflow through the form meant that the agents would be better served by a submit button at the bottom.
The response to my submission: "Can't see a need to move the button during this development cycle - agents to be told to stop clicking the wrong button."
"IMPORTANT: People making their own copies of the CDs for redistribution to colleagues etc. are reminded that cDs can not be made double-sided with a hole punch"
10 REM Alky 0.1 A. Coder 2001 20 REM Turn off lights and buzzer 24 POKE 201,0 26 POKE 202,0 28 POKE 53280,0 29 REM Any Breath? 30 IF PEEK(200) = 0 THEN GOTO 30 32 REM Buzzer 33 POKE 53280,1 34 PAUSE(2) 35 POKE 53280,0 36 REM Lights... 40 A = 10 * RND(1) 50 IF A > 5 GOTO 80 60 REM Red light 70 POKE 201,1 75 GOTO 100 76 REM Green Light 80 POKE 202,1 100 PAUSE(3) 120 GOTO 20
One also wonders whether a massive take-up in soy-based toner would upset local markets and pricing for a 'food', just as happened to some crops with the rush to biofuels?
What next - US toner based on high fructose corn syrup!?
Slashdot Mirror
Shame I don't have any of the code developed in the mid-late 80s where I worked for the Transputer - it's probably riddled with prior art.
There's more important things to worry about.
Move on.
Disagreeing link: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/cfl-bulbs-the-myths
Take your pick!
WTF - have I dropped in on a Pagemaker Training Session?
I clicked 'Random' after seeing that XKCD cartoon and it showed me the same one!
I saw a variation on this when IBM assisted a company to port their apps from an old system 3x to an AS400. It was quite a sight to see a system that ran the full length of a 30ft computer room replaced by two boxes in the corner!
Having installed and tested everything, the IBM techs left the system with the company programmers, who discovered to their dismay that the overnight batch jobs were taking pretty much the same amount of time to run on the AS400 as they did on the old system.
IBM called in reinforcements and they all looked for disk bottlenecks, timing loop issues, Interrupt & DMA conflicts etc. etc. for what seemed like days until one bright spark from the IT department told them that in order to spread the load on the old disk arrays, there were massive 'sleep' routines to ensure that each job in the batch had finished before another started - in other words, the company programmers knew that on the old system, "job A" took about 45 mins hours to run, so "job B's" first instructions were to 'sleep' for an hour, and then "job C" slept for about 1 hour + the duration of job B etc...in all, this covered about 9 hours of batch work
Once all the delays were taken out, the 'overnighr' processing run took significantly less time to complete!
Oh yes, they are incompetent!
The database schema sucks big time - for example, every line of case history has a field containing the name of the inputter - not their login ID, but their full name in plain text. This type of bloat continues throughout the entire database and makes the whole thing much bigger (and slower to operate) than necessary.
Oh yes, the coders are doing it horribly wrong. I suspect they have some race/timing/timeout issues with their code, but I doubt they are skilled enough to resolve the matter.
I have made numerous suggestions about the issues and also suggested how their appalling database schema could be vastly improved, but the devs (and the Company MD) just cannot acknowledge that an outsider may have useful input for them.
I could rant all day about the app - but just one example: the software *sometimes* does not calculate pet ages correctly from their DOB - the devs state that 'date calculations are incredibly complex'!
Just thought of another one:
Many years back I was working as a freelancer developing the training material for a customer service app.
The agents input customer details, the app identified the nearest call-out contractor, sent the contractor a text message, started the clock ticking and updated the log.
Unfortunately, the devs used their own GUI and in the top row the 'submit' button was right next to 'form clear' and call centre staff kept clicking the wrong button, erasing the customer details and having to ask for them all again. This did not go down well with customers who'd called due to a domestic emergency (plumbing etc.)
I suggested that the workflow through the form meant that the agents would be better served by a submit button at the bottom.
The response to my submission: "Can't see a need to move the button during this development cycle - agents to be told to stop clicking the wrong button."
Oh yes:
We run a database-oriented app in a number of branches. It's so flaky that runtime errors are a daily occurrence.
The devs' response to reports of errors is usually:
a) Defrag the disk.
b) Stop the users typing so fast.
Seriously!
Nah, it will be called "iBusters", or it will be a fork of Ghostbusters called "Dungumaro", which is "Evil Spirit" in Swahili.
From the distro notes:
"IMPORTANT: People making their own copies of the CDs for redistribution to colleagues etc. are reminded that cDs can not be made double-sided with a hole punch"
"Today is a good day to crash!"
I sense an immense tech/geek bitchin' session in the makin'
Chill out dudes - and we don't need anyone mentioning the 'coffe cup holder' again, do we!?
Hey, this is a UK GOVERNMENT database - you really think it will use SQL?
More likely a 'specialist', proprietary language that only the consultants can use.
Either that, or they forgot to include a 'dob' field in the main table, but a 'fix' will be released 'soon'.
meh: captcha was 'overflow' - says it all!
I'm gonna apply for "IMGNBWLFCLSTR"
Ah yes, the famous Swedish Hampplattrsdag! I understand you even have a crispbread shaped like the plate.
Here in the UK we named a county 'Hampshire' in honour. I have the misfortune to live 'next door' in West Sussex, but I am considering moving.
Slashdot geeks: putting the semen in basement since 1997.
10 REM Alky 0.1 A. Coder 2001
20 REM Turn off lights and buzzer
24 POKE 201,0
26 POKE 202,0
28 POKE 53280,0
29 REM Any Breath?
30 IF PEEK(200) = 0 THEN GOTO 30
32 REM Buzzer
33 POKE 53280,1
34 PAUSE(2)
35 POKE 53280,0
36 REM Lights...
40 A = 10 * RND(1)
50 IF A > 5 GOTO 80
60 REM Red light
70 POKE 201,1
75 GOTO 100
76 REM Green Light
80 POKE 202,1
100 PAUSE(3)
120 GOTO 20
I hear all the devs have been snapped up by EDS.
First thing to cross my mind when I read the headline was "holy crap, Borland's still around?"
This
One also wonders whether a massive take-up in soy-based toner would upset local markets and pricing for a 'food', just as happened to some crops with the rush to biofuels?
What next - US toner based on high fructose corn syrup!?
Any list is subjective, mine would include some 'fun' items from my hobbyist days - for example:
ZN414 TRF radio
SN76477 Sound generator
78xxx Three terminal regulators
27xx EPROM
4017 Decade counter
LM3909?
LM3909 Chip (sadly discontinued)
LED
Cap
2 x Resistors for Vcc > 6v
4017 FTW (and rows of flashing LEDs)