Re: A bit of irritation

On 3 Jul 2006 18:31:21 GMT, flaps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Alan J Rosenthal)
wrote:


-- aj "Error: The application programmer is too arrogant to tell you why the
operation did not complete" r

Many years ago, I orked for $WeSellToLandSharks, doing tech support on
some specialized software for the Legal Industry[1]. It used OGEVRIR,
then the Latest and Greatest DB engine. When there was an error from
the DB engine, the program would put a message on the screen, quoting
the error in detail. The one thing the message didn't mention was
what file caused the error.

The "programmer" was an arrogant, brute-force luser who believed in
using a series of if statements to set a value based on a keystroke,
rather than either calculating the value in one statement or, at
least, using a series of else ifs[2]. He also liked to use

while (true)

followed by statements, and a test breaking out of the loop as his
favorite loop construct. I could never get him to change the messages
to give anybody, including him, the slightest hint on what file was at
fault. He once flamed me on the phone, ordering me not to read his
sorce code under any circumstances. While he was doing this, I was
composing and sending a fax to the CEO telling him what was going on.
Said programmer was quickly LARTed, as said CEO was *not*
pointy-haired and had personally told me to familiarize myself with
the code. After the programmer left, I was allowed to re-work the
code, cleaning up his more outrageous work. The resulting program
worked quicker and the executable was about 30% smaller; this in the
DOS days, when keeping programs small was still important.

[1]As opposed, before anybody asks to some sort of illegal industry.
[2]That's right. Every keystroke had to go through the complete
series of ifs.

--
Joe Zeff
The Guy With the Sideburns
OMG! PONIES!!!
http://www.lasfs.org http://home.earthlink.net/~sidebrnz
.

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