 |
|
We were all under severe pressure, but everyone absorbs that pressure in a different way.
Looking back it at, the engineer who took his life didn't seem to show the stress everyone else was obviously carrying around. I now know that that's a warning sign - when someone internalises severe stress, it can build up to a point where they can't contain it anymore, and something has to give.
In that position I know I'll end up crying, screaming (usually back at whoever is dumping on me) or taking it out on some inanimate object (TV remotes do make a satisfying cracking noise when you hurl them at a wall....). He did none of that - just kept taking it until he popped.  Anna ![Rose | [Rose]](/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
Tech Blog | Visual Lint
"Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
|
|
|
|
|
Yes I agree. Politics is always the problem in Software Development.
Too bad the colleges and Uni's don't invest as much time in teaching their studuents how to manage stress, idiot project managers and hostile customers as they do the "best and most perfect" design.
|
|
|
|
|
The most difficult job I've worked on in recent memory was a contract job I did on the side. We had a couple interface libraries for a piece of hardware we were using. The libraries were horribly buggy. The manufacturer supplied source code for all but the core library that handled communications with their device driver.
The code was awful. It looked like it had been written by an E.E. intern with one class in C++. We had to replace all but the core library, and that we had to develop workarounds for ridiculous bugs. The worst was having to place Sleep(1) calls after most calls to the core library. They were doing something odd with threading, and the calls wouldn't execute unless you forced a thread switch immediately after the call. We would have replaced the core library as well, but the manufacturer refused to give us their existing source code or even a spec for communicating with their driver.
Of course, all of this is happening on a job that was running behind schedule. I was lucky; I only lost $2500 on the job. The guy doing the hardware, whom I was working for, lost more.
Software Zen: delete this;
|
|
|
|
|
Hahahaha, reminds me of a conveyor project I did once. The system was supposed to support 2 transactions a second and communicate them to a DEC VAX via a software package of theirs called PAMS. They claimed it was as reliable as the mail in communications.
At first they wanted the network card in my sort controller but I refused because my system was heavily interrupt driven and I had another computer specified that my program would send the transaction to through RS-232 communications and from that computer into the VAX via their interface card.
Best decision I ever made. Even though they knew the transactions were going to come in at 2 per second, their interface protocol would take 15 seconds (per transaction!) to determine if the VAX was down before they would store the transaction locally and then return control to my communications software. They disabled interrupts during that time so I couldn't use interrupts to receive my transactions, but had to resort to using the Clear To Send pin to mediate communication between my sort controller and the communications computer. It was even more hilarious when communications with the VAX was reestablished and their software seized control once again until all the backed up transactions had been transmitted. Should I be cruel and mention they did not dynamically allocate disk buffer space for the locally saved transactions but instead predefined the buffer size and locked up when it became full?
Of course DEC was not going to take the blame, instead of sending a programmer to meetings with the client, they sent a lawyer. I finally said I was willing to throw down printouts of my code for them to crawl over and tell me where I had gone wrong. Were they willing to do the same? They finally conceded that there might be a problem with their interface card.
It would have been far less of a hassle if they had let me write the communications protocol to the VAX as well, but hey, I was not an employee of the All and Powerful Digital Equipment Corporation, so what did I know?
Psychosis at 10
Film at 11
Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
modified 15 Nov '12 - 11:48.
|
|
|
|
|
The toughest projects are the ones where I don't agree with the original design and I am given the code to debug. I am forever thinking, I wouldn't have done it like that or If they had done it the way I suggested, we wouldn't have this problem. It is just a huge mental block because I have a biased opinion of the design.
|
|
|
|
|
I just wonder how many people are currently wandering around eastern Australia, like myself, with little crescents burned into their retinas.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
|
|
|
|
|
Chris - when we said you needed a new brand, that's not what we meant.
|
|
|
|
|
[crescent key] [crescent key] [crescent key] [crescent key] [crescent exclamation key]
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
|
|
|
|
|
You are one weird puppy Mr M.
|
|
|
|
|
With all those keys you can now enter north and west Dire Maul 
|
|
|
|
|
Chris Maunder wrote: I just wonder how many people are currently wandering around eastern Australia, like myself, with little crescents burned into their retinas.
All of the stupid ones.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair.
nils illegitimus carborundum
me, me, me
|
|
|
|
|
|
But you're aptly named for it!
Nominative Determinism!
|
|
|
|
|
Chris Maunder wrote: little crescents burned into their retinas.
Couldn't if I tried! Cloud base == altitude + 50 m.
Cheers,
Peter
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
|
|
|
|
|
My son lives in Cairns and is working on a boat on the northern reef, I do believe he will have a crescent, or at least seen it.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry - can't read all of your email - I have strange crescents burned into my retinas!
Mrs Maxxx couldn't figure out how come it was so sunny this morning but still seemed to be darker than usual. so she looked up at the sun. Now she knows - and it's a whole lot darker!
|
|
|
|
|
Chris Maunder wrote: I just wonder how many people are currently wandering around eastern Australia, like myself, with little crescents burned into their retinas.
So you're in Eastern Australia are you?
Get your arse to Mount Druitt on Saturday, I've got bucketloads of Penguin Piss that need drinking, many forms of smoked meats for snacks and at last count, 17kg of different meat to barbeque.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
|
|
|
|
|
Not me, but I couldn't help but look straight at the eclipse in Austria in '99.
e: memory fail
modified 14 Nov '12 - 4:59.
|
|
|
|
|
I envy you! I was prepared for the total solar eclipse visible in the UK on 11th Aug 1999 (been waiting for it for decades). It was cloudy and overcast so it was safe to use binoculars to see where the sun was.
|
|
|
|
|
Hello Everybody,
As a software developer that has used VB.NET for several projects over the years, I am used to the look that I sometimes get whenever my VB work comes up in conversation. It says "Oh, that's cute. When you grow up, maybe you'd like to try C#. It's got curly braces and everything!".
Those with opinions on whether or not VB.NET is a 'real' programming language or not generally fall into one of three categories:
1. Those that have worked in it and enjoy using it. While it is not my only (or even my main) programming language, I proudly include myself in this group.
2. Those that have tried it and after doing so decide they don't like it because it's too verbose etc. That's completely fine by me, no language is for everybody.
3. Those that have acquired an illogical, extreme hatred for it through an unholy combination of hearsay, rumour and code samples (often VB6) they've seen on the internet. They have never tried it and so are horribly uninformed on the topic. They say things like "VB isn't a real language!" and "VB is a language for babies!". It is with this group that I take issue.
Today, I overheard a colleague inflating his own head by bragging about the progress he was making on his C++ course while designing a class in Java with another colleague. He had just finished calling VB a 'baby language' among other things when I caught this little gem:
"What's the point in declaring things as private? Just declare everything as public. That way nothing will break."
For someone with such a billowing ego when it comes to his experience with 'real' programming languages, that last sentence demonstrates without a doubt that beneath the haughty 'I'm a real programmer' exterior lies a secret - 'I have got no idea what I'm talking about'.
This is an example of the VB Stigma in action. People have flaunted their negative opinions of the language to my face even when they know that I have worked on several successful VB.NET projects with other programmers in the past. I find myself having to lead a secret life as 'one of those VB people' to avoid being looked down upon. My question is - why? It is built on exactly the same technology as C#, but I very rarely hear that talked about with the kind of vitriol that some people seem to reserve for Visual Basic. Do some people really need these things '{}' every couple of lines to feel like they're actually programming?
In my opinion, for what it's worth, one of the best things about programming is the diverse tool set we get as programmers for doing what we do. We're lucky enough to have C++, Java, C, C#, VB, Python, Perl and so many other languages of various types to choose from to accomplish different things. I think we should try to keep it that way by respecting other people's right to use the language they enjoy the most without heaping scorn on them for using what is, to the uninformed, the 'wrong' one.
So what do you guys think? Am I missing something here? Is there actually a reason beyond ego that in 2012 people still have this attitude towards VB.NET?
SixOfTheClock
A programming language is to a programmer what a fine hat is to one who is fond of fancy garden parties. Just don't try wearing any .NET language on your head. Some of them are sharp.
|
|
|
|
|
I don't have much of a problem with VB.NET. Like you say, it's just another language. My neutrality for VB, however, does not extend back to the old none .NET versions. The fact that the old VB played fast and loose with COM rules really caused problems for me as a C++ developer, and also helped to corrupt a lot of registries.
Funnily enough, this is the second time in two days that I've got onto this topic to rant about it.
|
|
|
|
|
SixOfTheClock wrote: "What's the point in declaring things as private? Just declare everything as public. That way nothing will break."
People like this are morons in any language.
It's like you say: VB is just another tool. It is neither good nor bad though you can produce code of either flavor. Personally I prefer c# but I don't think its any better; it's just my tool of choice right now.
You're not missing anything: there will always be people for whom the tool set they work with is supreme and everything else is rubbish,. Ignore them, they'll soon be back at MaccieDs flipping burgers.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair.
nils illegitimus carborundum
me, me, me
|
|
|
|
|
mark merrens wrote: "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair.
Funny ... that's my signature on most of my forum accounts too. Small world.
-CB 
|
|
|
|
|
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair.
nils illegitimus carborundum
me, me, me
|
|
|
|
|
If you like Red Adair, there's an old John Wayne movie called "Hellfighters" that tells the basic story of oil fire fighting. Good old flick.
-CB
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
Post your Blog
