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If it moves, compile it
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No! Or else they will take our jobs away from us. If we give the illusion that we programmers can fix our own computers, then we (the programmers) are more valuable. (We can ask for help.)
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Fixed your title
What drives me even more bonkers are developers who don't know how to put a shortcut to an app on the desktop. 
True story, that.
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Fixed your title again. 
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I really can't understand why there's so many people that complaining from that blue screen... I get blue screens extremely rare:
Maybe the 1st time i saw it it was back in 1998 when I was still very young PC user: I have installed the wrong driver for my sound card on my old Windows XP machine. The second time I've got blue screen was when my fan of the GeForce4 VGA have stopped working, the card was baked. I remember few other times getting a blue screen, but again the reason was either a defective hardware or wrong drivers installed. BTW I've never seen a blue screen on my win7 laptop, and I have it for 3 years.
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But, but, but ... I did put it on the desktop. See, right there it is, written on that sticky note, right there on the desktop, just next to the keyboard.
Darn technicians just ought to learn to read.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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"This is the police. Please step away from the code."
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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There was this one time when I created a desktop shortcut on a Windows server only to have users complain that there is no shortcut. Ofcourse, what I had not thought about was different people use different logins and I should have placed the shortcut at the appropriate location. 
SG
Aham Brahmasmi!
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Was it in band camp? 
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I hearby award you the "hall of shame" prize. Of course, you'll need to share it with me.
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Please don't ever put an icon on my desktop. I can't stand programs that put an icon on my desktop like Google Earth. Then every time there is an update/upgrade, they update the desktop icon that I removed. If I wanted clutter, I would use somebody else's computer. My desktop is sacred space for a very few select icons... I use my start bar or quick launch to find things, but don't assume I want them on my desktop.
Hogan
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Amen!!!
I tell my developers - "if you write an installer that puts an icon on someone's desktop without asking, I'll withhold your next pay check... without asking." Amazing that we've never had to deal with that issue any longer.
BTW, I can and do fix my own computer. I think that we as developers (I'm also an engineer) have a far deeper understanding of what goes on under the hood. I've solved problems where other non-developer types were ready to throw in the towel and re-format/re-install.
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I wasn't referring to his inability to put an icon on a desktop with an installer - that would be a legitimate programmer question for someone who doesn't do much in the way of installer packages.
This guy didn't know how to put a shortcut to Visual Studio on his own desktop.
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This is a huge pet peeve for me. And the second biggest reason I don't have adobe reader installed on my pc anymore. (the first being that it is a major attack vector)
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I don't so much mind putting an icon on my desktop (although most installers will ask whether or not to do this), but I had one app that not only automatically updates itself, but rearranges all of my desktop icons when it does so. I keep my icons organized on the right side of my desktop, specifically so that I can tell if something has added one without my permission (it'll always be in the upper left corner). This app comes in and moves them all to the upper left corner and down the left side, and gets them all out of order to boot. I have stopped using that app. And yes, I could have turned off automatic updates, but it still rearranged the icons even when I did a manual update.
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Especially when blue screens give very useful error codes. And when it BSOD's you can assume hardware or driver issue (and Windows is getting better at handling driver failure, so that doesn't always BSOD anymore, especially in graphics drivers), so that narrows it down a lot. Although personally I find it much easier to deal with when you custom build a computer (although, no computer I've built has ever had BSOD errors that weren't fixed with a driver update/reinstall) because you know exactly what piece of hardware you have, unlike pre-builts which may or may not have easily found part lists.
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So a VB6 developer (the term is loosely applied here) should know how, and have the tools available, to debug Windows drivers written in C++ ?
Failure is not an option; it's the default selection.
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No. Blue screens provide error codes, you can look those up to determine the source, and then take appropriate steps to fix it (update/reinstall/rollback the driver, try to replace the hardware that causes the issue, etc.).
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So you expect anyone who programs computers to also be a hardware technician?
Most automobiles have many computerized systems in them. Do you expect the mechanic to be a computer technician? Do you expect them to be a materials engineer to determine why the brake pads have worn out?
Failure is not an option; it's the default selection.
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Well considering the job of a "hardware technician" is essentially the round peg goes in the round hole (does the hardware fit in that socket? Yes => it goes there; No => it goes somewhere else), the rest of it is all software side, yes. I'm not saying they should be able to recognize a blown capacitor and be able to replace it, but they should be able to Google some error codes, install some software, and worst case scenario replace a piece of hardware.
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Mark Nischalke wrote: Most automobiles have many computerized systems in them. Do you expect the mechanic to be a computer technician?
Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. In at least so far that he knows how to run a diagnostic on those computerized system. If he can't do that, then he isn't qualified to work on my car, and he should stick to fixing VW's 
Mark Nischalke wrote: Do you expect them to be a materials engineer to determine why the brake pads have worn out?
No, but I do expect him to be able to tell me that the brake pads are indeed worn out, not just simply "Uh, your car won't stop.... I don't know why!"
Mark Nischalke wrote: So you expect anyone who programs computers to also be a hardware technician?
So, by definition, a programmer is someone who makes a computer system do his bidding. Whether it be via a provided API, or direct to metal, makes no difference. If something goes wrong, I expect them to be able to find the problem, even if it turns out that the problem lies in the API... ie, if a "programmer" ever came to me and said "It doesn't work... I don't know why!", he loses all credibility in my eyes
In short, I don't expect the programmer to fix the hardware issue, or the driver issue either. Just to be able to point to it, and say "This is what is causing the problem... Can you help me fix it?"
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HuntrCkr wrote: So, by definition, a programmer is someone who makes a computer system do his bidding
Optional definitions I found of programmer, software engineer, etc :
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
One who prepares or writes instructional programs.
a person who designs and writes and tests computer programs
a person who writes a program so that data may be processed by a computer
Computer science:
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the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures
Computer User:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a person who uses computers for work or entertainment or communication or business
If it moves, compile it
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loctrice wrote: Computer User:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a person who uses computers for work or entertainment or communication or business
I assume you made the User and the work parts bold to empasize and try to point out that programmers are as a matter of fact users just doing their work.
That's like saying a mechanic is just another car owner because he drives a car to work. It's true, BUT, if his car broke down on the way to work, it's kinda logical to assume he would maybe know how to fix it. Or at least have a good idea what went wrong even if he can't fix it himself.
Programmers that complain about BSOD and PC's malfunctioning are like the mechanic that can't even tell you what's wrong with his own car. Would you trust that mechanic to fix YOUR car...... I didn't think so!
So why should I trust that kind of programmer to write decent software?!? 
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HuntrCkr wrote: Programmers that complain about BSOD and PC's malfunctioning are like the mechanic that can't even tell you what's wrong with his own car. Would you trust that mechanic to fix YOUR car...... I didn't think so!
It's not quite the same thing.
It's more like the guys at the mechanic shop saying they can't air brush the image you asked for onto your car, or repair the body because both of those require specialists. Very very few mechanic shops can do that.
There are plenty of mechanic shops that can replace a transmition, but not rebuild it. To rebuild it, you would need someone who knows that particular specialty.
Also like the oil change people saying they can't change the exhaust manifold and give you a new exhaust system.
HuntrCkr wrote: So why should I trust that kind of programmer to write decent software?!?
I don't think the ability to trouble shoot the OS has anything to do with writing software, unless the os's code is available to look at.
HuntrCkr wrote: Programmers that complain about BSOD and PC's malfunctioning are like the mechanic that can't even tell you what's wrong with his own car.
BSOD ... doesn't happen to me , I use Linux. If it happens at work, I'm completely lost. Doesn't have a thing to do with my writing software.
If it moves, compile it
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