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Anyone who has ever tried to read Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus will be getting a massive sense of deja-vu.
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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Confusing code can (and will!) lead to bugs in code.
Might want to start with confusing requirements. Or lack of well defined requirements because the existing problem domain isn't actually fully understood due to years of undocumented tweaks to the code base your starting with, that are slowly discovered and the new code is patched.
I've had to deal with that recently. There are apparently these "indicators", labeled 1 through 10, that mean things that determine whether an insurance policy should be reported to the motor vehicle department.
And what really blows me away is that the UI simply has checkboxes labeled "1", "2", etc.., through "10." Apparently the agents filling out the forms know what these "indicators" mean. 
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That's where Unit Tests come in really handy - being able to refactor code as you go with the confidence of not breaking other parts of the project.
Refactoring is one of the most important skills on long-term projects, as it allows the project to avoid slipping into chaos over time.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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Rob Grainger wrote: That's where Unit Tests come in really handy - being able to refactor code as you go with the confidence of not breaking other parts of the project.
Unfortunately, there are very few unit tests. In fact, I did an introductory presentation on unit testing because most people haven't written them. And then the issue that there are dozens of little processes that fire in the middle of the night to "move the data along", and more being added every day, makes the "if I change this, what will it break?" question pretty much a black hole.
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That's a nightmare. I've refactored a few legacy systems over the years, requirement capture is often hard (what should this be doing). A good starting point is to do small safe refactorings, such as extracting chunks to well named methods, replacing magic numbers with enums, etc. Until the code begins to become more readable.
Good luck, you have my sympathy.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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Rob Grainger wrote: Good luck, you have my sympathy.
Well, I've vented some of my frustration on the Weird and Wonderful. Thank goodness for an outlet!
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Sounds like a single very clear original requirement in the 1.0 version to me.
"APPEARANCE 1: To minimize retraining, the application shall exactly mirror the labeling of the existing paper form."
 
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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The new C++ standard brings many useful additions to the Standard Library. "Raise your standards to create change."
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Researchers at Facebook’s AI lab have developed an expressive bot, an animation controlled by an artificially intelligent algorithm. The algorithm was trained on hundreds of videos of Skype conversations, so that it could learn and then mimic how humans adjust their expressions in response to each other. Forcing an AI to spend hours on Skype? We're lucky they haven't killed us off.
But it is really good at saying, "Can you hear me now?" and, "Could you go on mute, please?"
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Where'd they get the Skype videos?
They asked users for permission to snoop?
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GenJerDan wrote: Where'd they get the Skype videos?
They asked users for permission to snoop?
I was wondering the same. I thought Skype is a M$ product. If they had used WhatsApp it would not surprise me that much.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Jon von Tetzchner, the founder of both Opera and Vivaldi, believes that Google has gotten too big and "is now in a position where regulation is needed." Oh, but they'd never do evil, would they?
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Everything is relative. For example, the Federal Reserve is the huge elephant in the room that everyone ignores and which makes Google look like a mouse.
Odd how we frown upon the potential evil of Google when the historical evils of the Federal Reserve are there for all to see. The US debt is close to $7,000,000,000,000 and it ain't Google that is collecting the huge interest payments from fiat loans 'graciously provided' by the Fed.
Me thinks people have their priorities in the wrong place!
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Microsoft is looking to get more feedback from IT pros about business-focused Windows 10 features via a new virtual lab, known as Olympia Corp. Because if there's one thing enterprise sysadmins love, it's testing new features
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Yes, yes, the holodeck on the Enterprise 
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The case could set a legal precedent for workers' rights to privacy. Is this going to be another round of those "we use cookie" notifications?
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Nine years after going open source, Reddit is archiving the source code for its website and mobile apps. The source code will still be accessible, but will no longer be updated -- Reddit cites concerns about competition as one of the reasons for the change in direction. Open for thee, but not for me
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Why didn't everybody just get that? If you leave the cookies out..
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A team of researchers from the U.S. and China has demonstrated electronic devices that can degrade and disappear on demand using nothing but moisture in the air. Oh good: because mine always disappear whenever they feel like it
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Mine degrade as soon as warrantee runs out.
Someone's therapist knows all about you!
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So you ran away? Or did you mean warranty?
#SupportHeForShe
Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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Mozilla used to be our bulwark against the the closure of the web. Can it muster a defense again? This news item looks best at 1024x768 in Netscape Navigator 4.0
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