Encountered a what?



  • From UPS' package tracking page:

    Your package has experienced an exception.

    This was in response to a real-world error (missing the apt. number from the shipping address).

    Sorry I was late, but my tire encountered an exception on Rt. 95 and I almost died!



  • At least your date didn't encounter a fatal error...



  • @djork said:

    From UPS' package tracking page:

    Your package has experienced an exception.

    This was in response to a real-world error (missing the apt. number from the shipping address).

    Sorry I was late, but my tire encountered an exception on Rt. 95 and I almost died!

    So it should have said MissingAptNumberFromShippingAddressException which of course extends the Exception class 



  • This may come as a surprise to you, but most computer terminology actually existed in the english language before they came to be used for computers.



  • I got the same message last year when the Denver airport got snowed in right before Christmas.

    Of course, the Denver airport getting so snowed in that UPS can't get their planes in the air is an exception to standard operating procedure, so I don't really see how the usage of the term qualifies as a WTF...


     



  • @Pap said:

    This may come as a surprise to you, but most computer terminology actually existed in the english language before they came to be used for computers.

    Yep, a shipment exception means exactly what you think it does, provided you're not a horrible, horrible nerd... 



  • @sootzoo said:

    @Pap said:

    This may come as a surprise to you, but most computer terminology actually existed in the english language before they came to be used for computers.

    Yep, a shipment exception means exactly what you think it does, provided you're not a horrible, horrible nerd... 

     

    Uh, if you've never heard the word "exception" outside of the computer science world, then I can't help you.



  • @Pap said:

    @sootzoo said:

    @Pap said:

    This may come as a surprise to you, but most computer terminology actually existed in the english language before they came to be used for computers.

    Yep, a shipment exception means exactly what you think it does, provided you're not a horrible, horrible nerd...



    Uh, if you've never heard the word "exception" outside of the computer science world, then I can't help you.

    I did say, "provided you're not a horrible, horrible nerd", which I think would imply I have heard such a term outside the comp sci world and is a jab at the OP.

    Sarcasm detector: set to eleven, please... 



  • @Pap said:

    This may come as a surprise to you, but most computer terminology actually existed in the english language before they came to be used for computers.

     

    "Exception" in the sense of "error" or "problem" is indeed computer jargon.  Look it up in a regular abridged dictionary, it's nowhere to be found.



  • @seaturnip said:

    @Pap said:

    This may come as a surprise to you, but most computer terminology actually existed in the english language before they came to be used for computers.


    "Exception" in the sense of "error" or "problem" is indeed computer jargon.  Look it up in a regular abridged dictionary, it's nowhere to be found.

    A regular non-abridged dictionary doesn't define "exceptional" behavior?

    Shipping companies and UPS in particular have a whole set of rules designed to inform shippers / recipients when their package has been shipped, delivered, or there is [b]an exception[/b], i.e. something that doesn't equal "shipped" or "delivered". This whole thread was predicated on someone inferring an awfully bad pun...



  • Not in the dictionary? Get real!

     http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/exception

    Common saying like "I take exception to that" or "these are exceptional circumstaces". What about "With the exception of Mark, everyone ate the pizza". The word has certainly been around much longer than computers have.

    After a quick search, http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-exc1.htm you can see that the word originates from the latin exceptio.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @DaEagle said:

    Not in the dictionary? Get real!

    Allow me to re-read the post you're quoting for you, with highlighting:

     @seaturnip said:

    "Exception" in the sense of "error" or "problem" is
    indeed computer jargon.  Look it up in a regular abridged dictionary,
    it's nowhere to be found.

    You replied as if the OP said "exception is not in the dictionary" - what they said is "[a particular sense] is not in abridged dictionaries" Now, from your link:

    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/exception

    Which meaning covers "error" or "problem" as (loosely) perceived in the computing sense?

    And, no, number 2 from dictionary.com, American Heritige Dictionary and WordNet, isn't it.

    In fact, out of the 8 'dictionaries' you cite, only the last, the "Free On-line Dictionary of Computing" (strangely enough) gives this definition of "exception." (Notably excluding all the other senses)

     



  • I'm always afraid, my body might throw a HeartAttackException one day -- and no doctor around to catch it, ending in the finally clause.



  • TheRider, I might just need to steal that post for my quote collection.  If it cool?



  • The real WTF is that his package apparently possesses the conscious ability to experience things. I'd like to talk to it about its experience with an exception, which is such an exceptionally abstract event that it's hard to fathom it in such general terms.



  • @galgorah said:

    TheRider, I might just need to steal that post for my quote collection.  If it cool?

    Be my guest :-) 



  • @TheRider said:

    I'm always afraid, my body might throw a HeartAttackException one day -- and no doctor around to catch it, ending in the finally clause.

    Doesn't the finally block get executed anyway, whether an exception is caught or not?



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    @TheRider said:

    I'm always afraid, my body might throw a HeartAttackException one day -- and no doctor around to catch it, ending in the finally clause.

    Doesn't the finally block get executed anyway, whether an exception is caught or not?

    [/quote]

    Well, yes, in fact, innumerable sources confirm that life will end at some point, with or without decent exception handling. 



  • @djork said:

    Your package has experienced an exception.

     @Jimi Hendrix said:

    Ooooh, but are  you experienced?
    Have you ever been experienced?
    Well... I have.
    Uh... let me prove it to you...

     



  • @TheRider said:

    I'm always afraid, my body might throw a HeartAttackException one day -- and no doctor around to catch it, ending in the finally clause.

     Classic!
     



  • This may come as a surprise to you, but packages were experiencing exceptions long before that terminology came to be used for computers.


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