The Official Status Thread
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@izzion There is a couple weeks in the summer where there is no snowbank.
You just wait a couple weeks and the mess will be covered with snow
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@izzion said in The Official Status Thread:
Since apparently just throwing the Vista machines off the roof isn't an acceptable solution.
Yes it is. It most definitely is.
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Status: In Swype-like keyboards, the word "think" uses a very similar stroke to "rhino". This amused me a bit when the keyboard got the wrong one and I rhino it's going to subconsciously affect the way I type on my phone.
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@hungrier said in The Official Status Thread:
Status: In Swype-like keyboards, the word "think" uses a very similar stroke to "rhino". This amused me a bit when the keyboard got the wrong one and I rhino it's going to subconsciously affect the way I type on my phone.
It can be worse. Rhino is the name of one of my faved authors, so it's now a preferred word over rhino and think.
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Status: Our current software solution for managing school PCs is on its way out. Finally.
I also think I found a new solution which is not chock-full of WTFs. None of the evidence I present is conclusive but in its totality it gives me a bit of hope.
a) The company responsible doesn't have a client list in the low single-digits.
b) The software itself is open-source. The company makes its money through maintenance, support and installation.
c) It does not look like something from last century.
d) The management console (both for classroom management and school administration) can be intuitively understood.
e) Has a nice number of optional plugins (e.g. a load balancer for WLAN access points - so that not every WLAN client uses the one AP that's nearest).
f) Uses a single base image for Win10 instead of what the current solution does where you have to bake one image for every hardware combination we have. The specific software for each PC then is distributed on top of that image. Also, updates to this images will not only be loaded on boot but also while the PC is running.
g) They have a specific policy of "not reinventing the wheel". If there's something Windows already does or where a (suitable) 3rd party software solution already exists, they try to integrate that instead of rolling their own (for instance, file access from outside will be managed through OwnCloud).And more.
Only bad thing about this will be the change-over period where we switch from the old system to the new one. There's also the period of time from now up to this point because the old guys won't be exactly thrilled about fixing their bugs.
The thing that finally broke the camel's back was the "Passwords are stored in the clear!" thing. Because we have rooms we cannot lock (due to them being part of an escape route) which contain PCs with the classroom management console on it. Said console can display the password of any pupil onto the screen of any PC in that room.
Now, this feature is only enabled when a teacher logs in. But: Every teacher got the same goddamn password (and, no, it's not "hunter2". It's "teacher123". Genius!). And: There's no way to force a "Please change your fucking password!". And the usernames are easily guessable as it's "lastnamefirstname".Oh, and the non-existance of changelogs. Several times I booted the PC to see a new feature or a changed UI bit. Without ever telling us about it.
Plus, the existance of stuff like: "Collected files 18 of 14" clearly shows that unit tests or similar are probably unheard of.
I'm not sure why we ever thought of hiring those guys.
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Status: Why does C#'s implementation of starting processes suck more than the original C++ equivalent?
I'd like to start up child processes from the main app in the background and unfocused, but apparently this is impossible without Pinvoking.
WTF, man...
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@rhywden said in The Official Status Thread:
it's not "hunter2". It's "teacher123". Genius!
That's amazing! That's the same password as my
luggagemanagement console!
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@rhywden said in The Official Status Thread:
I'm not sure why we ever thought of hiring those guys.
If be "we" you mean you and all the other stakeholders who use the system every day, the reason why is "because fuck you".
If by "we" you mean the one administrator who approved the system and hired the programmers and gave them a bunch of money? The reason is "because they were my buddies. Also, fuck you."
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@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
I'd like to start up child processes from the main app in the background and unfocused, but apparently this is impossible without Pinvoking.
Visible on the screen or not-visible?
If you're opening a new visible process, it's correct Windows behavior to activate that process's window. (Even then, you ought to be able to re-focus your own window without hitting pinvoke. At least you can in WinForms, it's just like
Form.Activate().)If the new process has no visible windows, I know it can be launched in the backgroud, I have code that does it. I do remember it being kind of a pain to figure out the right params to pass.
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@blakeyrat said in The Official Status Thread:
@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
I'd like to start up child processes from the main app in the background and unfocused, but apparently this is impossible without Pinvoking.
Visible on the screen or not-visible?
If you're opening a new visible process, it's correct Windows behavior to activate that process's window. (Even then, you ought to be able to re-focus your own window without hitting pinvoke. At least you can in WinForms, it's just like
Form.Activate().)If the new process has no visible windows, I know it can be launched in the backgroud, I have code that does it. I do remember it being kind of a pain to figure out the right params to pass.
Hmmm good point actually. I'm launching the things with the log enabled, which may not actually be needed in this use case. Therefore, if the log window doesn't spawn, no big deal and no focus steal...
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@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
Hmmm good point actually. I'm launching the things with the log enabled, which may not actually be needed in this use case.
When you launch a process, you can feed in your own stream to use in place of
console outandconsole error. If all you need is the text from it, do that. Don't launch mysterious windows that'll only confuse all your users.
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@polygeekery said in The Official Status Thread:
@dcon said in The Official Status Thread:
15 more minutes before I can call the vet
Any updates?
Appt at 3PDT. My dog walker let me know that he hasn't vomited since I left - so that's a good thing...
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@blakeyrat said in The Official Status Thread:
@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
Hmmm good point actually. I'm launching the things with the log enabled, which may not actually be needed in this use case.
When you launch a process, you can feed in your own stream to use in place of
console outandconsole error. If all you need is the text from it, do that. Don't launch mysterious windows that'll only confuse all your users.Yeah, this is Unreal Engine I'm launching. It doesn't use STDIO, and instead makes its own window for the log
Because why use standard interfaces to do things?Anyways, since I don't anticipate anyone actually usefully using the log, I just won't show it. The automanager loop will take care of it if it crashes or whatever anyways...
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@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
It doesn't use STDIO, and instead makes its own window for the log
Are you sure it doesn't do both? Have you checked?
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@blakeyrat said in The Official Status Thread:
@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
It doesn't use STDIO, and instead makes its own window for the log
Are you sure it doesn't do both? Have you checked?
Not extensively, but if launching it from a standard command prompt window it immediately detaches (and thus the command prompt returns) and makes a new window with the log.
Somehow when Visual Studio launches it, this behaviour is not observed (and obviously visual studio captures the output, though it's in a different format somewhat), but I don't care enough to actually find out why.
Anyways,
@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
since I don't anticipate anyone actually usefully using the log, I just won't show it.
and the launching process doesn't care about the output anyways (it's being shown for the benefit of the devs, and for the assurance that something is actually happening). Problem solved I guess.
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@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
but if launching it from a standard command prompt window it immediately detaches (and thus the command prompt returns) and makes a new window with the log.
What a poop.
You should write them and ask WHY it does this, I bet they have an amusingly stupid answer.
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@blakeyrat said in The Official Status Thread:
@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
but if launching it from a standard command prompt window it immediately detaches (and thus the command prompt returns) and makes a new window with the log.
What a poop.
You should write them and ask WHY it does this, I bet they have an amusingly stupid answer.
Without asking I would hazard a guess it's because it starts up its own logging system that's not strictly compatible with stdio (89 percent certain) and thus it just gives up even trying.
I know this much because I implemented one of their log utility things to attach to the log in order to send live logs over the wire, and it's somewhat amusing what extra data I have to filter out because formatting commands (like changing the color) is actually a separate line (no, really).
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@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
I know this much because I implemented one of their log utility things to attach to the log in order to send live logs over the wire, and it's somewhat amusing what extra data I have to filter out because formatting commands (like changing the color) is actually a separate line (no, really).
I wonder if the guy who wrote that knew that there was already a standard for that, and had been for decades and decades.
Better to roll your own though.
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@blakeyrat said in The Official Status Thread:
@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
I know this much because I implemented one of their log utility things to attach to the log in order to send live logs over the wire, and it's somewhat amusing what extra data I have to filter out because formatting commands (like changing the color) is actually a separate line (no, really).
I wonder if the guy who wrote that knew that there was already a standard for that, and had been for decades and decades.
Better to roll your own though.
Yes, that summarizes Unreal Engine pretty well.
Yes, there's a ternary boolean structure in there, in case you're wondering.
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@rhywden said in The Official Status Thread:
I also think I found a new solution which is not chock-full of WTFs. None of the evidence I present is conclusive but in its totality it gives me a bit of hope.
Anyone want to place bets on how long it takes for @Rhywden's hope to be dashed?
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@izzion said in The Official Status Thread:
@bb36e
The global warming thread is
Minnesota: still waiting for global warming ( at 30 deg F below average, local warming would be nice too) just got 24 in of snow this weekend
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@benjamin-hall said in The Official Status Thread:
@jaloopa said in The Official Status Thread:
@luhmann
Or hotdog stuffed crustsThe Nope thread is
Or sushi 🍣
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@m_adams said in The Official Status Thread:
just got 24 in of snow this weekend
That's where all the snow forecasted for Montreal went
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@timebandit said in The Official Status Thread:
@m_adams said in The Official Status Thread:
just got 24 in of snow this weekend
That's where all the snow forecasted for Montreal went
Yep I think the storm forgot to renew it's Nexus card and got bounced by Canadian customs around Montana.
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status
I just realized that if faoileag ever changes his avatar I'll never be able to find this thread again.
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@lorne-kates Given that he hasn't been here in "about 4 years," it seems unlikely that he'll change it.
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Status: Strongly considering rewriting a not insignificant portion of the ODBC interface in the game server to use parameterized queries. This is getting fuggin' ridiculous.
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@ben_lubar Yes, I already had that. I read through W3Schools's tutorial before starting.
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@ben_lubar said in The Official Status Thread:
@pie_flavor said in The Official Status Thread:
W3Schools
oh god why
don't do this to yourself
Am I missing something?
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@pie_flavor said in The Official Status Thread:
@ben_lubar said in The Official Status Thread:
@pie_flavor said in The Official Status Thread:
W3Schools
oh god why
don't do this to yourself
Am I missing something?
Stigma, I think.
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@tsaukpaetra
They seem to work, although positioning is fairly annoying (I've no idea how to get the first set of text boxes to align with the second).
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@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
Status: Strongly considering rewriting a not insignificant portion of the ODBC interface in the game server to use parameterized queries. This is getting fuggin' ridiculous.
.................................... wat?
you don't already?
kewl it's 2001 again d00d!
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@lorne-kates said in The Official Status Thread:
@tsaukpaetra said in The Official Status Thread:
Status: Strongly considering rewriting a not insignificant portion of the ODBC interface in the game server to use parameterized queries. This is getting fuggin' ridiculous.
.................................... wat?
you don't already?
kewl it's 2001 again d00d!
Yeah.... It wasn't coded by me, and technically none of the db accesses have any user-input data in them so it hasn't yet been a big deal (yet). But every time I go in... Ugh.
Edit: Sample snipped of the calling code:
I did the stored procs, before it was raw SQL...
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@rhywden said in The Official Status Thread:
a) The company responsible doesn't have a client list in the low single-digits.
b) The software itself is open-source. The company makes its money through maintenance, support and installation.
c) It does not look like something from last century.
d) The management console (both for classroom management and school administration) can be intuitively understood.
e) Has a nice number of optional plugins (e.g. a load balancer for WLAN access points - so that not every WLAN client uses the one AP that's nearest).
f) Uses a single base image for Win10 instead of what the current solution does where you have to bake one image for every hardware combination we have. The specific software for each PC then is distributed on top of that image. Also, updates to this images will not only be loaded on boot but also while the PC is running.
g) They have a specific policy of "not reinventing the wheel". If there's something Windows already does or where a (suitable) 3rd party software solution already exists, they try to integrate that instead of rolling their own (for instance, file access from outside will be managed through OwnCloud).I worked in education about 14 years ago, before I changed sectors. Either the level of cluefulness has increased by about 1000% (outstripping all other sectors) or your new vendor is an OUTRAGEOUS liar.
On the offchance your new vendor's not an outrageous liar, let me know. My dad now works in education and his horror stories (mainly about Apple) make me cringe (and I work for the fucking government).
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I feel it's safe to say that this was the worst Monday I've ever had (more details maybe forthcoming, or maybe I just want to get it off my chest).
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@heterodox said in The Official Status Thread:
I feel it's safe to say that this was the worst Monday I've ever had (more details maybe forthcoming, or maybe I just want to get it off my chest).
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@heterodox said in The Official Status Thread:
I feel it's safe to say that this was the worst Monday I've ever had (more details maybe forthcoming, or maybe I just want to get it off my chest).
So far my timeline is:
3:30 a.m.: Wake up because all my phones are blaring emergency alerts about flash floods. Fuck you, phones. Notice that I have completely unexpected back pain, about 6-8 on the pain scale (WTF?!) (which my dad remarked would be about 8-10 in a normal person, I don't like to complain). Take a couple hours to go back to sleep, rearranging pillows different ways, tossing and turning, trying not to scream. I still don't know what that was all about. Time to get new mattress?
7:00 a.m.: Wake up for work. Yesterday, I was near narcoleptic and my eyes were hurting when moving to one side; for me, this is always a sign that I'm coming down with something. Decide not to come in to work and rest/work from home all day to try to countermand, we just started system integration testing and also I have a research project due in two weeks, this is not the time to succumb to illness. By the way, research project has been set all semester and I've barely started; that's the way graduate students roll.
10:00 a.m.: Oh, system integration testing isn't working because database refresh suspended last night because tablespace was out of room. Did I mention I went to bed around 1:30 a.m.? I had seen that and extended tablespace, thinking it was fine. Job resumed but apparently there was a timeout on certain objects because they're fucking empty and all application functionality is broken. Fucking Oracle. Restart database refresh, fucking everyone else up who expected to work through the morning today.
12:00 p.m.: Database refresh complete. At least no issues there. Find out Red Team found out about a subdomain which is going to really complicate assessment given how it works, take an hour writing up an e-mail explaining it to them. Belatedly wonder whether I shouldn't have done that and should have just cut them off given three users typically have access to that subdomain, why did I grant it to them? An edge case that's likely to fuck me.
2:00 p.m.: Another org is pinging me again about testing their VDIs (they're going to be cutting off VPN soon, which would result in a total work stoppage). Yes, it took three weeks to get CTO approval for new software. Yes, a work order for installation of the software has been open for a week. This is the fast track compared to how things usually operate. What the fuck do you want from me?
6:30 p.m.: Leave to head to campus. Make a left turn at a break in traffic. I'd be well-advised not to comment on fault, but let's say car appears that can't have possibly been there, I send that car over the median. Other driver is in shock, but blaming me pretty hard... her pronouncements are going to feature in my nightmares for a while. I'm in shock too. Yay, my first major car accident in <insert really long time> of driving. Other driver is taken to the hospital. I just walk home since I was about 30 seconds out of my driveway.
Not a good start to a week. Have a plan for leaving at 0930 for a 1300 meeting. Insurance is offering me a rental car but with my anxiety levels I'm pretty sure I'm not up to drive and I'm certainly not up to drive on the Beltway with someone else's car. Fuck that. It's only been eight months since my last insurance claim, I'm pretty sure it's time for my vehicle clearance to be administratively downgraded to "bicycle".
I haven't cried in 15 years or so, but been pretty close several times today.
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Status: made a script that generates thousands of random directories and files to test that my other program can handle them, plus one really big files with random text.
Didn't notice that I had run it in the OneDrive directory, so they all got uploaded. Guess I stress tested that too!
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@heterodox all "education" vendors are liars and cheats. None can beat textbook vendors, but they're all pretty bad. And super expensive.
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Status: Thoroughly annoyed at stuff working!
Client reported a bug. Saw it with my own two eyes. Debugger attached for like 3 hours now and it refuses to fucking repro.
I know, usual "debugger might be messing with memory" story but... This is JS in a browser! Surely I shouldn't have such problems there. Right? RIGHT?
Fuck this.
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@pie_flavor said in The Official Status Thread:
@ben_lubar said in The Official Status Thread:
@pie_flavor said in The Official Status Thread:
W3Schools
oh god why
don't do this to yourself
Am I missing something?
Hating W3Schools is a bit of a meme. But seriously, MDN (that's Mozilla, not Microsoft) is what I'd recommend using for reference.
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@pie_flavor said in The Official Status Thread:
@tsaukpaetra
They seem to work, although positioning is fairly annoying (I've no idea how to get the first set of text boxes to align with the second).The easy way would be say fuggit and use a table.
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Status: From a recent commit message of mine…
UGLY CODE FOR THE UGLY CODE GOD! DISGUSTING HACKS FOR THE DISGUSTING HACKS THRONE!
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@dcon said in The Official Status Thread:
@polygeekery said in The Official Status Thread:
@dcon said in The Official Status Thread:
15 more minutes before I can call the vet
Any updates?
Appt at 3PDT. My dog walker let me know that he hasn't vomited since I left - so that's a good thing...
Xray definitely shows him stuffed up... Given some fluids (subQ, he was slightly dehydrated) and some anti-vomit meds.
Poop at 8 (last night)! And that damn plastic toy was in it!!!
All looks good so far today.Dang dog! You're 11yr - stop eating EVERYTHING!
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Status: Of all the keys to damage with a pop spill, the arrow keys are far and away the worst
Filed under: @mikeTheLiar level bad here...
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@heterodox said in The Official Status Thread:
@rhywden said in The Official Status Thread:
a) The company responsible doesn't have a client list in the low single-digits.
b) The software itself is open-source. The company makes its money through maintenance, support and installation.
c) It does not look like something from last century.
d) The management console (both for classroom management and school administration) can be intuitively understood.
e) Has a nice number of optional plugins (e.g. a load balancer for WLAN access points - so that not every WLAN client uses the one AP that's nearest).
f) Uses a single base image for Win10 instead of what the current solution does where you have to bake one image for every hardware combination we have. The specific software for each PC then is distributed on top of that image. Also, updates to this images will not only be loaded on boot but also while the PC is running.
g) They have a specific policy of "not reinventing the wheel". If there's something Windows already does or where a (suitable) 3rd party software solution already exists, they try to integrate that instead of rolling their own (for instance, file access from outside will be managed through OwnCloud).I worked in education about 14 years ago, before I changed sectors. Either the level of cluefulness has increased by about 1000% (outstripping all other sectors) or your new vendor is an OUTRAGEOUS liar.
On the offchance your new vendor's not an outrageous liar, let me know. My dad now works in education and his horror stories (mainly about Apple) make me cringe (and I work for the fucking government).
Well, the vendor was so nice to provide me with a list of four schools which are similar in size, have similar IT infrastructure and are using their solution. I contacted the teachers responsible overseeing the system at each of those schools.
Their feedback ranged from: "We like it and have no problems at all for about a decade now." to "This is the best stuff EVAR!":)
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@rhywden Don't buy lottery tickets (if that's a thing in Germany)--you've used up all your luck.
yes, I know that probability doesn't work that way. But still, that's like finding a unicorn at the end of a rainbow as well as a pot of gold. And the government not taxing you on that income.
Never 
