I feel this kind of anecdote deserves its own "Peter Principle" / "Brooks Law" type of aphorism.
"Any sufficiently talented developer will eventually get transferred to a doomed project, in a last-ditch attempt to save it. This will fail."
I feel this kind of anecdote deserves its own "Peter Principle" / "Brooks Law" type of aphorism.
"Any sufficiently talented developer will eventually get transferred to a doomed project, in a last-ditch attempt to save it. This will fail."
It's not as if folding currencies are immune to weird decisions. This time last year, the Indian government decided the 500 and 1000 Rupee notes (roughly $10 and $20) were going out of circulation. Not entirely unheard of, but India did it at 24hours notice - i.e. they told their entire populace that any higher value banknotes they had in their possession would be unspendable the day after tomorrow, and completely worthless in six weeks.
@Jaloopa said in Big list of software that cannot handle spaces or accents in paths:
Because Linus is a hack who doesn't understand basic software design?
Well that's the idiot response... but no.
Git only has a CLI because the people who wrote it had no need for a GUI interface. They were unix people who ran nearly all their dev software from a command line. They weren't trying to build a company, or sell a product, or go for mass acceptance, or make my life or make your life easier.
They wanted a tool that would make their own lives easier, and would Which is exactly what they got.
It's not easy to use, because the people who wrote it wrote it for themselves, and they didn't need something that was easy to use, and didn't particularly care if it was easy to use. That's good for them, and bad for you and me. But as they don't owe us squat, why does that matter?
@Rhywden So you're saying that a C-based platform which discards C's already not-great type system and replaces it with a gazillion typedefs for "void *" contains multiple security vulnerabilities.
Say it ain't so, Joe.
@dkf said in Enlightened:
That's not necessarily a problem, with a little discipline
Well, I kinda agree, but the problem is that in reality that "little discipline"
i) comes on top of all the other discipline that's needed, which is often more discipline than your least experienced programmers can reasonably deal with.
ii) means that the compiler can't really check anything, so your code reviews have to check the types for every function call.
Making literally everything just a bit harder to check for correctness is almost always a freaking terrible idea. Even if you do it right - and your rigorous code reviews catch everything that a compiler would catch in a strongly typed environment, you've still made a f***load of work for yourself.
@Jaloopa said in Linux user-facing software usability:
MY ANECDOTE MEANS YOURS IS WORTHLESS!!!
I didn't say anyone else's anecdote was worthless.
I was following up someone else's anecdote with a different anecdote (two anecdotes actually), relating a different experience, that also happens to be true. This thread was started by an anecdote. It makes no sense to suggest that anecdotes are not welcome here.
Mason's brother could not produce playable media on his Linux box.
I can - and do - produce playable media on my Linux box, and play it on my very-low-powered Linux machine, and I can do these things very easily, and - for the latter case - with a user interface that is simple to use with my TV remote control.
Please note neither of those sentences imply the other is false, nor did I ever suggest otherwise.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled "Show me where the penguin touched you" self-congratulatory theatre...
@tsaukpaetra Yes, but what is it about me that makes you think "that guy is best represented by a pair of shoes"? Is it because I've got sole?
@masonwheeler Except that's not true.
If "Just works" means "works perfectly on every conceivable hardware and OS setup everytime", then I don't think any software ever written anywhere qualifies. If "Just works" means something different, then there absolutely is going to be a "kinda", because the definition is going to involve quantify some criteria in which it might possibly not work.
@dkf I think we can all agree that as long as it doesn't come out as Print-Eval-Read Loop (PERL) we'll probably be ok
@boomzilla said in You have the right to 10Mbps:
As I've pointed out, it's redefining the word in a nefarious way. I could care less about this. And I probably should, but I don't.
No, its not. It's just using a definition of the word that, like many many words, has many subtly differing - and often culturally specific - meanings. For example, my OED gives "A moral or legal entitlement to have or do something."
So, anything codified in a local law, is by that perfectly reasonable definition, a right. If that doesn't chime with your own definition-of-truthiness, I suggest you write a sternly worded letter to the OUP citing your reasons.
@dragnslcr said in You have the right to 10Mbps:
Yeah, how dare the UK have slightly different definitions of words than the US.
You mean "from a particularly tedious subset of the US", the kind who are forever on the edge of declaring themselves Sovereign Citizens to further assert their unadulterated boot-strappiness.
@benjamin-hall said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
Polysemy is an established part of human language. Yes, computers have trouble with context sensitive meanings, but real humans rarely do. This also isn't a new thing--it's been that way forever. Archaeologists are used to it.
So very much this. Honestly, to even bring it up as a potential problem show's a lack of understanding about how historiology works.
@gąska said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
My father is electrical engineer. When he says "prąd", which is Polish for electricity, he actually means the measured value of current.
I am very interested in slang used by electricians and electrical engineers. Do you have a Powerpoint presentation?
@carrievs said in The Saga of OpinionPanel - Malice or Incompetence?:
What did I say to offend you so? I responded civilly to your comments, and made one joke.
He's a Grade A premium blend asshole. He's permanent offended by anyone who doesn't agree with him on everything.
@carrievs As well as the ICO, consider sending your concerns to the MRS. I've worked for Market Research companies, and the MRS do take fraudulent/unethical behaviour seriously.
I feel this kind of anecdote deserves its own "Peter Principle" / "Brooks Law" type of aphorism.
"Any sufficiently talented developer will eventually get transferred to a doomed project, in a last-ditch attempt to save it. This will fail."
@benjamin-hall said in Fall Creators Update, or how to fuck up the OS from start to finish:
I've had zero problems with win 10 that weren't my own fault
You sound like someone with an abusive partner.
@anonymous234 said in Fall Creators Update, or how to fuck up the OS from start to finish:
I hate defending Windows, but the fact is that 99% of hardware (and its drivers) is a buggy, dysfunctional piece of shit, and most of those weird computer problems come from it.
Remember when Windows users used to laugh at Linux users for blaming hardware manufacturers for shitty and non-existent drivers? Fun times.
@gurth said in Re: Ted Nelson and not understanding the master:
Isn’t that English Literature instead of physics?
Oh, well played