On Monday 13 February 2006 15:27, Mike McCarty wrote:
>Anne Wilson wrote:
>> On Monday 13 February 2006 17:29, Mike McCarty wrote:
>>>Anne Wilson wrote:
>>>><g> Just how anomalous can you get? This was two drives, same
>>>>manufacturer, same model number. They did not work correctly when
>>>> cabled as the diagram on the drive label suggested, but did if I
>>>> removed the jumper on the master drive. Crazy!
>>>>
>>>>Once upon a time I used to tell people that computers were logical.
>>>> I don't risk my neck any longer <g>
>>>
>>>Computers *are* logical. It's the *designers* who need to be taken
>>>out and shot. Especially the ones who came up with CS. :-)
>>
>> In fairness, computers are now so complex that it is almost
>> inevitable that some unforeseen circumstances will arise. Not that
>> this has any relevance to the problem I've just had, but I don't
>> feel that it is possible, today, for any systems designers to be
>> absolutely sure that nothing odd could happen.
>
>Umm, not so. I recall my "software engineers" complaining that
>their software/firmware could not anticipate every possible
>circumstance. I would point out to them that "Your code is going to
>do *something* in every circumstance. What it does can either
>be something you *chose* for it to do, a *considered* decision,
>or it can be something you simply *let* it do, *without*
>any consideration. Which do you prefer to have to support?"
Which is exactly why, back when I was writing software, when *I* thought
I was done, I always stood up and handed the keyboard & chair to
someone else. Thats usually quite a humbling comuppance when you
suddently realize that even if *you* understand it, you are not sending
a sufficiently clear msg to the user. So you have to idiot-proof your
work, and then hope a smarter idiot than you doesn't come along and
break it. Because he will, just as sure as taxes coming due...
>These days, all the "complex interactions" are pretty much due
>to intelligent devices with uCs running firmware. If it does
>something weird, then that's just some firmware writer being
>in a certain sense "lazy".
>
>Mike
>--
>p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
>This message made from 100% recycled bits.
>You have found the bank of Larn.
>I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
>I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!
--
Cheers, Gene
People having trouble with vz bouncing email to me should add the word
'online' between the 'verizon', and the dot which bypasses vz's
stupid bounce rules. I do use spamassassin too. :-)
Yahoo.com and AOL/TW attorneys please note, additions to the above
message by Gene Heskett are:
Copyright 2006 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.
