h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The h2g2 Pliny system has been down since (I think) 28th March 2019. The techs are looking into it.

I spotted a strange behaviour in Ripley yesterday, and this leads me to believe that the system is getting confused about dates. Perhaps the date format is set different on one server from the others. It might also explain why the Pliny Problem started around the time of the Daylight Saving Time change.

I've outlined this theory to the chief among the techs.

I hope they listen to you, Gnomon. It may be a simple solution to a big problem.

This would help explain the strange phenomena we have been noticing (see my thread on "h2g2 logo, top left".

It's in "Ask". In post 1 I explain that I can't find a way to post 'feedback'

This has scared the living daylights out of me. Fortunately, we are now in daylight savings time.

Computer code is a hungry beast that never seems to get enough to eat. If it were a plant,it would be part kudzu, part Japanese Knotweed, and part dandelions.

Never got any reply from the chief tech.

Somehow, I'm not surprised.

I don't even know who the chief tech is.

I couldn't even get into Ripley for more than a day.

"Computer code is a hungry beast"

Programmers seem to have decided (very early on) not to delete code from a program even when they have superseded it and disabled it. Just in case it might come in handy later. The idea of a tidy program seems to be unheard of.

Ah, you'd think so...

Early in my career at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) scanning flight film, we had purchased a film scanning system that included an O2 work station from Silicon Graphics running their version of Unix. It worked great. The software was clean, simple, and elegant.

Then the company that made the scanner "upgraded" their system to Windows. The scanner hardware company hired a new guy to develop their software. Since we handle some unique imagery at JSC so we needed custom software. This fellow did not follow standard coding conventions. He did NOT document his changes. He did NOT code for parallel processing. He did NOT save earlier iterations before making limited changes. His code was, in a word, a nightmare. When we would inevitably find an error, he didn't know which change he made might have caused it because he would make many undocumented changes before saving a new version. We (I) eventually learned to work around his many bugs and limped that scanning system along until a better one was available. We still have that scanner, but it's now running software created in-house by someone who knows what-the-hell he's doing. (And documents his changes.)

Documentation is for wimps.

Real programmers don’t read manuals. Reliance on a reference is the hallmark of the novice and the coward.

http://www.bernstein-plus-sons.com/RPDEQ.html

"Vending machines don't sell quiche."

I'm a craftsmam when it comes to coding. I document. I tidy. I write robust code that people describe as "beautiful". I take the time needed to do the job properly.

I wouldn't last long in today's cut-throat world.


In other news, the chief tech got back to me. He'll look at my suggestion.

"'I'm a craftsmam when it comes to coding. I document. I tidy. I write robust code that people describe as "beautiful". I take the time needed to do the job properly.'

Gnomon, I would expect no less of you. Glad to hear it.

(I guess that's one reason we still have electricity coming out of our sockets)

(and bills dropping in your letterbox)

That's better than electricity going into your letterbox, and letters coming out of your sockets.

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want an "electric shower". Sounds frightening, shocking even.



BG

Try taking a shower in a country house in the UK.