Re: Programmer's unpaid overtime.

From: Joe \ (joe_at_bftsi0.UUCP)
Date: 12/08/03 

Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2003 08:58:26 -0800

"Randy Howard" <randy.howard@FOOmegapathdslBAR.net> wrote in message <news:MPG.1a3e5d3cb9ba3ced98998a@news.megapathdsl.net>...

> In article <f5dda427.0312080424.502aeb79@posting.google.com>, spinoza1111
> @yahoo.com says...
> > > EGN, you are Humpty Dumpty, and I claim my five pounds!
> > >
> > > "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,
> > > "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."
> > > -- Lewis Carrol, "Through the Looking Glass"
> >
> > This quote is overused. It is overused against anything like language
> > creativity.
>
> Perhaps, but this is the first time I have seen it used on Usenet,
> and I've been reading various groups for at least 10 years. Perhaps
> I don't hang out in the same ones you do and your posting style causes
> people to dredge this out to use against you. It certainly seems
> apropos from what I've read so far.

I've used it against EGN once or twice before. It's also effective
against Micro$hills. Feel free to use it in good health. =)

> > I need to avoid a practical problem which other developers ignore.
> > This is that their "efficient" code, written in a world of folk-lore,
> > doesn't scale up properly.
>
> All "efficient code" doesn't scale properly? Could you post a single
> practical example (which will compile) and your alternative that is
> suppposedly more scalable and will also compile? I'd like to see
> first hand precisely the types of problem you are worried about.

Split. He rails against Split, perhaps because he also hallucinates
that most programs read multi-GB files into one enormous string, then
call Split on that string, perhaps multiple times, within loops, while
EGN's big 'innovation' is to grab one token at a time, preferably with
a string concatenation within its inner loop. This is EGN's idea of a
"sentinel", which easily bloats ordinary string tokenizing to O(n**3).

> Also, I suspect that your idea of a "developer" and mine differ
> substantially.

I gather EGN and John Nash both see "developers" no one else can see.

> > In fact, the existence of the theory FAQ means that I can get precise
> > terminology on an as-needed basis when I need to communicate with
> > people who aren't thugs and buffoons.
>
> I suspect you consider "thugs" and "buffoons" to be precise terms?
> If so, you apply them after NOT using precise terminology and getting
> called on it? Perhaps this is self-fulfilling for you in some sense?

Terminology means *precisely* whatever EGN alone decides it means.

> > What I find is that actual systems are written using folk-lore and
> > then waste thousands of man-hours when applied to real data sets.
>
> Name three specific examples of "folk-lore" composed systems which
> waste thousands of man-hours. Or perhaps, your definition of
> "man-hour" is biased by the amount of time it takes you to make
> forward progress?

.NET's garbage collector? Many C compiler vendors' malloc libraries?
EGN's "powerString", assuming anyone's dumb enough to actually use it?
Micro$haft's typical QuickSort implementations? Hell, Microslop in
general qualifies, if you count the time people stare at bluescreens! 

--
Joe Foster <mailto:jlfoster%40znet.com>  DC8s in Spaace: <http://www.xenu.net/>
WARNING: I cannot be held responsible for the above        They're   coming  to
because  my cats have  apparently  learned to type.        take me away, ha ha!

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