Reminds me of some C-code I was told to port to Linux (if I remember correctly) some years back (probably in 2003). The code was from 1981 (it said so in the comment header).
Except for the fact the code was almost as old as I am (born in 1976) it turned out that the security check that the code was supposed to perform didn't actually execute.
Yepp, that's right, the code had been running for 30+ years doing nothing.
A friend of mine ended up doing the actual work so I don't know how the story ended but it's a good reminder to never assume _anything_ when you look for bugs.
This reminds me of an interesting event that occurred in my C++ class. During one of the assignments I looked at a peers code. I became convinced that the code was wrong. His code looked a little like this:
Another student saw the teacher pass him and copied his implementation. His code didn't work. It gave the stack overflow error that I was expecting.
It turned out that the reason the guy had his code work in the first place was because it was never included in the program. He had put the code in his C++ file, but forgot to include it in his header. When the program compiled, it never knew his code existed.
I was teaching one of my good friend C way back in undergrad(1999). After explaining him about loops among other stuff...i asked him to print something in loop. And this is what he wrote
For(i=1 to 10)
{then print i;
}
Today my friend is working as a techie ....senior mgr at his new company!
Ok kadbid, I am intrigued. what's the story? Why didn't you make the transition to other languages? Why didn't you make the transition into management? I'm not questioning your decisions, just curious.
Who says I only know C? I've been learning and using new languages for over 30 years; I won't bore you with a list. (Smalltalk is one of my favorites, but I'll never ship a product in it. But I know a lot about dynamic language implementation).
C just happens to be the right choice for most of my projects today (I half seriously proposed FORTH for one before my cow-orkers threatened me with a dunking).
Let's make a distinction between Management as an HR function (writing reviews, dealing with org issues, fighting for equipment and office supplies) and Senior Geek Nirvana (design work, heavy lifting in code and debugging / shipping a product). I tried Management for a while, and it stunk.
Right now I'm in a great position as a senior technical guy (I hesitate to say "Architect" because most of the people I know with that title are self-appointed blowhards) who gets to decide how to do stuff. I lean on managers ("we need some chairs, and an oscilloscope") and project management (for setting up meetings, tracking bugs, etc.), and I get to write a ton of docs and code. It's terrific fun.
I'm living proof that you can be writing in C and not be a sour, dried-up dinosaur in the back corner of a lab somewhere.
For many or most programmers, the "transition into management" is a major career change from something they love and are good at to something they don't enjoy and aren't very good at. However, we're all assumed to be following that track because we're supposed to hunger after money and prestige in the eyes of society at large. This morning I interviewed a woman for a technical position (same job as me) who got her master's degree when I was in third grade. What's wrong with that?
I think it's actually funny that the question, whether we know C. A few years the question would have been if people know assembler. That's how times change.
Not sure if that's a good thing. I wouldn't say the same for a comment on another site (different things drive different people), but I assume you have some aspirations to make it and be your own boss.
Yes, logically, "Not sure it's a good thing," means "It is either a good thing or it is not a good thing." You know, X or not X, and so your ass-covering comment is logically defensible, but come on, you wrote it for a reason. Just say, "Good point," and move on.
"Not sure" in this context was meant demonstrate I'm open to both variants of the situation, good and bad. Since OP had upvotes already indicating that people find it good/funny/whatever, the point was to bring other side of this to light. There's a saying that fits your comment so well - don't tell me what to do and I won't tell you where to go.
Are we turning into an anti-dissent crowd? Look at the downvotes - the same number, and why? Because somebody had a different opinion? Because it's so easy to downvote here and not let out your identity or have to explain why you did it?
Tolerance of, nay, encouragement of dissent (not insubstantiated rants) is the hallmark of a healthy community.
Btw, if you choose to downvote this, please explain why and what I am missing. Thank you.
He's manager doesn't get to program all day though :P As long as it's a company in which compensation isn't determined arbitrarily by position in hierarchy it's a great thing.
As someone who has been a "contractor who ignores all the political bullshit", my personal observation is that it is the contractors who are actually good at navigating the political bullshit (win friends and influence people and all that jazz) tend to be the ones who get top dollar and have continuous employment. Whereas the contractors who are merely extraordinarily good at programming tend to have a lot of downtime in between short engagements.
Some people think that if you have social skills you can't be a 'real' hacker, but often sales skills and good presentation are a force multiplier for a contractor with good technical skills.
Sure, no doubt. You'll never hear me speak against having sales skills or any other kind of skill. I'm for having as many skills as possible. There are no "mutually exclusive" skills, so people who think gaining sales skill causes hacker skill to magically disappear are wrong. And there are those -- also wrong -- who think having programming skill automatically means you can't be good at communication.
