Re:I’ve made a conscious effort to stop apologizing for bugs...
by mannykannot on Friday April 24, 2020 @08:16PM
(#22974382)
>>If I make an off-by-one error, where, other than me, did it come from?
> Could have come from confusing documentation on the appropriate bounds...
If you are blindly following direction to that level of detail, are you a programmer or a typist? Maybe there will be corner cases like this, but they do not invalidate my point.
> Tyson Gay is only behind Usain Bolt in the 100 meter world record by 0.11 seconds.
This is not a comparable situation. For one thing, off-by-one errors are not off-by-0.11 errors, though the difference is more significant than that.
> If it's about responsibility, then there should be a process for understanding why engineers end up writing bad code.
Of course, and there is no shame in that. Part of answering that question, and in becoming a better programmer, comes from acknowledging and understanding the mistakes we make (this is an important part of aviation safety, and the last thing an instructor wants to see is a student who has a tendentious excuse for every lapse.)
And no-one is responsible for things they cannot control, unless they set them in motion themselves, or ignored the likelehood that they could happen.
>> We should all aspire to do better.
> I agree!
Yes! this is the most imprtant point - and there is no shame simply from falling short.
> Could have come from confusing documentation on the appropriate bounds...
If you are blindly following direction to that level of detail, are you a programmer or a typist? Maybe there will be corner cases like this, but they do not invalidate my point.
> Tyson Gay is only behind Usain Bolt in the 100 meter world record by 0.11 seconds.
This is not a comparable situation. For one thing, off-by-one errors are not off-by-0.11 errors, though the difference is more significant than that.
> If it's about responsibility, then there should be a process for understanding why engineers end up writing bad code.
Of course, and there is no shame in that. Part of answering that question, and in becoming a better programmer, comes from acknowledging and understanding the mistakes we make (this is an important part of aviation safety, and the last thing an instructor wants to see is a student who has a tendentious excuse for every lapse.)
And no-one is responsible for things they cannot control, unless they set them in motion themselves, or ignored the likelehood that they could happen.
>> We should all aspire to do better.
> I agree!
Yes! this is the most imprtant point - and there is no shame simply from falling short.