Re:Vim's 400 line function to wait for keyboard input
by brudgers on Wednesday July 15, 2015 @03:43PM
(#9893598)
There are also latent bugs which are inconceivable at design time and only become possible after several cycles of Moore's law.
http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2006/06/extra-extra-read-...
Re:Vim's 400 line function to wait for keyboard input
by knodi123 on Wednesday July 15, 2015 @05:16PM
(#9894131)
I remember I once went to great trouble to use a succession of old computers to copy my favorite DOS game off of a 5 1/4" floppy into a 3 1/2" floppy, and then from there onto a network, and then onto my laptop, so I could take it to school with me. And in the end, I learned that the game ran so fast on my laptop that your character would move at light speed and then die as soon as you pressed a button, because my laptop was too fast.
There was nothing wrong with the program, it just didn't expect to still be in use 17 years later.
Re:Vim's 400 line function to wait for keyboard input
by im3w1l on Thursday July 16, 2015 @03:55AM
(#9895882)
If you still want to play it, dosbox supports adjusting emulation speed.
Re:Vim's 400 line function to wait for keyboard input
by knodi123 on Thursday July 16, 2015 @11:04AM
(#9897632)
I kinda do, actually. maybe I will.
It was this game if you're curious: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/the-black-cauldron/
Re:Vim's 400 line function to wait for keyboard input
by rando3826 on Wednesday July 15, 2015 @03:45PM
(#9893618)
aka bitrot
Re:Vim's 400 line function to wait for keyboard input
by inDigiNeous on Wednesday July 15, 2015 @05:48PM
(#9894296)
Bitrot means degradation of physical media containing digital data, not really anyting to do with bugs appearing in code that is introduced into a new environment.
Re:Vim's 400 line function to wait for keyboard input
by DougBTX on Wednesday July 15, 2015 @07:01PM
(#9894545)
> The Jargon File, a compendium of hacker's lore, defines "bit rot" as a jocular explanation for the degradation of a software program over time even if "nothing has changed"; the idea being this is almost as if the bits that make up the program were subject to radioactive decay.
Re:Vim's 400 line function to wait for keyboard input
by tokenrove on Wednesday July 15, 2015 @06:52PM
(#9894512)
It has been used almost interchangably with code rot in this sense for a long time:
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/bit-rot.html
Except when sometimes it does. That is, external factors reveal old bugs or introduce new ones. Like when you use it after installing a new package/driver/OS and it blows up. Or after years you give it to a new crazy user which somehow succeeds it hitting 20 keys at a time and your code doesn't handle that. I'm not saying occasions like those require a complete rewrite, just that it's not because code has been fine for 10years that it is bugfree and needs no more work ever. (though in cases like this switching to a proven lib for handling key input if such a thing even exist might be a solution - which then introduces new problems like more dependencies and bugs in that lib making your own software not working properly and so on and so on:)