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They might have been chipping their code out of the living mountain with stone tools and classic ASP, but they weren't primitive. Colt's development team still required code reviews of all of the classic ASP code before it went to production. Sure, most of the time, an ASP code review ended with, "ARGH WHY WHY MY EYES THE PAIN!", but the code still got reviewed.
During one review, Colt noticed something odd about his co-worker's file-upload module. The module was meant to handle pretty small CSV files, and even had a check to ensure they weren't larger than expected. That wasn't the odd part.
After the file uploaded and processed, the code entered a massive For loop that did absolutely nothing. It took roughly fifteen seconds to execute. Colt scratched his head and wondered if this might just be a speed up loop. Puzzled, he asked his co-worker why it was there.
"Well," the developer explained, proudly, "it's for usability. I want to display a progress bar, but it takes so long to download the gif… well, it's probably easier if I just show you." The co-worker ran the application and demonstrated the CSV upload functionality. Sure enough, the "Processing…" page had a lovely animated GIF; it was a loop of a sparkling unicorn leaping over a rainbow towards a smiling sun. It also took about ten seconds to load, and combined with the for-loop, it was able to download and perform five loops before the browser was redirected to the next page.
"It's really important that the user knows the server is doing important work."
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I find it funny how every wtf article ends up with people claiming one language or another is the WTF. It is surprising that one of the largest commonalities among developers (and the distinction between inferior developers and good ones) is that they are all brashly convinced that the coding language they choose to use is the single best solution and all other languages, platforms and technologies are inferior.
I, for one, will use any language to equal effect (except cold fusion... but that is OBVIOUSLY not designed for professional use... or Flash, which is clearly modeled for designers and not programmers... and other such tools that are obviously inappropriate). In my experience, I have seen JSP and ASP.NET websites perform the same functionality with a lower performance threshold as vbscript or php websites... due to the inexperience or stupdity of the coder. They were probably fools that were simply using a technology they didn't understand because some idiot convinced them that it was best. Hopefully.. my fellow developers will move forward and judge the quality of the code and not their enthusiasm for the technology exectuting it. CAPTCHA : consequat - when cause and effect turns you into a vegetable? |
Re: Fruity Loop
2012-07-30 11:35
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by
Some Jerk
(unregistered)
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it is actually quite simple... but one of those things that you improve on over time. For one thing... the progress graphic should have been small enough to load more quickly. Secondly, if it was a real progress bar, it might have ajaxed the status, or used a similar means of retrieving that information. Finally, The server process should not have been tied up longer than necessary. If need be, report a success / fail and use javascript to forward the user on after an interval. Windows Server 2000 and before will only process a limited number of concurrent requests ... and even classic asp implimentation on later servers have some limitations in that regard. Hanging a thread for 15 seconds unnecessarily will have consiquences. CAPTCHA: esse - Hooked on Phonics is very esse to use! |
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WC: