Comment On Zac the Logo Maniac

The real WTF is that it got passed through so many people.

I'd be a long-time contributor too if any of my stuff ever got posted.

"high productivity"... ha!

Finally, months of reading thedailyWTF, and now we get to bash cars. I just love the 'sport' models of various cars. Take the Dodge Caravan Sport--that'll impress the other soccer moms. You don't even hafta change anything...just apply the chrome badges and add $1800 to the pricing sheet.

I once worked at a reasonably large foreign bank. A general manager 4 levels up had hired this former employee to come back as a consultant to custom build a new transaction system. The consultant came back, spent months and months (2+years) writing up spec docs, and canned demos (no server behind them, just output in the required sequence). We kept trying to raise the red flag, but we were told that this was the GM's baby, and to keep our mouthes shut. After almost 3 years of interminable delays and cost overruns, the GM had no choice but to demand delivery (his boss wanted to see something). They delivered the canned demo.

When the GM + GM's boss watched the demo (I was there as their representative), everything seemed to work, and they were pleased. They asked me if I was satisfied. I told them to try entering different amounts, different types of transactions, etc. Of course, the print statements still printed out the canned results, and the Emperor's new clothes were exposed.

During the post-mortem, the GM and boss cornered me in his office. I admitted we knew about the problem 2.5 years earlier, but were told to keep our mouthes shut. They wanted to know by whom. Nothing happened to me and my peers, but the in-between managers were tossed.

Richard Asscock, III:

Finally, months of reading thedailyWTF, and now we get to bash cars. I just love the 'sport' models of various cars. Take the Dodge Caravan Sport--that'll impress the other soccer moms. You don't even hafta change anything...just apply the chrome badges and add $1800 to the pricing sheet.

Not to sound too perverted, but if you're gonna get the sports model of something, it should be a hooker!

I would love to find another Chevette. I miss mine. Too bad they were biodegradable

wiregoat:

I would love to find another Chevette. I miss mine. Too bad they were biodegradable

Isn't that a good thing? It means they're not taking up space in junkyards.

The real WTF is that people still love Diesel Chevettes.

http://www.dieselchevettes.com/index.shtml

It was the most-expensive yet dumbest car ever made.

Chevettes were expensive? Sounds like you were tokin' it up with Greg.

Is there any programmer from that era who hasn't played with Logo? I remember seeing a tiny Logo interpreter in about 1 kilobyte of Z-80 machine code, and I wrote one in TRS-80 BASIC. It's a good example of how small a usable language (Brainfuck doesn't count as "usable") can be, but it couldn't compete with BASIC.

I rented a Chevette once, because they were new and I didn't know better. Pointed the thing up a Los Angeles freeway ramp, went to full throttle, and got frantic buzzing noises from under the hood, with moped-class acceleration. I nearly got rear-ended three times before I got to the next exit. That shitbox made the original Beetle feel like a Porsche.

Always enjoy a good story from G.R.G, thanks Alex (and G.R.G).

Here's a WTF ...

"A few weeks later, having mostly finished my part ..."

"I continued to meet with Greg month after month ..."

"Another month passed and my code was finally ready ..."

Poor Greg ... GRG spent a few weeks hacking together some spaghetti code, then months and months trying to make it stable. No wonder Greg had difficulty writing the tutorial.

Josh:

http://www.dieselchevettes.com/index.shtml

Now THAT's what I call an ugly car. Ugh!

cconroy:

"high productivity"... ha!

**snerk** that was my first thought, too. dude, high five!

...oh, wait, internet. damnit. ah well. i only came on here to order pizza, anyway.

...pizza... man, i'm hungry.

Perhaps I'm just missing something, but it doesn't look like "Zac" was ever identified by name anywhere in the story. It's an amusing story, but still...

Note from Alex: My bad. "Greg" and "Arthur" were not the "programmers'" real names, so I thought I'd replace Greg with Zac and end up with a fun title. Just kinda forgot to do the first part...

I agreed and gave him my address.

You gave him your address?!

Wyle_E:

Is there any programmer from that era who hasn't played with Logo? I remember seeing a tiny Logo interpreter in about 1 kilobyte of Z-80 machine code, and I wrote one in TRS-80 BASIC. It's a good example of how small a usable language (Brainfuck doesn't count as "usable") can be, but it couldn't compete with BASIC.

Logo is a Lisp dialect.

I rented a Chevette once, because they were new and I didn't know better. Pointed the thing up a Los Angeles freeway ramp, went to full throttle, and got frantic buzzing noises from under the hood, with moped-class acceleration. I nearly got rear-ended three times before I got to the next exit. That shitbox made the original Beetle feel like a Porsche.

The original Beetle was a Porsche.

I am working on an application right now that provides a client interface to Microsoft Exchange. It runs on Apple IIe, but the requirements are a little steep. You need ProDos in order to run it. Also, the token ring network adapter is proving to be a challenge, but other than that it is an excellent system! Should have code complete by December and then to market we go.

cconroy:

"high productivity"... ha!

"High productivity" means to outsource your part to a real "high productivity" guy... So true... :P

Treeki:

The real WTF is that it got passed through so many people.

When a stupid manager is handing out free money, everyone wants a cut.

TheRider:

Josh:

http://www.dieselchevettes.com/index.shtml

Now THAT's what I call an ugly car. Ugh!

I'm still trying to work out if that is a parody site or not.

pretty lame wtf if you ask me

I was expecting some kind of punchline and all I got was a car make. What does that have to do with anything?

redcap:

pretty lame wtf if you ask me

+1

WTF?

How in the name of the Everlovin' Zarquod is this a "Curious Perversion in Information Technology"? Just because GRG wrote the damn thing doesn't mean its worthy of publication! If this is the best we can do, maybe its time to return to the Daily WTF format.

snoofle:

During the post-mortem, the GM and boss cornered me in his office. I admitted we knew about the problem 2.5 years earlier, but were told to keep our mouthes shut. They wanted to know by whom. Nothing happened to me and my peers, but the in-between managers were tossed.

Now THIS (emphasized part) is the Real WTF(TM). Aren't all the stories told, embellished, and retold here supposed to end in sacking (or resignation) of the good guys, while the evil PHB's reap all the benefits?

We, car owners must be responsible in preventing car accidents on the road..We must update the status of our auto parts from time to time like just in my case, I always make sure that my BMW's auto parts are in excellent condition, from its oil filters as well as fuel and air filters, spark plugs, radiator hoses, belts and <a href="http://www.advancebmwparts.com/bmw-shocks.html">BMW shocks</a>. In this way, car accidents would be reduced into minimal occurrences....

We, car owners must be responsible in preventing car accidents on the road..We must update the status of our auto parts from time to time like just in my case, I always make sure that my BMW's auto parts are in excellent condition, from its oil filters as well as fuel and air filters, spark plugs, radiator hoses, belts and BMW shocks. In this way, car accidents would be reduced into minimal occurrences....

Hah, for all you know the so called 'Manager' was actually paid to produce it for someone else, who was working for yet another person...

Bmb02:

We, car owners must be responsible in preventing car accidents on the road..We must update the status of our auto parts from time to time like just in my case, I always make sure that my BMW's auto parts are in excellent condition, from its oil filters as well as fuel and air filters, spark plugs, radiator hoses, belts and BMW shocks. In this way, car accidents would be reduced into minimal occurrences....

Agreed, my '87 Yugo is kept roadworthy using parts from your website.

Daedalus:

Perhaps I'm just missing something, but it doesn't look like "Zac" was ever identified by name anywhere in the story. It's an amusing story, but still...

It's a "G.R.G." story, so strange non-sequiteurs like that are to be expected.

I know you are being sarcastic, but I will answer anyway.

G Money:

Here's a WTF ...

"A few weeks later, having mostly finished my part ..."

"I continued to meet with Greg month after month ..."

"Another month passed and my code was finally ready ..."

Poor Greg ... GRG spent a few weeks hacking together some spaghetti code, then months and months trying to make it stable. No wonder Greg had difficulty writing the tutorial.

"My code" in the last sentence you quoted doesn't refer to the same code he wrote in the first weeks, mentioned in the first sentence.

He spent a few weeks hacking the interpreter code, kept meeting with Greg during the next months (while his code was already finished), and in the last month he wrote the skeleton of the online tutorial that Greg was supposed to write.

snoofle:

During the post-mortem, the GM and boss cornered me in his office. I admitted we knew about the problem 2.5 years earlier, but were told to keep our mouthes shut. They wanted to know by whom. Nothing happened to me and my peers, but the in-between managers were tossed.

Your story was better then the one in this article. I would like to be there to see the keep-your-mouth-shut managers being tossed out. It must have been really fun!

poopdeville:

Logo is a Lisp dialect.

I'm not sure if this is a strange joke or if you're seriously misinformed...

The original Beetle was a Porsche.

Now I get it. You seem to think that anything vaguely related in some respect can be considered equivalent...

Bmb02:

We, car owners must be responsible in preventing car accidents on the road..We must update the status of our auto parts from time to time like just in my case, I always make sure that my BMW's auto parts are in excellent condition, from its oil filters as well as fuel and air filters, spark plugs, radiator hoses, belts and BMW shocks. In this way, car accidents would be reduced into minimal occurrences....

What, can't afford real BMW parts? Gotta buy aftermarket?

Thor222:

I agreed and gave him my address.

You gave him your address?!

This is Logo. Much more likely he gave him a symbol and assured him it wouldn't be rebound in the meantime.

*ducks & runs*

A real programmer would have built the logo interpreter on top of javascript.
Hmm, I sense an opening in the market.

JustSomeone:

poopdeville:

Logo is a Lisp dialect.

I'm not sure if this is a strange joke or if you're seriously misinformed...

No, it really is. The turtle graphics bit is just the easy entry point to a full-fledged functional language; I remember having a play with the DR Logo that came bundled with a friend's Joyce.

The original Beetle was a Porsche.

Now I get it. You seem to think that anything vaguely related in some respect can be considered equivalent...

It was designed by Ferdinand Porsche in 1931, the same year as the Porsche company was founded, and a good 14 years before the first commercial Porsche car appeared. I'm not sure how much more "it's a Porsche" you can get.

TheRider:

Josh:

http://www.dieselchevettes.com/index.shtml

Now THAT's what I call an ugly car. Ugh!

To me, it looks like the ugliest part of it is the headlights - but, remember, those headlights were required by law in the US until 1983. See the headlights on this (top image) for comparison.

dkf:

Daedalus:

Perhaps I'm just missing something, but it doesn't look like "Zac" was ever identified by name anywhere in the story. It's an amusing story, but still...

It's a "G.R.G." story, so strange non-sequiteurs like that are to be expected.

You all are obviously to young to remember this. It is a reference to a LEGO commercial, starring "Zac, the LEGO maniac." he could build anything out of LEGO's.

poopdeville:

The original Beetle was a Porsche.

Actually no, it wasn't a porsche any more then a toyota prius is a toyota tundra.

But you could take a classic 1973 VW Super Beetle and fit a Porsch 911 engine in the back if you didn't mind removing the engine cover. The engine just hung over the back edge by about three inches. Oh and you had to change out the gearbox too, the standard one would burn up with that much torque.

Chevy Chevette - it will drive you happy!

You all are obviously to young to remember this. It is a reference to a LEGO commercial, starring "Zac, the LEGO maniac." he could build anything out of LEGO's.

Goddamned kids.

GET OFF MY LAWN!

Daedalus:

Perhaps I'm just missing something, but it doesn't look like "Zac" was ever identified by name anywhere in the story. It's an amusing story, but still...

You're just missing something ;)

I think it's alluding to an 80s "Lego's" commercial featuring "Zack the Lego Maniac."

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a Chevette full of floppy disks."

He even built the Chevette out of Legos.

You can't shift gears in a Chevette without getting your face slapped.

Bah... I drove a Chevette in high school. They weren't *that* bad. Okay, it had a tendency to flood on cold mornings, but that was really the only problem it had. I bought it 10 years used for $800 and it got me where I needed to go for 3 more years before I sold it on.

Random832:

TheRider:

Josh:

http://www.dieselchevettes.com/index.shtml

Now THAT's what I call an ugly car. Ugh!

To me, it looks like the ugliest part of it is the headlights - but, remember, those headlights were required by law in the US until 1983. See the headlights on this (top image) for comparison.

Thanks for the reminder of just how unbelievably fucking ugly cars were in the late 70s and early 80s. The horror!