• tinkerghost (unregistered) in reply to nobody
    nobody:
    diaphanein:
    One of the reasons I believe software developement should be a licensed profession.

    Living in the Boston area, I've heard of WTF (as well as Oh, Sh!t!) from licensed engineers. Holding up concrete ceiling panels (yes, ceiling panels) from bolts GLUED into concrete. It is supposed to work when done properly, but this is asking construction workers to be very careful with lots of bolts. And of course, the test parameters were adjusted so the work done wouldn't have to be re-done at contractor expense. At least, when my stuff fails, nobody dies.

    Actually, from what I understand, there is a concrete outer shell with metal rods inserted into it that are what actually hold up the ceiling panels. The 'glue' used is actually an epoxy resin and the drill & glue method is supposed to be stronger than embedding 'J' bolts into the outer casing. The problem with the Boston road is that the outer concrete wasn't to spec & the bolts were rusty when inserted. This type of construction is fairly common for tunnels, unfortunately it requires competent contractors not ones who are selling semi-loads of steel girders for scrap as they come into the construction site.

  • (cs) in reply to Rich
    Rich:
    doc0tis:
    if you are developer for a phone company where your input device is a telephone you probably don't need to know alot (if anything) about SQL injection.

    UPDATE online_user_data SET redirect_no='2221113333' WHERE account_name='jhacker'; DELETE FROM billing_data; --';

    I worked out SQL injection on my own about two months after I started learning it from scratch. It was a natural extension of "Is it possible to execute multiple SQL statements in a single query?"

    Rich

    Funny: I don't remember reading anything about UPDATE, SET, WHERE or DELETE FROM in either the H.323 or the SIP manuals.

    RTF original post ...

  • Rich (unregistered) in reply to cklam
    cklam:
    Yes.

    Both links open the same wikipedia article

    So please tell me what HIPPA stands for?

    Rich

  • Rich (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark
    real_aardvark:

    Funny: I don't remember reading anything about UPDATE, SET, WHERE or DELETE FROM in either the H.323 or the SIP manuals.

    RTF original post ...

    Funny, I don't remember reading anything about H.323 or SIP in the thread I was replying to. Perhaps you would care to RTF it yourself then STFU

    http://thedailywtf.com/Comments/Trust_Me,_I'm_A_Doctor.aspx?pg=2#113221

    Rich

  • (cs) in reply to TheRider
    TheRider:
    cklam:
    RevMike:
    rmr:
    ContractorInLivingHell:
    . . .So much talent is wasted on "brightest kid in the room" competition and pettiness the likes of which is rarely seen in other lines of work (apart perhaps from the "World of Art"...). . .

    You obviously haven't spent much time around programmers! For whatever reason, we see absolutely nothing wrong with arguing over the correct position of curly braces for hours. The stuff programmers argue over (often on this site) is extremely petty.

    I absolutely agree. The braces issues are minor compared to the choice of editor.

    MY $0.02: vi ... forever

    2 cents? And I always thought that vi is for free.

    Maybe he sent them to Uganda.

  • (cs) in reply to berk
    berk:
    rmr:
    The stuff programmers argue over (often on this site) is extremely petty.

    No it isn't.

    <DING!> Sorry. Time's up.

  • Wang-Lo (unregistered) in reply to un.sined
    un.sined:
    diaphanein:
    One of the reasons I believe software developement should be a licensed profession. i.e. You have to pass a government exam before you're allowed to practice in certain areas.

    I'm quite glad that it's not. Do you honestly expect the government to come up with a set of questions that isn't language specific, or out of date by the time people actually get to take the test?

    Besides, becoming a "licensed professional" (architect, medical doctor, lawyer) requires schooling in addition to passing the test. I've never been one for school, mostly because I learn at my own pace, typically by reading and experimenting. Lectures and the like have never helped me.

    What for the people like me?

    You would be on the license granting examination board.

    -Wang-Lo.

  • Oraclie (unregistered) in reply to KattMan

    Stop fighting about that...

    I would fight anybody who insists on using spaces instead of tabs....

    (captcha "vern"?? who is vern?)

  • (cs) in reply to Rich
    Rich:
    cklam:
    Yes.

    Both links open the same wikipedia article

    So please tell me what HIPPA stands for?

    Rich

    Who cares - I am only stating that both links open the same wikipedia article ... that's all.

    BTW, I know what HIPAA is - but HIPPA appears to be a typo, maybe ? So wikipedia does take precautions against typos (by using SOUNDEX or just "hard coding" the most common typos, maybe ?

    Who knows ...

  • (cs) in reply to pinguis
    pinguis:
    TheRider:
    cklam:
    RevMike:
    rmr:
    ContractorInLivingHell:
    . . .So much talent is wasted on "brightest kid in the room" competition and pettiness the likes of which is rarely seen in other lines of work (apart perhaps from the "World of Art"...). . .

    You obviously haven't spent much time around programmers! For whatever reason, we see absolutely nothing wrong with arguing over the correct position of curly braces for hours. The stuff programmers argue over (often on this site) is extremely petty.

    I absolutely agree. The braces issues are minor compared to the choice of editor.

    MY $0.02: vi ... forever

    2 cents? And I always thought that vi is for free.

    Maybe he sent them to Uganda.

    $0.02 indicates the faith that my particular submission is not completely worthless/useless ...

  • ComputerForumUser (unregistered)

    My boss used to be like that - I was doing something really simple that he was too busy to do. I was presented with a forum that was practically all the components of a realtime multiplayer roleplaying game where you could do practically anything. It just needed wiring up into the actual game.

    PS. Is there a data type with only one possible value, for when you only ever want one row in a table?

  • (cs) in reply to Oraclie
    Oraclie:
    Stop fighting about that...

    I would fight anybody who insists on using spaces instead of tabs....

    We will fight shoulder to shoulder!

    Oraclie:
    (captcha "vern"?? who is vern?)

    I'm guessing the guy from the movie Rainman: "Vern, my main man. V, E, R, N, Vern."

  • Eeby (unregistered) in reply to ContractorInLivingHell

    A few doctors I know have told me exactly the same thing, including the part about arrogance. One guy told me med school was pure hell just because of the high and mighty attitude of the other students. On the other hand the docs who told me this were all pretty cool people.

  • Foo Duck (unregistered)

    LOL, guess this "Doctor" isn't a shrink either. Unbelievable, he can't even place him self into the roll of an other person with years of experience.

    These guys think there god or something

  • AdT (unregistered) in reply to snoofle
    snoofle:
    If it is not politically correct to point, then should all langauges containing pointers be banned?

    Don't give 'em ideas.

  • Lollipop (unregistered)

    -Sigh- Such individuals really do give those in healthcare a bad name, and even keep out genuine people.

    Okay, so software development isn't Endocrinology. That doesn't mean you don't still have to form a coherent base of knowledge in order to make software as effectively as you practice Endocrinology. Just because you feel your line of work is more difficult than a certain skill does not mean you automatically obtain that skill when educating yourself in your line of work. I very much dislike people like this...and of course, they don't just reside in medicine. ;)

  • randombarn (unregistered)

    I used to hang out with a guy who had a PhD. Occasionally, when the group would have a disagreement about this, that, or the other, he would make his point, then ask, "Who in this room has a PhD?" while he raised his hand.

    Of course, we shut him down after about the third time by all saying in answer to his question (in unison), "...in THEATER!"

  • Unnamed guy (unregistered) in reply to un.sined
    Besides, becoming a "licensed professional" (architect, medical doctor, lawyer) requires schooling in addition to passing the test. I've never been one for school, mostly because I learn at my own pace, typically by reading and experimenting. Lectures and the like have never helped me.

    What for the people like me?

    Going by the way things are currently done, you'd be grandfathered into whatever program was put in place, but for new programmers, there could be a distinction between 'tradesman' programmers and 'engineering' programmers. You'd have to be a 'tradesman' programmer to work in programming at all, which would likely require some trade school and several years working under someone who is already a 'tradesman' programmer. An 'engineering' programmer, on the other hand, would have the ability to take legal responsibility for code written. To become certified in his capacity, he'd need schooling at an accredited school, as well as several years working under another certified 'engineering' programmer.

    Honestly, I think such a program could increase the overall skill level of programmers, and let employers know that when they're hiring a person who claims to be able to do the job, they've gone through a standardized process which ensures that they might actually be able to do it.

  • nah (unregistered) in reply to nobody

    "at least when my stuff fails, nobody dies."

    Not necessarily true for all software, though.

  • Andy Havens (unregistered)

    Back in 1988-91 when I was installing PCs and LANs for docs in the Longwood Medical Area near Boston, I'd get all kinds of doo-dah like this.

    My fave was the time an MD/PhD chewed me out because I hadn't adequately explained to him that the upgrade of his monochrome EGA monitor to a color EGA monitor would not automatically make his B&W laser prints come out in color.

    He'd asked me to upgrade his monitor to a color one. That's all. Then he got pissed at me because his prints were still in B&W. And when I tried to explain the universe to him, he told me; 1) I didn't need to talk down to him, because he was a doctor and understood things better than I ever could and, 2) there was a good chance he wasn't going to pay me, since I'd left vital info out of my services, and, 3) he might sue me for the cost of a color laser printer...

    What happened was he paid me for the EGA upgrade and he shut up, because he needed me to format a couple dozen Lotus Notes / Sigma Plot charts for him for his next conference.

    Funny how that works.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Franz Kafka
    Franz Kafka:
    I use emacs. What is this 'variable width' you speak of?

    I use Emacs, too, and have been using it for 13 years.

    Since version 21.x (many years ago), Emacs has got the ability to display variable width fonts. Try to start Emacs in X11 (or use NTEmacs on Windows) and then C-h i to go to the Info directory. See the variable-width fonts? Try also M-x list-faces-display.

    (I hope you do know that Emacs can do syntax-highlighting. It has been doing so for at least 13 years.)

    Please help by stopping spreading myths about Emacs.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Rimbaud
    Rimbaud:
    I found the easy way out of this: use Linux or Mac (or Amiga or OS/2) as your OS and then just say you don't know how to use Windows :-)

    I confirm that this works! It has worked for me for the past 12 years -- after I completely switched to Linux and got rid of the nonsense and headaches of MS's mess.

    Learn to refuse, and learn to do it politely.

    (A part of my telling those people "I don't use Windows" is to educate them that computer != Windows. There are things other than Windows. At least, they'll learn that at least 1 "guru" uses something other than "Windows".)

  • Mikey Dub (unregistered)

    Oh god this article made me cringe in horror at the memories. I too have been in the unfortunate position of developing clinical software for "medical specialists", with the added benefits of nurses being employed as BAs through the whole process. How people who are so intelligent within their field can be so utterly clueless in another is beyond me.

    I remember distinctly having an ongoing argument for nearly six months with our project head "medical specialist" as he did not believe that our 5,000+ KLOC application, outsourced to a software development company in India and subsequently going three years and $2 million over budget, might benefit from an object model or (any sort of) code re-use... but that's another story (even though the system had been extensively architected over a number of years the developers in India believed that creating a source file for each class was adequate to implement the required structure) ...

  • REED (unregistered)

    OMG, this subject matter is "Spot ON". I've dealt with many egotistical docs in my time. The worse are the ones in the military (ranked Maj or higher). They get some book (Oracle for dummies lets say) and next thing you know they are experts.

  • (cs)

    And I thought stuff like this happened only to me. I just read "Medicine in 24 hours". Now I'm ready to start giving out prescriptions.

    Addendum (2007-01-31 08:49): I started out developing software programs for a Nursing Home (L***) chain in Maryland ... TO tell you the truth, (maybe I was young) I've never met a more annoying bunch. The nurses rarely got it and most of the doctors never got it.

  • (cs)

    It was a wise move, no, in fact it was the only move for this engagement - to walk away from it. There are customers in this world that are not worth the pain and effort. This is one blatant example.

    This doctor can continue to sit on his high throne to feed his pride and remain isolated from the rest of the world.

    Even better, i'd like to see him in conversation with the President of US.

  • aa (unregistered) in reply to _js_
    _js_:
    Sounds like noone remembers http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/It's_CAD-tastic!.aspx from a few weeks back. A regular professional created a great application, far better than any software engineer could have made.

    Then a horde of software engineers makes the program "better", result: crap that is 10 times worse than the original.

    Computer programming is not a science, it's simple work, like factory work, you make a model, generate basic code, fill in the blanks, sell, repeat.

    Someone who knows the field he's working in and is a real scientist will obviously do far better than a factory drone.

  • aa (unregistered) in reply to _js_
    _js_:
    Sounds like noone remembers http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/It's_CAD-tastic!.aspx from a few weeks back. A regular professional created a great application, far better than any software engineer could have made.

    Then a horde of software engineers makes the program "better", result: crap that is 10 times worse than the original.

    Computer programming is not a science, it's simple work, like factory work, you make a model, generate basic code, fill in the blanks, sell, repeat.

    Someone who knows the field he's working in and is a real scientist will obviously do far better than a factory drone.

  • Patrick (unregistered) in reply to Jax

    Yeah, I wonder about this one too . . . why would anyone do something like that? I mean, even if you wanted a translation table so that you could convert True, False, and Null (because those are obviously the only three rows that could possibly be in the table) into other strings like, "smart," "dumb," and "indeterminate," you could put all of that in a more robust lookup table.

    In sum . . . I think this part was made up.

    CAPTCHA: gygax - huh?

  • cbciv (unregistered) in reply to ElQuberto
    ElQuberto:
    Meh, I would of said something about him being a mechanic.

    I'm sorry, but this particular error drives me nuts. You "would have said" or "would've said", not "would of said". If it helps to have a geeky analogy, it's vaguely similar to writing the following line in C:

    if (i = 1) { /* do something */}

    The "him being a mechanic" is also incorrect. It should be "his being a mechanic". The gerund "being" is the subject of the prepositional phrase and "his" modifies the gerund. I know that I'm wasting my time on this one as it's so common, but what the hell.

  • (cs) in reply to fennec
    fennec:
    I have a friend who's pre-med, and describes the first two years of her pre-med experience as "academic hazing". While I appreciate that people really don't want unqualified doctors, there are incentives to artificially constrict the supply to help keep doctors scarce... and drive up salaries...

    I think you may be confusing a large gang of arrogant douches with a conspiracy.

  • thatguyoverthere (unregistered) in reply to mdmyass

    You people do realize that the title "Doctor" is not limited to the medical profession.

    But then we live in a world where the Applied Sciences school of the college I went to was absorbed into the Business School...because "all programming is is making flashy web-pages, Optics is just how to use laser pointers, and we can just shut down the Nuclear Engineering department because it'll boost our PR as being anti-war!"

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