The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Arvind:
It's English. There are rules.
There are also rude (racist) people who enjoy making fun of other people's accent, instead of putting in a little more effort trying to understand what they mean instead of what they say.

Cool. So a non-English speaker that doesn't understand what I am saying is not putting enough effort into figuring out what I mean and is a racist.

I'm using that at work today.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

by:
AnonPaddy:
The Nerve:
I don't know why I have to explain error messages like this.
"Why can't I see the page?"

"What does it say? What do you think?"

lern2reed

Perhaps the user had authorization, but the program was genuinely acting up.

Or more likely - you're a troll.

How is he being a troll? Man, people use the troll word like someone is going to take it away...

CAPTCHA: incassum > use the word troll everywhere for everyone incassum-one takes it away

And incorrectly, I might add. "Troll" is supposed to be a verb. Someone who trolls would be a troller. A troll is a middle-English word for "giant."

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

The real WTF is people thinking that someone from the UK (The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) finding humour in miscommunication with someone with an Irish accent is racism. The likelihood is they are of the same race and possibly from the same country (possibly Northern Irish possibly from Eire, the article does not say).

Rude != Racism

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

F150:
by:
AnonPaddy:
The Nerve:
I don't know why I have to explain error messages like this.
"Why can't I see the page?"

"What does it say? What do you think?"

lern2reed

Perhaps the user had authorization, but the program was genuinely acting up.

Or more likely - you're a troll.

How is he being a troll? Man, people use the troll word like someone is going to take it away...

CAPTCHA: incassum > use the word troll everywhere for everyone incassum-one takes it away
And incorrectly, I might add. "Troll" is supposed to be a verb. Someone who trolls would be a troller. A troll is a middle-English word for "giant."

Yeah, I don't think so.

From Norwegian, Danish or Swedish troll, from Old Norse troll, possibly related to the Middle High German trolle (“spook, wraith, monster, ogre”) [1]. Compare Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk) trylle (“to bewitch”), Danish trylle (“to perform magical arts”) and Swedish trolla (“to conjure”).

From Middle English troll (“to go about", "to stroll", "to roll from side to side”), from Old French troller (French trôler) and Middle High German trollen (“to stroll”); fishing sense possibly influenced by trawl

Wait, there's more:

A person who posts to a newsgroup, bulletin board, etc., in a way intended to anger other posters and to cause drama, or otherwise disrupt the group's intended purpose.

May I also add that it is perfectly fin English to noun a verb and vice versa. For example, one who engages in carpentering is a carpenter.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Arvind:
It's English. There are rules.
There are also rude (racist) people who enjoy making fun of other people's accent, instead of putting in a little more effort trying to understand what they mean instead of what they say.

Didn't we address your kind yesterday?

hoodaticus · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Arvind:
It's English. There are rules.
There are also rude (racist) people who enjoy making fun of other people's accent, instead of putting in a little more effort trying to understand what they mean instead of what they say.

It must be a relief to know how superior you are to those people.

hoodaticus · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

derp:
Nagesh:
Floating point numbers should always be rounded.
Accountants and mathematicians are different people.

No, TopCod3r, the real problem is that currency should never be represented by floating point.

Tell that to the authors of [major off-the-shelf accounting system] that I have to maintain. And just imagine: if I never bought the source code, I would never know of the problem.

Addendum: until it's too late, that is.

Nexzus · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

'The Screenshot' reminds me of the Sales divisional manager at my old place. (bg: We used an AS/400 account management system for debt collection)

To get small batches (100 or less) of accounts from his clients into the system manually, he would:

Receive an excel spreadsheet from the client with the accounts
Format it so that it can print one page wide.
Print it out.
Scan-to-email to himself.
Forward to the admin staff, who would:
Print it out again to work from for:
Manually entering all the data into the system.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

In regards to "Screenshot"

Oblig XKCD: http://xkcd.com/763/

juliaestelleo · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Hmm, maybe your system was crashed. Just CMIIW :)

boog · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Arvind:
There are also rude (racist) people who enjoy making fun of other people's accent, instead of putting in a little more effort trying to understand what they mean instead of what they say.

As a rude person myself, I am greatly offended that you would lump me in with the racists.

It's a shame that there are so many whiny (bitchy) people who enjoy ruining other people's innocent fun, instead of putting in a little more effort trying to understand that there's a big difference between having a sense of humor about stereotypes and full-blown racism.

webrunner · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Rootbeer:
Storing price information in floating-point form is a perfectly cromulent practice in a lot of circumstances; for a small ecommerce shop, it will never matter if a price's representation is on the order of one-millionth of a cent off from its actual value.
The mistake was not making sure that values are always formatted to the appropriate number of decimal places for display.

Unless you need to check if a price is exactly equal to ten cents.

The Bytemaster · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

When IT reigns, IT poor(s).

da Doctah · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

I've never had trouble with trees, but I once got a complaint that some of the fields on an information screen were filled with "pineapples".

A bit of research revealed that this is what the ¥ symbol looked like to that user.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Jellineck:
I'm using that at work today.

"It's true! I can justify this collegial accusation perfectly: namely, I read it on the interweb."

JamesQMurphy · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

da Doctah:
I've never had trouble with trees, but I once got a complaint that some of the fields on an information screen were filled with "pineapples".
A bit of research revealed that this is what the ¥ symbol looked like to that user.

That's... that's... OMG that's just CUTE!

Coyne · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

"I backed it up as soon as the system crashed."

Yeah, right. Just like you "back up" your car after smashing into the one ahead.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Rounding errors are no joke. My boss once decided to make a system change to one of our financial tables in our company-wide database. Per a user request, he blindly without question went in and increased the precision to the right of the decimal. Of course, there was no testing or thought of what the implications might be.

So things are running along just fine for a month or 2. Obviously it wouldn't break anything. Then Accounting starts noticing discrepancies. Mind you we process hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions a month. They started noticing certain reports weren't matching that always have matched in the past.

That's right, a rounding error. And when it was left up to ME to explain this all to upper management, no one could figure out what I was talking about. I tried explaining that despite both reports being off from one another, they were both correct (in their own way). Then I explained the concept of rounding and storing extra digits to the right of the decimal. Hardly any upper management in FINANCE knew what I was talking about. They wanted it "fixed".

Not sure how, as a reversal in the database would fuck up the existing records permanently. So I decided to rip the bandaid off fast as it were, reduced the precision in the table, and dealt with the aftermath.

To this day, when we get data streams from outside our area with endless digits of precision to the right of the decimal, we round as upstream as possible in our processes before we bring the info in. If our partner complains that our imported totals don't match theirs, we tell them tough luck.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Andrew:
I've had users print screenshots, then scan the prints and attach them to the entry in the bug tracker. Completely retarded.

The print & scan is sane if the source computer is not connected to any network.

Nagesh · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Arvind:
It's English. There are rules.
There are also rude (racist) people who enjoy making fun of other people's accent, instead of putting in a little more effort trying to understand what they mean instead of what they say.

Hey, Rude is not same as racist. I know plenty of rude people.

Nagesh · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Matt:
Rounding errors are no joke. My boss once decided to make a system change to one of our financial tables in our company-wide database. Per a user request, he blindly without question went in and increased the precision to the right of the decimal. Of course, there was no testing or thought of what the implications might be.
So things are running along just fine for a month or 2. Obviously it wouldn't break anything. Then Accounting starts noticing discrepancies. Mind you we process hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions a month. They started noticing certain reports weren't matching that always have matched in the past.

That's right, a rounding error. And when it was left up to ME to explain this all to upper management, no one could figure out what I was talking about. I tried explaining that despite both reports being off from one another, they were both correct (in their own way). Then I explained the concept of rounding and storing extra digits to the right of the decimal. Hardly any upper management in FINANCE knew what I was talking about. They wanted it "fixed".

Not sure how, as a reversal in the database would fuck up the existing records permanently. So I decided to rip the bandaid off fast as it were, reduced the precision in the table, and dealt with the aftermath.

To this day, when we get data streams from outside our area with endless digits of precision to the right of the decimal, we round as upstream as possible in our processes before we bring the info in. If our partner complains that our imported totals don't match theirs, we tell them tough luck.

Yes we all know rounding errors create serious problems. Just go to Union Bank in California. I fixed one report for them. They sent me appreciation note.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

I've had a client employee take a screenshot, paste it to word, print it out and FAX it to her boss, who scanned and emailed it to us. I don't want to hear anybody else complaining!

W:
The print & scan is sane if the source computer is not connected to any network.

Not nearly as sane as copying to a flash drive or some other removable media.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

W:
Andrew:
I've had users print screenshots, then scan the prints and attach them to the entry in the bug tracker. Completely retarded.

The print & scan is sane if the source computer is not connected to any network.

That could be why the website wasn't accessible...

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Are numbers really that bad?

Why can't browser error messages report a 404 error or the like?

I have a phone number, a street number, a SSN, and after I get my W2s I file a 1040, etc. Are people really that incapable of understanding that 404 is a standard code that means "page not found"?

captcha: aptent: Advanced Packaging Tool for Giant Tree People.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Carpentry, godammit!

/trollfood

Spam spam spammity spam. Does Akismet still work if I disable Javascript? I can't be arse to find out.

jmucchiello · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

WhiskeyJack:
"Not Craw, Craw!!!"

That is so-o-o-o-o old. I miss (The Original) Get Smart.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Actually, the proper workflow for sending screenshots is:

Make screenshot -> Convert to PDF -> Print out -> Send via snail mail

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Giant Caperpenter:
F150:
by:
AnonPaddy:
The Nerve:
I don't know why I have to explain error messages like this.
"Why can't I see the page?"

"What does it say? What do you think?"

lern2reed

Perhaps the user had authorization, but the program was genuinely acting up.

Or more likely - you're a troll.

How is he being a troll? Man, people use the troll word like someone is going to take it away...

CAPTCHA: incassum > use the word troll everywhere for everyone incassum-one takes it away
And incorrectly, I might add. "Troll" is supposed to be a verb. Someone who trolls would be a troller. A troll is a middle-English word for "giant."

Yeah, I don't think so.

From Norwegian, Danish or Swedish troll, from Old Norse troll, possibly related to the Middle High German trolle (“spook, wraith, monster, ogre”) [1]. Compare Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk) trylle (“to bewitch”), Danish trylle (“to perform magical arts”) and Swedish trolla (“to conjure”).

From Middle English troll (“to go about", "to stroll", "to roll from side to side”), from Old French troller (French trôler) and Middle High German trollen (“to stroll”); fishing sense possibly influenced by trawl

Wait, there's more:

A person who posts to a newsgroup, bulletin board, etc., in a way intended to anger other posters and to cause drama, or otherwise disrupt the group's intended purpose.

May I also add that it is perfectly fin English to noun a verb and vice versa. For example, one who engages in carpentering is a carpenter.

No, i think so.

Let me also post something i googled.

troll v.,n. 1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. 2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll." 3. [Berkeley] Computer lab monitor. A popular campus job for CS student. Duties include helping newbies and ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably so-called because it involves lurking in dark cavelike corners.

-- The New Hacker's Dictionary, Eric S. Raymond

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Small carpenter:
Giant Caperpenter:
F150:
by:
AnonPaddy:
The Nerve:
I don't know why I have to explain error messages like this.
"Why can't I see the page?"

"What does it say? What do you think?"

lern2reed

Perhaps the user had authorization, but the program was genuinely acting up.

Or more likely - you're a troll.

How is he being a troll? Man, people use the troll word like someone is going to take it away...

CAPTCHA: incassum > use the word troll everywhere for everyone incassum-one takes it away
And incorrectly, I might add. "Troll" is supposed to be a verb. Someone who trolls would be a troller. A troll is a middle-English word for "giant."

Yeah, I don't think so.

From Norwegian, Danish or Swedish troll, from Old Norse troll, possibly related to the Middle High German trolle (“spook, wraith, monster, ogre”) [1]. Compare Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk) trylle (“to bewitch”), Danish trylle (“to perform magical arts”) and Swedish trolla (“to conjure”).

From Middle English troll (“to go about", "to stroll", "to roll from side to side”), from Old French troller (French trôler) and Middle High German trollen (“to stroll”); fishing sense possibly influenced by trawl

Wait, there's more:

A person who posts to a newsgroup, bulletin board, etc., in a way intended to anger other posters and to cause drama, or otherwise disrupt the group's intended purpose.

May I also add that it is perfectly fin English to noun a verb and vice versa. For example, one who engages in carpentering is a carpenter.

No, i think so.

Let me also post something i googled.

troll v.,n. 1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. 2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll." 3. [Berkeley] Computer lab monitor. A popular campus job for CS student. Duties include helping newbies and ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably so-called because it involves lurking in dark cavelike corners.

-- The New Hacker's Dictionary, Eric S. Raymond

I couldn't be arsed to read everything either of you wrote, but again I repeat myself, how was he being a troll? He was simply giving us one of his personal experiences while working tech-support...

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

by:
Small carpenter:
Giant Caperpenter:
F150:
by:
AnonPaddy:
The Nerve:
I don't know why I have to explain error messages like this.
"Why can't I see the page?"

"What does it say? What do you think?"

lern2reed

Perhaps the user had authorization, but the program was genuinely acting up.

Or more likely - you're a troll.

How is he being a troll? Man, people use the troll word like someone is going to take it away...

CAPTCHA: incassum > use the word troll everywhere for everyone incassum-one takes it away
And incorrectly, I might add. "Troll" is supposed to be a verb. Someone who trolls would be a troller. A troll is a middle-English word for "giant."

Yeah, I don't think so.

From Norwegian, Danish or Swedish troll, from Old Norse troll, possibly related to the Middle High German trolle (“spook, wraith, monster, ogre”) [1]. Compare Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk) trylle (“to bewitch”), Danish trylle (“to perform magical arts”) and Swedish trolla (“to conjure”).

From Middle English troll (“to go about", "to stroll", "to roll from side to side”), from Old French troller (French trôler) and Middle High German trollen (“to stroll”); fishing sense possibly influenced by trawl

Wait, there's more:

A person who posts to a newsgroup, bulletin board, etc., in a way intended to anger other posters and to cause drama, or otherwise disrupt the group's intended purpose.

May I also add that it is perfectly fin English to noun a verb and vice versa. For example, one who engages in carpentering is a carpenter.

No, i think so.

Let me also post something i googled.

troll v.,n. 1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. 2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll." 3. [Berkeley] Computer lab monitor. A popular campus job for CS student. Duties include helping newbies and ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably so-called because it involves lurking in dark cavelike corners.

-- The New Hacker's Dictionary, Eric S. Raymond

I couldn't be arsed to read everything either of you wrote, but again I repeat myself, how was he being a troll? He was simply giving us one of his personal experiences while working tech-support...

Of course he wasn't. Now stop trying to get the discussion back on topic!

boog · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

by:
How is he being a troll? Man, people use the troll word like someone is going to take it away...

You complain now, but when someone finally does take it away, you're gonna wish you'd used it more.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

by:
Small carpenter:
Giant Caperpenter:
F150:
by:
AnonPaddy:
The Nerve:
I don't know why I have to explain error messages like this.
"Why can't I see the page?"

"What does it say? What do you think?"

lern2reed

Perhaps the user had authorization, but the program was genuinely acting up.

Or more likely - you're a troll.

How is he being a troll? Man, people use the troll word like someone is going to take it away...

CAPTCHA: incassum > use the word troll everywhere for everyone incassum-one takes it away
And incorrectly, I might add. "Troll" is supposed to be a verb. Someone who trolls would be a troller. A troll is a middle-English word for "giant."

Yeah, I don't think so.

From Norwegian, Danish or Swedish troll, from Old Norse troll, possibly related to the Middle High German trolle (“spook, wraith, monster, ogre”) [1]. Compare Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk) trylle (“to bewitch”), Danish trylle (“to perform magical arts”) and Swedish trolla (“to conjure”).

From Middle English troll (“to go about", "to stroll", "to roll from side to side”), from Old French troller (French trôler) and Middle High German trollen (“to stroll”); fishing sense possibly influenced by trawl

Wait, there's more:

A person who posts to a newsgroup, bulletin board, etc., in a way intended to anger other posters and to cause drama, or otherwise disrupt the group's intended purpose.

May I also add that it is perfectly fin English to noun a verb and vice versa. For example, one who engages in carpentering is a carpenter.

No, i think so.

Let me also post something i googled.

troll v.,n. 1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. 2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll." 3. [Berkeley] Computer lab monitor. A popular campus job for CS student. Duties include helping newbies and ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably so-called because it involves lurking in dark cavelike corners.

-- The New Hacker's Dictionary, Eric S. Raymond

I couldn't be arsed to read everything either of you wrote, but again I repeat myself, how was he being a troll? He was simply giving us one of his personal experiences while working tech-support...

This entire comment section has an unhealthy obsession with trolling, and I'm not talking about the debated "trolls." This poor commenter is the latest casualty in an over-used "your-a-troll" meme. What are you trying to do? Get internet-points for identifying trolls? Do you think anyone even cares? I will repeat the words of a wise man to the unsightly "troll-detectors" who pervade these forums:

"Go away and grow up."

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

boog:
by:
How is he being a troll? Man, people use the troll word like someone is going to take it away...
You complain now, but when someone finally does take it away, you're gonna wish you'd used it more.

You mean like the now-forbidden "N-word?"

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Chant takes his entertainment very, very seriously.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Also, it's obvious that Chant is the name Nagesh uses when he has to make support emails like this.

Captcha: iusto - Nagesh: "iusto just use my hand"

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Arvind:
It's English. There are rules.
There are also rude (racist) people who enjoy making fun of other people's accent, instead of putting in a little more effort trying to understand what they mean instead of what they say.

I can almost hear you trying to communicate your ignorant comment over a choppy, low volume, 3 second delay, sub-standard voip phone connection from India.

boog · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Power Troll:
You mean like the now-forbidden "N-word?"

Which? Null? *struck by lightning*

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Haegin:
TRWTF is using floating point numbers for pricing

Aye.

I've almost had stand-up arguments with developers who thought it was fine to use floating point for a currency value. facepalm

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Ok, I ment 'The Nerve' is probably a troll, not the user nor the tech support person.

Also if someone goes around trolling on the web then describing them as a troll is appropriate, it's both a verb and a noun.

Finally - Calling out a troll is usually a healthy act in comments. 'The Nerve' in this case misinterpreted the situation and then made an inflammatory commentary on that misinterpretation, that is typical troll behavior. I explained their mistake, but also felt like acknowledging that I realised they probably knew the truth anyway, but were just being confrontational for kicks.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

AnonPaddy:
Ok, I ment 'The Nerve' is probably a troll, not the user nor the tech support person.
Also if someone goes around trolling on the web then describing them as a troll is appropriate, it's both a verb and a noun.

Finally - Calling out a troll is usually a healthy act in comments. 'The Nerve' in this case misinterpreted the situation and then made an inflammatory commentary on that misinterpretation, that is typical troll behavior. I explained their mistake, but also felt like acknowledging that I realised they probably knew the truth anyway, but were just being confrontational for kicks.

No, Troll-spotting is trollish behaviour.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

E Iron:
No, Troll-spotting is trollish behaviour.

Not if you're right.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

I came here for an argument!

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

... Hey, at least I did say "Free RAIN". Give me a break.

No, you didn't.

[Sigh - context got lost from my previous post]

An argument is a series of propositions intended to establish a fact. It's not just saying "no it isn't". Yes it is. No it isn't!

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Geoff:
... Hey, at least I did say "Free RAIN". Give me a break.
No, you didn't.

[Sigh - context got lost from my previous post]

An argument is a series of propositions intended to establish a fact. It's not just saying "no it isn't". Yes it is. No it isn't!

Arguing about what an argument is... sounds almost recursive.

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

anon:
Geoff:
... Hey, at least I did say "Free RAIN". Give me a break.
No, you didn't.

[Sigh - context got lost from my previous post]

An argument is a series of propositions intended to establish a fact. It's not just saying "no it isn't". Yes it is. No it isn't!

Arguing about what an argument is... sounds almost recursive.

I think the word you're looking for is "meta".

2011-02-17 Reply Admin

static:
Haegin:
TRWTF is using floating point numbers for pricing

Aye.

I've almost had stand-up arguments with developers who thought it was fine to use floating point for a currency value. facepalm

Like Excel does.

Maurits · 2011-02-17 Reply Admin

Currency is not floating point. Currency is not floating point. Currency is not floating point.

You can store as an integer number of cents, or you can use one of the new-fangled fixed-point decimal types that some DBs have.

In no way should an account ever have $1/3.

Yes, some implementations use a floating point to approximate currency. These implementations inevitably run into rounding errors as a result of this decision that would otherwise have been resolved when the data was coerced to a currency type.

2011-02-18 Reply Admin

Alex:
foo:
Bushea:
RE:Accentricity Yep. As someone who's lived in Ireland a few years it gets annoying with the THomas (pronouncing the TH) and T(h)ree, the Ta (to) etc..
Dammit. It's english. There's rules.
Free advice: Never visit the US.
Or Australia.

Or New Zealand. Or Canada. Or Devon, or Cornwall, or Scotland, or Wales, or Lancashire, or Cheshire, or Gloucestershire, or Yorkshire, or any other place where they claim to be able to speak English.

Basically, never venture out of Kent or the Home Counties.

2011-02-18 Reply Admin

Anon:
Cantabrigian:
Anon:
TRWTF is Second Life. Just goes to show, if you let your users have free reign to do whatever they want, they'll quickly fill it up with hookers.

Free REIN. As in REINS on a horse. </bugbear>

Hey, at least I did say "Free RAIN". Give me a break.

Pure gold.

2011-02-18 Reply Admin

Alex:
foo:
Bushea:
RE:Accentricity Yep. As someone who's lived in Ireland a few years it gets annoying with the THomas (pronouncing the TH) and T(h)ree, the Ta (to) etc..
Dammit. It's english. There's rules.
Free advice: Never visit the US.
Or Australia.

Or South Africa. We have 11 official languages. All of them spoken with an accent from one of the other 10 official languages.

Genital Syncing, Accentricity, & More Support Stories

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