Requirements churn
You mean e.g. requirements that change over time or requirements that get added during the project?
Both would be somehwat equally annoying in that they change the scope of the project.
Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
11–20 of 41 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
#12Bikeshedding during code reviews
What's bikeshedding?
Re: Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
#13Convincing software developers that networks disconnect, hardware fails, and data gets corrupted.
What do you mean "networks disconnect" and "hardware fails"? I have no idea what you're talking about.
Re: Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
#14Sitting in meetings that had nothing to do with me
Then just don't go to those meetings. Problem solved.
Re: Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
#15Waiting. Just in general. Waiting tends to piss me off
...Waiting for tests to run
...Waiting for code to compile
...Waiting for someone to return an email / message / text / whatever
...etc
I probably don't actually spend that much time waiting everyday. But when I do have to sit and wait for something, I go nuts.
Re: Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
#16Waiting. Just in general. Waiting tends to piss me off ...Waiting for tests to run ...Waiting for code to compile ...Waiting for someone to return an email / message / text / whatever ...etc I probably don't actually spend that much time waiting everyday. But when I do have to sit and wait for something, I go nuts.
If you work on or manage Windows machines, then waiting for Windows Updates can really suck. This may not seem directly related to programming, but it can be when you have sandbox virtual machines that are perpetually non-updated after being reverted to previous snapshots, or when you often break operating systems. Virtual machines make for an IT Groundhog Day.
Re: Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
#17Dates and times
Re: Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
#18Convincing software developers that networks disconnect, hardware fails, and data gets corrupted.
What do you mean "networks disconnect" and "hardware fails"? I have no idea what you're talking about.
The underlying layers of networking failing-
1. Too many requests for an NIC to handle,
2. Certificates expiring,
3. Firewall changes closing an active port down,
4. A router failing,
5. Congestion, interference in wireless networks resulting in excessive packet loss.
Hardware failing- HDDs, RAM, routers crashing, cables at datacenter being accidentally unplugged, racks being misconfigured during upgrades, maintenance etc.
See slide #4 here- http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.co...
Re: Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean "networks disconnect" and "hardware fails"? I have no idea what you're talking about.
The underlying layers of networking failing- 1. Too many requests for an NIC to handle, 2. Certificates expiring, 3. Firewall changes closing an active port down, 4. A router failing, 5. Congestion, interference in wireless networks resulting in excessive packet loss. Hardware failing- HDDs, RAM, routers crashing, cables at datacenter being accidentally unplugged, racks being misconfigured during upgrades, maintenanc…
I can just import a 3rd party Javascript library to deal with these right?
Re: Ask HN: What are the most annoying things in software development?
#20Convincing software developers that networks disconnect, hardware fails, and data gets corrupted.
What do you mean "networks disconnect" and "hardware fails"? I have no idea what you're talking about.
I can give you an example.
I inherited a system which, on a scheduled basis, completed the following, in order:
* Drop a database * Rebuild that database from REST queries
The process took under a second and the "downtime" was acceptable. However, if there was ever a short connectivity outage, or the upstream was down, the result of that was that the database was dropped and inaccessible for 24 hours until the next scheduled run.
I'd put forward that we build a new database first and then, only if successful, perform a swap. Maybe we could implement a retry. But then came the response I knew I was going to see: "Well if your network's not reliable hire competent network admins that's not my problem".
In a sense they were correct, it wasn't their responsibility to ensure the network doesn't ever drop. It was however, their sheer laziness that led to repeated service outages.