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I couldn't debug the code because of my name

mikolaj-kaminski.com

31–40 of 300 posts

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#32
post #20
post #6

What’s wrong with just writing it as Mikolaj? It’s not like it’s a kanji or something.

For the record, it's a stark pronunciation difference as ł has drifted to a very different "w" sound

Yep. For example, the name of the third-largest city in Poland is "Łódź", which might look like it's pronounced "lods", but is actually pronounced more like "wootch".

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#34
post #9

Using non-ascii characters in file paths, toolchain config files, and other non-display contexts is just asking for trouble, even if it is your name...

This is the modern, post-ASCII computing world, we should no longer be willing to settle for the lowest-common-denominator of ASCII-only strings.

There's no excuse for actively supported, paid products to have these problems today.

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#36
post #22
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their URL is even mikolaj-kaminski.com . I get its annoying, but I would never use non-ascii chars in a username / file path.

So, what does 阿部明仁 do in this case? Polish may be close enough that an approximation is available in English, but there's an awful lot of languages that don't have a large overlap with English characters. In the Asian case above, if someone with that name did try to "convert to English" they are ironically just as likely to end up with Akihito Abe as the ASCII, which will be just as broken!

They could use a different name as their windows name (Do people use their real names as their usernames? I never do). Or, they would have to go through the pain of finding a real solution, like the author did.

Considering JetBrains seems unwilling to fix this bug, maybe the best solution of all is to switch to an IDE that works.

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#37
post #17

Oh, it’s not a common knowledge that you should not UTF-8 in Windows username? That had been the case since 95 days. Only recently it had supposedly improved after Microsoft Account login become semi mandatory.

I don't think this bug is anything to do with Windows, rather it is due to the way the paths are handled in the IDE's codebase. Presumably the same problem exists when using these IDEs in conjunction with a path containing non-ascii characters in the Linux or macOS world.

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#38
post #16
post #6

What’s wrong with just writing it as Mikolaj? It’s not like it’s a kanji or something.

Their URL is even mikolaj-kaminski.com . I get its annoying, but I would never use non-ascii chars in a username / file path.

"You're holding it wrong"

The problem is the technology, not the user using it in a reasonable way. ł is older than computers and the only reason computers struggle with it is lack of foresight or choosing to make things harder for most of the world by some of the people involved early on.

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#39
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the solution is for the user to change their entire windows account name, rather than handling common characters in your code?

When you have non-standard characters in your name you quickly learn to never use them in computers since even though most systems works fine, some don't. And you can't fix all the thousands of systems your name has to interact with. I even had trouble booking flight tickets since their security system couldn't parse my name, and then had to go through some special security check due to it returning errors. After tha…

I totally understand what you’re saying, but it’s also a sad state of affairs when we can’t handle “non standard characters”.

Standard characters (ie english) are only used by a small subset (maybe 5-10%) of the global population.

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#40
post #17

Oh, it’s not a common knowledge that you should not UTF-8 in Windows username? That had been the case since 95 days. Only recently it had supposedly improved after Microsoft Account login become semi mandatory.

A lot of adults today weren't even alive in 95. Also, the assumption that people are familiar with windows vs other operating systems is becoming less and less valid. And as the world gets more globalised and remote, it's no longer to be assumed that all technical people are of a Anglo American culture.
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