Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

prog21.dadgum.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 210 posts

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#191

Post by longtimelistnr »

MortyWaves wrote: post #190
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but it’s much broader. Just in general the lack of Steve Jobs noticing these glaring issues and coming down hard to solve them is pretty clear. I remember when macbooks briefly came out with a ridiculously bright standby led that required Black electrical tape over if you wanted to sleep with it in the house. Shortly after no more status leds on any MacBook (thank you!). Nowadays i find non stop little annoyances…

There has to be something going on with iOS Safari and the keyboard because my typing goes to complete shit in ways it never does in any other application. Here are some random examples I thought of for this comment. Notice how everything is spelled wrong as though the screen input doesn’t match the location of the buttons. - tomoroww eather in united.kingdom - lookip exhange rate - devopper news - download twotter.v…

I notice this as well, i think it is because the autocorrect is turned off and we may just be so used to it learning our typing habits that our "raw" typing is really that bad

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#192

Post by polishdude20 »

DanielHB wrote: post #188
polishdude20 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a dev Im always noticing these little problems in my designs but my boss just wants the thing done asap without worrying too much about it being nice to use.

It is the bottom and the top that appreciates the quality the middle appreciate metrics and deliverables

Oh in my case it's a small company and my boss is "the top"

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#193

Post by MortyWaves »

polishdude20 wrote: post #159
brabel wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to agree with that as a lead. Most developers claim to be done with a task without taking care of the small details that users will immediately notice. It’s a constant struggle to try to get them to care about what is actually the value of the feature they are implementing, let alone chase on their own initiative the small issues unless painfully listed in some requirements document.

As a dev Im always noticing these little problems in my designs but my boss just wants the thing done asap without worrying too much about it being nice to use.

Same here to the point when I do leave it’s going to be one of the reasons given.

One example is how this product manager type, because of company politics, isn’t really under the same department as the other software teams.

Because of his very very narrow horse blinkers approach, he doesn’t see or even comprehend why we’d want to align with literally anything in any other team and that includes visual UI stuff.

That’s why we have a bright neon pink “Back” button. Right in the literal center of the screen. It’s insane.

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#194

Post by dmd »

Lio wrote: post #161
mathiaspoint wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good product development really does seem to require some sort of leader who demands quality and smacks people when they don't deliver. Linux is nice because of Torvalds for example.

Completely agree. I was given a small electric fan. It’s great in that it’s portable and I can use it in some of the crummy hotels I have to stay in. Unfortunately, it has a bright blue LED on it so it’s a pain to use at night when you’re trying to sleep. It’s so bright that even covered with tape it still shines through the thin plastic of the fan body. What really gets me is why they bothered putting an operating l…

People in stores look towards bright lights. Objects with bright lights on them sell better.

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#195

Post by Aurornis »

Lio wrote: post #161
mathiaspoint wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good product development really does seem to require some sort of leader who demands quality and smacks people when they don't deliver. Linux is nice because of Torvalds for example.

Completely agree. I was given a small electric fan. It’s great in that it’s portable and I can use it in some of the crummy hotels I have to stay in. Unfortunately, it has a bright blue LED on it so it’s a pain to use at night when you’re trying to sleep. It’s so bright that even covered with tape it still shines through the thin plastic of the fan body. What really gets me is why they bothered putting an operating l…

I've worked in physical product development at some companies that include names you'd recognize.

More often than not, those annoying features are direct requests from the person up top who smacks people. They want that feature because they think it will sell, and it's no use trying to argue with them because you'll just get smacked again.

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#196

Post by sixo »

abullinan wrote: post #80
IshKebab wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also found a lot of this stuff is due to naysayers telling people that things can't be fixed (because really they don't want to bother). You need a strong leader to say "no it can and we will".

It takes a village. Also to be successful in tech it takes an asshole. No way around it. At some point all successful companies share an overly aggressive visionary. The entire company doesn’t need to be toxic, but the apex does. If you don’t like it, don’t climb the ladder.

Skill issue. There are other ways to get those results, but being an asshole is the lowest-hanging, and is nearly free if the people around you don't have the self-respect to walk away.

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#197

Post by Lio »

Aurornis wrote: post #195
Lio wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. I was given a small electric fan. It’s great in that it’s portable and I can use it in some of the crummy hotels I have to stay in. Unfortunately, it has a bright blue LED on it so it’s a pain to use at night when you’re trying to sleep. It’s so bright that even covered with tape it still shines through the thin plastic of the fan body. What really gets me is why they bothered putting an operating l…

I've worked in physical product development at some companies that include names you'd recognize. More often than not, those annoying features are direct requests from the person up top who smacks people. They want that feature because they think it will sell, and it's no use trying to argue with them because you'll just get smacked again.

Yeah I think that was one of the unusual things about Jobs; he really cared about product design for its own sake and not just for profit.

I think that is pretty unusual in large companies.

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#198

Post by chubot »

gitpusher wrote: post #69
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but it’s much broader. Just in general the lack of Steve Jobs noticing these glaring issues and coming down hard to solve them is pretty clear. I remember when macbooks briefly came out with a ridiculously bright standby led that required Black electrical tape over if you wanted to sleep with it in the house. Shortly after no more status leds on any MacBook (thank you!). Nowadays i find non stop little annoyances…

I worked at Apple and heard a lot of Steve stories. He really did personally approve everything. He would be sitting in a room, and team leads would all line up to give their quick 2-minute update. So it's the MacBook Air guy's turn. He comes in and places his prototype down in front of Steve. Steve opens the lid. Two seconds later he picks up the laptop and heaves it so hard it skipped across the table like a stone…

Latency is actually an interesting case, because it’s one of those things that, by default, nobody owns end-to-end

If you’re booting a computer or building web search, every subsystem can contribute to latency. If you have more teams and more features, you’re likely to have more latency.

In the early days of Google, Larry Page would push hard on this as well, in person. So Google search was fast.

But later the company became larger and bureaucratized, so nobody was in charge of latency. So then each team contributes a bit to latency, and that’s what ends up shipping.

Google products used to be known for being fast, but they’ve reverted to the mean

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#199

Post by seszett »

dmd wrote: post #194
Lio wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. I was given a small electric fan. It’s great in that it’s portable and I can use it in some of the crummy hotels I have to stay in. Unfortunately, it has a bright blue LED on it so it’s a pain to use at night when you’re trying to sleep. It’s so bright that even covered with tape it still shines through the thin plastic of the fan body. What really gets me is why they bothered putting an operating l…

People in stores look towards bright lights. Objects with bright lights on them sell better.

Do you have an actual study on this or is it just a belief held by some people who don't have any better idea to make others think they are useful?

Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)

#200

Post by rossant »

psyonity wrote: post #173
netsharc wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you improve this product with a screwdriver (to open it up) and wire-snipper (to cut off the LED)?

There is a chance the led is also used as a important diode in the circuit, plainly removing it can greatly reduce the lifespan of the device. (more common in cheaper products) Adding a appropiate diode in it's place is advised.

What's the physical reason for this? (elec noob here)
Post reply on HN