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No dogs were harmed in the making of this app

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Re: No dogs were harmed in the making of this app

#71

Post by FrankoDelMar »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #31
feintruled wrote: post #4

That's quite a tale, a parable almost about how software engineering differs from other jobs (I want to say 'real' jobs but tongue in cheek). I like this one too, it's even snappier. A software engineer, a hardware engineer and a department manager were on their way to a meeting in Switzerland. They were driving down a steep mountain road when suddenly the brakes on their car failed. The car careened almost out of co…

Is the moral of the story that the hardware engineer is simply correct? - a mechanical engineer

Turn the car backwards and use forward engine power to slow the descent ;) or engine brake with the parking brake set and hope for the best

Re: No dogs were harmed in the making of this app

#72

Post by buttercraft »

feintruled wrote: post #4

That's quite a tale, a parable almost about how software engineering differs from other jobs (I want to say 'real' jobs but tongue in cheek). I like this one too, it's even snappier. A software engineer, a hardware engineer and a department manager were on their way to a meeting in Switzerland. They were driving down a steep mountain road when suddenly the brakes on their car failed. The car careened almost out of co…

I would close all the windows and restart it.

Re: No dogs were harmed in the making of this app

#73

Post by zoogeny »

gwbas1c wrote: post #69
zoogeny wrote: post #41

This reminds me of a colleague I had that would often say "we aren't making air-traffic control systems here". The implication being that no lives were on the line if we made a mistake. This was when I was making games but it also applies to just about every CRUD app I've written. Tangentially, one thing I often ask other senior technical leaders (especially Director, VP or CTO) is: what is the most costly mistake yo…

> we aren't making air-traffic control systems here I also find that attitude troubling. I've worked on software that could loose peoples' cherished data. Now I work on software that could cause flooding if it misbehaves. Take a bit more pride in your work.

You can definitely take the comment in the worst way possible if you desire.

This was in the early 2000s in the games industry. I'm not sure if you are familiar with that culture, but it was a time when the engineers were working 12+ hour days for months at a time. People were pouring their heart, souls and sanity into shipping software, often working until they literally broke down. I remember one engineer boasting that he had worked for 2 months straight without taking a single day off.

In that environment the stress was high and technical discussions could often escalate into heated arguments. We often had to remind ourselves that we were making games and many people working there were supposedly living their childhood dreams. It was important to remember that.

The idea that we didn't take pride in our work or didn't do everything in our abilities to ship the highest quality software is beyond incorrect. It was that excessive pride that we needed to guard against by checking in to reality. It wasn't a call to laziness, it was a call to humility.

Re: No dogs were harmed in the making of this app

#74

Post by SoftTalker »

tialaramex wrote: post #44
harrymit907 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cost to benefits probably. Vet X-rays are surprisingly expensive and then surgery had to be done anyway.

Even in human medicine some of the things on the "Do not do" guidance are diagnostic steps which are pointless because you will always do the same thing next regardless. A bunch of them are for infant minor injury where it's like don't do an X-ray. If you can see a break on the image you'd do A, but if you can't you'd figure the break might be too small to show up and do A anyway. Kids don't need more radiation, just…

There's also the cases where you don't do the test because you do not want to do the next step. E.g. the test results would indicate a need for a very invasive surgery or aggressive medical treatment, but you are 80 years old and you don't want to spend your remaining time recovering from surgery or sick from side-effects.

Re: No dogs were harmed in the making of this app

#75

Post by qup »

lostlogin wrote: post #42
shadowgovt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big advantage to software engineering is we deal in abstractions. I liken it to building castles in the clouds; everything down to the foundation is reshapeable. ... the big disadvantage to software engineering is we deal in abstractions. Everything down to the foundation moves. http://thecodelesscode.com/case/154

> I liken it to building castles in the clouds You’re very positive. When you see a developer dealing with a bug, it seems more like they are dealing with a turd palace floating in a sewer.

Turds are shapeable, too. Hard to polish, I've heard.

But you control the poopy stack.

Re: No dogs were harmed in the making of this app

#77

Post by geraldhh »

amelius wrote: post #68
feintruled wrote: post #4

That's quite a tale, a parable almost about how software engineering differs from other jobs (I want to say 'real' jobs but tongue in cheek). I like this one too, it's even snappier. A software engineer, a hardware engineer and a department manager were on their way to a meeting in Switzerland. They were driving down a steep mountain road when suddenly the brakes on their car failed. The car careened almost out of co…

I think it is possible to end this story in three possible ways, where each will be in favor of one of the professions.

please, go ahead

Re: No dogs were harmed in the making of this app

#79

Post by tmpz22 »

renewiltord wrote: post #56
smt88 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's mostly just a joke about how these roles do their jobs. But I think it's also partly illuminating the fact that hardware engineers are true engineers, while software engineers mostly aren't.

True. We’re scientists. Replication is important! :)

> True. We’re scientists. Replication is important! :)

Yes replication:

Oops we got hacked. I wonder what happens if we write insecure code again.

Oops we got hacked. I wonder what happens if we write insecure code again.

Oops we missed a deadline. I wonder what happens if we underestimate again.

Oops we missed a deadline. I wonder what happens if we underestimate again.

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