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diff --git a/fortune/datfiles/fortunes b/fortune/datfiles/fortunes index 9ff1fa72..c3e36b63 100644 --- a/fortune/datfiles/fortunes +++ b/fortune/datfiles/fortunes @@ -16281,3 +16281,95 @@ since I first called my brother's father dad. % Zymurgy's Law of Volunteer Labor: People are always available for work in the past tense. +% + THE LAST BUG + +"But you're out of your mind," +They said with a shrug. +"The customer's happy; +What's one little bug?" + +But he was determined. +The others went home. +He spread out the program, +Deserted, alone. + +The cleaning men came, +The whole room was cluttered +With memory-dumps, punch cards. +"I'm close," he muttered. + +The mumbling got louder, +Simple deduction, +"I've got it, it's right, +Just change one instruction." + +It still wasn't perfect, +As year followed year, +And strangers would comment, +"Is that guy still here?" + +He died at the console, +Of hunger and thirst. +Next day he was buried, +Face down, nine-edge first. + +And the last bug in sight, +An ant passing by, +Saluted his tombstone, +And whispered, "Nice try." +% +Speaking of the philosophy involved in moving humanity into space: + +Furniture will be a largely obsolete concept. Take for example the dresser +my mom bought for me when I was a kid. I still have it, and by the +standards of its era, it's an admirable household fixture. It is a massive +construction of maple wood, expertly joined with cunningly fit pieces, +fitted and glued with the strength of iron. It is set with massive brass +fixtures, and looks today -- discounting the dust -- as new as the day it +was purchased, a quarter century ago. So far, so good; a fine piece of +furniture, you might say. But let's look at it objectively, as a machine, +as an object with a purpose. Here sit a hundred pounds of hardwood with +a compressive strength of 1500 psi, jointed by an expert craftsman into +a rigid box that would easily support a bull elephant. And what is the +sole purpose of this massive crate, this monument to a dead tree? -- it +holds my socks. + +Not only is it blind engineering overkill of epic proportions, it is also +an environmental disaster. The home to generations of squirrels, a +sentinel post for falcons, an autumnal banner of golden glory, a living +creature, was chopped down to enshrine some underwear. This, my friends, +is no way to run a planet. + -- Marshall T. Savage, from The Millennial Project: + Colonizing the Galaxy -- In Eight Easy Steps +% + Letter to the Editor + CROSSTALK, Journal of Defense Software Engineering + +The mention of "a feast of spaghetti code" ("Computer Collectives", CrossTalk, +April/May 1992) prompted this response: + +Nearly every software professional has heard the term spaghetti code as a +pejorative description for complicated, difficult to understand, and impossible +to maintain, software. However, many people may not know the other two +elements of the complete Pasta Theory of Software. + +Lasagna code is used to describe software that has a simple, understandable, +and layered structure. Lasagna code, although structured, is unfortunately +monolithic and not easy to modify. An attempt to change one layer conceptually +simple, is often very difficult in actual practice. + +The ideal software structure is one having components that are small and +loosely coupled; this ideal structure is called ravioli code. In ravioli +code, each of the components, or objects, is a package containing some meat +or other nourishment for the system; any component can be modified or replaced +without significantly affecting other components. + +We need to go beyond the condemnation of spaghetti code to the active +encouragement of ravioli code. + + Raymond J. Rubey + SoftTech, Inc. + 3100 Presidential Drive + Fairborn, OH 45324 + Voice: 513-429-8291 |