LOL
Just goes to show how long it has been since I wrote any code! lol
It is now subsumed under the larger concept of "Exception Handling".
Error Trapping is code that ...takes care of things going wrong when the user does something unexpected, and also things like folating decimal points etc.
At least that is how I learned it back in good ol' basic.
Particularly, now-a-days, it seems that it is mainly a "problem" with java and other of it's ilk.
Which brings me to this mini-rant.
The only reason that I still have a Windblows machine is for two programs which just won't run "well" under WINE, a test generator and a crossword puzzle program.
Both of them have javascripts that produce "overlays"(no need to get into it) so that one can run the program and for some reason WINE just does not render the apps correctly.
Now, one would think, that since a test generator program is just a glorified database that this would not be a problem.
But it is....
The first time it happened I thought that it was error on my part. But now the same behaviour has occurred a second time.
Basically, the program prints from within or can export to a .pdf.
Printing from within the program is not a problem.
Windows(Vista) spends a lot of time messing up printers(and these are old HPs that should have no problem now, but it does anyway).
It just so happened that in both times I did this, Windblows had messed up the printer system and I exported the test to a .pdf.
In the first case I just didn't check and this time I was in a hurry because of Windblows.
There is a section on the test that are "matching quiestions"
Well, instead of the proggy just scrambling the questions/answers one has to MANUALLY scramble the questions/answers. :0 I mean ....as the kids say..."What's up with THAT!!! :0 " .
I mean it is MATCHING....what possible good would there be for having the answers in order with the questions, especially since there is an answer key printed off so the teacher does not need to look at the questions to check the answers!!
Welllllllllllllllllll for some reason, because of BADLY WRITTEN CODE..... the proggy UNscrambles the questions before exporting to .pdf.
(This kind of programming, btw used to be called "shovelware"....."shovel it out the door.....shovel ANYthing out the door!"
MORAL TO THE STORY:....... the great advantage of being a computer "programmer" is that the computer will just sit and wait for you to do something.
It will not argue with you, it will not throw a tantrum and pour coffee on your head, it just waits very patiently for you to hit the next key.
so back to the moral of the story....."ABOVE ALL ELSE...... check every line of code for every kind of possible error(exception) that could be associated with it.
That does not mean flashy code, or elegant code, necessarily, it just means GRUNT WORK.....
Buying a thousand lines of code from a library and jamming it into a for-next loop does not programming make.
Do the grunt work and you may not be labled a brilliant programmer but you will be paid very well by people that need "good code that just works".
end of mini-rant
woodsmoke
Just goes to show how long it has been since I wrote any code! lol
It is now subsumed under the larger concept of "Exception Handling".
Error Trapping is code that ...takes care of things going wrong when the user does something unexpected, and also things like folating decimal points etc.
At least that is how I learned it back in good ol' basic.
Particularly, now-a-days, it seems that it is mainly a "problem" with java and other of it's ilk.
Which brings me to this mini-rant.
The only reason that I still have a Windblows machine is for two programs which just won't run "well" under WINE, a test generator and a crossword puzzle program.
Both of them have javascripts that produce "overlays"(no need to get into it) so that one can run the program and for some reason WINE just does not render the apps correctly.
Now, one would think, that since a test generator program is just a glorified database that this would not be a problem.
But it is....
The first time it happened I thought that it was error on my part. But now the same behaviour has occurred a second time.
Basically, the program prints from within or can export to a .pdf.
Printing from within the program is not a problem.
Windows(Vista) spends a lot of time messing up printers(and these are old HPs that should have no problem now, but it does anyway).
It just so happened that in both times I did this, Windblows had messed up the printer system and I exported the test to a .pdf.
In the first case I just didn't check and this time I was in a hurry because of Windblows.
There is a section on the test that are "matching quiestions"
Well, instead of the proggy just scrambling the questions/answers one has to MANUALLY scramble the questions/answers. :0 I mean ....as the kids say..."What's up with THAT!!! :0 " .
I mean it is MATCHING....what possible good would there be for having the answers in order with the questions, especially since there is an answer key printed off so the teacher does not need to look at the questions to check the answers!!
Welllllllllllllllllll for some reason, because of BADLY WRITTEN CODE..... the proggy UNscrambles the questions before exporting to .pdf.
(This kind of programming, btw used to be called "shovelware"....."shovel it out the door.....shovel ANYthing out the door!"
MORAL TO THE STORY:....... the great advantage of being a computer "programmer" is that the computer will just sit and wait for you to do something.
It will not argue with you, it will not throw a tantrum and pour coffee on your head, it just waits very patiently for you to hit the next key.
so back to the moral of the story....."ABOVE ALL ELSE...... check every line of code for every kind of possible error(exception) that could be associated with it.
That does not mean flashy code, or elegant code, necessarily, it just means GRUNT WORK.....
Buying a thousand lines of code from a library and jamming it into a for-next loop does not programming make.
Do the grunt work and you may not be labled a brilliant programmer but you will be paid very well by people that need "good code that just works".
end of mini-rant
woodsmoke