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By Herring (Sun May 21, 2006 at 07:09:22 AM EST) work, rest, play (all tags)
On a wet Sunday. Complaining about stuff mostly.


When I first went to interview at LCC, I got the feeling that they hadn't really tackled a development project of any size- not recently anyway. Several methods and technologies were sold to them including Use Cases. The way they're being used is quite "interesting" though. Contrary to what I had previously thought, use-case driven apparently means analysing one screen/form (rather than an area of functionality), designing and implementing it.

This is great (no it isn't - Ed.) except that subsequent functions will modify classes and relationships which have already been implemented. OK we're all agile now (I can see my toes anyway) and we expect this sort of thing, but when something comes up like "Oh, and all the money has to be multi-currency", you end up with tons of rework that could've been avoided if someone had spotted that a couple of months ago.

Also, we're not agile because the "buisiness logic" layer is so tightly bound to the DB that changing the multiplicity of a relation can, apparently, result in many days of re-writing of stored procedures and the like.

The analyst philospohy (they haven't got an IT background, much less OOAD) seems geared around old fashioned Client/Server rather than our brave new n-Tier world. I am beginning to see the sense in old fashioned C/S.

Who am I to comment? I'm only an 'umble designer.

Secnod interview wih this other organisation on Tuesday. Ought to do a bit more research on their stuff.

Got wakeboarding booked later. It's currently pissing it down and windy. Nice.

The ongoing saga of the cheap Athlon 64 ... goes on. I got a 32bit OS on there so the flashing program would allegedly work. It does, but not with the update that I got from the motherboard manufacturer. There is a Flash utility with that but it runs under no falvours of Windows. I am in the position of trying to find a floppy disk and booting DOS off that. Super.

More oddness (don't know if any HuSiites can shed light on this): I know the Linksys wireless card is supposed to work with regular XP. I also know it's working because when I boto XP64, it works (albeit with a completely different driver). XP32 completely denies the existence of it though. This makes it kind of hard to get to the internet an get updates that might include support for it.

Question to HuSiite hardware people: Is there some new PCI bus thing which might be making my card invisible to old XP but visible to new XP which could be fixed, say, from the CMOS setup?

So, my situation is now: I have a 32bit OS which runs a load of stuff but can't connect to the intarweb. I have a 64bit OS which can connect but doesn't run everything. I have 2GB of RAM but can only use 1GB at a time and ... just arse really.

Mrs. H. is finding the teaching placement hard going. While at home, she seems to constantly be on the computer (one of the worknig ones) preparing lesson plans and stuff. Not sure if the school are taking the piss out of the trainee by dumping all the work on her. She spent 2 hours yesterday morning doing a lesson plan and "risk assessment" for taking the kids to the park.

The rest of the family are feeling a bit neglected. At least for me there's beer and porn but the kids don't have that option.

I am right about the BBC News Have Your Say section. It has been taken over by Mail/Express readers. On the subject of house prices, someone made the connection: prices->shortages->asylum seekers, but this was trumped with: water shortage->overcrowding->asylum seekers.

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A diary | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
teaching by martingale (4.00 / 1) #1 Sun May 21, 2006 at 08:29:07 AM EST
Teaching is an "investment" occupation (at least at tertiary level, I imagine the same at earlier levels). The first few years are a lot of work (for the dedicated teacher types at any rate), then afterwards the smart ones reuse all their materials over and over again. The silly buggers keep creating new stuff, but it's not like they'll get paid for the extra work.... Maybe I'm a bit cynical?
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$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$


This is true by Herring (4.00 / 1) #2 Sun May 21, 2006 at 08:38:52 AM EST
I have other teachers in the family and they have mentioned this. It certainly explains some of the computer science graduates I've interviewed.

Of course, that investment in teaching materials only works of the government doesn't keep buggering about with the curriculum.

When my grandfather became ill, my grandmother rubbed goose-fat into his back. He went downhill quite quickly after that. - Milton Jones
[ Parent ]

heh by martingale (4.00 / 1) #3 Sun May 21, 2006 at 08:46:45 AM EST
Don't knock the system! How would CS grads pass their exams if the teachers didn't leave behind 15 years of exhaustive permutations of the same 10 past questions in the library exam paper archives? Unless you're actually complaining about the ... oh.
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$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$
[ Parent ]

Sorry, no time to read this by Rogerborg (4.00 / 1) #4 Sun May 21, 2006 at 01:40:19 PM EST
MissTrish is talking about installing OSen.  Must dash!

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Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.


Thanks for upping the comment count by Herring (4.00 / 2) #8 Sun May 21, 2006 at 03:28:43 PM EST
That's how I judge my worth as a human being.

When my grandfather became ill, my grandmother rubbed goose-fat into his back. He went downhill quite quickly after that. - Milton Jones
[ Parent ]

You're a human being? by Rogerborg (2.00 / 0) #9 Mon May 22, 2006 at 02:57:02 AM EST
How did your username bypass the intraweb's Veracity Filter?  Terrorist.

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Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.
[ Parent ]

DAMMIT by Rogerborg (4.00 / 1) #5 Sun May 21, 2006 at 01:42:56 PM EST
SHE WAS THE TRICKSY!  IT WAS SOME EMO WANK, SANS WANKING.

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Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.


Here's another comment for you by Rogerborg (4.00 / 1) #6 Sun May 21, 2006 at 01:48:32 PM EST
Look on the bright side; at least you don't spend months designing, implementing and testing, and then have some customwanker tell you that when he asked for a web browser, he really wanted something that's useful for storing recipes.

Some readers may think I'm joking about that.  But you know better, don't you, Bob?  Er, Herring.

The Have Your Say is self selecting; liberals, commies and hippes are too apathetic and socially retarded to make their views known.  Note how easily the "Labour" party was been hijacked from within by Tory Blair, just by dint of him refusing to shut up.

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Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.


That's the theory by Herring (4.00 / 1) #7 Sun May 21, 2006 at 02:57:29 PM EST
Unfortunately, capturing requirements via finely grained use-cases (based on screens) never seems to capture the requirement "must not be a slow, bug-ridden piece of shit".

When my grandfather became ill, my grandmother rubbed goose-fat into his back. He went downhill quite quickly after that. - Milton Jones
[ Parent ]

Grr by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #10 Mon May 22, 2006 at 05:14:02 AM EST
She shouldn't be doing a risk assessment, a health and safety rep should have done a general one that covers all trips to the park. All she should have to do is read it.

Incompetence rather than piss-taking, I fear.

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It's political correctness gone mad!


A diary | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback