IT Support
Our IT support guy has been in the job since 1979, and never misses an opportunity to pick up a mouse and say "Hello computer" into it, Star Trek-style. Tell us your tales from the IT support cupboard, either from within or without.
( , Thu 24 Sep 2009, 12:45)
Our IT support guy has been in the job since 1979, and never misses an opportunity to pick up a mouse and say "Hello computer" into it, Star Trek-style. Tell us your tales from the IT support cupboard, either from within or without.
( , Thu 24 Sep 2009, 12:45)
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Other people's software
I have worked in IT for 12 years, mainly as a developer but I have done some support. The applications I've had to support, written by my fellow developers, can be a bit, well, shit. If you asked them to create a shopping till application, it would probably work something like this:
[scan can of beans]
"You have scanned "can of beans", is this correct?"
[click "Yes"]
"Would you like to add "can of beans" to the shopping?"
[click "Yes"]
...
"You have scanned "can of lager", is this correct?"
[click "Yes"]
"Would you like to add "can of lager" to the shopping?"
[click "Yes"]
"Are you over 18 years of age?"
[click "Yes"]
"Is the customer over 18 years of age?"
[click "Yes"]
...
[enter "carrots" in search box]
""carrots" not found"
[enter "carrot" in search box]
"Please weigh "carrot""
[weigh carrots at 300g, enter "300" in weight box]
"Invalid number"
[enter "0.3" in weight box]
"You have entered 0.3 tonnes of "carrot" is this correct?"
...
[enter "orange" in search box]
"How many "orange"?"
[enter "15" in number box]
"Invalid number, please enter a number between 0 and 9"
...
[select "print receipt" from menu]
"You must select "print receipt" before adding items"
and so on.
I pity the poor sods who actually have to use these applications every day.
( , Tue 29 Sep 2009, 17:04, 3 replies)
I have worked in IT for 12 years, mainly as a developer but I have done some support. The applications I've had to support, written by my fellow developers, can be a bit, well, shit. If you asked them to create a shopping till application, it would probably work something like this:
[scan can of beans]
"You have scanned "can of beans", is this correct?"
[click "Yes"]
"Would you like to add "can of beans" to the shopping?"
[click "Yes"]
...
"You have scanned "can of lager", is this correct?"
[click "Yes"]
"Would you like to add "can of lager" to the shopping?"
[click "Yes"]
"Are you over 18 years of age?"
[click "Yes"]
"Is the customer over 18 years of age?"
[click "Yes"]
...
[enter "carrots" in search box]
""carrots" not found"
[enter "carrot" in search box]
"Please weigh "carrot""
[weigh carrots at 300g, enter "300" in weight box]
"Invalid number"
[enter "0.3" in weight box]
"You have entered 0.3 tonnes of "carrot" is this correct?"
...
[enter "orange" in search box]
"How many "orange"?"
[enter "15" in number box]
"Invalid number, please enter a number between 0 and 9"
...
[select "print receipt" from menu]
"You must select "print receipt" before adding items"
and so on.
I pity the poor sods who actually have to use these applications every day.
( , Tue 29 Sep 2009, 17:04, 3 replies)
Utter tosh
Everyone knows that lashups by the departmental "you know computers, make it do _this_!" guy don't have any error checking or user problem catching code in them at all.
( , Tue 29 Sep 2009, 20:25, closed)
Everyone knows that lashups by the departmental "you know computers, make it do _this_!" guy don't have any error checking or user problem catching code in them at all.
( , Tue 29 Sep 2009, 20:25, closed)
[enter "disagree with my post"]
"Invalid answer, press "I agree" to continue"
( , Tue 29 Sep 2009, 22:22, closed)
"Invalid answer, press "I agree" to continue"
( , Tue 29 Sep 2009, 22:22, closed)
I worked for Marconi's once, many, many years ago...
Me and a fellow developer once had to write applications to test thermal imaging systems within environmental chambers. Each piece of kit would be vibrated, heated, cooled, soaked, etc., for 3 weeks.
All the while our software would be testing it.
At the end of a cycle, you entered the number of the item that was being removed (1, 2 or 3) and it turned that item off.
My colleague had used a simple string input, you if you entered, say 'E' instead of '3', it would crash the whole program.
When asked "Isn't that a bit wanky?" he replied "It's the users fault for entering the wrong character."
No wonder our military budgets are so high.
( , Wed 30 Sep 2009, 13:28, closed)
Me and a fellow developer once had to write applications to test thermal imaging systems within environmental chambers. Each piece of kit would be vibrated, heated, cooled, soaked, etc., for 3 weeks.
All the while our software would be testing it.
At the end of a cycle, you entered the number of the item that was being removed (1, 2 or 3) and it turned that item off.
My colleague had used a simple string input, you if you entered, say 'E' instead of '3', it would crash the whole program.
When asked "Isn't that a bit wanky?" he replied "It's the users fault for entering the wrong character."
No wonder our military budgets are so high.
( , Wed 30 Sep 2009, 13:28, closed)
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