10 July 2001
Last year: My poor Palm will be smoking by the time we've boarded the plane for Chicago.
So... Yesterday work sucked, and then it got better, and then I went home, and that was pretty much my day.
See, the thing that sucked was that when I went in to work, I was thinking I was going to have to essentially re-write two modules from scratch. Then after some talk with the other programmers, I realized that the data-handling structure they'd put together wasn't going to do many of the things I needed it to do and not only was I going to have to re-write two modules from scratch, I was going to have to build a wrapper for the structure so I could do the things I needed to do.
Then, after further discussion, I decided that the wrapper was, really, already in place, and all I had to do was write a wrapper that would push data from the old structure to the new one when I was ready to write out to the file.
I know that doesn't make a lot of sense to you, but it was work I finished before eleven.
I turned to Random and said, "So can I test with this structure yet?" (Because it's very important to test code as you go, or it makes bug-hunting a bear.)
Random looked at me, wide-eyed, and said warily, "Test what?"
"Writing the data," I answered, a little exasperated. "That's all I do with the structure, is use it to write."
Random looked horrified. "Oh, no! What you've got is just stubbed-out functions! I haven't written the writing part yet!"
Well, this wasn't unreasonable; the new structure was only invented last week. "So when will you have writing done and ready for testing?"
He considered for a while, counting on his fingers. "Tomorrow," he hazarded. "Maybe first thing in the morning, if this other stuff goes smoothly."
Well, poo. There really wasn't any point in writing more code, because if this method didn't work, I was going to have to re-work everything anyway. So I fiddled around with various things for several hours. Thought about going out to lunch, but decided against. Wrote some e-mail.
Around 2:30, Random said, "Okay, I think it's writing." (Random and me, we're both big believers in time estimation padding.) I grabbed the new library and stuffed it onto the handheld along with my code. I read in some data. With fingers crossed, I hit the "Write" button.
The messagebox that popped up said, "Fatal Error on Write." I wrote that messagebox. It meant that for some reason, I'd been unable to create and initialize the new structure. It's not a messagebox that should ever have happened. It was pure luck I'd put the check in at all. "Random..." I said.
Random frowned at the news and fiddled with his test program. He made humming and hawing noises for a bit, then said, "Okay, try again."
(This, by the way, is the sort of thing that fills my days. Don't you just envy me?)
I grabbed the new library and dropped it on the handheld. I read some data. I hit the "Write" button. Nothing apparent happened - which is what it was supposed to do. I dug into the handheld's filesystem... Hey, look! A file! I dragged it back over to my desktop (can't view files that are on the handheld directly) and opened it. Incomprehensible gibberish, but that's what we were supposed to have. I picked up my data sheets and compared them to the gibberish.
There's that piece of data... And that one... And that one... What's this? Oh, a timestamp. There's that... Why is it...? Oh, I forgot to clear the field there. Easy fix. And that... Where's the... Oh, there it is.
It was all there. In the correct format. And aside from one field that repeated when it wasn't supposed to because I'd forgotten to clear it out, it was all correct. I made the easy change, and then ran the second module. Same thing: Perfect data file.
It was just after 3, and I was done.
Today, I need to code two more modules, but they're almost exact copies of one of the first two. Simple cut-and-paste job, really. I've said it will only take me two days. In reality, I should be done by lunch, even if I take a break to go read the news.
I know I hate being bored at work. I really do. But right now, I need a vacation so badly I'll even take the pathetic mini-vacation of boredom. Y'all feel free to write me.
Word of the Day:
recuse - to disqualify (oneself) as a judge in a particular case; to remove (oneself) from participation to avoid a conflict of interest
Currently Reading:
- nothing
Current Projects:
- drawing
- Hall stuff
- garden