

The Art of Failure (2000) - bootload
http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_08_21_a_choking.htm

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yread
A very enjoyable read thank you. I wonder how does it look when a programmer
panics or chokes

~~~
tom_rath
From what I've seen (and felt!) one might be facing a really nasty bug which
has caused a sudden crash in a production environment which is holding up many
hundreds of very angry customers. Some yelling may have occurred.

You know you should sit back and reason out what the problem might be (it
worked before -- what's gone wrong?) but the rookie reflex is to start coding
right away and to slap something -- ANYTHING! -- in that might make things
right. That should make the yelling stop!

When that doesn't work, another patch is put in. Then another, and another,
corrupting data and making things even worse!

...and so the cascade of 'Hail Mary' programming fixes is put in place until
someone finally pulls the plug and yanks the poor, choking programmer aside
for a breather.

It's rare for programmers to have a 'do or die' moment and few are prepared
for or recognize it when it comes. If you ever feel the urge to rush: Don't.

~~~
jacquesm
> If you ever feel the urge to rush: Don't.

That ought to be printed out in 122 point font and pasted on every wall behind
every monitor. Take your time to do it right, that way you don't have to do it
'n' times but only once. A quick fix usually only leads to more trouble down
the road.

------
screwperman
_She was leading 4-1 and serving at 40-30, meaning that she was one point from
winning the game_

Eh, what?

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DTrejo
Tennis has very strange scoring. It's complicated to explain, but here goes:

The first person to get 6 games wins the set.*

The first person to win 4 rallies in a game wins that game.*

During a game, if you have one point your score is "15," two points is "30"
and three points is "40." When you get four points or win by two, then you win
the game.

*One must win by two.

~~~
screwperman
Oh, what a debacle! Even after being such a devout tennis buff, I have
confused "game" with "match". Or maybe I just can't read :(.

~~~
DTrejo
If you win 2 out of 3 of the sets then you win the match! (assuming you're
playing a regular match)

