

Tales from the Programming Trenches - aerique
http://cybertiggyr.com/gene/tales/

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larsberg
He didn't have a chance to look too closely when he was a vendor at MSFT:

\- build.exe is not perl. Perl (and many other tools) have been used to do
specific tasks within the build, but build.exe is essentially a makefile
driver. You can read documentation on it in the Windows Driver SDK.

\- FCIBs (* checked in binaries) were the exception, not the rule. But
sometimes, you have something from a third party that you don't have source
access to. Even when you're MSFT. Given the security review paranoia now, I
would be shocked if any still exist.

\- robocopy doesn't fix "bugs" in xcopy; it supports mirroring and checksum
validations. Let's put it like we're in third grade again --
robocopy:xcopy::rsync:cp. Robocopy is available via the Windows Server
Resource Kit, last I checked five years or so ago.

I'm sure this guy has had a bunch of interesting experiences and has a lot to
share, but the lack of any investigation whatsoever of the tools he was using
on a daily basis and wildly incorrect statements about them feels like a Fox
News Special Report.

~~~
profquail
Robocopy is available in a stock Windows 7 installation. It may have been in
Vista too, but I don't remember for certain. Just FYI...

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DannoHung
The thing about the XBox and not providing a Linux kit: I thought that there
was some sort of import tariff on computers that wasn't on game consoles in
the EU or something like that.

Or maybe I've got it the other way around? I can't quite remember, my memory
is fuzzy.

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ganley
Just wow. I must have been good and/or lucky at choosing where I work and with
whom, because in my 15-year career I've never encountered this kind of
stupidity. I've certainly never encountered the likes of Baltar.

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forinti
This stupid manager/analyst comes to my desk complaining that everything's
stopped working. He was quite angry. I check it out and find out he has
changed some tables. I confront him, and he replies "but isn't the system
object-oriented?".

Sigh.

When we put lots of data into the database, the system starts working very
slowly. He gets angry again. So I look carefully and find out that he didn't
create any indexes. In fact, he didn't know what they were. And I was the one
who couldn't touch the database, because I might break something!

Sigh.

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kabdib
Everything he said about the Xbox internals and the attitude of the security
folks there (which is fantastic) was wrong.

Entertaining. But still wrong.

