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A project
manager, a computer programmer and a computer operator are driving down
the road when the car they are in gets a flat tire. The three men try
to solve the problem.
The project
manager said: "Let's catch a cab and in ten minutes we'll reach our
destination."
The computer
programmer said: "We have here the driver's guide. I can easily replace
the flat tire and continue our drive."
The computer
operator said: "First of all, let's turn off the engine and turn it on
again. Maybe it will fix the problem."
Suddenly a
Microsoft software engineer passed by and said: "Try to close all
windows, get off the car, and then get in and try again."
A Software
Engineer, a Hardware Engineer and a Departmental Manager were on their
way to a meeting. They were driving down a steep mountain road when
suddenly the brakes on their car failed. The car careened almost out of
control down the road, bouncing off the crash barriers, until it
miraculously ground to a halt scraping along the mountainside. The
car's occupants, shaken but unhurt, now had a problem: they were stuck
halfway down a mountain in a car with no brakes. What were they to do?
"I know," said
the Departmental Manager, "Let's have a meeting, propose a Vision,
formulate a Mission Statement, define some Goals, and by a process of
Continuous Improvement find a solution to the Critical Problems, and we
can be on our way."
"No, no," said
the Hardware Engineer, "That will take far too long, and besides, that
method has never worked before. I've got my Swiss Army knife with me,
and in no time at all I can strip down the car's braking system,
isolate the fault, fix it, and we can be on our way."
"Well," said
the Software Engineer, "Before we do anything, I think we should push
the car back up the road and see if it happens again."
Why do
programmers always get Christmas and Halloween mixed up?
Because DEC 25 = OCT 31
How do you keep
a programmer in the shower all day?
Give him a bottle of shampoo which says "lather, rinse, repeat."
A system
programmer came home from work almost at dawn and told his wife
enthusiastically: "Tonight I have installed a new release of MVS/ESA
together with VM/CMS and CICS/VS".
"G.O.O.D" answered his wife.
The
Programmers' Cheer
Shift to the
left, shift to the right!
Pop up, push down, byte, byte, byte!
- "Have you
heard about the object-oriented way to become wealthy?"
- "No."
- "Inheritance."
If you can
touch it and you can see it, it's REAL.
If you can touch it but you can't see it, it's TRANSPARENT.
If you can't touch it but you can see it, it's VIRTUAL.
If you can't touch it and you can't see it, it's GONE.
If you can pick
it up, it's a PC.
If you can't pick it up but you can push it over, it's a minicomputer.
But when you can't pick it up or knock it over, it's a mainframe.
search390.com
Once a programmer
drowned in the sea. Many Marines where at that time on the beach, but
the programmer was shouting "F1 F1" and nobody understood it.
The boy is
smoking and leaving smoke rings into the air.
The girl gets irritated with the smoke and says to her lover: "Can't
you see the warning written on the cigarettes packet, smoking is
injurious to health!"
The boy replies
back: "Darling, I am a programmer. We don't worry about warnings, we
only worry about errors."
Jack was a
COBOL programmer in the mid to late 1990s. After years of being taken
for granted and treated as a technological dinosaur by all the
Client/Server programmers and web site developers, he was finally
getting some respect. He'd become a private consultant specializing in
Year 2000 conversions.
Several years
of this relentless, mind-numbing work had taken its toll on Jack. He
began having anxiety dreams about the Year 2000. All he could think
about was how he could avoid the year 2000 and all that came with it.
Jack decided to
contact a company that specialized in cryogenics. He made a deal to
have himself frozen until March 15th, 2000. The next thing he would
know is he'd wake up in the year 2000; after the New Year celebrations
and computer debacles; after the leap day. Nothing else to worry about
except getting on with his life.
He was put into
his cryogenic receptacle, the technicians set the revive date, he was
given injections to slow his heartbeat to a bare minimum, and that was
that.
The next thing
that Jack saw was an enormous and very modern room filled with excited
people. They were all shouting "I can't believe it!" and "It's a
miracle" and "He's alive!". There were cameras (unlike any he'd ever
seen) and equipment that looked like it came out of a science fiction
movie.
Someone who was
obviously a spokesperson for the group stepped forward. Jack couldn't
contain his enthusiasm. "Is it over?" he asked. "Is the year 2000
already here? Are all the millennial parties and promotions and crises
all over and done with?"
The spokesman
explained that there had been a problem with the programming of the
timer on Jack's cryogenic receptacle, it hadn't been year 2000
compliant. It was actually eight thousand years later, not the year
2000. Technology had advanced to such a degree that everyone had
virtual reality interfaces which allowed them to contact anyone else on
the planet.
"That sounds
terrific," said Jack. "But I'm curious. Why is everybody so interested
in me?"
"Well," said
the spokesman. "The year 10000 is just around the corner, and it says
in your files that you know COBOL".
APL is a
write-only language.
In C we had to
code our own bugs. In C++ we can inherit them.
C gives you
enough rope to hang yourself. C++ also gives you the tree object to tie
it to.
With C you can
shoot yourself in the leg. With C++ you can reuse the bullet.
A computer
without COBOL and Fortran is like a piece of chocolate cake without
ketchup and mustard.
PL/I is for
programmers who can't decide whether to write in COBOL or Fortran.
The most
important thing in the programming language is the name. A language
will not succeed without a good name. I have recently invented a very
good name and now I am looking for a suitable language.
Why all Pascal
programmers ask to live in Atlantis?
Because it is below C level.
Programming
Languages are Like Cars
Assembler : A
formula I race car. Very fast but difficult to drive and maintain.
FORTRAN II : A Model T Ford. Once it was the king of the road.
FORTRAN IV : A Model A Ford.
FORTRAN 77 : a six-cylinder Ford Fairlane with standard transmission
and no seat belts.
COBOL : A delivery van. It's bulky and ugly but it does the work.
BASIC : A second-hand Rambler with a rebuilt engine and patched
upholstery. Your dad bought it for you to learn to drive. You'll ditch
it as soon as you can afford a new one.
PL/I : A Cadillac convertible with automatic transmission, a two-tone
paint job, white-wall tires, chrome exhaust pipes, and fuzzy dice
hanging in the windshield.
C++ : A black Firebird, the all macho car. Comes with optional seatbelt
(lint) and optional fuzz buster (escape to assembler).
ALGOL 60 : An Austin Mini. Boy that's a small car.
ALGOL 68 : An Aston Martin. An impressive car but not just anyone can
drive it.
Pascal : A Volkswagon Beetle. It's small but sturdy. Was once popular
with intellectual types.
LISP : An electric car. It's simple but slow. Seat belts are not
available.
PROLOG/LUCID : Prototype concept cars.
FORTH : A go-cart.
LOGO : A kiddie's replica of a Rolls Royce. Comes with a real engine
and a working horn.
APL : A double-decker bus. It takes rows and columns of passengers to
the same place all at the same time but it drives only in reverse and
is instrumented in Greek.
Ada : An army-green Mercedes-Benz staff car. Power steering, power
brakes, and automatic transmission are standard. No other colors or
options are available. If it's good enough for generals, it's good
enough for you.
Java : All-terrain very slow vehicle.
What is an
example of a never halting program?
Friedrichs and Magnus in front of an open elevator, each saying "you go
first".
Why
Client Server Computing is like Teenage Sex
It is on
everybody's mind all the time.
Everyone is
talking about it all the time.
Everyone
thinks everyone else is doing it.
Almost no one
is really doing it.
The few who
are doing it are:
doing it
poorly;
sure it will
be better next time;
not
practicing it safely.
Life
Before the Computer
An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano!
Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
And if you had a 3 ½ inch floppy
You hoped nobody found out!
Compress was something you did to garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for awhile!
Log on was adding wood to a fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode!
Cut - you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu!
I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead!
There are three
kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and benchmarks.
Paraphrased
after a famous
saying by Mark Twain
Software
Development Cycle
- Programmer produces code he
believes is bug-free.
- Product is tested. 20 bugs are
found.
- Programmer fixes 10 of the bugs
and explains to the testing department that the other 10 aren't really
bugs.
- Testing department finds that five
of the fixes didn't work and discovers 15 new bugs.
- Repeat three times steps 3 and 4.
- Due to marketing pressure and an
extremely premature product announcement based on overly-optimistic
programming schedule, the product is released.
- Users find 137 new bugs.
- Original programmer, having cashed
his royalty check, is nowhere to be found.
- Newly-assembled programming team
fixes almost all of the 137 bugs, but introduce 456 new ones.
- Original programmer sends
underpaid testing department a postcard from Fiji. Entire testing
department quits.
- Company is bought in a hostile
takeover by competitor using profits from their latest release, which
had 783 bugs.
- New CEO is brought in by board of
directors. He hires a programmer to redo program from scratch.
- Programmer produces code he
believes is bug-free...
A grade school
teacher was asking his pupils what their parents did for a living.
"Tim, you be first. What does your mother do all day?"
Tim stood up and proudly said, "She's a doctor."
"That's wonderful. How about you, Amy?"
Amy shyly stood up, scuffed her feet and said, "My father is a
mailman."
"Thank you, Amy" said the teacher. "What does your parent do, Billy?"
Billy proudly stood up and announced, "My daddy plays piano in a
whorehouse."
The teacher was
aghast and went to Billy's house and rang the bell. Billy's father
answered the door. The teacher explained what his son had said and
demanded an explanation. Billy's dad said, "I'm actually a system
programmer specializing in TCP/IP communication protocol on UNIX
systems. How can I explain a thing like that to a seven-year-old?"
Unix is user
friendly. It's just very particular about who it's friends are.
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