Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

re: Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

Cody — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:05:51 GMT

So, did you ever consider being a diagnostician instead of a computer scientist?

re: Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

Neal C — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:23:56 GMT

"Most of what looks like psychic debugging is really just knowing what people tend to get wrong."

Most of what looks like psychic *anything* is just knowing what people tend to want. You'd be surprised how similar your "psychic debugging" process is to the process used by your nearest "Psychic Readings" shop. Though, you'll never get them to admit it.

re: Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

TV joke — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:54:19 GMT

"So, did you ever consider being a diagnostician instead of a computer scientist?"

I'm sure he did, but it's much harder to get a cane and a permanent Vicodin "prescription" if only your hand is withered.

re: Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

JenK — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:13:32 GMT

"Most of what looks like psychic debugging is really just knowing what people tend to get wrong."

See also "intuitive testing". A lot of "I had a hunch" bugs are based on the sorts of bugs a piece of code tends to attract and/or the types of bugs the tester has seen the dev write in the past.

re: Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

Bilbo — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:44:48 GMT

In 25 years I imagine programmers visiting "The New Old New Thing," a continuation of this blog by one of Raymond's offspring - Ramona Chen. Not only will those programmers learn from the knowledge Raymond has passed down to her, they will reap additional benefit because of the natural evolution of the species.

Instead of a debugging education via stories of Raymond's clairvoyant feats they will benefit from direct psychic debugging. Ramona Chen will not only root-out code errors through the use of clairvoyance and remote viewing, she will edit and rebuild the offending code by psychokinesis.

re: Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

JamesNT — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 21:54:03 GMT

Possible other names for Raymond's kids:

1. Samantha Chen

2. Alexander Chen

3. Allison Chen

4. Marcus Chen

It should be federal law for Raymond to propogate. We need a continuous flow of Chen generations to keep the horrible slashdotters from taking over the world. Think "The Phantom."

James

re: Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

Cody — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 22:16:26 GMT

James, the fact that someone would come up with that idea is somewhat disturbing. As is the mental image.

re: Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

AC — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 01:13:15 GMT

Somehow I think there will be plenty of Chen's around for some time to come.

Not necessarily having anything to do with Raymond.

Psychic debugging

Barry Leiba — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:55:17 GMT

This is really a trackback, but since this doesn't seem to have trackbacks, here it is as a comment:

In my blog post here...

http://staringatemptypages.blogspot.com/2006/11/psychic-debugging.html

...I say "I'd never thought of the term 'psychic debugging', but, yes, it's a combination of a certain skill and a lot of experience with the root causes of most of the problems," and then I go on to tell a couple of stories from times long past.

re: Make sure you disable the correct window for modal UI

Neil — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 21:05:07 GMT

Just to be confusing, I've seen a case where hiding a window failed to activate its owner window even though that window was enabled. For the curious, this only happened when the window itself had had a modal dialog; just opening and closing the owned window activated the owner fine.