Wirt writes:
>No where in anyone's long printouts of massive amounts of code in this
>group does anyone put in a line saying "poof, a miracle occurs here, a
>miracle beyond our understanding."
Au contraire:
> //
> // Um...
> //
> // Er...
> //
> // Uh...
> //
> //
> // Words fail me.
> //
> // It turns out that a send can sometimes keep a receive from
> // ever showing up.
(This is clearly the expectation of a miracle, a totally unexplained and
capricious event in the Universe.)
>
> if (fMyMessageWindow != NULL &&
> ! gUsingWRQStack &&
> WSAAsyncSelect(fSocket, fMyMessageWindow->m_hWnd, WM_USER,
> FD_READ | FD_WRITE | FD_CLOSE) == SOCKET_ERROR)
> {
> if (isAsync) ReportConnectionError(WSAGetLastError());
> else returnValue = WSAGetLastError();
> }
>
> //
> // At times like this, I truly envy people who can curse in seven
> // languages.
> //
> // Plus Klingon.
[Pasted directly from some Windows code I wrote.] I've discovered that my
Windows code seems to contain these kinds of invocations of the divine
far more often than code I write for, say, MPE.
I don't know what compiler Wirt is using, but my programs contain
miraculous code surprisingly often. Moreover, such miracles are not
necessarily produced by some sort of anti-God; many are surprisingly
benevolent. Is there *any* experienced programmer who has not, upon going
back to maintain some old code, once said to him/herself, "What was I
thinking? It's a miracle that this code ever worked at all!" Programmers
rely on the miraculous far more often than Wirt suggests.
-- Bruce
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Toback Tel: (602) 996-8601| My candle burns at both ends;
OPT, Inc. (800) 858-4507| It will not last the night;
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Phoenix AZ 85028 | It gives a lovely light.
btoback AT optc.com | -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
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