I must go on record as disagreeing with Wirt (something I do not take
lightly; when was the last time I extensively tested a beta?) on the
fate of those whose trickery creates a bigger problem than it solves;
the reason why follows in the next paragraph. If the resulting problem
is an unforeseen consequence (now that would be an interesting
thread...), then the programmer should only be properly chastened (not
outright shot, maybe just flogged), compelled to repair the errant code
(preferably using punch cards), and if there were a better solution,
publicly humiliated and possibly branded, possibly even exiled to an OS
that demands clever tricks to be at all useful. If they could have
reasonably foreseen that a non-standard implementation would bite
someone on the backside, and especially if a more standard approach
would have sufficed, then hanging is too good for them. This would
demand something more Larsenesque. Perhaps translating dull code from
one language to another, preferably one that they haven't learned. Or
maybe de-soldering and removing components from failed boards.

To resume being seriously for a couple of sentences: one of my areas of
interest is ethics in information technology (and, no, this is not an
oxymoron); I am completing my second ethics course in which I am doing
my course project on this area. For the record, I think that we are too
often a sorry lot, treated as professionals without the limits of
standards bodies to keep us honest.

>----------
>From:  WirtAtmar[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent:  Friday, December 05, 1997 11:20 AM
>To:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject:       Re: [HP3000-L] CIUPDATE and Sort Fields
>
<snip>
>I still strongly believe that CIU should be ON as the default. As to the
>people that programmed up the odd code that will corrupt their databases if
>it
>is, I believe that they should be taken out back and shot :-).
>
>Wirt Atmar
>