12 Things that can give programmers nightmares
For most people the things that scare us the most are ghosts,
spiders, monsters and being chased into a field by a man with a chainsaw etc. But
for other people such as programmers, their worst nightmares have nothing to do
with witches and vampires and more to do with faulty keyboards or a Microsoft
product. Here are some of the most common worst nightmares that programmers
have.
The internet can’t
answer the question:
There are some vital tools in a programmers toolbox, developer Q&A websites is one of them, but there is nothing worse when the source of your programming knowledge can’t answer your question.
There are some vital tools in a programmers toolbox, developer Q&A websites is one of them, but there is nothing worse when the source of your programming knowledge can’t answer your question.
Keyboard keys are
broken or missing:
Keyboards are pretty important to programmers, they love using keyboard shortcuts and generally using the keyboard over the mouse, if you’re a coder do you sometimes wake up from a nightmare after dreaming that one of your beloved keyboard keys are missing.
Keyboards are pretty important to programmers, they love using keyboard shortcuts and generally using the keyboard over the mouse, if you’re a coder do you sometimes wake up from a nightmare after dreaming that one of your beloved keyboard keys are missing.
The internet is gone
or down:
It’s a whole other nightmare for programmers when they can’t access the internet at all, the internet is full of useful things like open source software and code snippets, not to mention how hard it would be to access servers if the internet suddenly went away!
It’s a whole other nightmare for programmers when they can’t access the internet at all, the internet is full of useful things like open source software and code snippets, not to mention how hard it would be to access servers if the internet suddenly went away!
Critical bugs:
Many developers fear bugs that happen randomly and can’t be diagnosed and fixed, imagine you’re in front of an important client and a bug happens, that is a true programmers nightmare.
Many developers fear bugs that happen randomly and can’t be diagnosed and fixed, imagine you’re in front of an important client and a bug happens, that is a true programmers nightmare.
Lack of good or any
documentation:
Trying to understand code without the help of good documentation or code comment is difficult, trying to do it without any documentation is even worse! Undocumented code, no matter who wrote it in the first place is not pleasant.
Trying to understand code without the help of good documentation or code comment is difficult, trying to do it without any documentation is even worse! Undocumented code, no matter who wrote it in the first place is not pleasant.
Managers from hell:
Nobody likes an interfering, nosy manager, especially those non-technical ones who have no clue what they’re talking about. The over-promise of work that can’t be delivered or underestimated amount of time the coding work will be done in will make any programmer wake up in a cold sweat.
Nobody likes an interfering, nosy manager, especially those non-technical ones who have no clue what they’re talking about. The over-promise of work that can’t be delivered or underestimated amount of time the coding work will be done in will make any programmer wake up in a cold sweat.
Cleaning up someone else’s
code:
Another programmers code could never be as good as yours, right? Being asked to debug, refactor or just modernize code that someone else wrote (probably a hundred years ago) is definitely not something that developers like working on.
Another programmers code could never be as good as yours, right? Being asked to debug, refactor or just modernize code that someone else wrote (probably a hundred years ago) is definitely not something that developers like working on.
Changing project
requirements:
Developers like clear, defined, stable requirements that they can use to code a solution, in reality requirements do change a lot, sometimes for valid reasons and sometimes because clients randomly change their minds. The fear of ever changing requirements at the last minute is always on a programmers mind.
Developers like clear, defined, stable requirements that they can use to code a solution, in reality requirements do change a lot, sometimes for valid reasons and sometimes because clients randomly change their minds. The fear of ever changing requirements at the last minute is always on a programmers mind.
The code goes AWOL:
Source code can disappear in the blink of an eye for any reason like forgetting to save a file or unfortunate bugs, whatever the cause and despite how careful programmers may be, all your hard work can disappear without a trace.
Source code can disappear in the blink of an eye for any reason like forgetting to save a file or unfortunate bugs, whatever the cause and despite how careful programmers may be, all your hard work can disappear without a trace.
Physical injuries or
illnesses:
Programming isn't really a physical job at all, but it requires typing on a computer all day and that can be hard to do if you've injured your arms, fingers or hands. Also any illness that affects your vision or ability to think clearly and logically will be a real problem.
Programming isn't really a physical job at all, but it requires typing on a computer all day and that can be hard to do if you've injured your arms, fingers or hands. Also any illness that affects your vision or ability to think clearly and logically will be a real problem.
A bug that hurts
someone or their company:
No programmer wants to be the cause of a bug, most are annoying or harmless, but worst case scenario it can cost a client or a company a lot of money and maybe even somebody’s job could be at risk.
No programmer wants to be the cause of a bug, most are annoying or harmless, but worst case scenario it can cost a client or a company a lot of money and maybe even somebody’s job could be at risk.
Segmentation faults:
A common nightmare for a programmer is if you run into a segmentation fault (an error caused by a memory access violation), most of the time this ends in a program crash and a huge headache for the developer who has to try track down the source of the problem.
A common nightmare for a programmer is if you run into a segmentation fault (an error caused by a memory access violation), most of the time this ends in a program crash and a huge headache for the developer who has to try track down the source of the problem.
Halloween time is almost upon us which means it’s the time
of year when we like to tap into our deepest, darkest fears, but if you’re a
programmer you won’t be scared by the usual goblins and ghouls because some of your
worst nightmares are far different.
Click here to see how a web design goes miserably wrong!
Click here to see how a web design goes miserably wrong!
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Written By: Christine Romans
CopyWriter at The Computer Guyz Cape Town
CopyWriter at The Computer Guyz Cape Town
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