Author Topic: things i don't understand  (Read 24309 times)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #225 on: 28 July, 2019, 07:34:54 pm »
There was a Never Stop Railway at Wembley in 1925. Don't go falling onto the "track"...

Vague childhood memories of boarding a monorail in a similar manner at some Disney establishment or other.  It wasn't powered by a giant whisk, thobut.

I have less vague childhood memories of riding the NPH Paternosters.  One of my big regrets was never getting round to going on the Sheffield uni ones.

Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #226 on: 28 July, 2019, 07:42:16 pm »
Which got me thinking of a way to transport people across the massive site which would be the New Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross station, after all it would be far too far to walk given all the riches my rule will bring to the people. My remedy would be rolling roads as described by Isaac Asimov.

There was a Never Stop Railway at Wembley in 1925. Don't go falling onto the "track"...
Reminds me of the paternoster lifts at Aston University.
https://youtu.be/Ma4Vnk5Rn8I

We had the paternosters at UCE in Perry Barr still in 2000.

Great larks were had, some that would upset H&S professionals.

D.
Somewhat of a professional tea drinker.


hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #227 on: 28 July, 2019, 07:50:35 pm »
There was a Never Stop Railway at Wembley in 1925. Don't go falling onto the "track"...

Vague childhood memories of boarding a monorail in a similar manner at some Disney establishment or other.  It wasn't powered by a giant whisk, thobut.

I have less vague childhood memories of riding the NPH Paternosters.  One of my big regrets was never getting round to going on the Sheffield uni ones.

Coo!

Something where I've outdone Teh Kim!


Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #228 on: 28 July, 2019, 08:03:07 pm »
I’ve used the Essex Uni Paternoster and was surprised at my nervousness in boarding it. I’m glad I did though because they were planning on removing it as part of a big library improvement programme. There was some resistance by a group of the old guard academics (including Dr B’s supervisor) though I don’t know if they succeeded in having it left in service.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #229 on: 28 July, 2019, 09:10:44 pm »
Had them at Leeds when I was there 72-75 - in the Charles Morris Hall at the end of the Admin/Physics/Earth Sciences corridor, and also in the Lecture Theatre block IIRC.  Didn't think anything of them then, just used them - but your timing had to be good.  If they were crowded going one way, we got on the other side and either went over the top or round the  bottom.  Bit scary first time, but no-one got crushed!.  What's Health and Safety?

Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #230 on: 28 July, 2019, 09:30:43 pm »
Used to be one at Newcastle Uni when I was there in the early 80s. Think its gone now though.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #231 on: 31 July, 2019, 07:10:31 pm »
Most people's dominant hand is the one on the right. Better for holding on to the handrail.

That's how they do it here, so after Brexit BOris will probably change it.
Yebbut it might be one of the things you got from here, like your left-hand railways.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #232 on: 01 August, 2019, 10:46:30 am »
Why developers can't write intelligible sentences for normal humans.

Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #233 on: 01 August, 2019, 11:28:47 am »
Why developers can't write intelligible sentences for normal humans.

Methinks the infinite monkeys theorem applies.
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #234 on: 01 August, 2019, 11:41:42 am »
Why developers can't write intelligible sentences for normal humans.

Define 'normal' in the context of humans.
“There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams

ian

Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #235 on: 01 August, 2019, 12:03:31 pm »
Stuff that I can understand. Like if I ask a question that really requires a 'yes, it can' or 'no, it can't' answer', one of those two. Not a paragraph of guff. I don't need to know it's an attribute of a field so la-la-la. Come on, you can surely do binary? Yes? No?

Of course, if the bloody API document was well written, I wouldn't need to ask the question in the first place.

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #236 on: 01 August, 2019, 01:26:03 pm »
The standard rule is if it can you’ll get a short coherent response in the positive, if it can’t then said developers will need to tell you why it can’t and what else it can do to mitigate the missing feature. Years of writing in code will however rendered the coder responsible for communication outside the team somewhat challenged in human speak.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #237 on: 01 August, 2019, 01:39:32 pm »
I expect the answer is not a Yes or No.
It will be a 'It Depends".

Perhaaps yes in some circumstances, perhaps no in others.

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #238 on: 01 August, 2019, 01:52:02 pm »
Or as PP would put it, yes no maybe.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #239 on: 01 August, 2019, 02:04:11 pm »
Or as PP would put it, yes no maybe.

Ian asked for binary not fuzzy logic

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #240 on: 01 August, 2019, 07:53:53 pm »
Quote from: ian
Why developers can't write intelligible sentences for normal humans.

Quote from: ian
Of course, if the bloody API document was well written...

I believe we have been around this particular mulberry bush before.  :)

Brief answer.  It's hard to convert difficult to understand technical information into "plain" English when you know how much understanding of the area your audience has.  It is even harder to do this when you have no idea what your target audience knows.  It becomes harder still when your Project Manager is squealing about delays in the creation of code and isn't prepared to let you spend as much time as is needed on the documentation.  Good documentation requires as much, sometimes more, effort than the code.  The result of this is that devs. just say "Fuck it!" and throw the bare minimum over the wall.

I suggest you find the relevant Project Managers, invite them back to the Asbestos Palace for cheese and wine and then threaten to set the BEARS onto them unless and until they agree to let the Devs write decent documentation.  I have some spare PMs that could usefully be subjected to this therapy should you wish to conduct a trial run.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #241 on: 02 August, 2019, 11:58:54 am »
As a former project manager I feel that I must point out that I can only work within the budget set by the client and the client nearly always complains that the estimate is too high and wants things cut. The documentation doesn’t affect the running of the software, so the client doesn’t see why they should pay for it. Testing is often the next casualty in this discussion. My reluctance to change my stance on these issues is why I didn’t climb further up the slippery pole.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #242 on: 02 August, 2019, 12:45:17 pm »
I suggest you find the relevant Project Managers, invite them back to the Asbestos Palace for cheese and wine and then threaten to set the BEARS onto them unless and until they agree to let the Devs write decent documentation.  I have some spare PMs that could usefully be subjected to this therapy should you wish to conduct a trial run.


"Let" the Devs? Getting they buggers to put in the odd comment in their code (other than "Jim says this can't happen but..." & "Helen is a null pointer assignment") would be a start.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

fuzzy

Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #243 on: 02 August, 2019, 10:48:54 pm »
Or as PP would put it, yes no maybe.

Ian asked for binary not fuzzy logic
Oi! Leave me out of this.

Ben T

Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #244 on: 02 August, 2019, 11:26:24 pm »
Stuff that I can understand. Like if I ask a question that really requires a 'yes, it can' or 'no, it can't' answer', one of those two. Not a paragraph of guff. I don't need to know it's an attribute of a field so la-la-la. Come on, you can surely do binary? Yes? No?

Of course, if the bloody API document was well written, I wouldn't need to ask the question in the first place.

It can, but if they say yes, they know you're probably going to expect it to do it, and are going to come back and complain to them when it doesn't, which they suspect will be because you've supplied the wrong inputs.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #245 on: 17 September, 2019, 12:56:24 pm »
Why, in such maps as are found in GPS devices, on Google Maps, on OpenStreetMap and practically every other mapping service, the name of every wretched field is given at every resolution below 1:25000 but you have to fiddle with the zoom before the names of towns will appear.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #246 on: 17 September, 2019, 12:58:49 pm »
Why, in such maps as are found in GPS devices, on Google Maps, on OpenStreetMap and practically every other mapping service, the name of every wretched field is given at every resolution below 1:25000 but you have to fiddle with the zoom before the names of towns will appear.

Typesetting algorithms are hard.

Map labels are an order of magnitude harder.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #247 on: 17 September, 2019, 01:04:01 pm »
Why, in such maps as are found in GPS devices, on Google Maps, on OpenStreetMap and practically every other mapping service, the name of every wretched field is given at every resolution below 1:25000 but you have to fiddle with the zoom before the names of towns will appear.

Typesetting algorithms are hard.

Map labels are an order of magnitude harder.

A few years ago 'Copenhagen' disappeared from several layers of Google Maps zoom...

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #248 on: 17 September, 2019, 01:10:46 pm »
Why, in such maps as are found in GPS devices, on Google Maps, on OpenStreetMap and practically every other mapping service, the name of every wretched field is given at every resolution below 1:25000 but you have to fiddle with the zoom before the names of towns will appear.

Typesetting algorithms are hard.

Map labels are an order of magnitude harder.

A few years ago 'Copenhagen' disappeared from several layers of Google Maps zoom...

My favourite is zooming in on little villages in the midlands and discovering a field labelled "Great Britain".

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: things i don't understand
« Reply #249 on: 17 September, 2019, 02:41:03 pm »
Why, in such maps as are found in GPS devices, on Google Maps, on OpenStreetMap and practically every other mapping service, the name of every wretched field is given at every resolution below 1:25000 but you have to fiddle with the zoom before the names of towns will appear.

Typesetting algorithms are hard.

Map labels are an order of magnitude harder.

Except that it's not a matter of typesetting but of flagging city/town/village/landmark/field/whatever labels by importance.

I think that everyone cribbed from the same database, that database got it wrong (or had different priorities from real people) and nobody could be arsed writing a quick SQL command to fix it.

Actually, I libelled Google above: they've got rid of the field names but they still rather point you at a pizzeria than tell you what town it's in.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight