I’m currently reading a great book on Microsoft SQL Server called Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005 T-SQL Querying, by Itzik Ben-Gan. I just came across a particularly funny anecdote in one of the chapters that I thought I’d share.
[This] reminds me of a programmer and an IT manager at a company I worked for years ago. The programmer had to finish writing a component and deploy it, but there was a bug in his code that he couldn’t find. He produced a printout of the code (which was pretty thick) and went to the IT manager, who was in a meeting. The IT manager was extremely good at detecting bugs, which is why the programmer sought him. The IT manager took the thick printout, opened it, and immediately pointed to a certain line of code. “Here’s your bug,” he said. “Now go.” After the meeting was over, the programmer asked the IT manager how he found the bug so fast? The IT manager replied, “I knew that anywhere I pointed there would be a bug.
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CompSci lab, 2 o’clock in the morning, filled with students desperately trying to get their various left-to-the-last-night projects to compile.
One poor 1st year, in tears and clutching a brick of printouts to his chest, sidles over to a older kid who is pouring over a dozen text books.
“It… it… won’t run!”, he sobs. holding out his last chance to stay at university and out of the army.
The older boy glances at the print out and points a line.
“Missing a comma at the end there.”
The 1st year looks down and then cries out with joy! “Wow! How did you do that? CompSci Student Teacher?”
“No. 2nd year commerce.” came the tired response, “But everyone else here has been whining about missing commas all night. Seemed a good guess.”
… My friend tells this bloody story every time I see him! He’s a chef now. On TV nonetheless, and he still can’t program worth a damn.
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