Word of the Day - Technology

It should be no surprise when I tell you I am a software developer. My background is pretty diverse in the field of technology, so I'm sharing with you some reactions to different scenarios in the IT world. Not every technologist will have similar reactions, but I'm willing to bet that the majority of us do.

tech·nol·o·gy  [tek-nol-uh-jee]
noun

1.
the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.



I was recently asked to provide a simple email confirmation for those members registering for an event. Knowing this to be a task I could complete in less than 30 minutes: creation, testing, and implementation, I looked forward to the work. However, after using the Lotus Notes Designer Client on my PC and having experienced several instances of computer seizures and restarts, I was left completely spent and frustrated.

So the years pass. I'm not just a worker, you know. I've applied for promotions into management many times. Yet, many times those opportunities just were not for me or it wasn't my time. No matter which jobs I applied for in hopes to climb out of the restrictive claws of technology in order to make a difference, I have been met with disappointment. Either someone else got the job or it mysteriously disappeared.

Technology is forever changing, so if you're not changing with it, it's easy to get left behind, especially if you keep doing the same job with no opportunity for advancement. Because I refuse to be that person, I learn as much about technology as I can.

As a matter of fact, much of my time is spent learning new technology, new languages, and new development environments. I may not be in a position to use what I've learned at the moment, but it feels good knowing how things work, all the while keeping the current processes from falling apart.

I have a B.S. in Computer Science and 16 years experience and the hardest part of my job is trying to figure out how to answer this basic question, "Can you just tell me how to do it and I'll do it myself?"

Listen, if technology were that simple, everybody would be a developer. Many years ago, you could get away with just showing someone how to operate a tape drive in one of those clunky mainframes. Clearing the telephone queue when it bottlenecks? No problem! Push this button.

But see, technology looks simple today because so much of the complexities are hidden from the average user. They don't see the algorithms, the code, or the architecture involved in the creation and maintenance of a variety of systems. Everything should work just like the stuff on your iPhone, right?

So, whenever a mature IT crowd, and I use that term respectfully because we have a ton of experience and knowledge in the progression of this thing called infrastructure, whenever they get a new boss fresh out of college and he wants to switch to .NET, it's like...

In all honesty, if I didn't love my job and the people I work with, I wouldn't be able to provide this information so freely and without prejudice. If you can relate, don't be afraid to make it known how you feel. Technology isn't just frustration for the average person. I feel it too! We are all making it through life with constant change, whether it's technology or something else. How you deal with it along the way can make you a better person. So, as technology improves, so do you!



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Is Your Search Box Gadget Broken?

Many Blogger authors are experiencing issues with the Blogger Search Box Gadget. If you are using this gadget on your site, you may have similar issues when searching keywords you know exist on your site. If you receive an "x" at the top right when you should be receiving search results, then you are experiencing what other Blogger authors are experiencing.

Don't fret, and it's useless to post issues in the Google forums at this time, as I'm sure they are very busy. Log into your Blogger account and navigate to your layout. Yours may have a different layout, but either way, hopefully you have the option to "Add a Gadget".

Click on it and select HTML/JavaScript.

You are ready to customize your own HTML Search Box! Select and copy the following code and be ready to paste it into your new gadget (in case Blogger inserts extra coding, the code in the picture below is all that you should need! Type it in):

<form action="http://yourblog.blogspot.com/search" method="get" name="input"> <input name="q" size="20" type="text" value=" " /><input type="submit" value="Go!" /></form>


In the Title area type "Search this blog" and if you want to change "Go!" in the code to "Onward!" or whatever suits your fancy pants, then do it. Just make sure it stays within the double quotes. Now, paste the code into the content area.

Make sure you replace "yourblog" with the actual name of your blog, and don't forget to save the gadget.

I know it can be frustrating when a huge organization such as Google does not respond to your inquiries. I'm sure they are working to find a universal fix so that all of the Blogger templates will be satisfied. Just know that these simple HTML elements have been around forever and they still work!



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Q is for Quality Assurance

We all make mistakes, right? I don't just write fiction. I write computer code, where many mistakes can and will occur. These are 5 things I've done in my programming career, none of which I'm proud or ashamed. However, they will remain memorable until the day I rest in peace. I will not do these again and you shouldn't either.


1. I will never leave debug messages in my programs.

When I was in college, I'd left a debug message for myself in the code, completely forgetting it was there. I turned in my project without commenting it out. The reason I'd forgotten about it was because the condition for which I'd created the message never occurred during testing, and therefore, it never popped up to remind me of its existence.

The error message was:

Apparently, my instructor met the condition for which I'd intended to test. He docked me a letter grade.


2. I'll never try to implement bright ideas into my code when I'm drinking and have a deadline the next morning.

Yes, I did this, without a backup copy of my source. For some reason, when you've been drinking, you think you're smarter than you really are. So the next time all these ideas that you come up with for extra credit start poking you in the brain...STOP. Don't do it. The program meets specifications and it's due in the morning. Just let it be.

I couldn't do that though. The narcissist in me drowned out my inner critic, "Come on! You know it would be cool,” she said. “Ten lines of code...tops."

In the morning, I didn't remember what I was thinking or what I’d changed. My program wouldn't run, and I had 30 minutes to get to class.


3. I will never again breach security in order to play an online, text based role-playing game.

I got busted for playing +Threshold RPG, an online text based role-playing game while at work. I had connected to the AS400 firewall with the knowledge that it came pre-packaged (circa 1999) with a user profile: anonymous, and a default password: anonymous. The system administrator of the AS400 never changed this default.

But, Diane, how did you know that? 













I didn't. I just tried and it worked! After I logged into the firewall, I was able to telnet to the game server and play. Little did I know that port 23 access, along with my IP address, were being logged and because of the constant back and forth from the game server, the firewall log would fill up and crash several times during the day, alerting the system administrator, who remained puzzled for about two weeks.


4. I will not hard code place holders.

I have a bad habit of leaving in hard coded place holders like my own name and address so that I can see the format that a user would see. After testing and before implementation, I would write code to retrieve the web user's name and address for display instead of my information.

Once implemented, I was called back into the office, after hours, to fix a problem. Everyone logging in to see their information received a message of "Welcome, Diane Carlisle!" Yep, I'd forgotten to remove my hard coded personal information.

5. I will not create programs which change security settings on any system.

I created a CL program to include changing the job user's profile to have all object authority in order to perform a task. After the task was performed, the program would do a cleanup routine and put the user profile authority back to its original setting.

A week later when reviewing the dump queue (where error reports go when a program crashes), I realized that my program had error-ed out after the all object authority was granted to the user, thereby never completing the cleanup routine. When I checked the profile of said user, sure enough, they had all object authority. I had to contact the administrator, profusely apologize,  and request he fix the user's profile before they accidentally delete all objects on the system.

I hope you've enjoyed the letter Q. If you did, hop over to my other A-Z entries.

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