• A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
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    2 days ago

    Here’s a (very old) joke I like to tell on tech forums sometimes; it nicely encapsulates how they communicate. Most people get it, but there’s always a few who don’t think it’s funny:

    A programer’s wife asks him to do some shopping: “Please buy a loaf of bread, and if they have eggs, buy a dozen.”
    He comes back with 12 loaves of bread.
    The wife asks: “Why on earth would you get 12 loaves of bread?”
    “They had eggs.”

    • Luxyr@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      24 hours ago

      Thing with this joke that his me wrong is that isn’t how if statements are written. The else does not come before the condition in any language I’ve ever used or seen.

      At the very least. It should be that he comes back with 1 or 13 loaves.

      Buy a loaf

      If they have eggs

      Buy a dozen loaves

    • [deleted]@piefed.world
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      2 days ago

      All of the worst programmers I have worked with do that exact thing and refuse to acknowledge that they might have misunderstood what was said.

      The good ones ask for clarification when something sounds weird.

      • Siethron@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        As a programmer working support. I often ask users for clarification on how they expect things to work, and they often make me imagine a dog going “no take only throw” by saying ‘i don’t know just fix it.’

      • idunnololz@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Early on in my career I’ve wasted time on projects implementing the wrong thing a few times so ever since I clarify to a fault even if it doesn’t sound weird. If something can be interpreted multiple ways I always ask for clarification even if one interpretation is “more popular”. I’d rather spend 5 minutes asking for clarification than waste a week of everyone’s time.

        Since then I don’t think I’ve ever implemented something “wrong”. There might be miscommunications in other parts of the communication chain but never with me.