Date: Tue, 07 Mar 1995 12:18:05 -0500 From: Tom LaStrange <lastrange_tom@jpmorgan.com> To: priag <priag@nsd.3com.com> Cc: oi-users@freefall.cdrom.com Subject: Re: Menu hanging/refresh problem Message-ID: <9503071718.AA18376@landau.ny.jpmorgan.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 07 Mar 1995 08:42:16 PST." <199503071642.AA18481@tenaya.NSD.3Com.COM>
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> On Tue, 07 Mar 1995 11:15:03 -0500, Tom LaStrange <lastrange_tom@jpmorgan.com> said:
>
> Tom> Not particularly directed at Shinu, but a more general statement about
> Tom> requests for help on this mailing list. Here are three steps you can
> Tom> take to get more help on this mailing list.
>
> Tom> 1. Supply a small test case!
> Tom> 2. Supply a small test case!
> Tom> 3. Supply a small test case!
>
> Tom> Seriously. I'm as busy as the next person but try to (90% of the time)
> Tom> supply a test case with all problems I find or need help with.
>
> Tom> Requests like the above tend to fly right out of my mailbox because I
> Tom> don't have an immediate answer and I certainly won't spend time trying
> Tom> reproduce it myself.
>
> Tom> Sorry, I think I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
>
> I appreciate the validity of your desire for a small test case, but I
> for one find that it's rarely the "small" case which breaks. If I can
> isolate the problem down to a few statements, I can usually work
> around it. It's the stuff that evidently involves lots of obscure
> interactions which I can't solve or work around... and which can't be
> captured in a "small test case".
>
> Pria (who also got out of bed on the wrong side)
>
Since leaving the Solbourne/ParcPlace group, I've done consulting work
for 4 different companies using OI and in each case, I was thrown into
a large unfamiliar software environment depending on many different
libraries.
I know perfectly well how difficult it can be to isolate a problem. My
latest experience happened just last week, I was dealing with
completely unfamiliar code and it took me around 4 hours to understand
the problem and come up with a small test case. oi-support now has a
code that reproduces the problem. When my problem surfaces on their
queue of things to look at, my bug will have a much greater possibility
of being fixed than the one that was reported that simply said "my
program doesn't work."
If you can find a work around, great, and that's what I end up doing
most of the time because I can't wait for an official bug fix. But if
you want the bug fixed and it's important enough to you to get it
fixed, spend a little time to try to isolate it.
These are simply my opinions and experiences. It's a pain in the ass
to write a test case. But if you do, in the long run it will benefit
you as well as other OI users.
--
Tom LaStrange toml@mercury.com
toml@jpmorgan.com (on assignment at)
Mercury Technologies, Inc.
53 Wall St. NYC, NY 10005
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