Spyke
casualconversation·[Migrated, see pinned post] Casual Conversation byxkforce

You ever fix something and have no idea what you did that actually fixed the problem?

Usually its something computer related and every time it happens, something about fixing something without knowing why it works now bothers me almost as much as never fixing whatever it is.

View original on lemmy.world
infosec.pub

Problems that disappear for no apparent reason will reappear for no apparent reason.

I think this is a core part of the technical mindset/instinct. Any unexpected behavior is suspicious and makes you nervous, not just unexpected bad behavior. Plus it's just a professionalism thing - a problem was solved but I don't know what the solution was, that bothers me. It means I might not be able to fix the same problem next time I see it.

14

This is something I'm struggling to teach a couple of the junior devs on my team - a PR that "fixes the problem but I don't know why" doesn't fix the problem

3

all the time with Windows, drives me up the wall … computers are supposed to be consistent, boringly repetitive, not flakier than a sugared toddler …

11

I'm a software engineer. You know what's worse than not knowing why your code is broken?

Not knowing how you fixed it.

11

I have a vacuum cleaner like that.

The roller brush stopped working, I opened it and prodded the electronic shit inside, still didn't have a clue why it stopped working, put it back together and it works unto this day.

4

All the time. Bonus points for the intermittent problem you thought you fixed and the day shift giving you shit for not actually fixing it.

3

yes, sometimes the quick solution is to disable some module/plugin/extension you don't need. you will never know what actually caused the problem, but when you need it to work urgently, that's acceptable.

3

You reached the end