macOS Frustrated with something beyond your control? Vent here.

[GeeYouEye]

I'll start.

!@#&*@^*&# those !@#*@(#! assignment writers. Copying a Java program from the book - 1 hour, including debugging. Modifications to meet the exercise descriptions - 10 minutes. Javadoc commenting the whole thing - 2 hours! Writing Javadoc comments is a PAIN in the &#$, and they're having us do it for a TRIVIAL example program. I'm ready to break my keyboard in half. Here I am, taking a graduate-level course in Object-Oriented programming, and I have to write ***** Javadoc comments for a bouncing ball in an AWT frame tutorial! ARRGH!

Anyone else want a go?

 

[oingoboingo]

I'll start.

!@#&*@^*&# those !@#*@(#! assignment writers. Copying a Java program from the book - 1 hour, including debugging. Modifications to meet the exercise descriptions - 10 minutes. Javadoc commenting the whole thing - 2 hours! Writing Javadoc comments is a PAIN in the &#$, and they're having us do it for a TRIVIAL example program. I'm ready to break my keyboard in half. Here I am, taking a graduate-level course in Object-Oriented programming, and I have to write ***** Javadoc comments for a bouncing ball in an AWT frame tutorial! ARRGH!

Anyone else want a go?

Yeah, having to comb through someone else's poorly commented code and wasting hours figuring out what the hell it does, when I could be adding new features or fixing a bug drives me f***ing insane.

Get used to it. Those comments are as important as the code.

Enjoy your assignment!

 

[dops7107]

Not sure if this counts as "out of my control"... but it certainly feels like it.

I'm trying to clone a plant gene... have been looking for it for about 6 months now, and I keep getting the run-around. Nearly there, think I've got it, then it turns out to be something else... argh, I don't know why I am trying sometimes. Now I can't even get the basics to work... PCR, ligations... if this means nothing to you, fear not. Molecular biology is probably a lot like Java programming.

 

[yellow]

I hate that I have to work. I should be paid to do nothing!!

 

[andiwm2003]

Not sure if this counts as "out of my control"... but it certainly feels like it.

I'm trying to clone a plant gene... have been looking for it for about 6 months now, and I keep getting the run-around. Nearly there, think I've got it, then it turns out to be something else... argh, I don't know why I am trying sometimes. Now I can't even get the basics to work... PCR, ligations... if this means nothing to you, fear not. Molecular biology is probably a lot like Java programming.

i can feel your pain. i'll never ever clone again! it either works right away or it really f546s!

sometimes it's the best to let a colleague do it for you. you'll never find out why it worked for him, you will put him on the paper, pay him the promised barrel of beer and all will be fine

 

[dops7107]

i can feel your pain. i'll never ever clone again! it either works right away or it really f546s!

sometimes it's the best to let a colleague do it for you. you'll never find out why it worked for him, you will put him on the paper, pay him the promised barrel of beer and all will be fine

Thanks for the sympathy. I normally don't have cloning problems - that is, getting the insert into a vector - but even that is causing me grief the last two weeks. Annoyingly, I have three of the four genes I am after but this last one _just will not play ball_!! It's really holding me back.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

Writing Javadoc comments is a PAIN in the &#$, and they're having us do it for a TRIVIAL example program. Here I am, taking a graduate-level course in Object-Oriented programming, and I have to write ***** Javadoc comments for a bouncing ball in an AWT frame tutorial! ARRGH!

You're a grad-level programming student and you don't understand the importance of making a habit out of good comments?

 

[jtalerico]

I hate that I have to work. I should be paid to do nothing!!

Seems like you are posting here..

Oh ****.. Me too..

 

[yellow]

Seems like you are posting here..

Oh ****.. Me too..

BUSTED!!

 

[jdechko]

You're a grad-level programming student and you don't understand the importance of making a habit out of good comments?

I dont think he's complaining about it. I'm pretty sure he understands how to comment and the importance of good commenting. When I first started out programming (as an EE major in college) I'd never programmed before. So it made sense that they taught us how to comment and included that as a regular part of the assignments. It just seems like a trivial exercise at the graduate level. If the assignment takes 10 minutes, but the commenting takes 2 hours, in my opinion, that's trivial. At that level, if the program works, and GeeYouEye (or another student) understands how it works, then that should be that.

My rant is this:

1) I work 2 hours away from home. I love where I live. I don't pay rent, so moving is really out of the question.
2) I have a business degree, but I work in an Architectural firm doing CAD.
3) I have been interviewing/looking for a new job for the past 6-7 months (since graduation).
4) I want to leave my job.
5) The design team was 12 in December. Several people quit/are quitting soon, bringing the number to 7.

So I'm jealous that those people have left the company, when I've been trying to get out; in addition, my workload has greatly increased.

I WANT A NEW FREAKING JOB CLOSER TO HOME THAT I ACTUALLY LIKE...

I think that covers it all.

 

[oingoboingo]

Not sure if this counts as "out of my control"... but it certainly feels like it.

I'm trying to clone a plant gene... have been looking for it for about 6 months now, and I keep getting the run-around. Nearly there, think I've got it, then it turns out to be something else... argh, I don't know why I am trying sometimes. Now I can't even get the basics to work... PCR, ligations... if this means nothing to you, fear not. Molecular biology is probably a lot like Java programming.

Can you clone by e-mail?

"Dear Dr Blah Blah. We would be interested in collaborating with your lab. Can you please send gene BLAH1 as described in the latest edition of Journal of Blah. Many thanks, dop7107".

I always try and clone by e-mail first up I haven't got a single bloody thing to work all this year.

 

[jeremy.king]

If the program was so trivial, then why would it take you 2 hours to add in javadocs? Any program I write that would take me 2 hours to document was probably deserving of the javadoc in the first place.

Seems to me that you are either exaggerating or you type at about 10 wpm...I've been on the receiving side, more often than I would like, of poorly documented code. This is usually why organizations bring people like me, the consultant, in to fix things...

PS - if you aren't already doing so, look into an IDE (such as Eclipse) that will create javadoc templates automagically for you and then you fill in the rest.

 

[gekko513]

Debugging two different Java applications for days and weeks only to realise that it's just Java 1.5 that doesn't play well with the Linux kernel in Fedora Core 2. Java 1.4 works just fine.

 

[leftbanke7]

Realizing that my Film degree will probably not get me a job in film but rather the same **** I was doing in high school just at a higher pay...

...and that the only major I would be interested in (physical education teacher) requires taking math classes at levels I know I could never pass. I don't know what high level college Algebra classes has to do with coaching a bunch of high schoolers in football but hey, I don't know a lot of **** (or I probably would have stuck with Secondary Education/History and not switched to Film)

 

[GeeYouEye]

If the program was so trivial, then why would it take you 2 hours to add in javadocs? Any program I write that would take me 2 hours to document was probably deserving of the javadoc in the first place.

A very fair question. We're being graded on thoroughness, so EVERYTHING has to be javadoc commented, including one-line "return x;" accessors. (this forum needs the head banging on a brick wall smiley). Furthermore, it's got to be to Sun's API documentation specifications.

Seems to me that you are either exaggerating or you type at about 10 wpm...I've been on the receiving side, more often than I would like, of poorly documented code. This is usually why organizations bring people like me, the consultant, in to fix things...

Like I said, it's got to be to Sun's API document specifications.

PS - if you aren't already doing so, look into an IDE (such as Eclipse) that will create javadoc templates automagically for you and then you fill in the rest.

I knew Eclipse could generate the javadocs without the insane commenting, but I didn't know it could generate templates for the comments themselves, which was what I needed.

 

[GeeYouEye]

You're a grad-level programming student and you don't understand the importance of making a habit out of good comments?

Good comments are a phenomenon entirely separate from this. I comment my code where it's not entirely obvious what it does. I'll usually do pre-condition/post-condition comments in larger functions. I'll even comment where there even might be confusion regarding why I'm using which variable.

But this javadoc commenting is pedantic.

 

[savar]

I'll start.

!@#&*@^*&# those !@#*@(#! assignment writers. Copying a Java program from the book - 1 hour, including debugging. Modifications to meet the exercise descriptions - 10 minutes. Javadoc commenting the whole thing - 2 hours! Writing Javadoc comments is a PAIN in the &#$, and they're having us do it for a TRIVIAL example program. I'm ready to break my keyboard in half. Here I am, taking a graduate-level course in Object-Oriented programming, and I have to write ***** Javadoc comments for a bouncing ball in an AWT frame tutorial! ARRGH!

Anyone else want a go?

I agree, learning JavaDoc is a waste of time in a CS class. There's nothing scientific about learning JavaDoc syntax. If you never write commercial java code you'll never use JavaDoc.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

But this javadoc commenting is pedantic.

Any "real world" Java shop you work in will require the same, believe me. I got over bitching about Javadoc a long time ago.

 

[xPismo]

I'm stuck in class all day watching all the hotties of SFSU get some tan out on the grass... Damn.

...and I won't get time off till next week... and the heat wave will probably be all over by then.

 

[GeeYouEye]

Any "real world" Java shop you work in will require the same, believe me. I got over bitching about Javadoc a long time ago.

Well damn. I don't have the patience for that. I seriously hope I never have to use Java anywhere I might work. I think I'll try to stick to Objective-C or Io if I can.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

Well damn. I don't have the patience for that.

To be honest, I didn't, either. Not until I had to integrate code w/ another developer's (fairly complex) Java project. Being able to spit out all the JavaDoc and use it as a reference (along w/ Firefox's "Type to Search" feature) save me at least a week of my time.

Now I just get into the habit of doing JavaDoc as I write each class. It doesn't take as long as it used to, and I wind up answering fewer questions to other developers in my group.

 

[iGary]

I have a client that wants me to edit in a freeware picture program versus Adobe Photoshop.

No lie.

They aren't budging.

 

[wordmunger]

I'm trying to line up an interview for an article and I get NO response from this guy. It's not like he's the president of the U.S. or anything, but he is a critical source for the article.

 

[dops7107]

I have a client that wants me to edit in a freeware picture program versus Adobe Photoshop.

No lie.

They aren't budging.

Why do they care what software you use?

 

[dops7107]

Can you clone by e-mail?

"Dear Dr Blah Blah. We would be interested in collaborating with your lab. Can you please send gene BLAH1 as described in the latest edition of Journal of Blah. Many thanks, dop7107".

I always try and clone by e-mail first up I haven't got a single bloody thing to work all this year.

Heh heh, nice try. Problem is I'm trying to clone something new! Actually the email approach does work quite well, although people have a nasty habit of ignoring you if they don't like to share.