Lianko.com

EDIT: I’m an idiot … ’nuff said. It should work fine now… hopefully.
For some unexplained reason I am unable to manage an update during ‘normal’ hours….

Initially I was planning to write a really insightful post about my experience learning javascript, but it’s 2:30 am and I’m technically asleep (like I said before: I can sleep-type)… so hopefully I’m not talking/typing COMPLETE gibberish.

Comments, compliments, criticism?

P.S. Blogroll, is on the Links page. So yes I’m still linking you.

P.P.S. … and I almost forgot to publish this…

EDIT November 8^th: there is a very good reason I shouldn’t post at 2:00 am; especially when I’m practically asleep¹. Hopefully, this way it’s clearer. Screenshots were created by me using photoshop (they are not from the actual website).

The website I am working on, has a lot of submission forms, where various data is being input, as well as validated and then - if correct - processed using ASP.NET. Seeing as we have a deadline shortly, debugging was high on the list. As ‘luck‘ would have it, crashes seemed to get weirder by the hour. “I swear it was working properly yesterday” could very well become our motto soon.

But back to the bug in question: a co-worker (a.k.a cw ’cause I’m lazy), demonstrated his amazing bug find.

Step1: introduce an invalid file type (in this case a fictional one without extension). Error message reads: Invalid file type. Please select another one.

Step2: keep typing away. You will eventually notice that user-editable areas are larger than they might initially appear.

Step3.1: Start removing evidence of your weird achievement. Everything normal so far.

Step3.2: Keep removing the text. Not normal anymore, but it’s a handy feature² nonetheless.

Step3.3: You’re still pressing the delete key. This feature is not quite what you had in mind, but might as well see what it does.

Step3.4: Deleting away… even though you shouldn’t be able to.

Step3.5: Pressing delete once again. On second thought it’s best to hide all traces. Popularly known as “WTF??“.

Summed up: basic submission form with an error message accessed from Internet Explorer 7 (and 6). Repeated introduction of invalid data is apparently possible to otherwise non user-editable areas (i.e. inside a span tag). And repeated deletion deletes the span tag, and a file upload input control.

I later found out that said cw managed to fix the problem:

Me: By the way CW, did you check it in Firefox as well?
CW: Yes. It doesn’t happen. But I fixed it.
Me(impressed): Really? What was the problem?
CW: I don’t know, but I can avoid it.

Since idiot-proof programs(websites) are no match for idiots (the latter being the better), the conclusion is clear. Feel free to draw it yourself

________________
¹ bet none of you can sleeptype: sleepwalking is overrated.
² there are no bugs, only misunderstood features.

Ever since I’ve got a job (i.e. May), I kept wishing I could sleep in. Contrary to popular belief, chances to do so aren’t as rare as one might think. I even took a brief holiday (2 days right before the weekend), to finally manage to indulge in said longing.

Naturally (i.e. ironically) I slept even less. As such, it is no wonder that once I’m not busy with work, I can give any sleepwalker a run for his/her money. To solve said problem at work, I took up a ‘Coke diet’: meaning that I pretty much live on Coca Cola these days. Obviously, I cannot drink from the bottle while at work and canned Coke would be much too expensive in the long run. Solution: buy a sodding cup already! This wouldn’t normally be a problem, had my work place not been on the outskirts of the city. Most stores there are small food… barracks, for lack of a better term.

For once, luck was on my side, and I did find a cup: a garish plastic one with some red roses. Then again, when the alternatives are sheep shaped¹, you tend to be less picky. So then, equipped with an even more garish red shopping basket, roughly seven times the size of the cup², I drag my feet towards the cash registry. Being on lunch break, I had over 45 minutes to spare, with the company at 5 minutes feet-dragging distance. So a short napping opportunity cam right on time. Or rather, it would have come right on time.

All of a sudden, the elderly lady in front of me, starts to dramatically roll her eyes, randomly raise her arms, give me meaningful looks and alternately shaking her shopping basket and sighing as loudly as possible. Since I’m equally mean offline as I am online, all this amused me to no end. She did look completely ridiculous: her acting was completely off.

The customer at the front was being served by a deliberately obtuse cashier, trying to settle a difference of 0.2USD.

Annoyed beyond measure, the old eye-rolling lady, plunks her basket on the counter, getting everyone’s attention:

Lady: Could you PLEASE stop all this? We really can’t afford to wait anymore.

The cashier³ was left literally gaping at her. I felt a brief pang of sympathy for her, but since I my professional motto is “my client , my master”, I refrained. She WAS paying after all.

Cashier(stuttering): Well… I look… I… if I explained it to you then… it would…
Lady(pointing at me): This poor girl is waiting for a mere cup.

I promptly proceeded to frantically flail my arms, assuring the shop assistant that I wasn’t anything of the sort… much to the chagrin of the old lady.

Cashier(dramatically): There! And we will leave off 0.5USD.
Customer(equally dramatically): Oh no: I can’t have you end up with such a loss!

The old lady was ready to blow up, most unfortunately she didn’t. And I lost precious napping time: all for the sake of crappy drama! Unforgivable!

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¹ yes, literally.
² a regular tea cup.
³ a woman in her mid 40s, not a teenager.