My first blog post using jekyll-now repo. Yes, this is indeed a test.
The date of the first post is simply a holdover from the repo from which I cloned mine.
For more instructions on how I did this, head over to the Jekyll Now repository on GitHub.
Category: tech
Computer book required
I don't read enough. I bought 3 novels a few months ago with the intention of making time. Of course it didn't work! To help speed things along I'm thinking of narrowing my focus somewhat – to something I'm certain can start this process off. At the dawn of the UK's home computer revolution I bought a book about computers.
A key phrase from it still resonates: something like "computers are fast rule following idiots", then the obligatory "garbage in equals garbage out." It seems that those words are both truer than ever and at the same time subject to disproval based on what we see every day. But that's a topic for another timeā¦
I'd like to re-acquire a copy of the book.
A quick trawl through the histories of various computers and computer companies from that era indicates a publishing date after 1977, and before 1982. It's a fairly big window given the massive progress being made at that time, so how can I be sure?
Well, 1977 as I'm certain the Tandy TRS-80 was mentioned in the book, as was the Apple ][. 1982 because when my first computer (a 1K RAM Sinclair ZX81) arrived my focus narrowed from the previous theoretical 'what if' to the more practical 'eeek, what now?!'
I wonder, can you help me find it?
Some help:
- It's heavily slanted towards the U.S., relating to both that country's computing history and its then-contemporary devices. That's not surprising.
- It has a picture or a photo of a computer on the front.
- The colour beige or orange features predominantly on the cover.
- it's the same size as a thick novel.
- Erā¦ I know it's not much help!
So, how about it? Have you got what this quest needs?
Computer assistance required
Why do people ask for assistance with computer problems they havenāt solutions for? Thatās an easy one to answer: so they can show off their superior ability.
An example using you as the twit: thereās something wrong on your screen, a dialogue box appears and you can progress no further. What do you do? You ask your shining white knight to assist! Easy.
Said knight (me) arrives, asks you to do nothing more, not even move the mouse, then asks a series of questions. My first word though is āSTOP!ā
You:
Dismiss any and all dialogue boxes remaining on the screen,
Pan and scroll the screen so that the area causing problems is no longer visible, let alone in focus,
Answer āWhat were you doing prior to the event?ā with āNothing!ā
Answer āWhat were the contents of the dialogue box, even approximately?ā with āI donāt know, something technical, how am I supposed to know?ā
Answer āWhat do you need to do to progress?ā with āI donāt understand.ā
Eventually a dialogue is established, an approximate timeline leading up to the error is ascertained, and other big wordsā¦
A plan coalesces!
āRight,ā I say āI think I know whatās causing the problem and Iāve a solution* I think will work. Should we try it?ā
āYes.ā you say.
I start to patiently explain the background, the reason for the error, and steps necessary to avoid the āthingā happening in the future. And this is where it falls apart.
You click, pan, scroll, press buttons, dismiss dialogue boxes, and then, as if it wasnāt enough, offer an alternative solution. You do it before I finish. Every time.
āI know mine will work,ā I say. You ignore this with āYeah, butā¦ā so I walk away.
Until the next timeā¦
A few minutes later I observe a thought bubble above your head: āErā¦ that didnāt work, crap idea, Iāll go and ask Xā¦ā
A quarter of an hour later I observe X walking away a little flustered, and Google search appears on their screen. Eventually a solutionĀ appears and itās implemented. X of course gets due credit. It is indeed only fair.
And thereās a smile on your face, you did well fixing that.
Until the next timeā¦