CSV, grapes, apologies

[Kragen Sitaker]

Been spending a bunch of time making some dynamic updating stuff more
robust for a client.  This software is so advanced that not only can
it download updates across the network when they become available, but
it actually runs regression tests on the new version of the software
to make sure it works, and if that fails, it rolls back to the old
software.  Then, if the user doesn't like the new software, they can
roll back to the new software manually later.

Left a PETE plastic container of grapes on top of the stove, on a
pilot light.  Oops.  The plastic melted and some of the grapes became
raisins before Beatrice noticed.  Thank goodness she did.

I discovered why HTML is *so much better* as an interchange format for
spreadsheets than CSV.  There are many different, incompatible formats
named CSV, and if the recipient configures some parameter wrong, your
data is mangled.  HTML has its incompatible areas, but it's possible
--- easy, in fact --- to write unambiguously-parsable tables in HTML.
And spreadsheets just read it and it just works.

A person whose name I will withhold unless he wants to come forward
wrote the following:

    Kragen said earlier:
    "I was in the awkward position of explaining to her (and them!) 
    that I needed to figure out what hackish accomplishments I could
    cite --- and, worse still, having to describe some of my more
    trivial accomplishments, like the bookmarklet that hides banner
    ads."

    Now, Kragen, it SOUNDS like Beatrice mentioned somthing perfectly
    innocuous and your fragile pride was hurt because you couldn't
    cocksize well enough-

    "And, well, when all my, like, friends were listening, my girlfriend, 
     like, mentions the 37ee7 H44x0r meeting coming up, and, like, I
     couldn't think of anything '7337 I had done, and my shlong went
     all negative and I felt like a 5kr1p7 k1dd13.  It, liked, sucked
     and all and they may not let me into their clubhouse because I
     forgot the magic word- it's not xyzzy any more!'"

    This bit of satire was not meant to diminish my love for you in
    any way.

    Hey!  You aren't supposed to be a walking fucking programming
    reume.  You're supposed to be a decent human being.

That's about the size of it, I'm afraid.  Sometimes I'm silly and
insecure.  I've said it in private, but now I'll say it in public: I'm
sorry, Beatrice.  I was wrong.

-- 
<kragen@pobox.com>       Kragen Sitaker     <http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/>
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra died in August of 2002.  This is a terrible loss after 
which the world will never be the same.
http://www.xent.com/pipermail/fork/2002-August/013974.html