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ajr

  • About: Perl programmer and trainer
  • Commented on Perl and Me, Part 5: Speaking with the speech of coders
    Would a language with exactly one way to say things be a monolect?...
  • Commented on The Ten Minute Thinking Rule
    According to "The Practice of Programming" (Kernighan and Pike), one university computer help centre kept a teddy bear on the reception counter. Students weren't allowed to speak to a support person until they had explained their problem to the bear....
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  • educated_foo commented on The Ten Minute Thinking Rule

    I'm guessing "talk to the teddy bear" worked more like "put on this dunce cap," "stick your hand in this bucket of ice water," or "run around the building 3 times" as a way of "helping" the students. Put enough BS hurdles in front of people, and many will simply give up. Phone and cable companies have known this for years, hence the automated menu trees between you and someone who can fix your problem.

  • asjo.koldfront.dk commented on The Ten Minute Thinking Rule

    > I'm guessing "talk to the teddy bear" worked more like "put on this dunce cap

    That probably depends a lot of the environment.

    I often help colleagues by just listening to them explaining their problem - the mere act of having to explain the problem out loud to someone else is surprisingly efficient.

    Often they only get half way through the description when they go "Ahh, ok, I see the solution now. Thanks!", and all I did was to act like the teddy bear and listen.

    The same thing often happens when I explain a problem to my colleagues, of course.

    The d…

  • Will commented on The Ten Minute Thinking Rule
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