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November 2008

Everyone makes mistakes

I had a problem with a piece of code last night. An apparent infinite loop without apparent cause. Because I’m working on in-development tools, though, I couldn’t even go to disassembly.

I sat and stared this morning at the offending code, knowing I must be missing something.

I finally went down the hall to grab Nathan (I like Nathan. He’s bright and hard working, and he laughs at my jokes. Good man.). He isn’t as experienced with C++ as I am, but my experience wasn’t helping me. Besides, it was a problem with a bloody for-loop.

Nathan sat down, complained about what I named the function, and then point out the error. Less than two minutes.

Can you see the error?

for (GenericParam* Param = StartOfListOfParams; Param; Param->GetNext())

I feel a little dumb, but vindicated for my position on code reviews, especially for my own code.

Edit 08/11/07 11:28am: Added a space.

Did I mention I have a hat?

Mandrina thinks my respond to the hat is funny. I’ve sent her text messages in the recent past about it.

Rewind a bit: Mandrina and I were invited to join another couple on a trip to Leavenworth for Oktoberfest. I got a little drunk, got a little hung over, but Mandrina laughed at me. The day we were leaving, we stopped into what I refer to as “the sword store,” because, as you might guess, they sell swords. They also sell slippers, and dusters, and other jackets. They also sell hats.

Now, my hat isn’t as nice as the ones some of my friends sport, but I like it. It’s crushable, it (mostly) fits me — it serves as a reminder to keep my hair neat. It’s waterproof, and I like to wear it. Not all the time, mind you, because I don’t know if buses could as “indoors” or “outdoors” with regards to never wearing a hat inside.

However, today Mandrina has gone to see a fellow STP cast member’s new indy film. I worked late, and left with more work left to do. When I left the office, however, it was nearly a downpour, which is unusual in Seattle. Fortunately, HAT!

Why fortunately? Because I like being able to see! I walked to the bus stop with my hat on, and could see the entire time. I got on the bus; my pant legs were wet from swinging under drops while walking; my shoes were wet; my jacket was wet; my hat was wet.

My glasses, however, were nice and dry.

I like my hat. I’d take a picture of the hat, but I’m currently on my bus, and I think everyone would look at me strangely.