Oh, and if anyone is interested in that last post, then you need this.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"The delivery extension for this subscription could not be loaded" when using SSRS

Image
OK, so we upgraded our server farm and put on the latest "stuff" (SSRS, SQL Server etc.) and the engineers gave me two servers to play with - SQL01 & SQL02. The idea being that we used high availability to help keep the factory running. We employed a contractor to load up and configure everything. At this point I wasn't involved. My involvement was to move all the reports and subscriptions from the old servers to the new ones once the servers had been configured. All went swimmingly, until I actually started to fire off the subscriptions to test them. Randomly (like 5 out of 10) I got the error in the title. I would edit the failing subscription and/or change the schedule time and it would work. I finally got around to moving 81 subscriptions for the same report (all slightly different parameters going to about 6 different engineers). I press the "go" button and every single one failed. Let's cut out the long story about how I went through about...
Read more

Spiralling cost of error fixing story

Ok, now this tale comes from a lecture I attended at Swansea University in about 1975. Truth is, I don't know if it was made up by the lecturer, whose name I forget, or whether it's a fact. Googling comes up with nothing. Anyhow, here it is. The subject was "How much does an error cost to fix?". The lecturer wrote a single line of FORTRAN code on the board: DO 10 I = 1,3 "Now when the programmer took this down to be punch-carded onto Hollerith cards the typist made a mistake. They entered: DO 10 I = 1.3 How much to fix the change from a full-stop to a comma?" A long discussion followed - nothing if the programmer had spotted the mistake by checking the card immediately, more if it was found during testing and finally a lot if the project had already been delivered. He gave us the answer: "$50,000,000. It was in the aerial alignment code of NASA's Pioneer spacecraft. It should loop 3 times to line " 10 CONTINUE " in an a...
Read more

Plan A27 is complete

...after a certain amount of thought, skimming the whole ceiling and losing the Artexing lost its appeal somewhat. I gently broached the subject with the other half who "always has hated Artex". "Umm, how about if we get someone in to patch up the hole and blend in the pattern? That way we won't have to remove the entire contents of the lounge into the garage". I moved out of arms reach a little. "Yup, that's fine." That took me by surprise somewhat. "Ok, I'll 'yell.com' for Artexers near here. 'The next morning', as they say in Mills & Boon, Gary-the-I've-done-this-for-30-years-Artexer turns up armed with nothing but a keen eye and a pencil. "Yup, it's a professionally done pattern, I can match that no probs - you'll hardly notice it. What are you doing about the wall? I'm a plasterer too." "How much?", "2 days work", "You've got the job". "When can you s...
Read more