Code changes whilst installing - now that is last minute
I'm out on site up in cannock chase again, it is has gone pretty well today. They seem happy, the installation process has gone okay.
The problem I had today was some of the features work in the last release but when I upgraded them it didn't work in the current release but the new feature they wanted and the reason for me being here did work. A real case of you can't have your cake and eat it.
To get round the problem I have rung up base camp and explained the problem and they are going to have a look at it and see if they can resolve it and send me an update by before the end of the day, the error is
ERROR 2006-05-25 10:25:37,828 :: : Map : renderMap - Unable to set map grid
java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: -1
at java.lang.String.substring(Unknown Source)
The error looks suspiciously like a Mickey mouse bug where the problem is due to a search in a string which they are expecting to always return a value. I bet its something like they have been passed a blank or a null and then the search hasn't found anything and you get an error like this.
This is also a good excuse for me to bang my unit testing drum because this might have been caught if we had been testing for it because I find that writing Junits often finds lots of silly bugs like this because when writing the tests you tend to think what would happen if I passed a null, what should happen if the method doesn't find anything.
I think I am going to suggest to the developers that we bring in a daily or maybe to start with a weekly build and then quick test of all the front end functionality. At least armed with this I will have a very persuasive argument, I have evidence that we need to stop putting bugs in before the customers get the software.
I wrote the above in the afternoon whilst waiting for the boys back at HQ to send me an update to fix a few bugs (yes we were still coding whilst I was on site installing). The chaps back in the office did a very good job today, I think I had three updates and at the end of the day the application was look pretty sexy and customer was happy. It had a few bugs but the main thing was it worked and I did explain that it was pretty much a prototype but it's a good opportunity for them to help improve the product and have their say how the final improvements should be made.
The problem I had today was some of the features work in the last release but when I upgraded them it didn't work in the current release but the new feature they wanted and the reason for me being here did work. A real case of you can't have your cake and eat it.
To get round the problem I have rung up base camp and explained the problem and they are going to have a look at it and see if they can resolve it and send me an update by before the end of the day, the error is
ERROR 2006-05-25 10:25:37,828 :: : Map : renderMap - Unable to set map grid
java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: -1
at java.lang.String.substring(Unknown Source)
The error looks suspiciously like a Mickey mouse bug where the problem is due to a search in a string which they are expecting to always return a value. I bet its something like they have been passed a blank or a null and then the search hasn't found anything and you get an error like this.
This is also a good excuse for me to bang my unit testing drum because this might have been caught if we had been testing for it because I find that writing Junits often finds lots of silly bugs like this because when writing the tests you tend to think what would happen if I passed a null, what should happen if the method doesn't find anything.
I think I am going to suggest to the developers that we bring in a daily or maybe to start with a weekly build and then quick test of all the front end functionality. At least armed with this I will have a very persuasive argument, I have evidence that we need to stop putting bugs in before the customers get the software.
I wrote the above in the afternoon whilst waiting for the boys back at HQ to send me an update to fix a few bugs (yes we were still coding whilst I was on site installing). The chaps back in the office did a very good job today, I think I had three updates and at the end of the day the application was look pretty sexy and customer was happy. It had a few bugs but the main thing was it worked and I did explain that it was pretty much a prototype but it's a good opportunity for them to help improve the product and have their say how the final improvements should be made.
posted by The Hosk at
1:33 pm
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