I was a programmer for twenty years. I can certify that programmers, in fact, are animals once free-ranging but now penned in their cubicles with a bag of Purina Geek Chow, a feeding dish, and a steady intravenous drip of coffee. When they are past their productive years or the hot trend in programming changes, they are discarded and their cubes occupied by (initially) enthusiastic recent grads.
The Old Wolf almost 6 years ago
Ode to a Programmer
Seen in Computerworld 3-13-78
Author Unknown
“No program is perfect,”
they said with a shrug.
“The client is happy -
what’s one little bug?”
But he was determined;
The others went home.
He dug out the flowcharts,
Deserted, alone.
Night passed into morning,
The room became cluttered
With core-dumps and punch-cards.
“I’m close,” he muttered.
Chain-smoking, cold coffee,
Logic, deduction,
“I’ve got it!” her cried,
“Just change one instruction!”
Then change two, then three more,
As year followed year,
And strangers would comment,
“Is that guy still here?”
He died at the console
Of hunger and thirst.
Next day he was buried
Face down, 9-edge first.
And his wife, through her tears,
Accepting his fate,
Said, “He’s not really gone,
He’s
Just
Working
Late!”
Ida No almost 6 years ago
Give it a raise and a corner office next to the PR department for fertilizer.
swanridge almost 6 years ago
I used to work with one of those.
JohnTheFoole almost 6 years ago
I’ve seen movies about this…..
Fuzzy Kombu almost 6 years ago
I was a programmer for twenty years. I can certify that programmers, in fact, are animals once free-ranging but now penned in their cubicles with a bag of Purina Geek Chow, a feeding dish, and a steady intravenous drip of coffee. When they are past their productive years or the hot trend in programming changes, they are discarded and their cubes occupied by (initially) enthusiastic recent grads.
PoodleGroomer almost 6 years ago
Some plants respond well to being watered with coffee.