One of the lessons I have learned while bug fixing is that there is no such thing as Random events in a computer program. A computer program is, when you think about it - very boring. I mean it has several hundreds or thousands (depending on the program size) of rules laid out, and it behaves in a preordained manner - well at least in theory!
This is the golden rule to remember when you're debugging a seemingly unpredictable program which seemingly crashes in random situations. It is not that its behaving randomly: rather its just that you're not seeing the pattern. Sometimes its like those weird pictures that have crazy lines and shapes that make no sense what so ever, but if you stare at it for a while you see a pattern emerging and voila! there's a picture of a sad woman gazing at you ( hmm i wonder why its always a sad woman).
I mean a computer cant even generate a random number for gods sake. How can it behave randomly?! I can recall several hilarious moments when the code seemed to give particularly bizzare behavior. If you didnt know better you'd say the damned thing was playing tricks on you.
Like for example when all the Save buttons disappeared in everyones app. And this when no one had checked in any new code! Another time i was debugging a server and a loop appeared to have gone off its rocker. The loop invariant was fine and yet the debugger wouldn't go inside the loop! And then it would repeat several lines outside the loop! Hah silly me. I had deployed a different server whose source was different than the source i was debugging.
So i guess the lesson is that every bug has a cause...and Randomness is a human trait...no wait. Randomness occurs in nature doesn't it? And what about reality? If it comes to that what are true random events anyway? Like when you really like this guy and you suddenly bump into him on the elevator? (Well maybe that wasnt quite so random after all...who knows? )
To the best of my knowledge, Randomness can be mathematically measured but not proven. And what about Organized Chaos? I am constantly striving to explain to my mother this particular concept. My room may be a mess Amma, but I know where everything is. So its an organized mess!
This is the golden rule to remember when you're debugging a seemingly unpredictable program which seemingly crashes in random situations. It is not that its behaving randomly: rather its just that you're not seeing the pattern. Sometimes its like those weird pictures that have crazy lines and shapes that make no sense what so ever, but if you stare at it for a while you see a pattern emerging and voila! there's a picture of a sad woman gazing at you ( hmm i wonder why its always a sad woman).
I mean a computer cant even generate a random number for gods sake. How can it behave randomly?! I can recall several hilarious moments when the code seemed to give particularly bizzare behavior. If you didnt know better you'd say the damned thing was playing tricks on you.
Like for example when all the Save buttons disappeared in everyones app. And this when no one had checked in any new code! Another time i was debugging a server and a loop appeared to have gone off its rocker. The loop invariant was fine and yet the debugger wouldn't go inside the loop! And then it would repeat several lines outside the loop! Hah silly me. I had deployed a different server whose source was different than the source i was debugging.
So i guess the lesson is that every bug has a cause...and Randomness is a human trait...no wait. Randomness occurs in nature doesn't it? And what about reality? If it comes to that what are true random events anyway? Like when you really like this guy and you suddenly bump into him on the elevator? (Well maybe that wasnt quite so random after all...who knows? )
To the best of my knowledge, Randomness can be mathematically measured but not proven. And what about Organized Chaos? I am constantly striving to explain to my mother this particular concept. My room may be a mess Amma, but I know where everything is. So its an organized mess!
Nice post! I remember when I was in Computer Science back in the day and some people would just sit there, arms crossed, very angry saying: "I have no idea why it's doing that!!" as if the computer had a mind of it's own!! ha ha I would inevitably respond by saying: "Because, somewhere in there, that's what YOU told it to do!!!"
ReplyDeleteAs to "true random events" in reality, I think it all depends on your perception. Many people like to believe that everything is random and/or coincidental. Whereas some of us like to believe that although things might appear to be random at first glance, upon further inspection, maybe they're not so random after all... :)
Thats a really good post Niroshinie. Very Cool.
ReplyDeleteI personally dont think there's anything random in the world, but I dont believe in destiny either. I just think that the things we do are the cause and everything that happens is the result. Just like what 1truecoolguy said the about the computer code - Because, somewhere in there, that's what YOU told it to do!!!" [Thats such a cool line :)] Our actions tell "life" what to do, if we got thru our "life-code" so to speak we'd find the cause for every bug thats been screwing up our systems :)
Thanks ppl!
ReplyDeleteI suppose we tend to label things Random when we are at a loss to explain the cause. And its almost scary to think that nothing is random...Coz then we'd have be held accountable for all our actions and the circumstances that befall us..
Bill Gates is responsible for more than a few misbehaving computers I think.. Specially those pesky one's that make me Re-install em (coz I'm too lazy to dig deeper and find out what's wrong). he he.
ReplyDeleteAs for randomness, I'd say nothing is random. It's the law of Cause and Effect. Even Destiny is what we make of it. Not what is handed down to us on a silver platter. "Butterfly Effect" is an interesting movie for cause and effect.
Nice post!
char-max:
ReplyDelete(hmm your name looks like a variable in a computer program LOL). ditto on bill gates! and i will try to get my hands on Butterfly Effect. Havent watched it yet...Tx for the tip.
thank you for your comment on my blog. I comment on what I see and percieve from this angle, and amazes me how different life is from my original expectations
ReplyDelete