You know you should take a break from coding when…

Recently,  I was trying to get something in our Mirth Integration Engine working.  A project that was behind for a variety of reasons.

I was exhausted,  and stressed when co-workers heard me exclaim:

WTF do you mean its undeclared!   Its declared right there you stupid machine!!!

I waved my fist at the monitor in a threatening manner,  yet this infernal contraption kept telling me “variable mytpe undeclared in line 936″

I thought of EVERYTHING!   I checked to see if scope was the issue,  I was pretty sure it wasn’t.  I thought maybe its a datatype thing,  which made no sense at all…

Finally, in a fit of frustrated rage I walked away, grabbed a coffee, and paced around for a bit before going back to it.

I then took another look at the code

var mtype = msg['MSH']['MSH.10']['MSH.10.1'].toString();

if (mytpe.indexOf('D') > -1) {

}

I checked everything except spelling!

There’s a few minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

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Unintentionally Creepy Declarations #1

When we’re in the zone,  sometimes we don’t really think about our variable names,  so long as they’re meaningful.

I just typed out a table declaration for a new Table Value Function in SQL Server.

After I coded that bit I kept thinking,  there’s something wrong with that…

Then I saw why it was creeping me out…

DECLARE @table as TABLE (

DICTSECONDS varchar(30) NULL,
DRAFTSECONDS varchar(30) NULL,
FINALSECONDS varchar(30) NULL, -- do you see it?
SIGNEDSECONDS varchar(30) NULL
)

My Coding Playlist

Music is like religion to me.

A close friend once told me that she can tell how my life is really going by what music I’m listening to.

She refused to elaborate,  knowing full well it would change the algorithm.

My various playlists have everything from Five Finger Death Punch to Handel’s Water Music.

You will find they are heavy with Electronica though.   This surprises many as I’m months away from my 50th birthday and am not inclined to attend “Raves”  (most of them happen after my bedtime).

Electronica is my preferred “Coding Music”.   It is energetic,  powerful and driving,  however it mostly lacks any sort of lyric or message that will stop me dead in my tracks.  “Eat, Sleep, Rave Repeat” was an exception,  I was laughing when I first listened.

I thought I would share the favorites from my Coding Playlist.  Those that have lasted the longest.

That Miami Track – Tocadisco

You’ll Find Yourself featuring Sarah Howells   John O’Callaghan

Galvanize: Chemical Brothers

And of course…

Eat Sleep Rave Repeat : Fatboy Slim

That should keep you going for awhile 🙂