codeless_code 0.1.2

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-32.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+Title: Weeds
+Number: 32
+Date: 2011-03-29
+Geekiness: 0
+Topics: interviews, neatness, potential
+Names: Banzen
+Illus.0.src: weeds.jpg
+Illus.0.align: center
+Illus.0.par: last
+
+The temple was in need of an additional developer, and two
+potential initiates had applied for the position.  Java
+master [[Banzen]] sent a monk to interview them.
+
+"They were equally qualified on all counts," reported the
+monk that evening.  "Of identical age, weight, bearing,
+grooming, proficiency with the sword, and preference of
+caffeinated beverage.  So I posed the same logic problem to
+both candidates.  One failed to solve it; the other
+succeeded."
+
+Java master Banzen said: "Take me to the rooms where they
+were interviewed."
+
+They first came to the room of the failed candidate, whose
+working of the problem still lay on the whiteboard in jade
+green marker.  Painfully neat figures marched across the
+board in precise rows and columns.  Java master Banzen
+quickly found the error in the candidate's reasoning.
+
+Said the Java master: "Here is a grove of pea-vines, struggling to
+break through the winter snow.  If we nurture them we shall
+dine well in spring."
+
+They next came to the room of the successful candidate.
+Here also the critical problem had been worked in green
+marker, but in this room it sprawled across the board with
+no discernable order.  Hasty scribblings wound over and
+around and even right through each other -- a dense tangle
+of gibberish.
+
+The Java master shook his head. "Here you tell me there is
+fresh dill and lemon-grass, but I would never find them for
+all the weeds."

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-33.txt

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+Title: Fear
+Number: 33
+Date: 2011-04-20
+Geekiness: 1
+Topics: complexity, elegance, refactoring
+Illus.0.src: balloon-1.png
+Illus.0.par: 2
+Illus.0.style: float:right; margin-right:0px
+Illus.1.src: balloon-2.png
+Illus.1.par: 6
+Illus.1.style: float:right; margin-right:-50px
+Illus.2.src: balloon-3.png
+Illus.2.par: 9
+Illus.2.style: float:right; margin-right:-100px
+Illus.3.src: balloon-4.png
+Illus.3.par: 14
+Illus.3.style: float:right; margin-right:-150px
+Illus.4.src: hermitage.jpg
+Illus.4.par: last
+Illus.4.align: center
+Illus.4.title: Yes, but he doesn't get much mail anyway.
+
+A senior monk, recently inducted into the temple, approached
+the Java master in frustration:
+
+"I am tasked to add several features to the Imperial Shoemaker's
+order-processing system, yet I cannot begin to comprehend
+how it works.  The logic is distributed among multiple
+applications, each implemented with wildly different
+technologies.  Instead of creating common utilities the
+authors have merely copied swaths of code from place to
+place, often introducing subtle differences afterward.
+Background jobs seek and modify database records for no
+documented reason, and the database itself conspires against
+me: a simple update of one table can trigger a cascade of
+inserts and deletes in others."
+
+"I see two paths before you," said the Java master.  "In the
+first, you make only the necessary additions and quickly
+proclaim victory.  In the second, you begin the arduous task
+of refactoring the code base.  How will you proceed?"
+
+The monk bowed in shame.  "I cannot say.  At present I am
+afraid to touch anything, lest my ignorance prove my
+undoing."
+
+"Fear makes good armor but a poor blade," nodded the Java
+master.  "To defeat your fear, we must dispel your
+ignorance."  With his staff he slid the window-screen open
+and gestured to the forest beyond.
+
+"Follow the Road of White Nettles for three days into the
+mountains, and you will come to a hermitage perched on a
+cliff.  A learned brother dwells there who keeps copies of
+our client's documentation.  He will advise you on the
+design of the system."
+
+The monk did as he was told, and at sunset came to the
+hermitage, which was a building unlike any he had ever seen.
+
+It had clearly begun life as a sturdy stone house at the
+very edge of the cliff, but three new wings of rough-hewn
+pine with bark shingles now thrust well beyond the cliff and
+into space.  Beyond these were open walkways and stairways,
+ending in dozens of rooms perched on diagonal stilts that
+were (only barely) supported by rocky outcroppings far
+below.
+
+Lashed onto the rooms were other additions stretching still
+further out into the void, made of bamboo and canted crazily
+in all directions.  Ramps and ladders erupted from their
+undersides, leading to isolated rooms suspended by ropes and
+made chiefly of reed and straw.  Everything was bound
+together with lines of hemp, tied off at a windowsill here
+and a weathervane there, as though some great drunken spider
+had caught a hundred huts in its web.  The structure swayed
+sickeningly in the gentle breeze, creaking as it did.
+
+The monk stood gaping for a while, then recovered himself
+and struck the gong.
+
+From the furthest room came the hermit, shimmying up ropes
+and down rooftops, disappearing into a trapdoor of bamboo
+and finally reappearing at the door of the hut.
+
+"What news to me from the temple?" asked the hermit.
+"Have I been summoned home at last?"
+
+The monk indicated that he had no such news to relay.
+
+The hermit hung his head.  "Miserable me!  For until such
+word is given, my task is to expand this hermitage ever
+outward beyond the cliff's edge, to house the temple's
+growing collection of temporary files.  This I have done for
+years now, faithfully and unquestioningly, hoping to one day
+earn the master's favor and return from exile.  But I
+confess that my work becomes more difficult with each
+passing season.  Winter snows hang so heavy on the rooftops
+that the bamboo stilts begin to buckle, and in summer I must
+fight the magpies to keep my straw walls from becoming part of
+someone's nest.  By the by... you are not (I hope) possessed
+of any allergies?  Pollen?  Ragweed?  I once watched seven
+rooms collapse and tumble down the cliff in answer to a
+vigorous sneeze..."
+
+"But this is madness!" cried the monk.  "Now that you have
+some sense of how many rooms are needed, can you not tear
+down this monstrosity and start anew?"
+
+"What nonsense.  Imagine the time such an endeavor might
+take, and how displeased my master might become in the
+meanwhile!  How could I justify subtracting storerooms
+instead of adding them?  My exile might be extended for
+another decade!  No, it is far safer to do exactly as I have
+been commanded.  Anyway, I understand this hermitage quite
+well, its strong places and weak ones; and so long as I
+tread lightly and avoid pepper, my odds of perishing in a
+long fall are reasonably low.
+
+"But enough of my plight, learned brother.  If you were not
+sent here to summon me home, then you must need my help
+understanding the Imperial Shoemaker's order-processing
+system.  Many like yourself have come for that purpose, for
+it was I who was its author."
+
+The monk only bowed and departed back down the road, having
+already obtained the promised enlightenment from the
+hermitage.

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-34.txt

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+Title: The Naming of Names
+Number: 34
+Date: 2011-04-20
+Geekiness: 2
+Topics: naming
+Names: Suku
+Illus.0.src: paddles.jpg
+Illus.0.title: MISTER DISCIPLINE comes with its own stand and a year's supply of teak wax.  MISTER DISCIPLINE is not available in stores.  Order now!
+
+The priestess [[Suku]] was reviewing the software of her
+novices when she found a module whose variable names
+displeased her immensely.  Value Objects were called /vo/ or
+simply /obj/, regardless of type.  Lists were named /list1/,
+/list2/, etc.  The respective Iterators were called /i/,
+/j/, and (for no fathomable reason) /x/.
+
+The priestess strode into the temple kitchens where the
+novices were preparing the evening meal.  She
+unhooked an immense rice paddle from its peg, found the
+offending developer, and let vent her displeasure on the
+boy's backside.
+
+/"What have I done?!"/ yelped the novice as the paddle
+landed with a meaty smack for the tenth time.
+
+"Invective!" answered the priestess. "Verb your expletive nouns!"
+
+This scene was repeated each night until the novice
+was enlightened.
+
+

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-35.txt

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+Title: Sparrow Breaks Free
+Number: 35
+Date: 2011-05-01
+Geekiness: 2
+Topics: APIs, standards, interoperability, reuse
+Names: Jinyu, Sparrow Clan, Temple of the Morning Brass Gong
+Illus.0.src: sparrow-zoom.png
+Illus.0.par: 7
+Illus.0.align: center
+Illus.1.src: sparrow-zoom-worm.png
+Illus.1.par: 16
+Illus.1.align: center
+Illus.2.src: sparrow.png
+Illus.2.par: last
+Illus.2.align: center
+Illus.2.title: He tried spelling HELP, but got a bad sprain doing the little prong in the E.  They really should teach cursive writing in worm school.
+
+
+A messenger informed Abbess [[Jinyu]] that several
+of her monks had devised a clever new method for storing
+information in the Cloud.  The monks were excited by the
+possibilities and wished to develop the technology further.
+The abbess sent back this message:
+
+    An egg hatches, and //
+    Sparrow Clan has emerged.
+
+The new clan labored night and day and produced a working
+prototype.  All attended the demo, and soon the Sparrow Clan
+was celebrated throughout the Temple.  The clan's head monk
+received another message from the abbess:
+
+    Sparrow breaks free from the shadowy forest. //
+    All eyes behold her ascent.
+
+At this time a prospective client was entertaining bids for
+a new social networking application.  The head monk arranged
+a tea with the client, at which he argued that his clan's new
+software would be an ideal foundation for the proposed
+system.  The client agreed, and the contract was awarded to
+the Sparrow Clan.  Old Jinyu sent her congratulations:
+
+    Soaring alone over distant fields, //
+    Sparrow nabs the worm //
+    while her flock still slumbers.
+
+The system was delivered, and enjoyed great success.
+
+Months passed.  Many came to use the application, including
+developers who were intrigued and inspired by its novel use
+of the Cloud.  Although they did not possess the Sparrow
+Clan's software, the fundamental approach was easy to
+discern.
+
+Word reached the abbess that a Birds of a Feather session
+had convened at a recent conference, and the attendees had
+begun work on a standard API for this new type of Cloud
+interface.  The next day the head monk opened his mail to
+find this warning:
+
+   Yellow leaves tumble through the air. //
+   The flock is stirring.
+
+The Sparrow Clan had no interest in the new API, which it
+regarded as over-engineered.  They continued to employ
+and develop their own approach with each new contract won.
+Yet cryptic notes continued to arrive:
+
+   A hundred sparrows can peck an eagle blind.
+
+   Every nightingale loves her own song best.
+
+   One bird cannot hatch an egg.
+
+The Sparrow Clan's software continued to evolve,
+accumulating some impressive new features, but as a
+consequence it was now hopelessly incompatible with the new
+API specification.  The head monk had no concerns <i>(Let
+the other temples enjoy their primitive
+implementations!)</i> but still he dreaded opening his mail
+each morning.  Jinyu's tone grew ever darker:
+
+   The grown falcon does not dine on flies.
+
+Temples which had adopted the new API continued to
+collaborate, producing various extensions and enhancements.
+Commercial ventures were spun off, competition escalated,
+and soon a blizzard of glossy brochures were printed up and
+dispatched by carrier pigeon to all corners of the Empire.
+Even the abbess received a few, which she forwarded on
+with this note:
+
+   A little fledgeling sang thus to me: //
+   snow has fallen.
+
+Across the Empire, governors and generals clamored for
+systems built with the newer technology.  Every temple in
+the bidding crowed that its solution was
+standards-compliant -- or rather, every temple but one.
+
+In a secluded courtyard of the Temple of the Morning Brass
+Gong, a meeting was held to discuss the fate of the Sparrow
+Clan.  Their libraries had become liabilities, since (unlike
+their competitors) they could not interoperate with the
+immensely popular commercial extensions.  Clients who had
+adopted the Sparrow's technology in its early days were now
+demanding upgrades to the commercial solutions -- but since
+the interfaces were so different, the cost was prohibitively
+high.  Contracts were being cancelled.  Worse, the temple's
+reputation had suffered.
+
+That evening Jinyu sent a final message to the clan's head
+monk, written on a square of rice paper that had been
+folded around the blade of a seppuku knife:
+
+     The flock is gone south. //
+     Lone sparrow has his white field. //
+     Now the hawk descends. //
+
+

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-36.txt

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+Title: Division
+Number: 36
+Date: 2011-05-15
+Geekiness: 0
+Topics: morale
+Names: Sparrow Clan, Laughing Monkey Clan, Elephant's Footprint Clan
+Illus.0.src: division-2.png
+Illus.0.title: We have yet to make it past 14.
+Illus.0.par: 3
+
+The [[Sparrow Clan]] was in disgrace and disarray.  Its head
+monk had chosen an honorable death by seppuku, but fear of
+further staff cuts had set the remaining monks at each
+other's throats.  A priest had been assigned stewardship of
+the clan to restore order, but his efforts were in vain.
+
+"The subtraction of one has led to the division of all,"
+said the priest to the head abbot.  "We must correct the
+remainder of the clan before they set a poor example for the
+temple."
+
+"I see no need for discipline," sighed the abbot, who
+was known for his excessive leniency.  "It
+will be simpler to disband the Sparrow Clan.  How many monks
+remain?"
+
+"Six," replied the priest.
+
+"Good.  Then send half to one clan of your choosing, and
+half to another."
+
+The priest began to protest, but thinking better of it he
+merely bowed stiffly and left.  That evening he summoned the
+quarrelsome monks.  With a single whirl of his blade
+he neatly bisected all six at the waist.
+
+"Send the heads to the Laughing Monkey Clan, and the tails
+to the Elephant's Footprint," he said to one of his novices.
+"And bid them consider the price of dischord."
+
+The priest then reported to the abbot: "I have done
+as you commanded, and indeed all arguments have ceased."
+
+
+
+== Editor's note
+
+<div class="editorial-note">
+<p>Since a few readers have
+expressed interest, a large-size version of
+the poster can be downloaded
+as either an <a href='/pages/case-36/poster.svg'>SVG</a>
+or <a href='/pages/case-36/poster.png'>PNG</a> file.
+</p>
+</div>

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-37.txt

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+Number: 37
+Title: Simulation
+Date: 2011-06-07
+Geekiness: 2
+Topics: testing, dependencies, simulation
+Names: Spider Clan, Laughing Monkey Clan
+Illus.0.par: last
+Illus.0.src: candle.png
+Illus.0.align: center
+Illus.0.title: Actually, when there are blackouts, the scribe uses a hand-cranked LED camping lantern and does his writing on an Asus netbook with 12-hour batteries.  But you get the idea.
+
+
+
+The [[Spider Clan]]'s new order-processing site behaved well in
+the field, but the development environment was so unstable
+that the clan was unable to test its changes for more than a
+couple of hours each day.  Now a deadline was fast approaching.
+The monks would have torn their hair out had they not
+already been shorn to prevent such an unseemly display.
+
+"It is because the [[Laughing Monkey Clan]] keeps bringing
+/their/ development servers down!" complained the head monk
+of the Spider Clan to one of the priests.  "Without those
+services our code cannot query for user preferences or for the
+contents of shopping carts!"
+
+"Our restarts are necessary," said the head of Laughing
+Monkey.  "We must deploy code throughout the day as well.
+Perhaps the Spider Clan could simulate the services they
+need.  The data would be false, but the outages would not
+trouble them so much."
+
+"Unacceptable!" said the head of Spider Clan.  "You would
+have us expend effort producing a poor substitute, merely to
+circumvent your failings!"  He turned to the priest.  "When
+the sun sets or hides behind a cloud, our scribe does not
+sit idle like his ancient predecessors, for his halogen lamp
+burns both day and night.  The services of Laughing Monkey
+should follow this example, and be as dependable as the
+electricity which powers that steady glow!"
+
+The head of Laughing Monkey considered this.
+
+Late that night the head of Spider Clan was awoken by a
+tapping on his door.  He gathered his robes about
+his person and called for the visitor to enter.
+
+"At the request of Laughing Monkey I bring a small gift from
+my chambers," whispered an old man's voice.  In came none
+other than the temple's own scribe, who set a burning candle
+upon the table.  "I sometimes find it necessary when there
+are storms."

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-38.txt

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+Title: Language
+Number: 38
+Date: 2011-05-05
+Geekiness: 0
+Topics: philosophy, languages
+Names: Banzen
+
+A novice asked Java master [[Banzen]], "What is the most perfect
+programming language?"
+
+The master answered, "The one which accomplishes the
+desired task with the least effort expended by the user."
+
+The novice asked, "Is there a language which exceeds all
+others in this regard?"
+
+The master answered, "Build me a garden of ten thousand
+stones!"
+
+== Qi's commentary
+
+Management, too, has its programming languages,
+although what they produce is frequently defective.
+
+== Qi's poem
+
+Whether or not the garden was built, //
+Banzen got his desire. //
+The novice came no more for counsel -- //
+Words conceal intent.

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-39.txt

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+Number: 39
+Title: The River of Tea
+Date: 2011-05-12
+Geekiness: 2
+Topics: comments, documentation
+Names: Suku
+
+Java master [[Suku]] was visiting the provinces of her youth.
+She had just seated herself in a favorite teahouse when a
+novice approached and asked her opinion of some code he had
+written.
+
+Suku examined the listing and found that every single method
+had been meticulously documented.  The /setName/ method of
+Person declared that it set the person's name; the /getName/
+method affirmed that it returned the name set by /setName/,
+and the /toString/ method vowed that, indeed, it would
+return a String.
+
+Suku pushed the listing away from herself and sat a while
+in silence.  Eventually the novice cleared his throat
+and asked if she was displeased.
+
+"That is an interesting question," said Suku.  She pointed
+at the code.  "This is paper, resting on a tatami mat.  On
+the paper is ink.  The ink forms many words.  There is a
+bird in the hinoki outside.  It has two feathered wings and
+two eyes..."
+
+She continued in this manner until the novice's cheeks
+turned red.  He gathered his code and left her presence,
+ashamed but enlightened.  Suku did not stop talking until
+the boy was out of earshot.
+
+
+== Qi's commentary
+
+Suku was served a generous portion of uncooked rice.
+The novice is fortunate that she lacked
+[[#34|a paddle to cook it with.]]
+
+== Qi's poem
+
+The novice pours a river of green tea. //
+Still, Suku is thirsty. //
+An upright bowl may catch what it can, //
+but every bowl tips over in a deluge. //

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-4.txt

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+Date: 2010-11-08
+Title: Willows
+Number: 4
+Geekiness: 0
+Topics: potential
+Names: Spider Clan
+
+A new priest of the [[Spider Clan]] was lamenting the poor
+quality of the Javascript code produced by his novices.
+
+"I will investigate," said the Java master.
+
+After visiting the novices, the master decreed that the
+first four be struck sharply across the knuckles each
+morning before their hands were allowed to touch their
+keyboards.  For the fifth novice, he prescribed no action.
+The priest asked the master why this was so.
+
+"The sapling, if tended, may become the willow; but not so the
+blade of grass," said the master.
+
+Hearing this, the priest ordered the fifth novice to
+be let go.
+
+To his surprise this angered the Java master greatly, and
+the priest himself was cast out.  On his final pay stub, the
+master wrote the following:
+
+/We cannot lie across a thousand willows and contemplate the sunrise./

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-40.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+Title: Authority
+Number: 40
+Date: 2011-05-12
+Geekiness: 0
+Topics: authority, philosophy
+
+The scribe asked the Java master: "Why do you have me
+record so many tales of students who require
+correction?"
+
+The master said: "So that a fool may read them, and
+realize that he is a fool."
+
+The scribe asked: "Does mere ignorance or error make one a fool?"
+
+The master said: "No.  The fool is the one who calls himself
+'master' and speaks with a semblance of authority.  His
+error begins when he opens his mouth, and multiplies when he
+closes it, leaving much unsaid."
+
+The scribe said: "Then would it not be wiser to say nothing,
+either to the student or to the scribe?"
+
+The master said: "Indeed, my very existence on your pages
+begins and ends in error.  If I had any wit I'd cast your book
+into the sea."
+
+The scribe said: "There is no book here, and no sea, and
+anyway you lack hands or a body to accomplish the task."
+
+The master said: "Then I am content."

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-41.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+Title: Garbage
+Number: 41
+Date: 2011-03-24
+Geekiness: 2
+Topics: comments, version control
+Names: Suku
+Illus.0.src: garbage.png
+Illus.0.title: It's probably for the best that it fades out below.
+
+Java master [[Suku]] was investigating the
+software of a distant temple.  On her monitor large swaths
+of text glowed not black but green, indicating that reams of
+code had been commented out.
+
+"Curious," said Suku.  "I have opened a fine clock, and
+discovered orange rinds and fish bones."
+
+The head monk explained that the inactive code was no longer
+necessary, yet he had ordered his clan to leave it in place:
+for if it someday became desirable to restore the logic then the
+code could simply be uncommented, rather than wastefully
+written from scratch.
+
+"Understandable," nodded Suku.
+
+The next day the monks assembled again for the Java master's
+inspection.  With concern they reported that the head monk
+could not be found.  Suku gestured up into the rafters where
+the missing monk dangled from a strong rope, by the neck.  A
+foul odor wafted downwards.
+
+"Your head monk's services are no longer necessary," said
+Suku.  "Yet let his corpse moulder above you from
+this day forward.  After all, his methods may someday become
+desirable again, and it would be wasteful to train another
+monk from scratch."
+
+In her final report, Suku noted a swift change in the clan's
+coding practices, and credited the good example set by the
+deceased head monk.  <i>We should consider his
+reinstatement,</i> she wrote.

data/data/the-codeless-code/en-qi/case-42.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+Title: Triggers
+Number: 42
+Geekiness: 3
+Date: 2011-05-18
+Topics: databases, triggers
+Names: Elephant's Footprint Clan
+Illus.0.par: 4
+Illus.0.src: triggers.jpg
+Illus.0.title: Count the toes.  And no, that ain't ketchup.
+Illus.0.align: center
+
+A monk of the [[Elephant's Footprint Clan]] asked, "What of
+database triggers?"
+
+The master answered, "When you are hungry at midnight,
+then you will know."
+
+The monk lay awake pondering this.  Eventually his clock
+read midnight, and since it had been many hours since
+supper the monk realized that he was in fact hungry.
+
+Leaving his sandals behind so as not to make noise, the monk
+stole softly down to the temple kitchens.  Through the
+blackness he felt his way inch by inch towards the humming
+of the great refrigerator.  His fingers had barely closed
+around its cold handle when he heard a loud /snap/ and his
+vision went white with pain.  The monk fell backwards,
+struck his head, and was lost to oblivion.
+
+He awoke at dawn with the monks of the Elephant's Footprint
+standing over him.  He still lay upon the kitchen floor --
+which, he could now see, was strewn with mousetraps.  He
+could also see that some of the Elephant's Footprint clan
+possessed mangled or missing toes.  At that moment the monk was
+enlightened.