Back east, years ago, I worked in MS FoxPro support. A certain degree of cynicism, possible genetic, led me to write an article called “The Devil’s FoxPro Dictionary” with some “definitions”. Like most of the junk I wrote then, I can’t find a trace of it anywhere anymore. AI apparently grabbed some of it from somewhere, I know not where. Excerpts:
Beta Test: A programming practice designed to let the customer find the bugs that the developer didn’t have time to create.
Bug: A feature that has not yet been documented, or alternatively, a design element that works exactly as intended by the programmer but completely at odds with what the user expected.
Documentation: The mythical prose that explains how a system was supposed to work, usually written six months after the project has been completely rewritten.
FoxPro Developer: An individual who firmly believes that any problem in the universe can be solved with a properly placed BROWSE window or a meticulously constructed .dbf file.
Rushmore Optimization: A highly sophisticated proprietary technology that speeds up queries to an incredible velocity, right up until the moment a single structural index is missing.
Upgrade: A commercial process where old, familiar bugs are replaced with brand new, exciting bugs that require a faster processor and more memory.
Not sure what I was aiming for, maybe like the review of Tom Lehrer that said it was “more desperate than amusing”.
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