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I've put together a simple website for this non-profit[^], and one of the features is to search for participants. The search is very simple -- type in any part of the participant's first or last name, and a list of matches is displayed on the right from which to pick.
My client said it wasn't working. I showed her it was working, and then I asked her to do what she was doing before. Meantime, I was watching the console trace.
To my amusement, I noticed she was typing in the entire name, like "Marc Clifton" (no, I'm not a black breastfeeding mom -- see link if that's a WTF for you.)
First off, I had a bug -- I wasn't parsing the parameter correctly, so it was trying to find "Marc%20Clifton" My bad -- if I was using a commercial server, instead of having rolled my own, this probably wouldn't have happened.
But the other problem is that she was typing in the whole name. So now my search algorithm handles:
"M" (any case, that was working already) as a fragment in the first and last name fields
"Marc Clifton" - searches specifically for first name like "Marc" and last name like "Clifton"
"Clifton, Marc" - same as above.
So you can also enter in things like: "M C" or "C, M" and it'll work too.
Moral of the story is -- you figure the user shares some common context of how a "Search" button works, only to realize that that is not the situation, and I coded something as simple as search for my contextual understanding of how search works, not theirs!
Gads. Even a simple search isn't simple.
Marc
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Yes, this is a nice illustration for the "common grounding" idea and how much we need it to make our software users happy ...
Regards,
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I'm curious if this is a personal project or something your company does?
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This was a project "my company" does - as in, as a consultant. I had been doing some Ruby on Rails work  for Health Connect One, and the BMBFA folks, who are loosely connected, were interested in a website to track contact information for their moms. So they contacted me to see if I was interested. I originally considered using RoR, since a lot of the framework was already written and I could re-use it, but realized, every time I look at RoR I get  and I really wanted to use modern tools like jQuery, Bootstrap, and jqWidgets. I ended up rolling my own SPA, Javascript-based view layout engine, and data binding, as I took the opportunity to understand better why (and why not) to use existing frameworks like Backbone, Angular, Knockout, et al, which I'd only had minor experience with and didn't really like any of them.
I also charged them 1/4 of what it really cost, mainly because 1) of their budget constraints, 2) I really wanted to do a "real" website, 3) and I also do a variety of pro bono and reduced cost work for projects that are trying to do good in the world, as compared to my main income, writing ATM and cage software for casinos.
Probably a longer answer than you wanted.
Marc
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Good read, especially on the 1/4 cost reasons and pro bono work. I was just curious because all I've ever worked on are government contracts and never real world everyday your-kind-of applications.
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Hi All,
Standard bank holiday in the UK parents have several items that are bound for the tip, Kenwood food blender from the early '60s, simple repair to mains cable using solder and some heat shrink & insulting tape. Fridge is filling up with water, find drain and stick a bottle brush down it, cleared. Telephone not ringing long enough, find manual on BT web site change number rings to give more time. What can they break next? 
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glennPattonInThePUB wrote: What can they break next?
Computers.
It's always computers... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Stangely they haven't since Windows 10 installed, they hid from 8, 10 gets the "Well it's more sensible than that thing you had before, I don't see why they have to change everything when you get used to how it works". My Mum had a thing where Win 3 was what everyone used so its the best (read thats what they used in the office) and hated Win 95 to 2000 as it was different, when she started to use my PC more when she retired (it had XP at this time) she was happy with it, then that PC died and I got 8 (fail!) updated to 10 not broken it, I mean I have only killed it once (win update). 
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Never say that - there are still eleven and a half hours of the bank holiday to go!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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In 2001, the color for unity was white. In 2002, the color for God's separation was orange. In 2003, the color for the Justice of God the Holy Spirit was violet. In 2004, the color for weakness in capacity for life was yellow. In 2005, the color for Grace will be white/yellow. In 2006, the color for man is red, for sin. In 2007, the color depends on the category. A category of blessing would be a different color from a category of punishment.
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Oh OK 
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D'ya think he knows it's not 2007 any more? 
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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ORT, I suspect...and back on the Blue Ice... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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What's the color for the sandwich I'm having for lunch today?
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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If you were having in the spirit that one communicated first through the one who had smiling vaguely, strangely knowing secondly succumbed to closing the first one in process you were not in a position thirdly to have being one in the same with it all along.
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And just to clarify, the covenant is between one promise and another, not enacted by a third party, there is no "union" to represent man before Christ only man -> Christ -> the Father
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So there is no color for the sandwich I'm having for lunch?
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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What happens when you cross the Red and Yellow wires?
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You get YELLED at (see what I did there?)!
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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Nothing, the colour indicates the wire has cladding, which insulates it
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omg, and I was told _I_ had no sense of humor...
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The colour of Heroin is brown...but i guess you already know that.
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his sandwich will be brown too, after a day
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Hello all,
I'm thinking on getting a docking station.
I've seen two tendencies and I can see advantages in both:
- Normal docking station that connects to the laptop using a special dedicated connector placed at the bottom of the same laptop.
- As advantages I can see that:
- It seems to power the laptop after plugging it to the docking station (even I have not been able to confirm that in the manufacturer site (lenovo)).
- It is easy to plug and it doesn't occupy more space than the one the laptop takes.
- It should work flawlessly without drawbacks as no software is involved (therefore no versions affecting the performance...)
- As disadvantages I can see that:
- It is laptop model dependant, therefore after changing the laptop there is no guarantee it will keep working.
- USB docking station that connects through the USB 3.0 port.
- As advantages I can see that:
- It will keep working after changing the laptop.
- As disadvantages I can see that:
- It doesn't power the latop.
- Software issues from time to time.
- It consumes some processor power to show video at the other displays.
Both devices cost more or less 300€ which is not a small amount...
I'm using two DVI external displays.
All this said...
Which would be your choice?
Any recommendation?
Any experience that is worth sharing?
Thank you all! 
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Joan Murt wrote: Which would be your choice?
A desktop. 
Joan Murt wrote: Any recommendation?
Get a desktop. 
Joan Murt wrote: Any experience that is worth sharing?
Upgrading a desktop is easy... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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