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I'm an engineer. Unless it's a piece of software (which no longer comes with a manual in any case), I read the manual. The end result is that appliances I buy work out of the box and assemble it yourself furniture goes together without too much cursing. Best of all, Her Nibs is satisfied with whatever ridiculous whatsit she bought and I'm not the one creating a bad experience for her.
I've probably lost a slew of engineering-grade manpoints with this admission, but you know something... I don't give a flying ![Elephant | [mastadon]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/elephant.gif) .
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary R. Wheeler wrote: I've probably lost a slew of engineering-grade manpoints with this admission, but you know something... I don't give a flying [mastadon] .
 +1
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Herself does have something going for her! 
Then, regarding Christmas music: I am not one to get ecstatic over a music box playing Jingle Bells. Here in Norway, we have a 24/7 jazz channel: The last week, about half of the music is "music box style" jazzifications of every traditional Christmas tune, from Jingle Bells to medieval Maria songs. Some of it makes me shudder. It is just so ... primitive! Exploitative. Disrespectful. There are no non-commercial reasons for playing the music this way!
So I switch off the jazz channel, and rather dig up some of my CDs with the groups playing medieval Maria songs in the medieval style. Or that CD with "Cypriot Advent Antiphons".
My new Christmas record this year is a Latin American one - Dino Saluzzi: Navidad de los Andes. If you have a broad-minded musical sense, you may call Saluzzi's music 'Latin jazz' (it is published on ECM!), but I never heard it on the jazz channel. In any case: His Andes style Christmas music is far more satisfying for me than a syncopated version of Jingle Bells!
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When all else fails read the instructions. Been my motto forever and yes it has caused frustration.
I'm not sure how many cookies it makes to be happy, but so far it's not 27.
JaxCoder.com
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Agree.
But then: Today, I often wonder what kind of people write these manuals. In my files is a comic of a person lying weeping over the psychiatrists desk, who comforts him: "Don't worry! Even though you are now diagnosed as a dyslectic, you don't have to give up writing! You can still make a great career in writing computer handbooks!"
It is not only about spelling and choice of words, but maybe more about organizing the information in suitable ways, keeping irrelevant stuff away, and above all: Keeping it terse! Maybe your boss pays you by the page, but the user doesn't! And: Remember that user already has bought your product! There is no need to remind him in every second sentence how great this stuff is, that its functions are state-of-the-art, and so on. For software things: The user doesn't give a dumb that the software is written in Python and is open source! All he cares for is how to make it work to solve his problems!
I have written a fair share of software manuals, although many years ago: In those days, people paid for the manuals. So we had to give them what they paid for - what they needed. We couldn't sell them advertising material, neither for the software nor for a develop environment or software-political agenda (such as FOSS). What the user didn't need to perform his tasks, were left out.
When I see today's software documentation, ranging from online "documentation" written under the assumption that you have read the source code, to those 1500 page printed monoliths - I usually wish that I had access to the source code so I could delete all the crap. And add explanations / links for all those tribal language terms. And reorganize the stuff so that you do not have to read through five hundred pages to make sense of those ten lines that solves your problem.
To some degree I will excuse those who do not read manuals today. To a significant degree, the manuals have themselves to blame.
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Seems like they're just thrown together with not much thought.
And then there's the manuals, if they provide one that the Chinese distribute with there stuff. Arg
I'm not sure how many cookies it makes to be happy, but so far it's not 27.
JaxCoder.com
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Isn't that how it works though? It takes some real cleverness to get that absolute tunnel vision stupidity. 
Real programmers use butterflies
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Not as bad as when I accidentally (and unknowingly) unplug the keyboard ...
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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Cp-Coder wrote: I am an engineer, I shouldn't have to read manuals
Saying instead of thinking is where you failed.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger
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It's kind of a weird syntax and it's giving me fits, but i have fantastic idea
I implemented a pull parser for JSON on arduino. It lets you parse really big streams a tiny bit at a time, so the machine can do it. The downside is they can be difficult to use.
JSONPath is a query language for JSON.
I want to make a JSONPath to C++ code generator that will generate code statements to use my pull parser to perform the JSONPath query.
That way I don't need a JSONPath interpreter running on the tiny device. I just need the small/fast pull parser.
If i can pull this off it's a huge win and almost makes in memory JSON trees obsolete on this platform.
Real programmers use butterflies
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No! No! His shoe is the only True Path!
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So you're saying you've learned about C++, trees, parsers, lexers, Arduino, MIDI, and who knows what else, but you're throwing in the towel when it comes to JSONPath?
On the other hand, you never mastered if-statements either
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Real programmers use butterflies
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if (JSONPath)
SanderBeSnarky();
ContinueOnDailyChores();
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The path to enlightenment is through JSONPath?
Who would have thought.
Good luck grasshopper.
I'm not sure how many cookies it makes to be happy, but so far it's not 27.
JaxCoder.com
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I may end up going a different direction due to the inherent backtracking capability of JSONPath not being possible in a pull parser.
I will say this - generating C++ from JSONPath that uses a pull parser, even for the expressions it *can* do is hard.
So the direction I'm taking is to enhance my pull parser's intrinsic query capabilities that, while not JSONPath based, make it easier.
Then I will provide examples of JSONPath and pull parser code equivs. For now.
Real programmers use butterflies
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It's called "Schrodinger's Cat Litter Box".
If you don't observe it, you don't have to change it ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Trouble will arise when the stench gets out of the box, then you KNOW there is a poop in there.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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Unfortunately the cat still observes it, thus collapsing the quantum state into various poop states.
Hmmm, I think I just discovered a flaw in Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment. The cat observes itself - it observes itself to be alive, or it doesn't observe itself at all.
Which adds a metaphysical complexity - if dead, does it not observe itself, or does it observe itself as being dead?
And another complexity - is that cat sufficiently self-conscious to even be able to observe itself? Does observing a quantum state require a certain level of consciousness?
I think I'll go back to bed now. 
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Marc Clifton wrote: is that cat sufficiently self-conscious to even be able to observe itself?
Have you ever even met a cat?
After four decades of being clients of and staff to several cats, I can safely assert that cats have more self-density (self awareness per pound body weight) than any other living creature.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Marc Clifton wrote: Unfortunately the cat still observes it, thus collapsing the quantum state into various poop states.
Huh?
Oh I see, you're talking about Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia.
I'm retired. There's a nap for that...
- Harvey
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Let us say that you wrote an app, that happens to contain ads, for Android or some other OS. Also, you are the sole developer and tend to take a little longer that you thought you would for updates or adding new features. Some of the users get impatient on waiting for you to update, and decompiles your app to make their own changes to it, thus removing said ads and possibly breaking the app in unknown ways. They also decide to share their version with others. What would you do? Would you slap a lawsuit on them or just let them do it? Keep in mind, this is not an Open Source app.
CLWPROGRAMMER
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First, why would you write an app containing ads ?
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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Presumably to annoy people into paying. See Yahoo! Mail. 
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