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Reliable tech, tfurrows (grex.org), 5/7/2018
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I just authored a long phlog post over at grex on a
philosophical subject. I was using nano, a reliable tool. At
the end of my writing, I hit ctrl-t to run my custom script
that checks spelling and formats my post. My script returned
a blank screen for me, which I could not undo.
Save early, save often.
It appears that, with some recent change on the system, the
"par" utility was no longer working as expected. My script
was poorly written and did not account for the possibility.
Instead, it returned and cheerfully used nothing. In case
you've never written anything, I'll tell you that the last
thing you want to happen to something you've written is to
have it erased unceremoniously.
You live and you learn. Hopefully.
In any case, this small event in my day caused me to think:
how important is reliability in technology? Certainly, if my
computer "ate" things that I wrote on a regular basis, I
would purchase a typewriter. It's too expensive, in terms of
time and energy, to create things only to have them lost
forever.
Technology must be reliable. Users must be smarter than they
are. If any of this mess of wires and traces and silicon and
plastic is of any worth, it must work predictably. I know
it's my fault this time, on multiple levels. I've had
situations where the randomness of the universe caused me
grief, but none where I could not have mitigated it with
better planning. It's generally- always- my fault.
