Re: Array index nt valid -- RPG400-L

Having worked for a software vendor prior to my current position here with 
the City, I can see where your frustrations begin.  During my period there 
however, I did create a "couple" bugs that were pointed out by a "few" 
intelligent customers and I accepted them with great thanks.  However, my 
own experience with customers is that there are a few intelligent ones, 
but man were there ever a lot that should never step forth onto the 
iSeries.  Thus you have the reason some of them talk to you as a 2 yr old. 
 Unfortunate, but then again they should be smart enough to realize when 
an "intelligent" customer is calling them.  I've lumped them into two 
categories over the years.  Those customers that are programmers, and 
those that are wanna-bes.  Just to give an example, one client had an 
in-house modification to one of our billing programs that was very 
complicated to begin with.  On their own they added some "extra" billing 
code.  One day we get a call and look at their data and after a billing 
cycle about 1,000,000 of their records were corrupted.  Being assigned to 
the task of finding out what the he(( happened I began debugging our own 
code because no one mentioned anything about them having their own copy. 
Spent several hours trying various scenarios, etc, then I thought well 
maybe there's an old version of the pgm somewhere on the system and that's 
when I found this version in a library.  Upon calling the client and 
discussing what the pgm was doing there I found the problem.  A bug in 
their code.  Went to my management then and it became a billable problem 
because it was client generated.  Next thing I know I'm involved in a 
battle between client and company.  Not pretty.  In the end it took me 
about 3 full days to find the problem, write a fix pgm, correct the data 
and then correctly write their pgm.  Never trusted that client again when 
they called in with an issue.  Always checked that library for their 
mistakes and I have to say out of all their support calls about 75% were 
client generated.  Anyway, I'm sure that's not the case here, but wanted 
to give you some insight from a "been there did that" type of perspective. 
 But like I said, you can usually tell the good from the bad in the first 
5 minutes of talking to them, and I'm pretty sure you are one of the good 
ones :)

Thanks,

Ron Power
Programmer
Information Services
City Of St. John's, NL
P.O. Box 908
St. John's, NL
A1C 5M2
Tel: 709-576-8132
Email: rpower@xxxxxxxxxx
Website: http://www.stjohns.ca/
___________________________________________________________________________
Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm. - 
Sir Winston Churchill




Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent by: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
04/08/2004 04:09 PM
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RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>


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Re: Array index nt valid






Hi Buck,

> It remains my opinion that when a program falls over with an array
> index error, then there is a problem with the program.  Even if the
> input file has no records.  As a consumer, I would never, ever accept
> such a program into production

I've researched many software packages, and for some odd reason, none of
them say "Warning! Do not buy this software, it has array index errors in
it!" in their product's sales information.  Yet, after purchasing them,
I've found that some of them do have this error.

Since I've already paid for the software, management doesn't usually think
it's acceptable to throw it away and buy something else.  They seem to
think that if I can work around the problem, I should.

How do you convince them otherwise?  Or better yet, how do you convince
the software manufacturer to put "Warning! My code sucks!" in their
product literature?

Also, there are occasional times when I don't notice every bug in a piece
of software that I bought.  Some of them crop up AFTER I've put it into
production.

How do you ensure that this doesn't happen?

Also, sometimes the software does something that solves a business
problem, and does that admirably and economically.  But then, there's this
one bug that I have to work around.  Perhaps alternative software does not
solve the business problem as well, or perhaps not as economically.

Is it realistic to expect me to dump the software just to avoid working
around a bug?


> and as a programmer, I would feel ashamed to let one like that out of
> the test environment

On that, I agree with you.


> If this is working as designed, then have the author document that an
> array index error is the expected output, and what to do when it
> occurs.  Get that in writing, and then give that note to your
> management, who can then decide if the author should be paid for his
> 'work' or not.

If I go to a software vendor and tell them that I've encountered an error,
the first thing they do is talk to me like a 2 year old.  After maybe a
day of going back & forth with their tech support, they'll tell me how to
write my program so that I won't get the error.  They sure as hell won't
put "It's my fault" in writing so that I can give it to my management.

If they do, what will my management say?  They'll tell me to work around
the problem.  Do you seriously think my management understands that they
shouldn't produce this error?  Especially if the vendor has provided me
with specific instructions to solve the problem by changing my own
program?

I just hate buying software from vendors.  It never works as well as my
own programs do.  You never get good support or service.  It's always
overpriced.  You never know what you're getting into until you've bought
it and are stuck with it.

I hate computers.

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