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Jorgensen.org.uk

IE is stupid...

Friday, 20 February 2009 15:21 Karl E. Jørgensen
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Although I am a Linux system administrator/MySQL DBA by trade, I do have the misfortune of having to maintain a windows server as part of my job. This is not something I enjoy...

Today I was presented with this gem:

Basically the server was due an upgrade. Not unusual, it happens a couple of times a week. Being the thorough system admin, I decided to see what wonders Microsoft had now decided to release upon us. Not surprisingly, there was a security update an outdated bit of software we use: Exchange Server 2003...

I was curious, and followed the link to see what horrors this was claiming to fix. After all, security falls in my area here. Lo and behold: IE blocks such information!? Apparantly access to such information is deemed insecure? Surely, this will not deter anybody from finding out about how to exploit the security problem. But it might stop somebody from installing the fix...

Last Updated on Friday, 20 February 2009 16:25 Read more...
 

Common Application Errors

Thursday, 18 December 2008 22:49 Karl E. Jørgensen
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I have spent most of my professional life battling application bugs. Although I have undoubtedly introduced some, I have spent most of my time searching for, discovering, fixing and educating developers about such bugs.

It really comes down to one thing: experience. Or rather: lack of experience.

When developing software, it is possible to take "shortcuts" - places where you deliberately deviate from the established procedures and best practices for some purpose, with the full knowledge of the consequences. The problem is that some organisations are blissfully unaware of the consequences, and thus make such shortcuts far too frequently.

But some things simply have to be done properly.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 December 2008 10:59 Read more...
 

Making IT Reliable

Sunday, 19 October 2008 00:00 Karl E. Jørgensen
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Computers are reliable. After all they are the very epitomy of mathematical precision, cold logic and the result of more than 2000 years of science. They never sleep, get distracted, go on strike or deviate from their programming. Nice and predictable. As long as there are enough electrons to go about, the laws of physics and mathematics can be relied upon to keep the computers running.

Apart from the odd solar storm, power failures and worn out moving parts, the electrons keep going around, and physics and mathematics does the rest.

This often leads people to believe that IT as a whole should be equally solid and dependable. After all, physics and mathematics can be relied upon, right?

Unfortunately, this is not the whole picture.

Last Updated on Sunday, 19 October 2008 19:21 Read more...
 

Exception Non-Handling

Saturday, 13 December 2008 01:13 Karl E. Jørgensen
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Many programming languages nowadays have concept of Exception Handling: Constructs where the normal program flow is redirected based on signals or events. Generally, such contructs are intended to perform error handling rather than letting the program terminate abruptly.

Let's take an example in e.g. Java. Imagine that this code is part of a program that produces some popular report for the finance department: 

public void doSomething() {
    SomeObject so = new SomeObject();
    try {
        int  status;
        so.setSomething("foo","bar");
        status = so.someMethod("Hello World");
        if (status == SomeObject.OK) {
            String response = so.getResponseDetails();
            so.saveResponse(response);
        } 
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

For the untrained eye, this code looks correct.

But look again. Can you see why this piece of code is a undiscovered problem waiting to catch you out? 

Last Updated on Sunday, 22 March 2009 10:30 Read more...
 

Implied Knowledge

Saturday, 04 October 2008 19:30 Karl E. Jørgensen
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Often, the English language relies on implied knowledge. References to something unspoken, or words/phrases that are left out because it is assumed that the listeners know the reference. Often, this assumption is correct. But when it is not, the consequences can be at best baffling, and at worst aggravating and infuriating.

For some phrases the listener stands no chance of deriving the correct meaning:

Last Updated on Saturday, 04 October 2008 19:43 Read more...
 
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