March 23rd, 2016

Don’t be helpless: You can find information too, if you try (episode 3)

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Sometimes the information you receive regarding the location of a document or other resource is not perfectly correct.

I put the script on \\scratch\temp\bob\widgetstuff\enable­widgets.cmd.

But then you look, and oh no it’s not there!

Don’t give up yet.

Look around you.

Maybe the script is in a nearby directory. Maybe Bob misspelled the path or file name.

Got it, thanks. It was actually in a scripts subdirectory, but I was extra smart and figured that out for myself! I deserve a cookie.

I have been known to give information that is intentionally ever-so-slightly incorrect in an obvious way (like misspelling a function name or providing the wrong number of parameters), so that the person receiving the information will be forced to look around.

Category
Old New Thing
Topics
Other

Author

Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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