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From: Tad McClellan on 5 Mar 2010 17:27
Justin C <justin.1003(a)purestblue.com> wrote:
> In article <slrnhp0762.k17.tadmc(a)tadbox.sbcglobal.net>, Tad McClellan wrote:
>> Don Pich <dpich(a)polartel.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Desired output:
>>>
>>> convert the IP into a quad hex form.
>>
>>
>> print "convert the IP into a quad hex form.\n";
>>
>>
>> Done!
>
> Man you can be obtuse sometimes! :)


But in this case, I was being the opposite of obtuse!

We were given a specification to implement, I was clever enough to
see a ridiculously simple way to meet the specification.

A dullard would have done a bunch of bit twiddling/converting, and
when finished, would not have met the (actual) specification!

(though I admit they would have met the implied specification.
My point is that an implied specification is, well, unspecified.
)

Had Don said that in prose, eg:

the desired output is to convert the IP into a quad hex form.

then its meaning would have been clear,
but he labeled it "Desired output:" which to most folks means an
example of the desired output follows, such as:

Desired output:
0a1497fa
0a1497f8
0a1491fc


That is, rather than tell Don his spec was too loose, I instead
showed him that it was. :-)


--
Tad McClellan
email: perl -le "print scalar reverse qq/moc.liamg\100cm.j.dat/"
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.
From: Ted Zlatanov on 8 Mar 2010 09:22
On Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:52:54 -0600 Tad McClellan <tadmc(a)seesig.invalid> wrote:

TM> Don Pich <dpich(a)polartel.com> wrote:
>> Desired output:
>>
>> convert the IP into a quad hex form.

TM> print "convert the IP into a quad hex form.\n";

So what do we call these answers? "quinine pills" (pun on "quine")?

I've seen a few and they're definitely their own brand of humor, so we
may as well label it.

Ted
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