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Subject:RE: Designing a new help system -- Oh boy! ...ugh From:"Murrell, Thomas" <TMurrell -at- alldata -dot- net> To:TECHWR-L <TECHWR-L -at- LISTS -dot- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>, "'Jim Shaeffer'" <jims -at- spsi -dot- com> Date:Thu, 2 Dec 1999 14:08:51 -0500
Jim Shaeffer writes, in part:
> Of course, I work in an environment where the phrase 'code freeze' elicits
> nothing but laughter. That may color my thinking.
> Jim Shaeffer
> Jims -at- spsi -dot- com
>
Jim, it took me a long time to realize that it is very difficult, in any
environment, to get code to freeze. Certainly, code does not freeze at room
temperature, nor does it freeze at zero in either the Celsius or Fahrenheit
scales. Perhaps code will freeze at zero degrees Kelvin, but I know of no
other condition in which code freezes, process diagrams to the contrary
notwithstanding.
Code does, however, petrify. Petrifaction seems to occur several years
after the code has been totally replaced by a new system, product, or
feature enhancement. (Of course, by then no one cares about the
documentation, either.)
