Re: Debugging Perl over the phone

I'm also curious: have any of you Monks had similar experiences? How did you handle them?

I've done over-the-phone debugging, but only with code that I was familiar with. It really gets fun when you're talking with someone is has an exaggerated sense of their own competence.

Me: First, type <string of chars> return
(Pause, listen to the sound of too many keyclicks)
Him: Nothing happened.
Me: That's odd. What, exactly, did you type?
Him: <string of chars> return
Me: Uh, how many keystrokes in "return"?
Him: six
(Bang head on table)

PDP-10/TOPS-10 folks might recall that it was possible to patch the running operating system. Try that over the phone.

Comment on Re: Debugging Perl over the phone

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Re: Re: Debugging Perl over the phone by converter (Priest) on May 01, 2002 at 20:44 UTC
This was why I developed the habit of telling customers: "now press the enter key" or "...press the spacebar".	[reply]
Re: Re: Debugging Perl over the phone by Anonymous Monk on May 02, 2002 at 14:34 UTC
It really gets fun when you're talking with someone is has an exaggerated sense of their own competence. If you read what you wrote you sure can get the impression that it is you whose got the exagerated sense of your own competence. C'mon why did ya say type return when you shoulda said press enter?	[reply]