Sunday, December 13, 2009

Ctrl-Z

There are a few common things any person using computers knows. Cut & Paste and Ctrl-Z & Ctrl-Y. We use it without even thinking twice, especially the Cut & Paste.

Ask a teacher about assignments submitted by students - there is so much that is Cut & Paste from the net, that sometimes even links like 'Back', 'Next' are part of the assignment. It is what can be called a necessary devil. We can't do without it, but still, it annoys us when we can decipher where it has been used.

So is Ctrl-Z. Coding, coding, I came to a point, where I couldn't pinpoint what I had done to introduce a bug to an otherwise perfectly working software. After trying a lot of reasoning, I decided against my better judgement to use Ctrl-Z. My previous usage of Ctrl-Z was disastrous and hence, had decided to use Ctrl-Z as a last option, when left with nothing.

So, I did it, like when you play solitaire or free cell and come to a point when it says "No more moves". After a number of Ctrl-Z, when it felt confident that a point of no errors was reached, the decision was made to stop. For with so many Ctrl-Zs I had no idea by then what I had changed, given my limited RAM(that's my brain) and no linked-list technology to remember the string of changes with its implications. Confidently saved, and when I did execute, it was a point so far away from where I was actually, that I thanked the creators for having the foresight to create a Ctrl-Y, for cases like mine.

So, finally am back to square one with a promise once again to myself that I will not use Ctrl-Z. Except of course, for solitaires and free cell. Definitely, not for code.

3 comments:

Kam said...

OMG! God missed this one.

'Ctrl-Z.'
Hence, we can't undo events that occur in our lives.

And to add to this -
The narration is so funny madam.
I had to read the third paragraph more than once, for another laugh.

Anonymous said...

ha! I am SO with you on this one! I use it waaaay too much in photoshop and after much teeth grinding, go away and cook noodles to try forget about the disaster brewing on my computer. I never finish things!
Its been a few days since you posted this, hows it been, is it hard? Like stopping smoking?
Good luck, stick to it!

Sapna said...

Well, I'm sticking to my promise and intend to. No point getting stuck in a cobweb. :)