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Re: Development at the speed of thought.

by cjf (Parson)
on Jun 07, 2002 at 14:49 UTC ( [id://172549]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Development at the speed of thought.

I had to exercise due diligence to design and implement the code right as it had to run for at least a full-week non-stop to complete the job.

An entire week? That doesn't sound right. Are you sure Perl was the best choice for the job? Could an extra couple hours of optimizing have saved a couple days of execution time?

Is it reasonable to turn away such requests or pursue them with vigor?

Just make sure they know the disadvantages. Security, reliability, maintainability, and many other things are reduced by rushed development. Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's not.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Development at the speed of thought.
by vladb (Vicar) on Jun 07, 2002 at 14:55 UTC
    Unfortunately no, there are factors outside of the script that come into play. Althought, I can't disclose a lot about the particular project, but the script 'analyzes' certain websites and indexes data in the database (in a dozen specially designed tables).

    I agree with you on that rapid development may leave a number of holes uncovered. Althought, this being a 'throw-away' script (ment to run once and may be easily discarded once the job is done), any possibility of a break in security etc. is minimized ;). However, I too feel somewhat uneasy whenever I have to do a job like that ;/.

    _____________________
    $"=q;grep;;$,=q"grep";for(`find . -name ".saves*~"`){s;$/;;;/(.*-(\d+) +-.*)$/; $_=["ps -e -o pid | "," $2 | "," -v "," "];`@$_`?{print"+ $1"}:{print" +- $1"}&&`rm $1`; print$\;}
      Althought, this being a 'throw-away' script

      In my experience there's no such thing as a throw-away script. They always find a way to stick around until long after they were supposed to be discarded. A little extra planning and testing can save you a lot of time down the road (consider why you use strict).

      any possibility of a break in security etc. is minimized

      A security policy requiring basic security practices for all scripts should be followed even when deadlines are rushed. Placing a CGI script online without basic measures like taint checking (yes, that's an oversimplification, I know) should not be allowed to happen. Security is a tradeoff, but basic checks are almost always worth it.

      Althought, this being a 'throw-away' script (ment to run once and may be easily discarded once the job is done)

      ROTFLMAO :-) Please, Please, Please return to this thread and follow up when management inevitably asks you to add to, modify, or otherwise maintain this "throw-away" script. I'll be conservative and bet on 3 months or less, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened before the first week-long run is even over :-)

        I'd be surprised if it made it to the point of completion.

        "Yeah, he's going to do it for me."

        "That's great! I wonder if he can add on a little whirlygig that flubbers my mareseedotes."

        "Why not? He's very helpful,"

        And once more into the breach, dear friends, once more!

        ()-()
         \"/
          `                                                     
        

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