mauney@ncsu.UUCP (You were expecting maybe Lou Harris?) (05/11/84)
[today's the day the little bugs have their picnic]
My thanks to all who answered the Usenet Bug-Killer Survey.
Sixty three people responded, which is pretty good.
The results:
Have you noticed the bug-killer lines?
63 yes, 0 no. total=63
Do you use them when posting articles?
20 yes, 40 no, don't post 3 total=63
Do you know what they are supposed to do?
60 yes, 3 no. total=63
Explain what they do.
52 right, 8 wrong. total=60
Do you think the bug is still present?
49 yes, 10 no, don't know 4 total=63
Do you think the lines should be retained after the bug is gone,
as a form of self-expression?
25 yes, 29 no, don't care 7 total=63
What is your favorite bug-killer?
Most respondents couldn't or didn't want to
remember any specific lines. (Those of you
who want to exercise your creativity might
notice how much effect you'll have.) The lines
mentioned most often are the religious sacrifice
and the Last Supper [eat of this, for it is my body].
Also popular are the bug-causer lines -- those that
are indented themselves, like the one at the top
of this article, or those that consist of a single
period ("."), which exercises another bug.
A Word About The Tabulation:
Most of the questions were yes/no, and thus easy to count, but
a couple were not. The main point of the survey was to find out
how many people understand the nature of the bug they are trying
to avoid. There was a considerable range of detail provided in
the answers to question four, with some people explaining not only
the external symptoms of the bug, but what the code was trying to
do when it dropped the first buffer full of text. (By the way, the
detailed descriptions sometimes contradicted each other). What I
was looking for when I sent out the survey was "how many people think
the bug deletes the first line?" Therefore, I counted as correct
all responses that said in effect "if the first line begins with
whitespace, the first X bytes are lost". (For example, the bug-
killer line that begins this article is indented, and should set
off the bug.)
Most of the respondents think the bug still lurks, some because they
have seen recent evidence, some because they don't believe a bug can
ever be eradicated on a net like this. Those who think the bug is
gone are, apparently, wrong.
Question six was hard to count because a lot of people didn't give
yes or no answers. Some pointed out that it doesn't matter what they
think, bug-lines will still be used for a long time. That's true,
but I asked what you think about the lines, not the users. Many people
said yes or no and then added that it didn't much matter to them.
Such answers were counted as yes, no, or don't-care depending on the
perceived strength of the response.
The decisions of the judge are final.
And for those of you who are missing the first part of this article,
including the results of the survey: Your machine or your neighbor's
machine still has the bug and you should jolly well get it fixed.
--
_Doctor_ Jon Mauney, mcnc!ncsu!mauney
\__Mu__/ North Carolina State University