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When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...

by technojosh (Priest)
on Aug 27, 2007 at 23:14 UTC ( [id://635444]=poll: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

Vote on this poll

turn and talk to somebody else
[bar] 36/10%
get nervous and hide the laptop
[bar] 6/2%
become intrigued
[bar] 4/1%
fall asleep
[bar] 32/9%
ask how to get a job
[bar] 1/0%
ask if I can automate their job
[bar] 11/3%
run away screaming
[bar] 19/5%
change the subject
[bar] 39/10%
call me a geek
[bar] 39/10%
ask me whether I can also program
[bar] 32/9%
mention a previous weird computer problem of theirs, then look at me expectantly
[bar] 156/42%
375 total votes
Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by arden (Curate) on Aug 28, 2007 at 01:37 UTC
    My wife starts reciting cookie recipes. My favorite is oatmeal chocolate chip!
      Hello,

      Have you considered telling her about CGI::Cookie ?
      Regards,
      Smaug.
      Peddle faster monkeys!! I need more power!!
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by swampyankee (Parson) on Aug 28, 2007 at 02:59 UTC

    Change the subject. Or fall asleep. Or run screaming. The combination of the last two is especially amusing.

    Of course people either run screaming or change the subject when I talk about anything. I feel like I should carry around a small box of random creatures with too many legs so that "run screaming" is less detrimental to my morale.


    emc

    Information about American English usage here and here.

    Any New York City or Connecticut area jobs? I'm currently unemployed.

      Change the subject. Or fall asleep. Or run screaming. The combination of the last two is especially amusing.

      You should try to teach them about xor.

        You should try to teach them about xor.

        That's how I found out.


        emc

        Information about American English usage here and here.

        Any New York City or Connecticut area jobs? I'm currently unemployed.

Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by cdarke (Prior) on Aug 29, 2007 at 09:43 UTC
    "Fall asleep" is the nearest, but I actually get the Nookie bear look. Nookie bear is a puppet with wide staring eyes and no intelligence whatsoever.
    I sometimes get that when I'm teaching - I wonder why?
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by Smaug (Pilgrim) on Aug 28, 2007 at 07:42 UTC
    Hello,

    Mostly I get, "Is that like a simple version of programming? My little brother does that too."
    Regards,
    Smaug.
    Peddle faster monkeys!! I need more power!!
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by zerogeek (Monk) on Aug 28, 2007 at 11:54 UTC
    In all reality... who is lucky enough to have family that they can talk to about computers? I am lucky if any of my COWORKERS can talk to me about this stuff!

    I need to get back to my local perl mongers meetings :)

      Amen. This is what really hurts. I have to work together with mostly scripting agnostic coworkers. Many of them resist any attempts to be educated towards scripting or even use my scripts. You simply get no fame from them.
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by mk. (Friar) on Aug 28, 2007 at 18:13 UTC
    mention a previous weird computer problem of theirs, then look at me expectantly

    that's so me and my husband talking about our day at work during dinner...

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    *women.pm
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by loris (Hermit) on Aug 30, 2007 at 08:26 UTC

    Family? Friends?

    $ perldoc -q family No documentation for perl FAQ keyword `family' found
    $ perldoc -q friend No documentation for perl FAQ keyword `friend' found

    ???

    loris


    "It took Loris ten minutes to eat a satsuma . . . twenty minutes to get from one end of his branch to the other . . . and an hour to scratch his bottom. But Slow Loris didn't care. He had a secret . . ." (from "Slow Loris" by Alexis Deacon)

      I wonder how many people actually tried to run these to make sure you're not kidding. I mean ... there could be something about, say, a family of processes in the FAQ ;-)

        Well, including me that's at least two of us ;-)

        Thanks,

        loris


        "It took Loris ten minutes to eat a satsuma . . . twenty minutes to get from one end of his branch to the other . . . and an hour to scratch his bottom. But Slow Loris didn't care. He had a secret . . ." (from "Slow Loris" by Alexis Deacon)
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by tbone1 (Monsignor) on Aug 28, 2007 at 12:34 UTC
    I don't discuss it with them anymore. It's just not worth it, really. My friends are very non-technical, by and large, and ten seconds into any such talk, I get the MEGO stare (My Eyes Glaze Over).

    --
    tbone1, YAPS (Yet Another Perl Schlub)
    And remember, if he succeeds, so what.
    - Chick McGee

Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by Gavin (Archbishop) on Aug 28, 2007 at 10:53 UTC
    Think I...... "Illuminate Manuscripts"

      Please, which is the Perl module you use to do that? I've been searching one for a long time but CPAN searches do not turn out to be lucky... Any example usage, too?

        Now that would be the ideal gift for the Monk who has everything!
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by Moriarty (Abbot) on Aug 28, 2007 at 04:22 UTC

    I seem to get asked to fix a lot of computer problems.

      I had that problem too, when it started to get annoying, I would just boot up a copy of Knoppix on their computer and tell them their problems were solved. Eventually, people started leaving me alone ;)
      So do I, so I finally got smart and installed some VPNs so I could fix the problems from home. That and I tell people, especially my parents, "If something isn't working, don't try everything you can think of to fix it because it makes more work for me."

      Sometimes that even works. :)


      Revolution. Today, 3 O'Clock. Meet behind the monkey bars.

      I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code

        I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code

        Of course not, they lost the source code eons ago, now changes must be implemented in binary.

        Enjoy!
        Dageek

Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by tubaandy (Deacon) on Aug 28, 2007 at 14:03 UTC
    My sons are intrigued by scripting, I taught one of my sons the Hello World script during a "Bring your child to work day". He thought it was cool (he was 10 at the time).

    Usually, I get the obscure computer problem response. However, I work with several people who are either perl or tcl scripters. The discussion usually results in a spirited conversation about which is better, perl or tcl. Or python, or pomegranate juice, or whatever turns you on. ;)

    tubaandy
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by blue_cowdawg (Monsignor) on Aug 29, 2007 at 20:13 UTC

    Most of my friends are non-computer folks. If I said scripting to them they'd think I was writing a movie.


    Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional
    Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by mmmmtmmmm (Monk) on Aug 28, 2007 at 07:37 UTC
    They generally want nothing to do with any of it.
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by starX (Chaplain) on Aug 28, 2007 at 17:03 UTC
    Generally they call me a geek, and then I correct them; letting them know that I am, in fact, a nerd :)
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by Aim9b (Monk) on Aug 29, 2007 at 19:25 UTC
    I usually get the smile & the nodding like "It's OK, the men in the white coats are on their way. It won't be long now, before you're in that happy place."
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by nimdokk (Vicar) on Aug 28, 2007 at 12:32 UTC
    I make a point of not mentioning it to family - unless I want to hear all about the finer aspects of corporate law (my cousin is a lawyer) or veterinary medecine (another cousin is a vet) or model horses (my so is into model horses).
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by marto (Cardinal) on Aug 28, 2007 at 08:33 UTC
    Take notes and offer me a drink.

      Is it always like that in Alba? It makes me want to move there... (A pint of Slalom strong for me please!)

Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by Muggins (Pilgrim) on Sep 04, 2007 at 10:49 UTC
    Close to the knuckle this...

    A friend of mine (a java coder) once expressed the certainty that his wife (who worked in politics, not programming, it needs to be said) would have no trouble putting together a java-based web application, after much enthusiastic wittering on his part.

    To my horror, I now realise my partner (a historian) could probably at least put together a regular expression or two - though if I said "use a negative lookbehind", she might wonder what exactly I meant....

    Why do we do it..?

Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by jesuashok (Curate) on Aug 28, 2007 at 08:33 UTC
    they think that I am a workaholic
Re: When I discuss scripting with family/friends, they...
by DrHyde (Prior) on Sep 03, 2007 at 10:06 UTC
    Yeah, people ask me for help with their toy boxes. Which is just fine. The solution is always either easy (if they're using a Mac) or "I'd be delighted to help, let me just grab my laptop and we can order you a Mac from the Apple website".
        That may well be true. However, because Linux sucks so hard for things like video, sound, printing, syncing your ipod, and all the other things that real users want to do with their desktops, it is not something that I care to support. And support it I must, because I'll have chosen it for them precisely because I can support it but not Windows.
          A reply falls below the community's threshold of quality. You may see it by logging in.

      What? They still sell computers? I thought they went all iPod (overpriced, overhyped "cool" MP3 player) and iPhone (dto).

      I've been hearing this hype for like 15 years. And always found that it's kinda true. It kinda works (Open dialog is SYSTEM MODAL? In like 1997? What?) except when it doesn't. And then it doesn't. Fullstop. Order a new one.

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