Why Is My Computer Acting Like a Two-Year-Old?

I’m thinking back to the early years of modern computers, when just getting your punch cards to load was a feat. Slaving away at a keyboard for hours just to place open chads on cards with one hopeful goal of “getting it to work the first time” was a programmer's dream, or nightmare. 

Today the designing of software is easier with RAD (Rapid Application Development) programming languages, but while the punch cards are gone, we still have that same question of whether it will work the first time. These new programming languages allow developers to get to final deployment solutions faster than ever before, and save huge money and time.

The issue for all programs is getting it right the first time without the need for patches. Patching software is never a fun event because it always opens the door to more issues. Let us talk about Windows and Apple IOS for examples. These operating systems (OS) contain millions of lines of code, all working together trouble-free daily for the most part. To the end user, things typical run smoothly, but when you have hundreds of programmers working on the project, well, things can go wrong.

Having worked on OS development, I can without a doubt say this is really getting many minds to work as one. One huge issue is some programmers take short cuts, or vendors like video, printer or other programs used daily don’t follow the same required use of API’s (Application Programming Interface) set by the OS development staff.

When you try and work around an issue with a shortcut, it can cascade into other areas. I’m reminded of a printer driver issue some years ago that caused Windows to slowly use memory after each printed page. It would cause Windows to crash if you were printing over 50 pages of text. Tracking this one down was a royal pain but it was patched and all became stable. So here is a quick way to prevent these goofy things happening or lessen the risk:

Never install two or more programs at once on the same day or week!

If your computer is unstable after a few days, then uninstall the last software or patch. Next do a little Google search to see if others had the same issue.

These simple things will make your life so easy when using your computers you’ll think, "Why I didn’t do this before!" Remember that programs can and often do screw things up for the OS, but also the OS people send patches out often. Following these steps will lead to a better experience with your computer and save many hours of frustration.

CAW (Cool Application of the Week)

This week CAW is talking programming, so here are a few links about programming.

Just Basic is a great start Basic for people looking to learn a programming language.

Heavy duty Python is the tool for many to build cross platform applications.

You should also look into resources like Wikipedia for info on programming.