00:12
Chapter 2. A Bug Unnoticed.
It works! she cried, a shout to the heavens. Into the dark, her voice up to eleven.
An echo came back, as a thump on the wall. A neighbor disgruntled, but only briefly,
even sweetly, to the ears of a grad whose work wall had just been conquered so completely.
The code doesn't bug, doesn't lock, doesn't break. Not a smidge, not a wink,
not an error message to be seen. This is working, she said again, disbelief in her voice,
as outputs upon outputs poured out, with no kaputs, but by choice.
So she cranked up the pace, sent batch after batch to the giant computer cluster,
with no need to muster the same drive as before, when the gate was still latched on this ruddy
bloody research patch. The gate was now open, the code flowing freely, nothing to stand in her way
now that her research was wholly underway. A few days passed, and days into weeks,
code chugging away, data piling into peaks, batched and parallel, the quantity unquestioned,
data plentiful for scouring, but yet to be beckoned. But data is nothing without being shown,
well, to her committee at least, with the proposal date coming soon.
So she begins work on the slides, the script, the designs,
with hope in her heart that the data will be fine. But when she begins to turn her eyes to the outs,
a little niggling of doubt, small but present, soon sprouts. Is this quite right?
That baseline seems strange. This value looks right. But why the odd variations?
But the code runs just fine, and no errors nor exceptions were flagged.
So what in the hell has begun causing this gag?
This catch in her throat, as the tension begins to rise, a presentation looms close,
the need to shine is in her eyes. To pass I must demonstrate, command, control, and a cool head.
03:03
But how can I be calm? Calm in this rising panic? A fall from up high, having risen,
having risen, somewhat manic? I see below quite a fall, and wonder, is it time to make a call?
A call for help? No, it can't be. Help means I've failed, bailed, and misery. I can't be a
researcher if I make such mistakes. These mistakes show my worth, or worthlessness in this case.
Have I made a mistake? In my code? In my life? This data cannot be, yet, to admit, might mean my time.
Time for what I know not. So I take my data home. Night after night I hunt, hunt for the error,
the slip, the mistake I've let in, to try one more time. Once more. Twice more. Thrice more. Yet,
I cannot seem to find it. That's it for the show today. Thanks for listening, and find us on x
at Eigo de Science. That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E. See you next time!
