Comments on: Sin and Software

By: Alice

Alice — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:48:04 +0000

I think it’s interesting to note that having to account for more than 2 parents, even in the situation where one parent remarried after the other parents death, is still due, in some way, to sin. From Romans 5 “… just as sin entered the world through man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men, because all sinned…”

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:48:06 +0000

One of the nifty things about being a programmer is that you kind of have to understand things down to a detailed, formal level (unless you like bugs). That has a way of revealing things that people would rather not talk about explicitly.

By: mindlab

mindlab — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Can’t say too much about the data verification issue. Perhaps a form letter to the offending parties informing them that they failed a data sanity check and need to change their names would work.

As for multiple parents, I’m going to suggest anathema. . . an unformatted ‘Notes’ field in the database. Helpful information like the patient’s polymorphous lineage, favorite color, and body odor can be recorded here. Think of it as analogous to a carefully filed document folder containing a stack of post-it notes. . . not pretty, but easy to implement.

By: jeff

jeff — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:48:50 +0000

I knew I could rely on you leaving your two cents (or 1/4 or 1 cent due to the current economy).

The “Mrs. John” example was just an example of a legitimate data check, not related to the “Sin” issue at all. We don’t run in to problems where people are actually *trying* to put that in, it’s more when there is a mis-click on a form or something.

You are right, the deceased parent / living parent remarrying situation is a legitimate one where someone could be considered to have more than two parents. However, from a software standpoint, the deceased parent would have no legal custody or etc., and the step-parent could replace them in that role – still using up only the two, shall we say, “active” parent slots.

By: Marloof F. Tinklebottom

Marloof F. Tinklebottom — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:53:30 +0000

Interesting point you bring up. Although there are situations where “sin” is not the reason for having more than two parents (granted, one would have to be deceased and the other remarried, but still). I guess I can’t think of a reason to have more than four parents listed … if the kid’s parents have had multiple divorces / marriages, shouldn’t the most recent … um, set? … be the legal party responsible?

Above four (or two, for that matter) seems a bit ridiculous. Even in my current situation, my father’s wife and my mother’s husband have no legal guardianship over me and aren’t in any paperwork or anything. But I guess I’m over 18, which may make a difference.

In a purely Biblical sense, I can’t think of a “no-sin” situation where a child would have more than one father or mother (again unless step-fathers and step-mothers are involved).

The “Mrs. John” check seems a little misleading. People who have their sex changed usually change their names to correspond. I guess I can see someone caught in limbo – after an operation but before a legal name change – but that case seems rare. Do you actually run into problems with that?

Finally, as far as keeping track of whether Person A likes Person B … are you writing scheduling software or a social networking site? Who cares if A likes B (really … do your clients actually request these features?!) … that seems way out of your job description!

There are my two cents