The boys are whining about the flakey microprocessor they're trying to program. In fact, the microprocessor is not flakey, but the documentation describing the internal timer structure thereof is quite opaque and they can't figure out how to make it do what they want. They are also behind on this part of the Hamster project, partly because they had some tasks they needed to get done first. Mostly because they didn't like those tasks and so they dragged their heels instead of getting them over with.
And now?
"This doesn't work. The clock speed isn't constant. How are we supposed to time anything with it?"
"Read the documentation. How are you measuring it?" I call back over the carrel from where Mountain Girl and I are struggling with the communications end of the problem (which, our part of the project being done (as in "completely finished except for proofreading our part of the paper"), constitutes picking up their slack).
"How can we divide down the timer? How fast is this clock supposed to be anyway?"
"Read the documentation. Or ask a professor." Who'll tell you to read the documentation, but whatever.
"This is awful! How can we work with this thing?"
"Hey, guys. Remember 'We don't want to do this analog stuff. We want to work on the weather station'?" I can do a fair imitation of them.
"Uh."
They leave the lab, return and code some more. Complain. They leave the lab again. Return. Try something else. Leave the lab. Return, followed by Dr. Flight who spends forty-five minutes or so straightening them out.
I'm kind of enjoying this.
270 words | April 5, 2005 07:23 PM | Ivory tower