Hi! I am a college student, and I need to ask a computer programmer about problems they face, and solutions?

Question

I am a programming major, but I am only in my 2nd quarter. I haven't taken any specific classes for my major, just electives, so my knowledge of programming is pretty limited. For my Comm 3 class, I must write a memo report about a problem I may face as a programmer, and several solutions for that problem. Would any programmers mind telling me about a work-related problem they've had, a few different solutions, and the solution they used to solve the problem? Thanks so much!

I just need one problem a programmer has faced (a specific programming problem), and a few different solutions for that problem.

Hey programmers! I know a few people have already answered my question, but I need several examples, so don't be afraid to give me a few other problems you have had to deal with . . .please?

Answer 1

Well, there are many different problems that can crop up when it comes to programming for clients (and businesses).

The most common problem is:

Resources!

Either your client's IT department restricts certain types of programming languages/servers, your employer's employee's computers (that's a mouthful : | ) are not capable of running programs past a certain memory consumption (either from poorly implemented systems, or cruddy hardware), or YOU don't have access to the programming software necessary to get the job done (either because the IT department you're programming for changed the language requirement, or the operating system base changes halfway through the project).

These types of silly errors happen a lot more often than people seem to think, especially to newer programmers that aren't quite used to the full scope of what they're doing.

The best solution to resource problems is to prevent them from the very beginning. Come up with a clear and concise project plan before getting started. This usually means sitting down with whomever you're programming for and writing up a Needs Analysis. Make sure you target both user, manager and resource manager (IT), as each person will have certain needs and restrictions for the program you are creating.

This of course can't prevent certain major project changes from occuring (especially if the IT department is a bit...questionable...when it comes to their knowledge), but it does at least prepare you for success in the long run of things.

As for actual programming problems, the most common bugs that crop up in my experience are security issues, and memory leaks. Security issues can be resolved by working with the company's server resource manager. Memory leaks can take quite a bit of time to track down, and fixing them varies on the problem. A common cause is uncaught infinite loops (for, while, etc.)

I hope that gives you a bit of direction from where to start at the very least :)

Answer 2

I've written at least 10,000 programs over my
career. Here is a typical thing I would do:

Client buys brand new Sales Order forms or
they get in a new order of Checks and the alignment
needs to be adjusted. This is very typical stuff.

Here's another... the State of New Jersey just created
a new income tax. The rules are as follows. The employer
pays .025% of the employees wages up to $10,000. The employee pays .025% up to $10,000 but after that the
employer pays nothing but the employees portion is reduced to .014% with no maximum. Create a table
and modify the payroll routine to handle this. Print the infomation on the check stub. Store the information
in the history file as the employee may write this
off at the Federal Level.

Yep.... it really is like that.

Answer 3

I somehow doubt that your question has anything to do with personal or business problems (as your description suggestions) because such problems aren't unique to programmers.

What I think you are being asked (and, of course, I may be wrong) is to describe a programming problem and several solutions to that problem. A programming problem could take a million forms.

Answer 4

well i face a lot of porbloms what kinds ?