Undefined Value

Most programmers know that having functions with too many parameters can be confusing. However, fixing such problems requires some intelligence. A programmer once saw some code like this:

SetObjectParams(obj, foo, bar, baz, quux, xyzzy, abra, cadabra, hocus, pocus, presto, shazam);


Finding a stylistic rule somewhere that said a function should have no more than five parameters, the programmer “refactored” it to this:

SetObjectParams1(obj, foo, bar, baz, quux);
SetObjectParams2(obj, xyzzy, abra, cadabra, hocus);
SetObjectParams3(obj, pocus, presto, shazam);


No, that's not how one resolves this problem. You fix this problem by defining functions that each do something simple, give each function a name that describes what it does, and let them take however many parameters make sense.

Menubar Countdown is a simple countdown timer that displays itself on the right side of the Mac OS X menu bar.

Version 1.2 has these new features:

• Supports Growl notifications. The Announcement text specified in the Start dialog will be displayed in the Growl notification window.
• New application icon
• Adds option to hide seconds in the menu bar
• Shows start-timer dialog when application launches (behavior can be disabled in Settings dialog)
• Command-X, Command-C, Command-V, and Command-A now work in the text fields in the settings dialog
• Command-R is now a shortcut key for the Restart Countdown... button in the alert window

To download the application or get more information, see the Menubar Countdown product page.

One of my clients, whose e-mail system I have to use, uses a product called ESATInformer to filter spam. I don't understand exactly what the benefit of this system is.

When the system receives suspected spam, it keeps that spam message on the server, but it sends me an e-mail saying "We've received a message that might be spam. What do you want to do with it?" So my inbox still gets filled with unwanted e-mail about suspicious e-mail.

If I want to read the suspicious messages (and I usually do), then I have to send an e-mail request back to the system, which will then send them to me. It would be a whole lot easier if they would just let the suspicious messages through in the first place.

If your spam-filtering system is more annoying than spam is, then you've really screwed up.