Improving Compiler Error Messages

[Jonathan M Davis]

Walter Bright wrote:

> Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>> I'm also another person that finds semicolons magically appearing at the
>> end of statements...even when I use a language that doesn't allow them ;)
> 
> It's funny how that works. I was once asked what the key command was for a
> particular operation in my text editor. I didn't know, so I started the
> editor and did the operation, watching my fingers, and reported the key
> command.

I tend to be that way with passwords. I think that most anything typing-
related that you do a lot without thinking about it just goes into muscle 
memory. So you can constantly do it, but because you don't have to think 
about it, you have a hard time consciously remembering how to do it if you 
have to remember it to tell someone else or whatnot.

It reminds me of a post on SO (on a question relating to computer pranks 
IIRC) how someone's password wasn't working for them, but the sysadmin had 
no trouble typing it in when they were told what it was. It turns out that 
the person having trouble was not a touch typist (while the sysadmin was), 
and someone else had rearranged the keys on their keyboard. So, if you 
didn't look at the keys you were fine, but if you had to read the keys, you 
were screwed...

- Jonathan M Davis