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All this stuff about collisions and avoiding them, even though they will never happen, feels like a PHB compliance issue. “Great work Geoff! One question: wha

All this stuff about collisions and avoiding them, even though they will never happen, feels like a PHB compliance issue. “Great work Geoff! One question: what’s the probability of two transactions having the same ID?” “It is very low” “Hmmm. But it’s not zero?” “It’s so low that it practically is zero.” “But it’s not technically zero? This company wasn’t built on taking chances, son! Come back when your product complies with our corporate zero-risk policy.”

atoav 5y ago
This is when any tech person worth their salt should lean over and say: "Okay boss, we _could_ do that, but so you know what that would mean?" And then you tell them about cosmic rays, bitflips and redundant computing and what that would mean for the cost of IT at your company. "... or, we could just use UUIDs like nearly everybody else. I will spend a few days thinking about what would happen in case of a UUID collision and create a mechanism that adverts the worst consequences if you want. That should be enough in my judgement, we could also ask $collegue what if they agree with that conclusion" On a side note: bosses who think they just need to be convincing enough in order to change physics are the worst. Some bosses expect NASA-level solutions for no or minor resource cost at all.
- 9dev 5y ago
  Or be helpful and do the rounding for your boss instead. The difference between „zero“ and „practically zero“ is only interesting to academia in this case.
- piaste 5y ago
  In my experience, saying stuff like "the chance of a UUID collision is about the same as your car being struck by lighting and hit by a meteorite every day for a year" works on some non-STEM people. But there are a lot more for whom "look, Azure uses UUIDs for their VMs, and it's good enough for them" is somehow more convincing.
- donarb 5y ago
  During the Boeing 737 Max software fix, the FAA required Boeing engineers to make the system handle 5 simultaneous cosmic bit flips. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/newly-stringent-faa-tests-spur-a-fundamental-software-redesign-of-737-max-flight-controls/ https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/newly...
heavenlyblue 5y ago
As Dostoevsky once said "All functional people are the same, all dysfunctional people are dysfunctional in their own way". Don't get me wrong, but you can always invent an idiot who will go out of their way to make something unbearable, but it doesn't mean we should always base our judgment on that.
- asimpletune 5y ago
  Didn't Tolstoy also say "All happy families are the same, and all unhappy families unhappy in their own way"? (I'm paraphrasing)

atoav 5y ago

This is when any tech person worth their salt should lean over and say: "Okay boss, we _could_ do that, but so you know what that would mean?" And then you tell them about cosmic rays, bitflips and redundant computing and what that would mean for the cost of IT at your company. "... or, we could just use UUIDs like nearly everybody else. I will spend a few days thinking about what would happen in case of a UUID collision and create a mechanism that adverts the worst consequences if you want. That should be enough in my judgement, we could also ask $collegue what if they agree with that conclusion" On a side note: bosses who think they just need to be convincing enough in order to change physics are the worst. Some bosses expect NASA-level solutions for no or minor resource cost at all.

9dev 5y ago
Or be helpful and do the rounding for your boss instead. The difference between „zero“ and „practically zero“ is only interesting to academia in this case.
piaste 5y ago
In my experience, saying stuff like "the chance of a UUID collision is about the same as your car being struck by lighting and hit by a meteorite every day for a year" works on some non-STEM people. But there are a lot more for whom "look, Azure uses UUIDs for their VMs, and it's good enough for them" is somehow more convincing.
donarb 5y ago
During the Boeing 737 Max software fix, the FAA required Boeing engineers to make the system handle 5 simultaneous cosmic bit flips. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/newly-stringent-faa-tests-spur-a-fundamental-software-redesign-of-737-max-flight-controls/ https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/newly...

heavenlyblue 5y ago

As Dostoevsky once said "All functional people are the same, all dysfunctional people are dysfunctional in their own way". Don't get me wrong, but you can always invent an idiot who will go out of their way to make something unbearable, but it doesn't mean we should always base our judgment on that.

asimpletune 5y ago
Didn't Tolstoy also say "All happy families are the same, and all unhappy families unhappy in their own way"? (I'm paraphrasing)