-------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Udkik.dk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Dear Bill Segraves, > > The iText discussion list is not a help desk. > Sorry, I missed this. I thought it was allowed to ask for help.
Indeed, it is alright to ask for help. OTOH, a request for help that is a question that has been asked before, or the answer to which is readily available in the documentation, is not appreciated. In fact, Bruno is plagued by people who (are being paid), operating in what I would call "blurt mode", ask their questions before looking to see if the answer is already in the examples, JavaDoc, FAQ, s discussion list archives, iText source code, etc. I do what I can to protect him, as these thoughtless people sometimes catch him at a time when his tolerance for such inconsiderate acts is at its lowest. I regret that well-maning people like you sometimes get caught in the backlash against the people I described. > When you ask a question and get an answer from one or two people, there may > be 10x as many people whose time has been wasted by your having asked the question > to so many people at the same time. > > > That's how mailing lists works. I read many subjects too, that does not > have my interest. You may wish to review the Posting Guidelines for the Usenet newsgroup "comp.lang.perl.misc". It will help you to understand the expectations of people who post questions on discussion lists for computer languages. > In fact, your compiler told you "NoSuchMethodError", which should have led > you to conclude the method you were employing at the line in your code identified by your compiler did not exist in the iText library version you were using. Had you simply used the version of the iText library to which the JavaDoc applies, you > would not have seen that error. > > > You are quite right. Sometimes one misses the obvious. One day, I may write a little monograph on how I do development work. I've been working with computers for over 50 years, so I'm accustomed to drilling down into my code, with all the help available from the compiler's error messages, together with the documentation and all other resources, to find out why I make an error. I rarely write a program that works perfectly on the first try. It's always been build a little, test a little, when I'm in the code and debug phase of a project. Now, expert computer programmers may possess the skills to write perfect code on the first try. OTOH, I'm a retired mechanical engineer, who happens to have been involved with computer programs/programming throughout my career, so my world view may be different from that of a professional computer programmer. > Finally, you statement "I have an exception error regarding > "Rectangle.getWidth()", I cannot > > solve myself.", which prompted Ellen to respond, and your statement > > "Socially, > you are terrible wrong. I appreciate the help from Ellen. This help saved me > lot > of time." shows a level of arrogance often seen on discussion lists, i.e., > the > poster of the question is implicitly saying, > > > > "I don't have time to solve my problem, and I value my own time higher than > > I > value yours. After all, I'm getting paid to do this, and you're not. So, > would > you please solve my problem for me, so I can get my assignment done on time? > BTW, I'm hard up against a deadline this afternoon, so I need for you to rush > this rush job before you rush the rush job you're rushing now." > > > I had a problem using iText. I have spent quite a time, trying to solve > this problem. After reading chapter 14 and related excersises I could > not move forward, and I asked for help. > My comments may have seemed to be personal, and directed at you, explicitly. They were not entirely so, I hasten to add, as much of what I wrote was for the consumption of people other than you. I regret that I didn't make that clear on the first response to your initial question. > For me, it's natural to help other people. It is also natural for me to > ask for help. I have a maritime home page that offer free information > for sailors. I spend many hours to help people for free every day. I understand. Actually, I noticed your organization with interest, but had to take my wife for her chemo treatment this afternoon, before I could go there to see what you do. > During 5 years, once a week, I have also helped retarded children in > WMCA. (I have just read about Bruno's son. That hurts me a lot!) The > help from Ellen, saved me a lot of time, gave me extra time to help > others. That's how it should be! > In that case, my comments didn't apply to you at all. With your indulgence, however, I'd like to leave them as stated (Actually, I can't change them, as it's impossible). Please accept my apologies for over-reacting to your query. > For your information: No, I am not getting paid. No, I have no deadline. > But yes, if someone will spend 2 minutes to save me X hours, I think it > is OK. > > > Allan, I mean no disrespect or ill will toward you, and offer you this > > advice > with the very best intentions, i.e., that it will help you to become a better > citizen of the discussion list, and that your expertise in iText will grow, > as > you learn the little secrets we share with you. > > > Bill, I don't read your comments as disrespect or the like for me > personally. But I clearly read your initial comment as: "Don't help > people, they can help themself", and this attitude makes me very sad. Please don't read my comments that way. In fact, my comments to Ellen, "Ellen, Allan will find it instructive to look up for himself, in the sources, when the methods left, right, top, bottom, width, and height became deprecated, when the replacement methods first appeared, how Bruno handled them while they were deprecated, and when the old methods were no longer deprecated, i.e., when they were removed. Surely, we could look this up for him, but in doing so, we'd be depriving him of his learning opportunity." couldn't reasonably be construed the way you took them. That said, I hasten to add that it would indeed make *me* very sad if I were actually the kind of person my remarks led you initially to believe. Coming from a family that, for many generations has placed public service and voluntarism high on their lists of priorities, a bias toward service must be in my genes. Now, if you would kindly read my response to Ellen again, but this time, read it this way, you'll get the point of what I was trying to teach you. "Ellen, the method Allen used that threw a "NoSuchMethod" error is the replacement for one of several methods in class Rectangle. The reason he got a "NoSuchMethod" error was that he was using an earlier version of the iText library, one in which the old method was present, and not yet deprecated. Similarly, if he had been using the old method, his code would have compiled and executed just fine with the old version of the iText library, but the compiled class would have thrown a similar error if it had been executed with the latest version of the iText library. You see, once a method that is deprecated is remeoved, that method is no longer deprecated. During the time that a method is deprecated, the developer, in this case Bruno, should provide code that will accept both the the old (deprecated) method and the new (replacement) method, and with the proper Java compiler switches/options, should provide notification to the developer that a deprecated method is being used. Bruno does this, and evidence of it could be easily found in the sources for class Rectangle. Finally, it is important for developers who use iText to be aware of this, as this knowledge is part of the fundamental skill set that a developer must possess, in order to be able to successfully employ the itext library." Now, that being said (written), Allan, I hope you are now happier. I know that the longer I know you, the more I like you, personally, as I have emotional capital and time invested in making you successful in your volunteer activities. Warmest best regards, Bill Segraves ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ iText-questions mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/itext-questions Buy the iText book: http://www.1t3xt.com/docs/book.php
