One thing I've learned as a programmer is that users will always find a way to break your program. A programmer designs application to be used in a logical manner. Users never read help file. They just start executing menu selections in an irrational manner. The program crashes.

Let's make one thing clear. It is programmers duty to anticipate every possible way that user can operate application, and to code provisions to protect program and user from undesirable results. With a large, powerful and complex application this requires an enormous amount of testing and debugging time.

The concept of "beta" software (and most freeware and shareware) is to toss application out to public and let them do testing. For application developer, this has advantages and disadvantages. Advantage: you get better testing and it's free. Disadvantage: The public doesn't understand "beta" software and application may get a bad reputation as being buggy.

Nonsensical Error Messages

You accidentally try to save a file to a drive that doesn't exist and you get error message "Error, choose another color". Nonsense error messages result from way error messages are coded into a program. For example, an application may have six different places in code where it opens a file. The programmer can code error message "File doesn't exist" six times, or programmer can code a list containing all error messages used in application and then reference message in that list.

The list may contain hundreds of messages. Now, while coding, programmer needs another error message. The programmer can add an accurate message to list, or choose to reference an existing message. The lazy programmer chooses to reference an existing message in list that only vaguely relates to actual error.

Next time your application pops up some cryptic error message, you now have some idea as to what message means. Most errors are not caused by something user did. They are caused by programmers mistakes. You also now know why you sometimes get nonsense error messages. ---------------------------------------------------------- Resource Box: Copyright(C)2003 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on Web visit http://bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to mailto:bucarotechelp-subscribe@topica.com ----------------------------------------------------------

If your operating system is Windows, you download a 60 MB zip file. With a 56K modem, it might take three hours to download. You'll need a zip file extraction utility to uncompress download. The most popular zip file extractor for Windows is WinZip. You can download WinZip trial version from www.winzip.com

The Linux version comes in a 70 MB "tarball". With Linux, you can open a terminal window and use "tar" command to uncompress download. Both versions come with an easy to use setup program. If installing on a multi-user system, like Windows 2000 or Linux, make sure you are logged in with Administrator rights before you install program.

During installation, Open Office may inform you that it can't find a Java runtime environment. Certain features require a Java Runtime environment to function. I don't know what features those are (not 3D textured graphics) You could go to Suns Java Website, java.sun.com, to download and install Java Runtime environment before you install Open Office.

You can continue to work with Microsoft Office file formats without excessive cost and frequent crashes. Open Office is easy to use and you can even create 3D textured text and complex textured 3D objects. Download this powerful and free open-source office suite today. ---------------------------------------------------------- Resource Box: Copyright(C)2002 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on Web visit http://bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to mailto:bucarotechelp-subscribe@topica.com ----------------------------------------------------------