It’s not about the bonus marks…ok…it is.
I figure I might as well contribute to this blog once in awhile. I’m going to follow the lead of Zagita with a small rant.
There is a thing called “MySQL AB.” This thing, as the website describes it, is “The World’s most popular open source database.” The database is commonly used to connect websites to databases that store all kinds of information. I happen to know that WordPress, Livejournal, and Myspace use MySQL exclusively for there databasing needs. You use MySQL.
I’ve been trying to learn how to set up MySQL on my home computer so I can run a database through my website. Let me tell you, it is not an easy thing to do. Why? The instructions. They are written by geeks for geeks. And although I may be a geek in training, I don’t quite speek their language. The one step I struggle with the most came directly from the MySQL reference guide for setting the password for the user “root”, here it is:
shell>mysql -u rootmysql>SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('newpwd');
The problem here is “newpwd.” The first section of the manual explains the notation used throughout the manual. The notation section explains that when a user is to input their own information it will be identified like so:
instead of: newpwd
it should have been: type_your_new_root_password_here
Because of this, my password was set to newpwd without me knowing, causing me wasted hours and hundreds of access denied messages. The point is that professional writers do have an impact on the way people live and work. Although it only my time and sanity was spent, inconsistencies like notation standards could have greater consequences.
-Jonathan A
