Stable Platforms (rant)

[ChrisGreaves]

A continual complaint of mine is the loss of my ability to make use of a stable platform. Another example has arisen and in a fit of pique I document it.

Late this afternoon I had a brainwave in analysis of text obtained by parsing a web page in text form. I make use of the Selenium Chrome browser, and have been gaining confidence over the past four weeks or so. My brainwave increased accuracy of parsed telephone numbers, PO boxes, email addresses and other contact details. I took a break and watched a movie at supper time.
On my return to work I was greeted by this message:-

2.png

It appears that for the past four weeks I have been making progress using Chrome browser v94, but that Chrome, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that I will be better off using v96. I am not sure of this; it is late at night and I am upset.
I have of course RevoUninstalled v96 and re-installed Chrome from October 15, 2021. The first thing that Chrome does is to check for updates:-

1.png

OK, maybe I was wrong; maybe I have been relying on v86 and not v94. The principle remains the same. Here is Google stranding me on a development island with no lifeboat.

I cannot see in Chrome Settings any way to inhibit updates (but I will head over to the browsers forum and pester everyone there in a minute or two.)
I suspect that Chrome assumes, despite my denials, that I have nothing better to do than view porn web sites and click on offers of $millions from Nigeria, and that Chrome itself had better protect me before I shoot myself in the foot. This is not the place to pursue thoughts about shooting someone or something.

Tonight I rather wish that I had been keeping a blog of every time a project has been stymied by a stable platform being pulled out from under my feet.

What makes it worse is that after implementing my brainwave, and before supper-and-a-DVD, I emailed my client bragging about the *new* *improved” algorithm, and promised “more tomorrow morning”.

Glumly yours
Chris

[stuck]

...
OK, maybe I was wrong; maybe I have been relying on v86 and not v94. ...

I'm trying to be cruel to be kind here...

Yes, that is your persistent mistake. You should have learnt by now that updates are a fact of life, especially in the world of browsers where security holes are constantly found. It would be irresponsible of the likes of Google to not update their browser to plug those holes. Does it not follow that it is irresponsible of you not keep update and use a secure browser?

To put it another way, it's not Google stranding you, it's you. Oh, and what is the point of whatever it is you are developing if it doesn't work with the latest browser? Why would anyone ever want to risk using something that is tied to insecure software?

Ken

[John Gray]

I agree with Ken! I can't think of any browser which is not in a state of flux, receiving security fixes and functional 'improvements' at a quite worrying rate. This applies, but perhaps to a lesser extent, to the underlying operating system. Your 'stable platform' would have to be based on rock-solid core features, otherwise you run the risk of what you are experiencing. If you are at the bleeding edge of software development you should expect to receive scratches and cuts! I'm afraid this will be of no consolation to you, but you have my sympathy!
(I chose, by luck rather than judgement, the fairly stable Command Prompt BATch file environment to do all my 'software development'...!)

[ChrisGreaves]

Ken> I'm trying to be cruel to be kind here... Yes, that is your persistent mistake. You should have learnt by now that updates are a fact of life, especially in the world of browsers where security holes are constantly found.

Hi Ken. I refuse to accept that updates are a fact of life mid-project. Think about this: A chunk of VBA code that worked perfectly at 1730 fails after a 30-minute tea break. I walk away for thirty minutes and when I come back the VBA code will not run. What on earth have I done to deserve that?

Since 1990 I have come to recognize that my clients used/use Windows and windows-based applications. Indeed I based my last 25 years in business in being a small-time MSWord/VBA expert. That is embracing change.

Change on a whim that cripples expensively-developed program code is and ought not be accepted.

I understand that Chrome et al are trying to protect me from unthinking clickers. These are the two people who approached me to scrape the web because as humans they can not gain access to data as humans using browsers manually, but have to ask someone to write program code to analyze gobs of data for them!

Chrome is therefore protecting me from my client’s behaviour by thwarting my attempts to provide data that they cannot obtain by manual browsing!

Should I email my client this morning and say “Sorry! All the money you have spent so far has gone down the drain because Chrome has decided that now I have your money, I should be protected from the offensive and lazy likes of you? “Thank you for the cash; I’m out of here”?

I don’t think so.

I fully understand the Great Unwashed Public’s desire to get things for free from the internet, no matter what the cost. These are the people who call me when their “computer won’t work”, after all. Would that we had retained 80-column punched cards and done away with idiots.

Alas, I am saddled with humanity.

Ken> It would be irresponsible of the likes of Google to not update their browser to plug those holes. Does it not follow that it is irresponsible of you not keep update and use a secure browser?

If Google did not plug the holes, that would be irresponsible, but it is equally irresponsible of Google to take unsolicited action to sabotage a programmer’s work.

Mozilla Ffox/Tbird now has those annoying “dismiss” popups which cost me a few seconds each day and block my view of useful data, but at least I can hold the bacteria at bay until a convenient time, even make a thing called a System Restore Point before launching a potentially crippling update. All of which costs me time.

It does not follow that it is irresponsible of me to update a browser every few seconds/minutes/hours/days, if only because I am not using the browser to browse in the usual sense. I am using the browse to obtain data from (Gulp!) Google’s own search engine in a mechanical way. Lordy-lordy! If a fixed pattern of searches on Google’s own search engine is unsafe, we should all pack up and go home. Oh! I am home already. Darn!

It would be irresponsible of me to browse porn sites or ask for $Nigerian using an out-of-date browser, but I use a separate browser (Ffox) for my manual browsing, and while no-one is immune to the impulse of clicking on a link, over sixty years ago I was taught in maths class that the expected rate of return on state lotteries was 30%, and in Physics that you can’t get something for nothing.

I like to think of myself as a quite responsible person. Making the occasional wrong decision it is true, but largely thinking things through before I act. That is why I take a pencil-and-paper shopping list to the store ...

Ken> To put it another way, it's not Google stranding you, it's you. Oh, and what is the point of whatever it is you are developing if it doesn't work with the latest browser? Why would anyone ever want to risk using something that is tied to insecure software?

I have to disagree. I have developed program code that works and works better than it did the day before. There ought to be no harm in that. I am working as many people do. I have taken no action to “strand myself”.

I have outlined the point of development above. My [stupid, stupid virus-prone idiot] clients have turned for me for help, and I am providing a working solution to their problems. Surely no harm in that.

It is reasonable to expect that, say, VBA will work for the next few years. I am looking forward to the day when we can have microprocessors implanted in our brains, then I can “think” a program into being; perhaps, then, VBA will be discarded.

The point of developing an application that “doesn’t work with the latest browser” is that until last night the code worked fine. There is, as far as my inexpert eye can see, minimal risk in continuing within the narrow focus of this browser and project to access the web pages on the internet. I am more likely to be zapped to death by a bundle of cosmic rays that be infected by malware that bypasses Google’s search engine in my search for a ten-digit numeric string.

With deep respect, as always.
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

JG> I agree with Ken! I can't think of any browser which is not in a state of flux, receiving security fixes and functional 'improvements' at a quite worrying rate. This applies, but perhaps to a lesser extent, to the underlying operating system.

Hi John. All software is in a state of flux. Even mine. Yesterday around 4pm my brainwave prompted me to change my VBA code and thereby improved retuned data quality by some 500%. A change worth celebrating (hence the tea-break!). My VBA code changes daily, always providing a better service to clients. That’s why they pay.

Almost all my programming work is in the area of “string manipulation”, which Word2003 does rather well. As time goes by I draw closer and closer to the time when part of the underlying operating system will change and I will have to abandon Word2003 and move on.

Until that time, any change in my platform that does NOT benefit me/my clients is something to be avoided.

My clients would be understandably upset if partway through delivering their 72,444 data records I announced “Oh! And by the way, I have changed the record format for the next little while”. They expect a consistent record format (be it database or spreadsheet) until all 72,444 data records are safely lodged with them.

JG> Your 'stable platform' would have to be based on rock-solid core features, otherwise you run the risk of what you are experiencing. If you are at the bleeding edge of software development you should expect to receive scratches and cuts! I'm afraid this will be of no consolation to you, but you have my sympathy!

I quite get the bleeding edge, honestly. I decided back in 1997 that I was about to learn my last-ever programming language; it had been a long road even back then. I told myself that my days of learning every new language that came out were over. The days of changing jobs every two years to a different mainframe, different assembly language, operating system etc were over.

It turns out to have been, for me, a smart decision (and MSoft’s approach to office Projects and the various technical forums such as Eileen’s Lounge) have been a tremendous help. My 1,000+ library procedures make for fast development of projects over the past quarter-century. I would be reluctant to lose that investment.

JG> (I chose, by luck rather than judgment, the fairly stable Command Prompt BATch file environment to do all my 'software development'...!)

I can hear you (both/all) laughing if you have read this far. Yes, those dear old DOS BATch files still work, doing exactly what computers should be doing for all humanity - relieving us of the Boring And Repetitive tasks in life.

And because my supply is endless ...
With deep respect to you too!
Cheers
Chris