July 28, 2004
Signals for terror
Traffic signals in San Francisco tell you how many seconds you have to cross the road. These signals start countdown from about 10 seconds. Remaining time is displayed next to the sign.
This gimmick seemed nice to me. At first, I thought such a gimmick was a special present for pedestrians, who chose to walk rather than to drive. But after staying a few days, I changed my understanding. It is not a bonus, but a warning.
Here, signal system does not keep aside any time for safety. The moment a signal turns red, the one on the other side turns green. When drivers see green, they start at full speed as if they die tomorrow. The road becomes like Amazon full of crocodiles. You cannot expect any of their mercy. So, you should never start crossing if the countdown number is less than five.
Today, I wrote a small program to modify the database. It was a tiny assignment, but I used up whole day because I was not familiar with new programming scheme. I was so ashamed about it that I stayed until I finished it at 20:30. Night of San Francisco is dangerous, so I hurried to my home.
These five years, Microsoft totally changed the programming style. But I think they did in the wrong way. I have a lot of complaints. I may write about it the other day.
Posted by hfuruichi at July 28, 2004 11:59 PM