environment-specific postings to comp.lang.c
::: Subject: Getting a DC for a child window-- HELP!
:: what exactly does this have to do with C???
: In that the API I'm talking about is written in C and meant to
: be used in C, this is a relevant question.
I'm reminded of the bug report I found registered against the shell of a
unix port I participated in. The user compiled and linked a program,
then typed "a.out" to the shell. The symptom of the shell bug was that,
instead of running the program and producing the expected output, the
shell printed "Memory fault (core dumped)" and prompted for more
commands. Hey, the guy typed a command to the shell, the shell printed
the "wrong thing".... definitely a shell bug, right?
But let me appeal to folks' self-interest, rather than just appealing
to the intended use of this newsgroup. If you are programming in
WHATEVER language, and you wanted to reach an audience that could
help you with a particular tiny sub-case of the use of this language
(say, a particular API on a particular obscure (:-) platform),
do you think you'd be more likely to connect up with someone to help
you out in a newsgroup devoted to the language, or one devoted to
the given API?
Or put it this way... if you are in New York City, and you want to
meet people to dance with, do you go to nightclubs, or do you
go to taxi stands and just ask everybody passing by if they would
like to take a taxi to a nightclub and do some dancing?
Of course, people may not gather in nightclubs to dance, but dance
randomly in their homes and other venues. The taxi-stand method
might be as good as any in that case. But in this case, I think the
nightclub in might well be found *SOMEWHERE* under comp.windows.
I mean really, just from a practical matter of statistics now,
which do you suppose would be more effective?
Of course, as a matter of statistics, and if one *really* wanted to
annoy people, one might dispatch a hord of clones to cover every taxi
stand in the city. One might adopt distinctive dress and mannerisms to
attract attention, perhaps sing chants in groups, perhaps chanting
"Hairy Christmas" or "We Want Your Work". Or perhaps raise funds to
further the search for partners by selling crafts or flowers or
something. And maybe airports and rail stations would be a more
efficient place to accost people. Gee, I wonder if anybody's thought
of this before...
Or maybe I should just go to a taxi stand, accost people, and spread
the word about how terrible it is to accost people at taxi stands.
Yes, perhaps that really is the best thing.
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