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programming and human factors
by Jeff Atwood
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Rube Goldberg software design is the meme of the month, after being parodied by Rory Blyth and Scott Hanselman in this brilliant short video, and oddly enough, also currently appearing in Microsoft advertisements:
Now compare that to an actual Rube Goldberg device:
You can't talk about Rube Goldberg these days without mentioning Honda's amazing 2003 'Cog' advertisement for the Honda Accord. If you're curious, snopes has more detail on how the commercial was filmed.
Incidentally, one of my favorite old PC games is The Incredible Machine circa 1993, although newer versions are available (and still just as fun):
Any resemblance between any of the above and actual software development is, of course, completely coincidental. We're professionals, dammit!
If you want to get your TIM and TIM2 on, they can be downloaded from here:
http://www.abandonia.com/genre.php?genre=puzzlepage=0
Runs great under DosBox..
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/
..just be sure to set the CPU cycles to something like 10,000 from the ultra-low default of 3,000.
Jeff Atwood on April 5, 2005 2:38 AMPerhaps sadly, Rube Goldberg means nothing to me. The artist best known in the UK for such crazy contraptions was Heath Robinson.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Heath_Robinson
Dominic Cronin on April 5, 2005 3:41 AMReminds me of DTS packages in SQL server: Set it up, click the button, pray :-)
Dan F on April 5, 2005 4:53 AMHow to turn on a flashlight the hard way...speaking of Rube Goldberg devices...
Brian Swiger on April 13, 2005 4:41 AMSome amusing macros that are Rube Goldberg-esque. Eg, using Microsoft Word automation to determine the state of Scroll Lock. Funny stuff:
http://www.mvps.org/scripting/rube/
Jeff Atwood on July 14, 2005 3:34 AMHere's a great desktop set of toys with 2D physics, almost exactly like "The Incredible Machine" -- but purely as a sandbox:
http://www.souptoys.com/index.php
Jeff Atwood on March 14, 2006 8:12 AMEven more Rube Goldberg madness of various types
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/27/japanese_rube_goldbe.html
Jeff Atwood on July 29, 2007 1:52 PMOMG I lIke This GAME!!!!!!! DAMMIT so HARD To FIND, and honestly i dun even know the name of this game... i played like 13 years ago.... OMG Thank yo for this INFO!!!
Husen on November 2, 2007 3:43 AMAnyone remember the board game Mousetrap? I never learned how to play the game...just always had fun setting it up and watching it execute.
Mike Brown on December 20, 2007 6:54 AMIs it just me, or did those wheels accelerate right before they hit each other when going up the ramp? CGI magic?
People do Rube Golderberg devices in Gary's Mod for Half Life 2.
John on December 30, 2008 10:16 AMThis is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.
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| Content (c) 2009 Jeff Atwood. Logo image used with permission of the author. (c) 1993 Steven C. McConnell. All Rights Reserved. |
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