Methods und Standards

From: http://www.csci.csusb.edu/dick/methods.html

Methodologist: A mature programmer. Any programmer who is old enough to realise that life would be easier if they always did things the same way. There are several stages:

1. they organize their own programming,
2. they try to influence their friends, and
3. they try to change their organization,
4. they try to change the world, and last
5. they become consultants.

Joke about Structure

The incredible Mulla Nazyourdon often gave advice on methods to people in his village. This varied from year to year but the methods were always described as "structured". The villagers noticed this an asked him why. He replied that they wouldn't work unless they were called "structured". So the villagers asked him if he ment that his clients wouldn't work or that the methods would not work. And he said: "Yes".

How Specs Live Forever (A Morgan Favorite)

The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built by English expatriates. Why did the English people build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts.

So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification  for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.

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