Obscure bug of the minute...
I'm working on porting an old MS C++ to Managed C++, and then perhaps on to c#. So, I open the old .dsw project in VS.NET 2003, and whammo! Instant project conversion, right?
Well, sorta. As soon as I set the project to compile with managed extensions (It Just Works, right?), i get the following compiler error:
Command line error D2016 : '/RTC1' and '/clr' command-line options are incompatible
It should be simple enough to go into the project settings and turn off the RTC1 option, right?
So, I do so, and everything should work great. I hit the build button again, and no dice. My new friend good ol' D2016 pops back up. Didn't I turn this option off?
Fortunately, VC++ 7.1 generates a really cool BuildLog.htm, and I take a gander. Hmm... According to the BuildLog, the /RTC1 switch is still set on each of my .cpp files. A quick Google Search confirms my suspicions that this is indeed an IDE Bug. So, I go into the compiler settings on every single .cpp file, and turn off the /RTC1 option.
Simple enough, really, if you know where to look. A few log files later, and a few minutes on google solves about 80% of a developer's problems. A shout over the cube wall solves another 10%. A healthy dose of blood, sweat, and tears (and a curse or two) slays the remainder of the bugs.
I'd guess that every developer runs into several of these problems each day, and dispatches them rather quickly. I'd also say that it's things like this that will prevent the 'expert systems' from putting programmers out of jobs. There will always have to be 'experts' on the expert systems. Someone's got to know how to run these things.
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Prologue: I do have an associate, however, who absolutely refuses to read any reference books or do any google searches. Most of the time he shouts the question 'over the wall' as soon as it pops into his mind. He's kinda like the NetBEUI of programmers. Good for small projects, but chatters a lot.