ghost in the machine....?

[David J. Gonzo]

I am taking a java course, part II, and I have had incidents were a program I design finally works as intended, then when I go back days later (after I have turned in the assignment, no less) it is no longer working as it was. It has happened on more that two occasions. You can imagine how I feel. I spend many days, long hours working on an assignment, I hit the compile button, then run....it finally works! And then days later when I am reviewing my assignment, for various reasons, it is not working correctly anymore. Any one have any possible explanations?

[marc weber]

I would need more information about how it's "not working correctly."

But lacking any additional information, my first guess is that the program is using input that might vary with each execution. So perhaps it worked with certain input, but then failed later when different input was provided.

[David J. Gonzo]

Yes, a big lesson in testing. I get so exicited that I drop the program like a hot potatoe and move on to becoming social again...lol

[marc weber]

Now that I've looked at the Alphabet Pyramid problem, I'm thinking this is in fact what's happening. See my post there...

https://coderanch.com/t/398580/java/java/Alphabet-Pyramid-one
[ February 21, 2005: Message edited by: marc weber ]