Developer 1: “I think we need to sort this array by it’s value”
Developer 2: “You should write a hash, store the values in the hash, and then sort it”
Developer 1: “That’s what I just said…”
…
Developer 1: “Alright, I’m going to sort this array”
Developer 2: “Alright, but before you do that… I want you to create a hash. Put the values into the hash and then, using the sorting function, sort the array.”
…
Developer 1: “This idea your purposing contradicts statements you previously made about your algorithm. I mean, what you’re purposing causes the work done by previous scripts to be rendered useless or is in essense saying that previous scripts aren’t doing their job right.”
Developer 2: “No. We are making these changes to the results of the script, we are creating better results down the line.”
Developer 1: “But, according to you, if those scripts truly did what we designed them to do, then we shouldn’t need to manually edit the results”
Developer 2: “I don’t understand what you’re getting at. We are improving the results by editing them.”
Developer 1: “But if the scripts… did their job right… then… *sigh* Whatever”
…
Developer 2: “You know… I thought about it… And I think you’re right, there is something wrong with the algorithm”
Developer 1: “Okay”
Developer 2: “But we’re still going to edit the results to better suit what we think should be there…”
…
Developer 1: “How do you plan on going about tackling this problem?”
Developer 2: “Well… we can try this, this, and this, and then have the algorithm do this…”
Developer 1: “We’ve already tried that and it didn’t turn out too well, you might want to account for cases such as this in your solution.”
Developer 2: “I don’t see why this case would occur”
Developer 1: “Believe me, it often does.”
Developer 2: “Stop being so pessimistic, we can do anything.”
Developer 1: “No… I’m just saying you might want to account for this case when you come up with your solution, it’s what makes this problem challenging”
Developer 2: “You shouldn’t give up just because it’s hard. We can do this, we have a week. You and I should combine our forces, share our ideas, and hammer up a solution that works.”
Developer 1: “But… I’m already letting you know what I think on it”
Developer 2: “Trust me, it’ll be okay. We at the very least 75% of the time the script will do what it’s supposed to.”
Developer 1: “But, it already does that right now…”
Developer 2: “We’ll see, okay? We’ll see.”
Ah… I forget how working in teams can sometime feel like running head first into a brick wall.