Software is supposed be a part of computer science, and science demands proof.
GEORGE NEVILLE-NEIL
Dear KV,
I’ve spent the past three weeks trying to cherry-pick changes out of one branch into another. When do I just give up and merge?
In the Pits
Dear Pits,
I once rode home with a friend from a computer conference in Monterey. It just so happened that this friend is a huge fan of fresh cherries, and when he saw a small stand selling baskets of them he stopped to buy some. Another trait this friend possesses is that he can’t ever pass up a good deal. So while haggling with the cherry seller, it became obvious that buying a whole flat of cherries would be a better deal than buying a single basket, even though that was all we really wanted. Not wanting to pass up a deal, however, my friend bought the entire flat and off we went—eating and talking. It took another 45 minutes to get home, and during that time we had eaten more than half the flat of cherries. I couldn’t look at anything even remotely cherry-flavored for months; and today, when someone says “cherry-picking,” that doesn’t conjure up happy images of privileged kids playing farmer on Saturday mornings along the California coast—I just feel ill.