During the .Boom, i knew a lot of folks that went to trade conferences. They were producers for various properties i worked on (like Small Business, Employment, Pets, etc.) Since those things tend to suck, the one thing i'd usually ask for was that the attendee find the most nonsensical promotional freebie being offered. i got a lot of really useless crap, but my all-time favorite was a hammer crafted out of Nurf foam, and poorly at that. (i'll note that my misspelling of the popular foam based toy is entirely intentional, since the near translucent nature of the spongy, polymer foam used was such that referring to it by the Branded Name® would have been grounds for libel.) It was squishy and non-rigid to the point where it couldn't even support it's own weight.
And it was shaped like a hammer.
It was the anti-hammer. A tool who's very existence mocked that which it tried to be. The ultimate accomplishment in "Not Getting The Point". It was something i treasured, until one unfortunate move when it tore.
Sadly, i've discovered a near constant stream of aspiring nurf hammers all too willing to take it's place. To me, a nurf hammer is something that all would desperately love to be useful, but is so fundamentally flawed that it does little more than mock the actual desired utility. Take, for instance, the Code Management System i use at work.
Mind you, it's a delightful little commercial package who's role in life is to make sure that items go into a repository so that code isn't lost. It's been modified a touch to ensure that code is reviewed, bugs addressed, checkboxes checked, and other bits. It can accept not only code but arbitrary binary files ensuring that it's part vault and part garbage can all tied together in a pretty bow.
It also keeps local file state on the server, uses it's own terminology, practically demands that you use a GUI, and offers suggestions on problem resolutions that are other misleading or contradictory to what actually needs to be done. This means that you, as a programmer may have a completely different set of code than the server thinks you have, but the system will not notify you of the differences. It also means that while no known files are unaccountably lost, there's no easy way to ensure that unknown files are accounted for. In other words, the server is there not to assist you in safeguarding your code and changes, but pretty much to get in your way to safeguard your changes.
i can't tell you how many times i've realized that i've messed up my directory, requested a overwriting force-refresh and found out that many of the files were never written because the server thought i already had them. "Force Rewrite" is apparently only valid for files that you haven't opened for writing. i have not found a "Super-Duper Force i-Really-Mean-It No-Backsies! Rewrite" that would recreate deleted files from the last saved version on the server, except to "revert" the now missing file to remove it from "open" state, perform the "force rewrite" and then re-open the file in the digital equivalent of "Mother, May i"?
Let me not also describe the auto-magical "merge" utility that arbitrarily decides to revert names of newly refactored functions, re-include dropped dependencies and otherwise cause me to re-verify files that weren't flagged as having collisions.
That's one of the other things that helps identify a Nurf Hammer.
You're unrelenting desire to find a real hammer and violently demonstrate what it's capable of doing to the Nurf.
