JargonFile/entries/Don't do that then!.txt
2014-04-26 15:52:28 +01:00

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Don't do that then!
imp. [from an old doctor's office joke about a patient with a trivial complaint] Stock response to a user complaint. When I type control-S, the whole system comes to a halt for thirty seconds. Don't do that, then! (or So don't do that! ). Compare RTFM. Here's a classic example of Don't do that then! from Neal Stephenson's In The Beginning Was The Command Line. A friend of his built a network with a load of Macs and a few high-powered database servers. He found that from time to time the whole network would lock up for no apparent reason. The problem was eventually tracked down to MacOS's cooperative multitasking: when a user held down the mouse button for too long, the network stack wouldn't get a chance to run...