Kilobites by Sanico

EDIT: 31/10/2023

The competition is now closed, out of all the entries no one successfully guessed the sentence which was quite interesting.

I have a screenshot of the sentence at the end of the blog post for any curious cats out there.

Feel free to read the post and see if you can guess the sentence without looking at the screenshot below, good luck!

Thank you again to everyone that entered the competition.

I will give $500AUD to whoever guesses the Bard Chatbot generated sentence in this blog post, read to the end and see if you can spot the difference. It’s like a where’s wally with words. More info at the end of the post.

Ok, so…

Why on Earth pay someone money to guess a Chatbot generated sentence within my blog post? To raise awareness and make a point.

Real writers exist that write real and authentic blogs. Content that you read and think, wow, what a fantastic post.

In my recent searches of the internet I constantly stumble across blog posts with little sense, devoid of personality, an inconsistent writing style, and plugged with 1 billion affiliate links. As a generally sceptical person I now read things with double the scepticism than before. Every post I read I can’t help but think: did they really write this or was it ChatGPT?

With the rise of Chatbots such as ChatGPT, Bard, Microsoft Bing AI, they generate a decent enough sentence that makes you …

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I hear the word algorithm a lot. The Instagram algorithm, the Facebook algorithm, the Youtube algorithm or even Google’s ranking algorithm. There is a lot of misinformation regarding algorithms, especially since many people consider it black magic. I want to shed some light on algorithms from the perspective of a software engineer.

What is an algorithm?

Good question. Let’s start out by stating that it is not witchcraft. An algorithm is a process that performs operations based on a set of overarching rules.

Definition from Oxford Languages found on Google.

In non-robotic terms, completing a task like running requires your legs to move one in front of each other, your knees to lift just below your waist and your feet to push off the ground while you lean forward. There are more steps but this is not a fitness blog. However, given a set of rules, an action or operation such as running has its own algorithm. Even more interesting is that many people run differently, adhering to their own set of rules and therefore creating many algorithms. If there is an algorithm for running, you can only imagine the vast amount of algorithms we use every day.

Person running using their own algorithm.

What about social media algorithms?

We as humans have many algorithms and big software applications also have many algorithms for different processes - not one almighty algorithm to rule …

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Many years ago when I interned for a large software organisation I spoke up about bad code.

On my first days as an intern I received my assigned project. I pulled the project from GitHub and opened the file, a monstrosity of over 2000 lines of poorly written, undocumented, uncommented, and untested code of an ExpressJS application. I spent literally 2 months in an attempt to refactor the code to allow me to add new features.

I discovered that the previous intern who wrote the original code qualified as an Electrical Engineer not a Software Engineer. After I heard that I understood why the individual failed to follow best practices. I am sure I would struggle to follow best practices if I attempted to create electrical schematics as I lack an Electrical Engineering degree. Stick to your lane!

As I trudged through the murky code another full-time employee who sat adjacent to me asked about my progress on the project. I replied honestly and said the previous intern wrote the application very poorly. At first he seemed quite surprised but continued to listen to my feedback about the project and why I thought it seemed poor.

I thought no more about this conversation. I told the honest truth and provided valid reasons. I moved on. Weeks later I spoke with another employee about my future and that I wanted to stay on with the organisation, he replied with sass that he thought I needed …

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In the software industry I meet many people who deem themselves as technical wizards, those who live and breathe software for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They know and understand things about software that others know nothing about. Most of these technical wizards, in my experience, lack people skills so when people enter their dungeon to ask a technical question they give what I call, the scoff of superiority.

The scoff, you know, that exhalation of breath. The shock that you don’t know the answer and they do. A breath of air that slaps your face with the regret that you even asked the question to begin with. The scoff where you feel inferior for that moment of time and the scoffer feeds off the ego boost that they know the answer.

I remember when I first started within the software world I knew very little about how the industry worked. I remember at an old workplace I used to ask questions to the undisputed expert, a technical software wizard of sorts. I entered his office and asked him technical questions and it always proved difficult. He mocked questions, scoffed when I failed to understand a concept, and gave incomprehensible answers that only other wizards understood. For example:

Me: “So could I use Python to create this application?”

Wizard: <scoffs> “Obviously, if you studied you would understand the answer.”

A contrived example …

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I hear this one a lot, the complaint that to start a business you must do something new or different. BS.

One person I know told me of their concept for a business but reeled back on it when they discovered someone already created a similar business. So what? Who said there wasn’t room for another business to do the same thing? Who said it had to be different to succeed?

Plenty of butchers exist yet people still open butcher shops.

Humans have consumed bread for 1000s of years but new bakeries still open.

Clothes aren’t a new concept yet new brands pop up every day.

Sure you can do something different and come up with a new concept, power to you! However, to claim another business already sells the same products or offers the same services so it invalidates your potential to start a business is folly. Folly I say!

I almost shiver every time I hear someone overuse the word innovation, not because I disagree with the concept but instead its misuse and forceful behaviour. It pushes this odd agenda that you must innovate or be… dare I say it… entre.. oh god… entrepre… here it comes……… entrepreneurial, save me! Damned this word, I know very few business owners that use this word, instead they just call themselves business owners. They run businesses not draw ideas on pieces of paper.

To recalibrate so we’re on the same page: I am not against innovation, …

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Software costs both time and money to write and create. It’s not some magic fairy dust that you wave a wand and earn a butt ton of money. You just wake up with an idea in the morning and earn a billion dollars by nightfall. No. An idea sometimes serves as a starting point but an idea alone won’t put food on the dinner table tonight.

A friend of mine tells the story of their original idea to customise a car to add a stereo system, people love music so why not add it to a car to enhance the driving experience. An idea that we all live with today, thanks to my friend. Actually no, he never implemented the idea. Instead he thought and spoke about it a lot but never advanced to the implementation stage. Now in hindsight he swears even today if he went through with the idea and built it then he would be a millionaire.

I meet many people who claim to possess fantastic ideas, with promises that if I just created their software app idea then I would be printing money. One person even said “hey I got this idea, but don’t go make it, it’s my idea”… well if it’s secret don’t tell me!

Ideas cost nothing, the moment one thinks it, the idea exists. Unfortunately with implementations they chew up countless hours or if not years of time. Not just time but money. Let’s do an example together to illustrate my point.

The Idea: I have an idea to …

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In one software audit a few months ago I worked with a small business here in Australia that hired software developers from a developing country. Within the first three hours of my analysis of the codebase I noticed I lacked the majority of the code necessary to execute the application. Not only that, I uncovered that the software developers hosted a significant part of the code on the internet, visible and accessible to the public. This decision is extremely poor practice and whether malicious intent, incompetence, an honest mistake or just laziness, it breached the trust of the owner of the company.

This situation left my client both happy and upset. Happy that they found a software auditor like myself that discovered and informed them of a serious issue with the code. Upset that the software developer overseas that they hired with a Freelance Platform failed to provide all the source code, as promised in the original agreement.

In the end it all worked out, I worked with the client to discuss the situation with the software developer and retrieve all the source code necessary to execute and maintain the application. I am still unaware if the developer failed to hand over all the code with malice intent or they made an honest mistake. I perform software audits, not criminal investigations. However, it serves as an excellent warning to anyone that utilises platforms such as …

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Did your Shopify store go down? You’ve tried everything but you are still unable to connect to your online store? No stress, we help fix, maintain, and create Shopify stores on a daily basis. Problems with Shopify stores happen regularly, you are not alone, I promise. Today I will share 7 troubleshooting steps to help fix your Shopify store and bring it back online. The steps range in technical ability from basic to advanced. If they fail to fix your problems then you may always reach out to an expert like myself to help but in my experience usually one of these troubleshooting steps fixes the problem.

1. Check your own internet connection

I know it might sound silly, but double-check that your internet connection works on the device that you tried to access Shopify. To test the internet connection on your device, navigate to a popular website such as https://www.google.com.au and see if it connects. If successful, attempt to go to your Shopify website again. If it fails to connect to your Shopify store, then the problem is with your Shopify store, not your internet connection.

A common error message in Google Chrome when the internet drops out.

2. Double Check the Website URL

A client of mine assumed their website went down, but after troubleshooting the issue we discovered that they wrote the incorrect URL address. For example, can you spot the difference between the …

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Emails: something almost everyone uses.

Love them or hate them, they reign as king of modern day communication. Tons of apps exist for communication such as iMessage, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Reddit, Google Meets, and many more. From phone calls and text messages to status updates and forum posts, and yet email, in my opinion, sits at the top.

As a website developer many clients of mine asked if I am able to help them with their emails. Some wanted custom emails but lacked the knowledge on how to set it up themselves, others pleaded for my help because their emails failed to send and receive.

The more I helped people with their emails the more I saw why people required help. An easy exercise, imagine your emails cease to work for one week. No sending, no receiving, nothing for one week. For most businesses and individuals this presents an unacceptable situation, yet for me I see it often.

Problems with emails occur for a multitude of reasons such as misconfigured email settings, expired domains, hackers that steal credentials, internet connectivity problems, and much more.

Due to the demand of requests I decided to offer email services. I choose the platform, I configure emails, I set up the email filters, I explain how to use the emails, and I contact the call centres for further support.

In the past I never managed emails, as a business we focused solely on websites. …

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Yes you read it right. I love Software. Software is my passion, something that I lose myself in. Call me a weird geek but I love me some zeros and ones. When I write Software I come to life, I feel exhilarated. Whether I program in the morning, afternoon or the middle of the night, time loses meaning. I write Software for work, for pleasure, and for a challenge. Whether paid or unpaid, I am writing Software.

Do I have a hobby? Sure do, Software.

Do I have a job? Sure do, Software.

Do I have something to do this weekend? Sure do, Software.

Call it strange or call it obsessed, I love Software.

When am I unhappy? When I am not writing Software.

When am I bored? When I am not writing Software.

When I write Software, I am not in competition with someone. Is there a better Software Engineer than me? You betcha! Does that matter? No, I love Software.

Think of a question and I will give you an answer: I love Software.

Just like any love, some days I despise Software. I am angry with it. I want to stop talking to it for a bit. When I calm down, take a breather, I come back and reluctantly apologise. Look… I am sorry… I love you Software. Oh, how you drive me up the wall sometimes. Oh, how you get under my skin. Oh, the countless arguments we have. But listen my old friend, Software, I love you. Every single line of you.

I love Software because it allows me to express myself and ideas …

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