E.g computers, Wi-Fi routers, tvs, consoles. All these items malfunction every once in while and all I do is turn them off then on again to get them working again. Why?
In: Technology
Computer programs, pure and simple. In your device are programs that make it behave the way you need it to. And those programs aren’t perfect.
ANALOGY: You’re in your car, following a sheet of written instructions on how to get to your destination. They’re extremely well-written, but just at the point where it says “turn left at the house with the red fence” your view gets blocked by the biggest truck you ever saw. So you don’t see the fence and you miss the turn, and it’s 10 minutes later, and you’re lost. And the road is narrow – you can’t even turn around and go back. You’re not going to where you ought to be any time soon.
BUT! On the steering wheel is a Big Magic Button marked, “Start over!” You push it, and – wow – you’re back at the start of your journey. Now you can follow the instructions again. And this time there’s no truck, you make the correct turn, and you get to where you want to be.
Computer code is a bit like that. It has the places it’s supposed to go. But there are ALWAYS bugs in code. And sometimes, things happen in just the wrong ways, and suddenly the code is heading off into new and wonderful places that the people who wrote it never intended. It’s hopelessly lost, and there’s no way it’s finding its way back. But – you have a Big Magic Button. You turn it off; you turn it back on again. It forgets what it was doing, and starts again at the beginning, the way it always does when it’s turned on. And likely goes where it’s supposed to go, and hopefully doesn’t get distracted again (for a decent while, at least).
Always worth a try, basically.
Latest Answers