| All software systems sometimes crash. Certain | | | | the problem, but all functions found in the core dump |
| software languages leave behind a core dump - an | | | | must be looked at. The programmer starts at the |
| image of the state of the program when it went | | | | end-point and will work his way back from there. He |
| wrong - allowing programmers to debug the program | | | | will find out which function called what other functions. |
| and find the fault. We must examine our own core | | | | Eventually he'll find the function that didn't work as it |
| dumps if we wish to improve ourselves. | | | | should have. Most often, the function at fault is some |
| When everything is working you don't think about | | | | little piece of code that someone wrote but thought so |
| self-improvement. This makes sense because you're | | | | trivial that he thought it didn't need testing. Furthermore, |
| happy, everything is as it should be, so why stop and | | | | the function at fault is often relied upon by many |
| think. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We only think about | | | | others functions of the program. |
| improving our self in some way when we know there | | | | So how does this relate to real people? The term |
| is something wrong. But it's no good just thinking that | | | | "core dump" is not just some computer jargon. Before |
| we must change because something is not right: we | | | | computers, the term "core dump" meant 'complete |
| must think about what is wrong. We must look inside | | | | account of a human's knowledge on some subject'. |
| our self and examine our thoughts, behaviour, and | | | | We all have a core dump. It's our brain, our thoughts, |
| aspirations. We must be critical. We must be honest. | | | | our emotions and our dreams. Of course, being human |
| When you fall down from some crisis in your life it is | | | | beings, our core dumps are far more complex than |
| not enough to pick your self up, dust your self down | | | | any software written today. |
| and continue your journey. The software program | | | | To examine your core dump you need to examine |
| contains a bug. Sooner or later, you're going to fall | | | | your inner self. But how to find it? The answer is |
| down again. It does take strength to pick your self up | | | | provided by the paragraph or so above: a core dump |
| each time, and one can applaud such strength, but we | | | | is 'an exact record of the state of the program as it |
| admire people who can learn, adapt and succeed from | | | | was when it crashed'. For human beings, 'exact record' |
| a personal crisis. But where do we begin to look for | | | | equates to honesty. Computers never lie: they report |
| answers: to learn lessons from our mistakes? We | | | | things as they are. You must not lie to your self. Begin |
| must look at our personal core dumps. | | | | by asking the question 'Why was I not happy?' Don't |
| In software a core dump is a computer binary left | | | | give an answer that you'd like to hear, or you feel will |
| behind on the operating system when a software | | | | let you off the hook. Be critical and don't lie to yourself: |
| program stops running in some unexpected or | | | | find the real answer. Once you have that answer then |
| catastrophic way. Software programmers examine | | | | look further back. What led to this unhappiness? Again, |
| the binary to find the answer to why the program | | | | be truthful. Keep going back until you can go no further. |
| malfunctioned. The reason a programmer finds the | | | | Once there, you have found the malfunctioning |
| core dump so beneficial, is because the binary is an | | | | "function". Only when you've found the real problem |
| exact record of the state of the program as it was | | | | can you begin to fix it. And just like a complex, |
| when it crashed. It also contains the history if the | | | | million-line piece of code you'll probably find that fixing |
| program; the steps that caused it to crash. If some | | | | that one small function will prove beneficial to many |
| function of the program isn't in the core dump, then it | | | | other parts of the system. |
| can be known for certain that the function didn't cause | | | | |