시로서의 코드(그리고 Edgar Allan Poe의 'The Raven'의 또 다른 패러디)

저는 지난 주에 관한 웨비나에서 '코드로서의 시'라는 아이디어를 제시했습니다. 형식과 범위가 제한되고 제품이 창의적이라는 것입니다.

그런 점을 염두에 두고 몇 주 전에 어떤 이유로 쓴 Edgar Allan Poe의 'The Raven' 패러디를 공유하는 것이 재미있을 것이라고 생각했습니다. 기술 분야(개발 또는 지원 분야)에서 일하는 대부분의 사람들은 '내 컴퓨터에서 작동합니다.'라는 문구에 충분히 익숙할 것입니다. 도움을 요청했을 때 지원 담당자로부터 확실히 들었고, 다른 사람이 가져온 웹 사이트에서 문제를 해결할 때 직접 말한 적이 있습니다.

그러나 나는 사이트 오류가 있는 누군가가 지원을 요청하고 이 문구를 반복해서 듣는 공포를 상상하기 시작했습니다. 그리고 나는 그것에 대해 너무 많이 생각했기 때문에 아주 분명하게 해야 할 일은 단 한 가지뿐이었습니다. 따라서 더 이상 고민하지 않고 (그리고 Edgar Allan Poe에게 진심으로 사과드립니다):

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many static websites too obscure, labyrinthine—
    While I waited, hands a-wringing, suddenly there came a pinging,
    As of some one gently ringing, ringing at my laptop screen.
“’Tis but email,” I muttered, “pinging on my laptop screen—
        Only this on my machine.”

    Ah, distinctly I remember, it was barely just September;
And each separate dying ember of the sparks wrought by caffeine.
    Eagerly I wished to fix it;—free my code of merge conflicts
    It got from input text prediction—of regression toward the mean —
A perfect storm of issues both unknown and unforeseen—
        Derived from some old subroutine.

    But the too-bright phosphors glowing of the blue light screen that’s showing
Errors building — terrors filled me with self-doubt I’d never seen;
    So that now, to still adrenaline I stood, my website rendering,
    And should have told myself that it was just on my machine—
“Just some local issue cropping up upon my screen—
        Only this on my machine.”

    I logged in to older repos, and began again to compose
Posts astounding, verbs abounding of my troubles that had been;
    And I messaged to support, with emphasis again retorted—  
    That my progress had been thwarted, errors flared upon my screen—
Flared above the windows that now filled my glowing screen—
        Quoth support, “It works on my machine.”

    “That’s irrelevant,” I ranted, as my anger spilled, decanted,
To the tab from which I’d gab to software’s staff to vent my spleen;
    “Though you’re sighing ‘user error’, could you please try to be fairer;
    I’m sure you’re doing fine but it won’t work on my machine!
I’ve searched Stack Overflow, Copilot and, yes, all that’s in between”— 
        Quoth support, “It works on my machine.”

    Now resetting my connection and, sans internet, inspection
Of the code that once had flowed from fingers flexible and keen
    Caused myriad doubts to manifest—had I approved my pull request?
    Should I test before suggesting fixes quite so far upstream?
Was the issue based in errors there since late 2016?
        Quoth support, “It works on my machine.”

    With my patience nearly ended and support so far from splendid,
Now appalled, I reinstalled my applications fresh and clean,
    Under stress, I must confess that I updated my OS,
    And then I guess everything tested fine as it had ever been.
So when support reached out and asked how helpful their advice had been
        I simply said my problem sat between my desk chair and my screen.

원본을 선호한다면... 네, 저도 그렇습니다. Especially when Vincent Price, Christopher Walken, or James Earl Jones reads it.

하지만 (패러디든 아니든) 이 시의 형식에는 objective correlative 구조에 표현된 것과 같은 무언가가 있습니다. 증가하는 공포, 변하는 케이던스, 그리고 필연적으로 코드가 잘못되었음을 발견한 반절정 계속해서 기본적으로 전원을 껐다가 다시 켜서 문제를 해결했습니다.