Contributed Columns

THE PERFECT PROGRAMMER
Lou Ellen Davis (745½)

"65 Notes," January 1977
Volume 4, Number 1, Page 1

"No program is perfect,"
They said with a shrug.
"The client is happy!
What's one little bug?"

But he was determined.
The others went home.
He dug out the flowchart,
Deserted, alone.

Night passed into morning.
The room was cluttered
With memory dumps, microfiche...
"I'm close!" he muttered.

Chain smoking, cold coffee,
Logic, deduction...
"I've got it!" he cried.
"Just change one instruction!"

Then change two. Then three.
As year followed year,
Strangers would comment,
"Is that guy still here?"

He died at the console
Of hunger and thirst.
Next day he was buried
Face down, nine edge first.

His wife, through her tears,
Accepted his fate,
Saying, "He's not really gone -
He's just working late."