Code

The weirdness of using a computer at work in an exclusive brethren company has largely worn off. Now, of course, the limitations and possibilities loom larger than the presence of the machine.

These things are business-orientated, as any brethren person who can justify the use of a computer outside work will be provided with a laptop of some kind, customised for their particular needs and more or less restricted depending on their status in the global hierarchy. That's my observation, anyway. However, the brethren are addicted to Soviet-style central planning, and the orientation and optimisation of the work computers is decreed by the provider. That makes them just exactly what is not quite required in each individual case. But that's OK - at least it's a step forward.

The biggest limitation is that there is no company-wide email system. Each machine is stand-alone from a system point of view, although they are networked if there is more than one, and the original rules said that only one per company should be able to handle email. That's been quietly forgotten, I think, but even so it's not sensible to have multiple machines using the same email addresses, as you'll never know what's stored on where. So if somebody needs an urgent reply, and other important business is being done on the computer with email facility, you're out of luck. Maybe others have worked round this.

Then of course there is the very limited set of applications. If what you want to do can't be done in either Word or Excel, you're probably out of luck again.

But that's where the possibilities start. To my surprise, having been unfamiliar with any Microsoft programs until the second half of this year, I find that a lot can be done. Things that I had thought were naïve requests requiring specialised or more powerful software, are actually feasible, if not necessarily easy.

About two weeks ago I discovered that Microsoft Office has its own programming language. Suddenly Excel can be made to act in any way I choose. It is possible to create new applications, virtually, that bear only a superficial resemblance to the original application, and the big problem of having no access to database software is bypassed. The help system wasn't installed, and a bit of code which goes wrong is liable to shut the application down rather than launch a debugger, but still it feels like the opening of a prison. And another new user even discovered that the help system can be installed, even as the application blocker has a message on screen to say you're not allowed to!

Obviously I'm no professional programmer or developer, but years of effort put into understanding arbitrary rules and cascading consequences in ordinary life seems to be a good preparation for the rigidly flexible world of basic computer code. It's working so far, anyway.