Notre Dame just recently finished revamping Irish Online, its online alumni directory. As I was editing my information today, I noticed that they have added a feature where alumni can list their children’s names, and, if applicable, the year their children graduated from ND. Obviously this isn’t that surprising at a school with so many legacy students. So what did surprise me and prompt me to write this blog post, you ask? The form includes space for the names of up to 15 children! Only at an Irish Catholic school…
ND student, don’t be obtuse. It’s not the fighting Frenchies is it? Ha. The way the football team’s been playing, maybe they should change the name. HAHAHAHA. ;)
A French name does not make a French Catholic School. There several Notre Dames out there.
I think your point is that Mr. Loy, a former journalist, should simply state that Notre Dame is a Catholic school. Since the nick Irish name was coined by the press and has no historical connection to the school. It was, after all, founded by a French Priest. To say that ND is an Irish Catholic school suggests that it was founded by Irish Catholics or that it has strong connections to Ireland, which it does not.
Generally speaking when one designs a web form one designs for the “worst case scenario.” In other words what is the longest last name in the world. Good, add three characters. Or in the case of a validation script, what is the shortest name in the world? Could it be one character, or am I safe checking to see if they entered at least two for their name? What is the longest common name for a US city (Or, would someone actually type in: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ãngeles de Porciúncula) In which case can your database handle that pice of information can you validate it? Would someone be able to insert nefarious code with their entry? In which case how will I prevent that and still allow for all legitimate responses. &c. &c. Seriously these are the questions that keep web programmers up nights.
Anyway, in the special case of the ND website. How do we arrive at 15 spaces for kids names. Well, goal one–no nefarious code. Forcing you to enter only one kid per field reduces significantly attack opportunity because it eliminates the need for the user to separate the names which kicks a bunch of characters that could be trick your system–you can now check for them and eliminate them. Goal two, reduces steps for the user that has a large family–encourages them to actually fill it out. You could set up a form that presented one space for a kid. Then once that field is populated provides you with an additional name field until that one is populated. &c. &c. Such a form would be a pain to fill out for more than a kid or two, you just want to knock it all out at once. Which would give us goal three, provide a space to enter the names of all kids at one time. 15 spaces should do it. 15 spaces should cover the worst case scenario. Likely it is based on a study of known data where the largest family is known to have (lets make up a number) 10 kids. Given the book cheeper by the dozen the programer figured 12 is likely not out of the question. So we’ll need to pad from 12 for a no way no how is it going to be exceeded number. 15 should do it. So look at 15 not as the number of kids they expect a family to have but instead as the number of kids they figure it is damn near impossible for a family to have.
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July 2nd, 2007 at 12:08:18 pm
Heh.
Though I dunno about “only at an Irish Catholic school.” I’d like to see BYU’s alumni directory… :)
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:13:04 pm
Ok, so maybe not only at an Irish Catholic school, but it certainly was a reminder that we are an Irish Catholic school.
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:58:37 pm
and just how many of those slots do you predict you and Becky will be filling? :)
July 2nd, 2007 at 5:06:16 pm
Brendan’s current score:
1 in the oven,
14 to go.
Someone alert Miss Becky.
July 2nd, 2007 at 6:23:13 pm
How do you figure that ND is an “Irish”-Catholic school? French is more like it.
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:30:29 pm
“Every Sperm is Sacred…”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Every_Sperm_Is_Sacred
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9002085385040727366
How I do love Monty Python.
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:58:14 pm
ND student, don’t be obtuse. It’s not the fighting Frenchies is it? Ha. The way the football team’s been playing, maybe they should change the name. HAHAHAHA. ;)
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:08:32 pm
LOL. Yeah, I’m pretty sure the Irish secondary started waving the white flag of surrender about halfway through the second quarter of the USC game. :)
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:23:12 pm
The “Irish” mascot still does not make ND an “Irish Catholic” school. Is University of Illinois a Sioux school?
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:01:16 am
A French name does not make a French Catholic School. There several Notre Dames out there.
I think your point is that Mr. Loy, a former journalist, should simply state that Notre Dame is a Catholic school. Since the nick Irish name was coined by the press and has no historical connection to the school. It was, after all, founded by a French Priest. To say that ND is an Irish Catholic school suggests that it was founded by Irish Catholics or that it has strong connections to Ireland, which it does not.
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:09:04 am
“Mr. Loy, a former journalist,” did not write this post. Check the byline. :)
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:24:03 pm
Notre Dame is actually a Roman-Catholic school founded by a Frenchman but is most popular for being Irish based on its mascot.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:53:19 pm
Anon, you are right. The French name does not make ND a French Catholic School. My point was that it is not an “Irish-Catholic” school.
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:37:29 pm
After four years of celebacy at the dome the number seems low.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:17:35 pm
I would amend Lisa’s initial comment to read “Only at a Catholic school.” Are you even aware of average family sizes in Latin America?
July 4th, 2007 at 3:35:52 am
Generally speaking when one designs a web form one designs for the “worst case scenario.” In other words what is the longest last name in the world. Good, add three characters. Or in the case of a validation script, what is the shortest name in the world? Could it be one character, or am I safe checking to see if they entered at least two for their name? What is the longest common name for a US city (Or, would someone actually type in: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ãngeles de Porciúncula) In which case can your database handle that pice of information can you validate it? Would someone be able to insert nefarious code with their entry? In which case how will I prevent that and still allow for all legitimate responses. &c. &c. Seriously these are the questions that keep web programmers up nights.
Anyway, in the special case of the ND website. How do we arrive at 15 spaces for kids names. Well, goal one–no nefarious code. Forcing you to enter only one kid per field reduces significantly attack opportunity because it eliminates the need for the user to separate the names which kicks a bunch of characters that could be trick your system–you can now check for them and eliminate them. Goal two, reduces steps for the user that has a large family–encourages them to actually fill it out. You could set up a form that presented one space for a kid. Then once that field is populated provides you with an additional name field until that one is populated. &c. &c. Such a form would be a pain to fill out for more than a kid or two, you just want to knock it all out at once. Which would give us goal three, provide a space to enter the names of all kids at one time. 15 spaces should do it. 15 spaces should cover the worst case scenario. Likely it is based on a study of known data where the largest family is known to have (lets make up a number) 10 kids. Given the book cheeper by the dozen the programer figured 12 is likely not out of the question. So we’ll need to pad from 12 for a no way no how is it going to be exceeded number. 15 should do it. So look at 15 not as the number of kids they expect a family to have but instead as the number of kids they figure it is damn near impossible for a family to have.