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Washing machines and workarounds

Have you ever used shared laundry facilities? The machines in my building have few controls and limited instructions. You can put coins into a slot and push them in and out, and that starts the machine. You can choose the temperature. Opening and closing the lid will also pause or resume the machine. There is a light indicating if it’s running.

There is a bug with these machines. Not everyone has caught on, so every few weeks there is an angry note about a machine that “ate their money”. I lost money once and then realized the flaw: if the machine hasn’t completed a full wash and you leave the lid up, then insert money, it doesn’t extend the wash, and your money is effectively “eaten”.

In this situation the best thing to do is to document the bug. It would be cheaper to replace it with a different machine with a different design than to try to fix it.

Debugging may lead to a workaround, which is still a solution.

- Karl

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