When marketing and design folk need generic copy to fill space, they use something called “Lorem Ipsum”, a sort of greek gibberish that pours out of generator scripts in as long and varied a length as you need it: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Sed vel nibh id augue tincidunt feugiat. Integer auctor ante at sapien volutpat ultrices. Donec congue. Suspendisse pellentesque. Proin vitae augue. Aliquam sapien metus, cursus vel, rutrum vel, pharetra eu, felis. Donec sed diam sed eros ullamcorper commodo. Duis faucibus ante eget justo. Aenean sollicitudin purus sollicitudin arcu. Nulla a turpis id tortor congue gravida. Praesent sodales cursus est. Nullam eu enim. Sed dolor nunc, accumsan ut, mattis vitae, consectetuer sit amet, ipsum. Etiam scelerisque nisi porta risus. Donec velit. Curabitur lobortis, dui quis condimentum bibendum, dui metus lacinia tortor, nec tincidunt lacus diam sed est. Cras et arcu ac nisi auctor pretium. As a software developer I tend to work more in objects and actions than in actual copy. Right now for instance I’m doing a database of relationships between people and educational institutions, so I’ve got a database full of stuff like “Gertrude is the parent of Hamlet, Claudius is the husband of Gertrude. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are former friends of Hamlet. Horatio is a friend of Hamlet. Horatio and Hamlet are students at Wittenberg….” and so on, for testing the various branches of the system. (Like, Gertrude as the mother of a student might by default be allowed certain permissions, whereas her new husband does not get those same rights. Similarly, Horatio’s friendship with Hamlet allows for functionality that R&G no longer get…) I find it fun, and I like to think I’m educating my coworkers 🙂
