Representation vs. Reality

I have noticed a tendency in people to confuse how something looks with what it is or how it works. Take, for instance the Registry Editor in Windows.

My view of the Registry Editor, looking at HKLM\SYSTEM\RNG

In every folder (technically called "key"), there is a line in the main pane titled "(Default)", usually with containing the string "(value not set)" in the Data column. Notice how I didn't say it contained that text as its data. You'd be surprised how many programmers write that literal text to an entry literally titled "(Default)".

The thing is, there is no entry called that, and its value isn't that string; it's not set. What the Registry Editor calls an entry named "(Default)" is a holdover from 16-bit Windows. It could be thought of as data attached to the folder/key itself, rather than an entry in it. "(value not set)" indicates an absence of that data.

So, make sure you're not confusing the representation of something with reality. Do some research; see what's really going on.