Comment On A Spoonful of Sugar

Personally, I cannot think of a better string.

Can't be arsed to debug? Just substitute the magic word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

A real pro would have gone for disestablishmentarianism.

That is a bad search function indeed. Google returns over 1.770.000 results.

Also, since it seems to be tradition, I claim the first and second comment positions.

Also, a better search string I guess would be;
"StupidRubbishAPINeedsFixing"

Or perhaps;
"HeyYouWantAJobFixingThisAPICallUs"

"John S. was doing some on the search feature..."

Umm ..... work, brain surgery, carburetor rebuild? What was he doing on the search feature?

This is what's great about unit tests: it doesn't matter how you get the right answer, it just matters that you get the right answer.

To ensure no search results they should have used:
~~~<==$

Remember, my minions, you must never ever capitulate to the requests of other departments. If they complain that something is "broken," and you fix it; not only are you squandering valuable company resources, but you are also demonstrating that this department is subordinate to that one! That is an offense up with which I shall not put. Feel free to offer solutions that will force THEM to fix THEIR code, but do not change your interface.

Never forget: this department is a team, and we work together as a team. Failure is not an option: we must all fight together to defeat all other teams. Only by meeting our deadlines and causing the others to miss theirs will I achieve the promotion I so blatantly deserve.

TRWTF is ColdFusion.

Anonymous Coward:

TRWTF is ColdFusion.

Understatement of the year.

CAPTCHA: mara ... jade?

I accidentally the search feature.

<easyjoke>

He did that even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious!

</easyjoke>

As is your spelling!

Anon Too:

"John S. was doing some on the search feature..."

Umm ..... work, brain surgery, carburetor rebuild? What was he doing on the search feature?

Some. Do you have trouble reading or something? It's written right there!

Not so much a WTF as a "GoreBlimey"

This is just brillant

Anon Too:

"John S. was doing some on the search feature..."

Umm ..... work, brain surgery, carburetor rebuild? What was he doing on the search feature?

Oh you don't want to know. Pervert!

A real pro would have gone for disestablishmentarianism.

Nope; I'm an antidisestablishmentarianist.

Anon Too:

A real pro would have gone for disestablishmentarianism.

A really real pro would have gone for floccinaucinihilipilification

coldFUSION!!! Akismet!!! bunch of unrelated words for askismet to choke on

The Boss:

Remember, my minions, you must never ever capitulate to the requests of other departments. If they complain that something is "broken," and you fix it; not only are you squandering valuable company resources, but you are also demonstrating that this department is subordinate to that one! That is an offense up with which I shall not put. Feel free to offer solutions that will force THEM to fix THEIR code, but do not change your interface.

Never forget: this department is a team, and we work together as a team. Failure is not an option: we must all fight together to defeat all other teams. Only by meeting our deadlines and causing the others to miss theirs will I achieve the promotion I so blatantly deserve.

YES! From one who has worked in such a department, I can't agree more.

</Edit>

Erm.. I mean't that only when it's the OTHER department's crap that's broken.

I presume that ColdFusion is setting the search term in that mark-up. If so, still doesn't explain the 500; seems like it should've simply not found matches (or returned a list, depending on the content against which it's searching).

I mean, if I substituted "bob" for your sarch input, I'd expect to find all documents referring to bob, not a 500.

You know, you can say it backwards, which is "docious-ali-expi-istic-fragil-cali-rupus"; but that's going a bit too far, don't you think?

Mary:

You know, you can say it backwards, which is "docious-ali-expi-istic-fragil-cali-rupus"; but that's going a bit too far, don't you think?

Indubitably!

JamieC:

Anon Too:

A real pro would have gone for disestablishmentarianism.

A really real pro would have gone for floccinaucinihilipilification

No mention yet of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?

Anon Too:

Can't be arsed to debug? Just substitute the magic word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

A real pro would have gone for disestablishmentarianism.

Not if he was trying to be precocious.

Anon Too:

"John S. was doing some on the search feature..."

Umm ..... work, brain surgery, carburetor rebuild? What was he doing on the search feature?

Whatever he's doing on the search feature, don't you think it's time for him to get off it before he breaks something?

The only justifiable reason for the previous developer doing this is that he/she wasn't allowed to change the underlying data access code. I once worked at a place where I was regularly coming across broken code in the lower levels of the ball 'o mud code base. I'd submit fixes, along with a unit test (a novelty at that particular firm - no one else had even heard of unit testing) only for a more "senior" developer to veto the changes every time.

golddog:

I presume that ColdFusion is setting the search term in that mark-up. If so, still doesn't explain the 500; seems like it should've simply not found matches (or returned a list, depending on the content against which it's searching).

I mean, if I substituted "bob" for your sarch input, I'd expect to find all documents referring to bob, not a 500.

The 500 error is returned by testing the standalone API with an empty search string.

The ColdFusion wraps the case of empty search strings in order to never present the API with an empty search string.

Please, enough of this sesquipedalianism.

How do I get that song to stop playing in my head?

The Boss:

Remember, my minions, you must never ever capitulate to the requests of other departments. If they complain that something is "broken," and you fix it; not only are you squandering valuable company resources, but you are also demonstrating that this department is subordinate to that one! That is an offense up with which I shall not put. Feel free to offer solutions that will force THEM to fix THEIR code, but do not change your interface.

Never forget: this department is a team, and we work together as a team. Failure is not an option: we must all fight together to defeat all other teams. Only by meeting our deadlines and causing the others to miss theirs will I achieve the promotion I so blatantly deserve.

Would it help if we changed the API three times before releasing the final version with yet another API? After all if we want to ensure victory over the other teams, that of course means making it difficult to follow in our tracks.
Also, we can't let them squander our innovations - patent everything in the name of the department and force them to license or to work around our patents.

Michael:

Anonymous Coward:

TRWTF is ColdFusion.

CAPTCHA: mara ... jade?

I have supercalifragilisticexpialidocioused your search engine. Pray I don't supercalifragilisticexpialidocious it more.

lyates:

How do I get that song to stop playing in my head?

By getting a different song stuck in your head, like: chim-chiminey, chim-chiminey, chim chim cher-ee, or: This is the song that never ends ...

lyates:

How do I get that song to stop playing in my head?

Simple; replace it with this one:

Chim chimin-ee, chim chimin-ee, chim chim cher-ee,
A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be;
Chim chimin-ee, chim chimin-ee, chim chim cher-oo,
Good luck will rub off when I shakes 'ands with you!

lyates:

How do I get that song to stop playing in my head?

airdrik:

By getting a different song stuck in your head, like: chim-chiminey, chim-chiminey, chim chim cher-ee, or: This is the song that never ends ...

Bert:

Simple; replace it with this one:

Chim chimin-ee, chim chimin-ee, chim chim cher-ee,
A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be;
Chim chimin-ee, chim chimin-ee, chim chim cher-oo,
Good luck will rub off when I shakes 'ands with you!

Arghhh, Mary Poppins hivemind! Flee the city! Burn your daughters!

Bert:

lyates:

How do I get that song to stop playing in my head?

Simple; replace it with this one:

Chim chimin-ee, chim chimin-ee, chim chim cher-ee,
A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be;
Chim chimin-ee, chim chimin-ee, chim chim cher-oo,
Good luck will rub off when I shakes 'ands with you!

ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL, SMALL WORLD!

ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL, SMALL WORLD!

ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL, SMALL WORLD!

ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL!
ITS A SMALL, SMALL WORLD!

I don't see what's wrong with this code. Clearly similar validation logic couldn't have been used to dodge the search API altogether in the event of a predictable, erroneous input, or even print a message to the user informing them that the required input was invalid. What a ludicrous idea!

Obviously this workaround was the author's only option.

jpers36:

JamieC:

Anon Too:

A real pro would have gone for disestablishmentarianism.

A really real pro would have gone for floccinaucinihilipilification

No mention yet of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?

You beat me to it. That is the word I was going with.

plaga - Speaking of diseases

lyates:

How do I get that song to stop playing in my head?

Perhaps this will help--

I would have gone with "iamtheverymodelofamodernmajorgeneral".

But seriously, the practice of coding around errors instead of fixing them is an aspect of programming that I don't see discussed much. Off the top of my head, the only print reference I can recall to this topic is in passing in Steven Levy's excellent Hackers.

Would be even more funnier if some article (or what it is that would be found) would contain that search string..

D'oh, an error, a pes-ky error
Ray, a bright idea'd fix
Me, the coder to save the day,
Far, a non-pool memory access
So, I think I'll throw an error
La, the yellow one next to Po
Tea, a choice n'stead of coffee,
which brings us back to D'oh!

apaq11:

<easyjoke>

He did that even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious!

</easyjoke>

I think you mean </cfeasyjoke>

coldfusion is one of the many real WTFs

I understand you're against the antidisestablishmentarianism movement...

jpers36:

JamieC:

Anon Too:

A real pro would have gone for disestablishmentarianism.

A really real pro would have gone for floccinaucinihilipilification

No mention yet of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?

Be careful with those long words, you might trigger someone's Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

jpers36:

JamieC:

Anon Too:

A real pro would have gone for disestablishmentarianism.

A really real pro would have gone for floccinaucinihilipilification

No mention yet of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?

I should hope not.

Obviously preferable: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantisiliogogogoch. There's no chance whatsoever of that accidentally producing a successful search.

You know, you can say it backwards, which is "docious-ali-expi-istic-fragil-cali-rupus"; but that's going a bit too far, don't you think?

Indubitably.

@F: So YOU'RE the one who coded that railway routefinder...

Zylon:

I would have gone with "iamtheverymodelofamodernmajorgeneral".

That's pretty funny, as the first thing that popped into my head on the topic of catchy songs was:
There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium

And really, we hack around bugs in APIs we don't control, all the time. That's not a WTF. This particular *method* of hacking around it... is. (Also generally, if it's a bug in an API coming internally from another team, we first hack around it, and then also file a bug report.)

Also, if they really had to submit a search string, rather than random long words, fun as they are to name, couldn't they just have mashed the keyboard a bit, and gone with something like "CJFNNCNNOLIIEHREHCDMUCDGERWP"? Pretty sure *that* won't ever get any results anywhere.

F:

jpers36:

JamieC:

Anon Too:

A real pro would have gone for disestablishmentarianism.

A really real pro would have gone for floccinaucinihilipilification

No mention yet of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?

I should hope not.

Obviously preferable: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantisiliogogogoch. There's no chance whatsoever of that accidentally producing a successful search.

Unless you're searching for hotels in Wales