Comment On Date Selector of the Damned

"It's no secret that web developers are generally considered the red headed stepchildren of programming, and with good reason," writes Joe. "With its proliferation of forgiving and loosely structured languages and the huge demand for web developers in our modern web-centric world, it's not surprising that the field is practically overrun by script monkeys with no real programming background. Armed with a shelf full of books on all the latest web technologies and a subscription to Experts' Exchange, they enthusiastically pound away at their keyboards day after day, happily and cluelessly producing oceans of spaghetti code so bad that even Olive Garden wouldn't serve it." [expand full text]

"It's no secret that web developers are generally considered the red headed stepchildren of programming, and with good reason," writes Joe. "With its proliferation of forgiving and loosely structured languages and the huge demand for web developers in our modern web-centric world, it's not surprising that the field is practically overrun by script monkeys with no real programming background. Armed with a shelf full of books on all the latest web technologies and a subscription to Experts' Exchange, they enthusiastically pound away at their keyboards day after day, happily and cluelessly producing oceans of spaghetti code so bad that even Olive Garden wouldn't serve it."

"Over the course of a decade in web development, I've seen so much terrible code that it takes something truly unholy to elicit more from me than a deep sigh and a weary eye-rubbing... but, every once in a great while, the devil still opens hell's source repository and looses upon my screen a horror so foul that even one as jaded as myself weeps in bitter despair. This is one such horror. I apologetically present to you: the date selector of the damned.

Joe continues, "the premise is so simple it could be from Chapter 1 of a Javascript book: a date field that pops-up a calendar to easily select a month, day and year. It's a single line of jQuery or, if this were done in the days of old, an integration of a third-party component. In either case, any web developer with a week of experience under his belt should be able to implement such a requirement with a couple dozen lines of code in half an hour.

"Unfortunately, my predecessor had far more than a week of experience -- not just with Javascript, but with jQuery as well -- when he wrote his utterly incomprehensible implementation of this simple javascript task."

<script type="text/javascript">
    
    var GlobalVars = {};

    //  final Date string to be passed to SAP is stored here
    GlobalVars.MyDate = '';

    //  date fields user is interested in looking up result history for
    GlobalVars.Day   = '';
    GlobalVars.Month = '';
    GlobalVars.Year = '';

    $(document).ready(function () {
        
        $('#goBtn').live('click', function () {
            RedirectToResults();
        });

        if (GlobalVars.MyDate != '') {

            // parse Date value
            GetCurrentDate(GlobalVars.MyDate);
        }
        else {
            // populate form with current date
            GetCurrentDate('');
        }
    });

    function RedirectToResults() {
        // validate user input
        GlobalVars.SelectedIndex = 0;

        // clear error field
        ClearErrorMessage();


        // ck month selection field
        if ($('#MonthSelect option:selected').val() > 1) {
            // store selected index
            GlobalVars.SelectedIndex = $('#MonthSelect option:selected').val();

            // string to int please
            GlobalVars.SelectedIndex = parseInt(GlobalVars.SelectedIndex);

            // set query filter based on selected value
            switch (GlobalVars.SelectedIndex) {
                case 2:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '01';
                        break;
                    }
                case 3:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '02';
                        break;
                    }
                case 4:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '03';
                        break;
                    }
                case 5:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '04';
                        break;
                    }
                case 6:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '05';
                        break;
                    }
                case 7:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '06';
                        break;
                    }
                case 8:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '07';
                        break;
                    }
                case 9:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '08';
                        break;
                    }
                case 10:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '09';
                        break;
                    }
                case 11:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '10';
                        break;
                    }
                case 12:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '11';
                        break;
                    }
                case 13:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Month = '12';
                        break;
                    }
            }
        }
        else {
            // warn user
            alert('You Must Choose a Month!');
            return;
        }

        // ck day selection field
        if ($('#DaySelect option:selected').val() > 1) {
            // store selected index
            GlobalVars.SelectedIndex = $('#DaySelect option:selected').val();

            // string to int please
            GlobalVars.SelectedIndex = parseInt(GlobalVars.SelectedIndex);

            // set query filter based on selected value
            switch (GlobalVars.SelectedIndex) {
                case 2:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '01';
                        break;
                    }
                case 3:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '02';
                        break;
                    }
                case 4:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '03';
                        break;
                    }
                case 5:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '04';
                        break;
                    }
                case 6:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '05';
                        break;
                    }
                case 7:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '06';
                        break;
                    }
                case 8:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '07';
                        break;
                    }
                case 9:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '08';
                        break;
                    }
                case 10:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '09';
                        break;
                    }
                case 11:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '10';
                        break;
                    }
                case 12:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '11';
                        break;
                    }
                case 13:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '12';
                        break;
                    }
                case 14:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '13';
                        break;
                    }
                case 15:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '14';
                        break;
                    }
                case 16:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '15';
                        break;
                    }
                case 17:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '16';
                        break;
                    }
                case 18:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '17';
                        break;
                    }
                case 19:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '18';
                        break;
                    }
                case 20:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '19';
                        break;
                    }
                case 21:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '20';
                        break;
                    }
                case 22:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '21';
                        break;
                    }
                case 23:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '22';
                        break;
                    }
                case 24:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '23';
                        break;
                    }
                case 25:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '24';
                        break;
                    }
                case 26:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '25';
                        break;
                    }
                case 27:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '26';
                        break;
                    }
                case 28:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '27';
                        break;
                    }
                case 29:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '28';
                        break;
                    }
                case 30:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '29';
                        break;
                    }
                case 31:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '30';
                        break;
                    }
                case 32:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Day = '31';
                        break;
                    }
            }
        }
        else {
            // warn user
            alert('You Must Choose a Day!');
            return;
        }

        // ck year selection field
        if ($('#YearSelect option:selected').val() > 1) {
            //store selected index
            GlobalVars.SelectedIndex = $('#YearSelect option:selected').val();

            // string to int please
            GlobalVars.SelectedIndex = parseInt(GlobalVars.SelectedIndex);

            // set query filter based on selected value
            switch (GlobalVars.SelectedIndex) {
                case 2:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Year = '2011';
                        break;
                    }
                case 3:
                    {
                        GlobalVars.Year = '2012';
                        break;
                    }
            }
        }
        else {
            // warn user
            alert('You Must Choose a Year!');
            return;
        }

        // build completed Date String
        GlobalVars.MyDate = GlobalVars.Month + '/' + GlobalVars.Day + '/' + GlobalVars.Year;

        // query SAP for user result history
        window.location = '/SearchResults?MyDate=' + GlobalVars.MyDate
    }

    function GetCurrentDate(MyDate) {
        if(MyDate != '') {
            // show current date on form
            var Index1 = MyDate.indexOf('/');
            var Index2 = MyDate.lastIndexOf('/');
            var Month  = MyDate.substring(0, Index1)
            var Day    = MyDate.substring(Index1 + 1, Index2);
            var Year   = MyDate.substr(Index2 + 1, 4);

            var temp = parseInt(Month, 10);
            temp++;

            // populate month
            $('#MonthSelect').val(temp);

            temp = parseInt(Day, 10);
            temp++;

            // populate Day
            $('#DaySelect').val(temp);

            // populate Year. This app was developed in 2011, so look at current year
            // and intialize the YearSelect list with every year between (and including)
            // current year and 2011
            if (Year != '2011') {
                var StartYear   = 2011;
                var EndYear     = parseInt(Year);
                var Diff        = EndYear - StartYear;
                var i           = 0;
                var OptionValue = 2;

                // set StartYear to 2010 so we don't goof up the loop logic
                StartYear = 2010;

                while (i <= Diff) {
                    // increment year
                    StartYear++;

                    // add to YearSelect list
                    $('#YearSelect').children().last().after('<option value=' + OptionValue + '>' + StartYear + '</option>');

                    // increment values
                    i++;
                    OptionValue++;
                }

                // select the EndYear value
                $('#YearSelect').val(Diff + 2);
            }
            else {
                $('#YearSelect').replaceWith(
                                             '<select id="YearSelect" style="width:50%;height:10%;float:left;clear:both" tabindex="4">' +
                                             '<option value="1"></option>' +
                                             '<option value="2">2011</option>' +
                                             '</select>'
                                            );

                // select 2011
                $('#YearSelect').val(2);
            }
        }
        else {
            // get current date and time from server
            $.getJSON('/GetDateTime)', null, function (data) {
                // parse result
                if (data != null) {
                    // show current date on form
                    var Index1 = data.indexOf('/');
                    var Index2 = data.lastIndexOf('/');
                    var Month  = data.substring(0, Index1)
                    var Day    = data.substring(Index1 + 1, Index2);
                    var Year   = data.substr(Index2 + 1, 4);

                    var temp = parseInt(Month, 10);
                    temp++;

                    // populate month
                    $('#MonthSelect').val(temp);

                    temp = parseInt(Day, 10);
                    temp++;

                    // populate Day
                    $('#DaySelect').val(temp);

                    // populate Year. This app was developed in 2011, so look at current year
                    // and intialize the YearSelect list with every year between (and including)
                    // current year and 2011
                    if (Year != '2011') {
                        var StartYear   = 2011;
                        var EndYear     = parseInt(Year);
                        var Diff        = EndYear - StartYear;
                        var i           = 0;
                        var OptionValue = 2;

                        // set StartYear to 2010 so we don't goof up the loop logic
                        StartYear = 2010;

                        while (i <= Diff) {
                            // increment year
                            StartYear++;

                            // add to YearSelect list
                            $('#YearSelect').children().last().after('<option value=' + OptionValue + '>' + StartYear + '</option>');

                            // increment values
                            i++;
                            OptionValue++;
                        }

                        // select the EndYear value
                        $('#YearSelect').val(Diff + 2);
                    }
                    else {
                        $('#YearSelect').replaceWith('<select id="YearSelect" style="width:50%;height:10%;float:left;clear:both" tabindex="4">' +
                                                     '<option value="1"></option>' +
                                                     '<option value="2">2011</option>' +
                                                     '</select>'
                                                    );

                        // select 2011
                        $('#YearSelect').val(2);
                    }
                }
            });
        }
    }

    
</script>


<fieldset id="bottomset">
    <legend style="font-size:8pt">Date Selection:</legend>
    <label id="MonthLabel" class="ResultLabel" style="float:left;">Month: </label>
    <select id="MonthSelect" style="width:30%;height:10%;float:left;clear:both" tabindex="2">
        <option value="1"></option>
        <option value="2">1</option>
        <option value="3">2</option>
        <option value="4">3</option>
        <option value="5">4</option>
        <option value="6">5</option>
        <option value="7">6</option>
        <option value="8">7</option>
        <option value="9">8</option>
        <option value="10">9</option>
        <option value="11">10</option>
        <option value="12">11</option>
        <option value="13">12</option>
    </select>
    <label id="DayLabel" class="ResultLabel" style="float:left;clear:both">Day: </label>
    <select id="DaySelect" style="width:30%;height:10%;float:left;clear:both" tabindex="3">
        <option value="1"></option>
        <option value="2">1</option>
        <option value="3">2</option>
        <option value="4">3</option>
        <option value="5">4</option>
        <option value="6">5</option>
        <option value="7">6</option>
        <option value="8">7</option>
        <option value="9">8</option>
        <option value="10">9</option>
        <option value="11">10</option>
        <option value="12">11</option>
        <option value="13">12</option>
        <option value="14">13</option>
        <option value="15">14</option>
        <option value="16">15</option>
        <option value="17">16</option>
        <option value="18">17</option>
        <option value="19">18</option>
        <option value="20">19</option>
        <option value="21">20</option>
        <option value="22">21</option>
        <option value="23">22</option>
        <option value="24">23</option>
        <option value="25">24</option>
        <option value="26">25</option>
        <option value="27">26</option>
        <option value="28">27</option>
        <option value="29">28</option>
        <option value="30">29</option>
        <option value="31">30</option>
        <option value="32">31</option>
    </select>
    <label id="YearLabel" class="ResultLabel" style="float:left;clear:both">Year: </label>
    <select id="YearSelect" style="width:50%;height:10%;float:left;clear:both" tabindex="4">
        <option value="1"></option>
    </select>

    <br />
    <button id="goBtn" type="button" style="float:left;clear:both">Go &gt;&gt;</button>
</fieldset>

Joe adds, "it should be mentioned that my predecessor was a poster child of diligence when it came to staying on top of modern industry trends: jQuery, ASP.Net MVC framework, ajax, you name it. He was the very model of an enlightened modern-day senior web developer, and the plethora of problems that had plagued the company's web apps in the two years he had worked there were entirely the fault of his clueless and idiotic junior... at least according to him. Let his tale be a cautionary one, that a man must first learn the alphabet before he aspires to be Shakespeare.

« Prev

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Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:20 • by GettinSadda

383332

Reply Quote

The only way that I can currently think of to make that worse is to expect the user to enter the month in Morse code!

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:26 • by snoofle

383333

Reply Quote

I know *nothing* of web development, but wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that there is some sort of calendar widget available that one might use instead of writing all that?

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:27 • by Nagesh (unregistered)

383334

Reply Quote

I see no problem with this code. It is a work of art!

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:33 • by jonny_q (unregistered)

383335 in reply to 383333

Reply Quote

snoofle:
I know *nothing* of web development, but wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that there is some sort of calendar widget available that one might use instead of writing all that?

HTML5 allows for <input type=date> and as browsers gain support for it, it will be that simple to display a date widget.

However, even today, not all browsers support it. Like the article said, there are a number of third-party scripts out there that do the job quite well. A very method is to include the jQuery UI lib on your page:


<label><b>Date</b> <input class=date name=birthdate></label>

... 

<script>$(function() {

 $('input.date').datepicker();

 // wipe hands on pants

});</script>

So, yes.

I dumbed down the code there a bit, and there's probably a more thorough answer, but that's the quick answer to your question.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:34 • by DWalekr59 (unregistered)

383336

Reply Quote

Instead of JUST laughing at the programmer here, someone should replace that code with what ought to be there and then SHOW IT TO the programmer. Ask them what they think of the replacement.

Make a comment to them like "you know, there are some situations where, when you see them, you ought to think "I'm sure this has been solved before -- let's look around for the best and simplest way to implement this".".

Javascript?

2012-06-18 11:35 • by Kasper (unregistered)

383337

Reply Quote

There is not much reason to be using javascript in the first place. That page could have worked just as fine without any javascript. The only thing that javascript could really do for such a page is to present an error message to the user slightly faster, if the input is inconsistent (like specifying the 30th of February or such).

You are going to need validation on the server side anyway. As a user I'd much rather see a solution that only validates on the server side than one, that does a poor job of validating on the client side.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:35 • by barfoo

383338 in reply to 383332

Reply Quote

Obviously you lack creativity. The worse version would involve inputting the date in Julian and writing a routine to convert it to Gregorian.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:36 • by Chronomium (unregistered)

383339

Reply Quote

Why is the year box about 40% wider than the other two?

Why is "check" abbreviated in the comments to "ck"?

Why Are the Alerts in Title Case!?

Why is the order month/day/year?

So many subtle things here.

All web developers?

2012-06-18 11:37 • by Patrick Bell (unregistered)

383340

Reply Quote

Because web developers are the only programmers who write horribly mangled code, amirite? Please. And yet it is taboo to say that C/C++ have held the state of the art in software back by several decades due to their extreme low-level concepts and lack of portability?

Dear Daily WTF,

I came for the lulz, and left because of the sickening elitism among your submitters and commentors whose lives are now so devoid of meaning that the only pleasure they get is derived from heckling the less gifted.

Enjoy your passive aggressive snickering and your tiny cubicles while you hide from doing real work.

*plonk*

Sincerely,
Patrick

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 11:39 • by Anon (unregistered)

383341 in reply to 383340

Reply Quote

Patrick Bell:
Because web developers are the only programmers who write horribly mangled code, amirite? Please. And yet it is taboo to say that C/C++ have held the state of the art in software back by several decades due to their extreme low-level concepts and lack of portability?

Dear Daily WTF,

I came for the lulz, and left because of the sickening elitism among your submitters and commentors whose lives are now so devoid of meaning that the only pleasure they get is derived from heckling the less gifted.

Enjoy your passive aggressive snickering and your tiny cubicles while you hide from doing real work.

*plonk*

Sincerely,
Patrick

Looks like the author of today's submission has been unearthed.

First clue

2012-06-18 11:39 • by An on (unregistered)

383342

Reply Quote

> // final Date string to be passed to SAP is stored here

^^^^^

That's your first clue as to "why" right there.

Once you've spent some time with SAP, anything else looks good, especially on the UI front...

Re: Javascript?

2012-06-18 11:48 • by Tim (unregistered)

383343 in reply to 383337

Reply Quote

Kasper:
There is not much reason to be using javascript in the first place. That page could have worked just as fine without any javascript. The only thing that javascript could really do for such a page is to present an error message to the user slightly faster, if the input is inconsistent (like specifying the 30th of February or such).

You are going to need validation on the server side anyway. As a user I'd much rather see a solution that only validates on the server side than one, that does a poor job of validating on the client side.

Kasper is correct. You must validate all data on the server, because you cannot count on being in control of the client. Once you understand that, client-scripted validation is merely sugar to help the babies who don't know how to enter dates yet.

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 11:48 • by mrfr0g (unregistered)

383344 in reply to 383340

Reply Quote

Patrick Bell:
Because web developers are the only programmers who write horribly mangled code, amirite? Please. And yet it is taboo to say that C/C++ have held the state of the art in software back by several decades due to their extreme low-level concepts and lack of portability?

Dear Daily WTF,

I came for the lulz, and left because of the sickening elitism among your submitters and commentors whose lives are now so devoid of meaning that the only pleasure they get is derived from heckling the less gifted.

Enjoy your passive aggressive snickering and your tiny cubicles while you hide from doing real work.

*plonk*

Sincerely,
Patrick

Hey congratulations! You just got the point of this website, to make fun of poorly written code. Today it is a javascript WTF, tomorrow it might be c/c++, Java, classic ASP, or really anything else "code" related.

I am a Web Developer, have been for a number of years and I can say with certainty that the code posted today is terrible, and deserves to be made fun of.

CATPCHA: letatio, some kind of levitating potato or Harry Potter spell

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:49 • by ubersoldat

383345

Reply Quote

This is why college education is broken. They teach you so many things, except to look at the API. Go to any college class which is doing any development and show them the API to their current language... the looks of awe are simply amazing and the sheep stand there wondering of a whole new world of opportunities.
So please people, stop reinventing new ways of fucking up date implementations. How many articles have appeared here where the subject is implementing his/her new Gregorian calendar?
Oh! And TRWTF is JavaScript for not having a Date implementation like every other freaking major language in the world.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:51 • by Neither Gilbert nor Sullivan (unregistered)

383346

Reply Quote

He was the very model of an enlightened modern-day senior web developer

Dammit. Now I've got The Pirates of Penzance running through my head. Thanks.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:51 • by KarelI (unregistered)

383347

Reply Quote

Fortunately he didn't realize there are 30-day months and leap years :-)

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 11:53 • by Bob (unregistered)

383348 in reply to 383340

Reply Quote

Woah, sensitive type. Bit too close to the bone, huh?

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:54 • by Mutt (unregistered)

383349

Reply Quote

People still use Experts Exchange?

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:55 • by Tasty (unregistered)

383350 in reply to 383338

Reply Quote

barfoo:
Obviously you lack creativity. The worse version would involve inputting the date in Julian and writing a routine to convert it to Gregorian.

I'd much rather use Julian Days than the Gregorian calendar. They're much more accurate.

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 11:56 • by bewbs (unregistered)

383351 in reply to 383340

Reply Quote

you mad bro?

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 11:57 • by ¯\(°_o)/¯ I DUNNO LOL (unregistered)

383352

Reply Quote

TRWTF is that he didn't ask // string to int pretty please

At least the year field is wide enough for Y10K.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 12:01 • by Anon (unregistered)

383353 in reply to 383349

Reply Quote

// set StartYear to 2010 so we don't goof up the loop logic

I think that ship has sailed...

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 12:05 • by anony-mouse (unregistered)

383354

Reply Quote

It's bad enough he had retarded practices, but he didn't have a logical understanding of programming.

I suppose GlobalVars.Day = parseInt($('#DaySelect').val()) would have been too easy; case statement clearly necessary.

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 12:14 • by D-Coder

383355 in reply to 383340

Reply Quote

Patrick Bell:
Because web developers are the only programmers who write horribly mangled code, amirite? Please. And yet it is taboo to say that C/C++ have held the state of the art in software back by several decades due to their extreme low-level concepts and lack of portability?

<<snip>>

*plonk*

Sincerely,
Patrick

Work on C++ started in 1979. So it could not have "held the state of the art in software back by several decades".

Only by three decades.

So far.

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 12:15 • by Mason Wheeler

383356 in reply to 383340

Reply Quote

Patrick Bell:
Because web developers are the only programmers who write horribly mangled code, amirite? Please. And yet it is taboo to say that C/C++ have held the state of the art in software back by several decades due to their extreme low-level concepts and lack of portability?

While you're right that C is a horrible language and should never have been allowed to inflict its descendants upon the world, particularly after 1989 when the Morris Worm taught us that it was completely unsuited to development in any environment that came with security requirements, that really doesn't have anything to do with today's article, and it doesn't make the code any less horrible.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 12:16 • by Nagesh

383357

Reply Quote

This code is no excuse for being in field of computer programming.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 12:22 • by qbolec (unregistered)

383359 in reply to 383345

Reply Quote

ubersoldat:
This is why college education is broken. They teach you so many things, except to look at the API.

I would love to work in place that:
1. hires only graduates of CS as web developers
2. does not depend heavily on "designs" provided by Photo Shop artists as a GUI specs

until then, I must say, that sadly, but we have developed more than one date-picker "control" even though some us knew that there is a plugin for that.

JPEG-driven development is my everyday nightmare. I believe the problem is that JPEGs say 1000 words to upper managment, while software architects just say a lot of sophisticated words which are hard to comprehend.
What I believe is necessary is to develop a visual language in which architects could express their thoughts to managment. I am not talking about UML -- it's too complicated. Look for instance at the domain of real Architecture (that one which deals with buildings) : architects in that area olways provide visualisations, beautiful pictures, perspectives, and so on. CS lacks this kind of visual language :(

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 12:33 • by myName (unregistered)

383360

Reply Quote

It could have been written at a place which doesn't allow the use of any third party software other than the approved list.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 12:44 • by C-Derb (unregistered)

383362

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I'm calling shenanigans.

There's no way you could have more than a week of web development experience and not have the thought ever cross your mind to simply start the select lists with <option value="0"></option>.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 12:48 • by shoeboy

383364

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I love this Mayan calendar implementation! 2013? There is no 2013!!!

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 12:51 • by Anon (unregistered)

383365 in reply to 383355

Reply Quote

D-Coder:
Work on C++ started in 1979. So it could not have "held the state of the art in software back by several decades".

Only by three decades.

So far.

Wrong.

http://xkcd.com/1070/

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 12:54 • by M (unregistered)

383366 in reply to 383355

Reply Quote

D-Coder:
Patrick Bell:
Because web developers are the only programmers who write horribly mangled code, amirite? Please. And yet it is taboo to say that C/C++ have held the state of the art in software back by several decades due to their extreme low-level concepts and lack of portability?

<<snip>>

*plonk*

Sincerely,
Patrick
Work on C++ started in 1979. So it could not have "held the state of the art in software back by several decades".

Only by three decades.

So far.

Cue the obligatory xkcd reference, which happens to be today's comic!

http://xkcd.com/1070/

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 12:55 • by Dave (unregistered)

383367 in reply to 383345

Reply Quote

ubersoldat:
TRWTF is JavaScript for not having a Date implementation

Did you really just say that?

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 12:57 • by Anon (unregistered)

383368 in reply to 383366

Reply Quote

M:

Cue the obligatory xkcd reference, which happens to be today's comic!

http://xkcd.com/1070/

TRWTF is people who claim to be programmers but don't read xkcd every day.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 13:03 • by C-Derb (unregistered)

383369 in reply to 383364

Reply Quote

shoeboy:
I love this Mayan calendar implementation! 2013? There is no 2013!!!

I thought the same thing. Why go to all the trouble of dynamically populating the the Year selector when the "validation" is limited to 2011 and 2012, unless you know something?


            // set query filter based on selected value

            switch (GlobalVars.SelectedIndex) {

                case 2:

                    {

                        GlobalVars.Year = '2011';

                        break;

                    }

                case 3:

                    {

                        GlobalVars.Year = '2012';

                        break;

                    }

            }

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 13:19 • by Mike (unregistered)

383370

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happily and cluelessly producing oceans of spaghetti code so bad that even Olive Garden wouldn't serve it

That would have been wittier without "code".

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 13:25 • by Karel (unregistered)

383371 in reply to 383340

Reply Quote

Hi Patrick,

Nice one and you're right.
But that's no reason to leave. There is good stuff too here.

Cheers

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 13:39 • by Nagesha (unregistered)

383373

Reply Quote

I am telling that expertsexchange is site what is producing the very very best results in Hyderabad.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 13:42 • by n_slash_a (unregistered)

383374

Reply Quote

The ONLY good thing about that code is at least the comments were polite

Original Article:

// string to int please
GlobalVars.SelectedIndex = parseInt(GlobalVars.SelectedIndex);

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 13:43 • by wonk (unregistered)

383375 in reply to 383349

Reply Quote

Mutt:
People still use Expert Sexchange?

FTFY

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 13:52 • by dogmatic (unregistered)

383376

Reply Quote

The real wtf is that he doesn't take into account for leap years. Amiright?

Re: All web developers? Well, all is a bit harsh

2012-06-18 13:52 • by TurdCrawler (unregistered)

383377 in reply to 383344

Reply Quote

mrfr0g:
Patrick Bell:
Because web developers are the only programmers who write horribly mangled code, amirite? Please. And yet it is taboo to say that C/C++ have held the state of the art in software back by several decades due to their extreme low-level concepts and lack of portability?

Dear Daily WTF,

I came for the lulz, and left because of the sickening elitism among your submitters and commentors whose lives are now so devoid of meaning that the only pleasure they get is derived from heckling the less gifted.

Enjoy your passive aggressive snickering and your tiny cubicles while you hide from doing real work.

*plonk*

Sincerely,
Patrick

Hey congratulations! You just got the point of this website, to make fun of poorly written code. Today it is a javascript WTF, tomorrow it might be c/c++, Java, classic ASP, or really anything else "code" related.

I am a Web Developer, have been for a number of years and I can say with certainty that the code posted today is terrible, and deserves to be made fun of.

Dang! Before he left, we should have asked for some of his well-written code (to make fun of while we hide in our cubicles avoiding work)!

Re: Javascript?

2012-06-18 13:55 • by dogmatic (unregistered)

383378 in reply to 383337

Reply Quote

Kasper:
There is not much reason to be using javascript in the first place. That page could have worked just as fine without any javascript. The only thing that javascript could really do for such a page is to present an error message to the user slightly faster, if the input is inconsistent (like specifying the 30th of February or such).

You are going to need validation on the server side anyway. As a user I'd much rather see a solution that only validates on the server side than one, that does a poor job of validating on the client side.

You must provide both server side and client side evaluation else run the risk of being branded a lazy developer.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 14:08 • by qwerty (unregistered)

383379

Reply Quote

// get current date and time from server
$.getJSON('/GetDateTime)', null, function (data) {

wow.

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 14:26 • by F (unregistered)

383380 in reply to 383368

Reply Quote

Anon:
M:

Cue the obligatory xkcd reference, which happens to be today's comic!

http://xkcd.com/1070/

TRWTF is people who claim to be programmers but don't read xkcd every day.

TRWTF is people who claim to be readers of xkcd but haven't noticed it only appears three times a week.

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 14:26 • by F (unregistered)

383381 in reply to 383368

Reply Quote

Anon:
M:

Cue the obligatory xkcd reference, which happens to be today's comic!

http://xkcd.com/1070/

TRWTF is people who claim to be programmers but don't read xkcd every day.

TRWTF is people who claim to be readers of xkcd but haven't noticed it only appears three times a week.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 14:30 • by Tom (unregistered)

383382

Reply Quote

That is an elegant and beautiful solution to a completely non-existent problem.

Re: Javascript?

2012-06-18 14:32 • by Darth Paul (unregistered)

383383 in reply to 383343

Reply Quote

Tim:
Once you understand that, client-scripted validation is merely sugar to help the babies who don't know how to enter dates yet.

Or tar to hinder those who do.

Re: All web developers?

2012-06-18 14:32 • by KattMan

383384 in reply to 383381

Reply Quote

F:
Anon:
M:

Cue the obligatory xkcd reference, which happens to be today's comic!

http://xkcd.com/1070/

TRWTF is people who claim to be programmers but don't read xkcd every day.

TRWTF is people who claim to be readers of xkcd but haven't noticed it only appears three times a week.

Who cares how often it appears, they still read it everyday. Just like I come here everyday but it isn't updated every day.

Re: Date Selector of the Damned

2012-06-18 14:32 • by xtremezone

383385

Reply Quote

To be fair, most date selector UIs are incredibly slow and clunky to use. They are mostly useful for figuring out a date that you aren't sure about, but they're often quite painful. If you already have the date in mind then typing it is usually far easier. A smart text box that turns anything you type into a known date would be handy. Better than a "date picker", as they're generally called. A calendar view is useful for associating days with weeks or counting days, but not much else...

Also, JavaScript reliance is evil. Also, that code is really bad...

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