Comment On Rewarded with Commenting

Argh! My eyes!
The goggles, they do nothing!

Function fncSetSQL_good(ByVal strSQL As String) As String
  Dim strReMade As String

  strReMade = Replace(strSQL, " ", "_")
  strReMade = Replace(strReMade, "#", "~")

  fncSetSQL_good = strReMade
End Function

Same deal for fncFixSQL, just switch the last two parameters of each Replace function call.

I can't even list all the WTF's with this code (if you're going to ignore the obvious "Why TF was this created?") Creating a separate variable to track the length of a string instead of just using Len(str) as the loop criteria, looping through a string character-by-character instead of using the Replace function, that useless intSave variable which serves only to show that this VBA moron doesn't know how to nest functions...

OW dammit I got so mad I just burst a blood vessel in my eye!

I think it's safe to assume it also calls a function that converts the units to metric then calls another to convert them back to English. But did they remember to change any critierion value that's "green" to "hedgehog" and back again?

--Rank

Manni:

Function fncSetSQL_good(ByVal strSQL As String) As String
  Dim strReMade As String

  strReMade = Replace(strSQL, " ", "_")
  strReMade = Replace(strReMade, "#", "~")

  fncSetSQL_good = strReMade
End Function

Same deal for fncFixSQL, just switch the last two parameters of each Replace function call.

I can't even list all the WTF's with this code (if you're going to ignore the obvious "Why TF was this created?") Creating a separate variable to track the length of a string instead of just using Len(str) as the loop criteria, looping through a string character-by-character instead of using the Replace function, that useless intSave variable which serves only to show that this VBA moron doesn't know how to nest functions...

OW dammit I got so mad I just burst a blood vessel in my eye!

On second thought, I'll use my own advice of nesting functions and eliminating useless variables and reduce the function to one line:

Function fncSetSQL_kickass(ByVal strSQL As String) As String
  fncSetSQL_kickass = Replace(Replace(strSQL, "#", "~"), " ", "_")
End Function

Ooh yeah that feels much better, like wiping your ass with an angel's wing.

Oh, come on. Can NOBODY see the reason for this code??

He's passing the SQL from the front end to the back end as a URL parameter. This is a poor implementation of a URLEncode.

(Generates a whole other universe of WTFs, but I think it explains it!!!)

That or the system USED TO pass the SQL inside a URL, but someone looked at the code and said "WTF??" and fixed it to be a little more secure, but didn't change all the "surrounding" helper functions.

Wait, what's wrong with passing SQL strings in user-visible URLs ??? ;)

Anonymous:

Wow, I really must be a total idiot, because I can't see for the life of me why you would want to use these functions.  Could someone please explain this for me?

Thank you.

This was most likely an act of espionage from a disgruntled employee against the evil soulless corporation that burned down his house, slept with his wife, and kicked his dog. That's the only explanation for an atrocity like this. That or rampant stupidity.

But what can we suggest for our operative Jon on how to comment this code? I mean, other than just:

'WTF?

How about:

Function fncSetSQL(strSQL)
'Sneak up on database with cleverly disguised query string.

And

Function fncFixSQL(strSQL)
'Remove disguise at the last minute and surprise the database. Boo.

--RA

BradC:

He's passing the SQL from the front end to the back end as a URL parameter. This is a poor implementation of a URLEncode.

My first thought as well. He was, at some point, passing the SQL through a webserver and the functions were used to make the string pass through properly.

Then somebody later saw it, and after changing their pants, removed that bit without removing these wrapper-esque type functions sprinkled throughout the code.

Anonymous:

One word: Job Security

Manni:

On second thought, I'll use my own advice of
nesting functions and eliminating useless variables and reduce the
function to one line:

Function fncSetSQL_kickass(ByVal strSQL As String) As String
  fncSetSQL_kickass = Replace(Replace(strSQL, "#", "~"), " ", "_")
End Function

Ooh yeah that feels much better, like wiping your ass with an angel's wing.

Anonymous:

Anonymous:

One word: Job Security

That's two words.

OneFactor:

I love how the encoding is not one-to-one and the decoding is not onto.

Maurits:

OneFactor:

I love how the encoding is not one-to-one and the decoding is not onto.

Well, they are, provided that the unencoded domain excludes strings with # and ~.

Whackjack:

The best part is if you call these one after the other (in any order), you get what you started with.

Anonymous:

I love this code, and for those believing that
this is an URL-decoder, whaa? There are no # in urls, and _ are _ not "
".



... maybe something translates this somewhere, I use PHP.

Anonymous:

I love this code, and for those believing that
this is an URL-decoder, whaa? There are no # in urls, and _ are _ not "
".



... maybe something translates this somewhere, I use PHP.

strReMade = strRemade & strLeft

Obviously they're copy & paste, which makes it even more fun.

VGR:

The real WTF is the manager who thought a productive use of Jon's time
was to force him to document other people's code.  This WTF entry
is aptly titled indeed.

Anonymous:

Damn VB or C# every time. Does no one have any LISP or FORTRAN WTFs to share?

VGR:

The real WTF is the manager who thought a productive use of Jon's time
was to force him to document other people's code.  This WTF entry
is aptly titled indeed.



What we have is a manager who fucked up by not requiring the original
developer to comment and to produce quality code (or just submit to a
code review).  The manager clearly doesn't understand that trying
to document someone else's code is the slowest, most wasteful activity
into which a programmer can sink his time.



The whole reason OO was conceived was because some smart people noticed
this, and realized development would go a hell of a lot faster if
classes were opaque and a programmer didn't have to poke through
another's code just to learn how to make use of the stuff.

Ciaran:

Anonymous:

I love this code, and for those believing that this is an URL-decoder, whaa? There are no # in urls, and _ are _ not " ".

... maybe something translates this somewhere, I use PHP.

That's the point, I think. The "set" function replaces "#" and " " characters - neither of which are valid in URLs - with "~" and "_". "Fix"ing the SQL does the opposite. Well, except that it mangles your other _ and ~ characters, of course.

Not trying to defend this WTF, just replying.

The # character is valid. It is used to point to anchors inside the HTML document. That's how to get the browser to move to a certain point inside the page when the page is loaded, instead of starting always at the top of the page. You can put an invisible anchor at the top of the page:

<a name="top"><a>

<a href="#top">Go back to top<a>

...so users can go back to the navigation menu at the top of the page without scrolling.

I have found that anchors generally confuses users a lot because they don't understand that a link can bring you back to the same page you were in, and they don't look at the URL as a geek would do. Also, if the anchor and the link are very near to each other, nothing appears to happen, so they click several times in a row with no apparent effect :) It gets better then, because they hit "back" and they get brought back to the same place, then they hit it again several times and they keep getting brought back several times to the same place until they get back to the expected behaviour :)

Anonymous:

Damn VB or C# every time. Does no one have any LISP or FORTRAN WTFs to share?

You guys have it all wrong. The original *ahem* programmer meant to do this:

Function putItIn(ByVal wtf As String)

Dim intCount, shakeLeft

Dim shakenLeft = ""

intCount = Len(wtf)

Dim intSave

Do While intCount <> 0

shakeLeft = Right(wtf, 1)

If (shakeLeft = " ") Then

shakenLeft = shakenLeft & "_"

ElseIf (shakeLeft = "#") Then

shakenLeft = shakenLeft & "~"

Else

shakenLeft = shakenLeft & shakeLeft

End If

intSave = Len(wtf) - 1

wtf = Left(wtf, intSave)

intCount = intCount - 1

Loop

Return shakenLeft

End Function

Function putItOut(ByVal wtf As String)

Dim intCount, shakeRight, intSave

Dim shakenRight = ""

intCount = Len(wtf)

Do While intCount > 0

shakeRight = Left(wtf, 1)

If (shakeRight = "_") Then

shakenRight = " " & shakenRight

ElseIf (shakeRight = "~") Then

shakenRight = "#" & shakenRight

Else

shakenRight = shakeRight & shakenRight

End If

intSave = Len(wtf) - 1

wtf = Right(wtf, intSave)

intCount = intCount - 1

Loop

Return shakenRight

End Function

Function shakeItAllAbout(ByVal wtf)

Dim intCount, shakeAbout, shakeAbout2, intSave

Dim shakenAbout = ""

If (wtf.Length Mod 2) = 1 Then

shakenAbout = Left(wtf, Int(wtf.Length / 2) + 1)

shakenAbout = Right(shakenAbout, 1)

If (shakenAbout = "~") Then

shakenAbout = "#"

ElseIf (shakenAbout = "_") Then

shakenAbout = " "

End If

shakeAbout = Left(wtf, Int(wtf.Length / 2))

shakeAbout = shakeAbout & Right(wtf, Int(wtf.Length / 2))

wtf = shakeAbout

End If

intCount = Len(wtf)

Do While intCount > 0

shakeAbout = Left(wtf, 1)

If (shakeAbout = "_") Then

shakeAbout = " "

End If

shakeAbout2 = Right(wtf, 1)

If (shakeAbout2 = "~") Then

shakeAbout2 = "#"

End If

shakenAbout = shakeAbout2 & shakenAbout & shakeAbout

intSave = Len(wtf) - 2

wtf = Right(wtf, wtf.length - 1)

wtf = Left(wtf, wtf.length - 1)

intCount = intCount - 2

Loop

Return shakenAbout

End Function

Function doTheHokeyPokey(ByVal wholeSelf, ByVal wtf)

wholeSelf = putItIn(wholeSelf)

wholeSelf = putItOut(wholeSelf)

wholeSelf = putItIn(wholeSelf)

wholeSelf = shakeItAllAbout(wholeSelf)

wholeSelf = shakeItAllAbout(wholeSelf)

wtf = shakeItAllAbout(wtf)

wholeSelf = wtf & wholeSelf

Return wholeSelf

End Function

Function turnYourselfAround(ByVal wholeSelf)

Dim intCount, turnAround

Dim turnedAround = ""

intCount = Len(wholeSelf)

Do While intCount > 0

turnAround = Left(wholeSelf, 1)

turnedAround = turnAround & turnedAround

intSave = Len(wholeSelf) - 1

wholeSelf = Right(wholeSelf, intSave)

intCount = intCount - 1

Loop

Return turnedAround

End Function

Function andThatsWhatItsAllAbout(ByVal rightFoot, ByVal leftFoot, ByVal rightHand, ByVal leftHand, ByVal rightSide, ByVal leftSide)

Dim wholeSelf = ""

rightFoot = putItIn(rightFoot)

rightFoot = putItOut(rightFoot)

rightFoot = putItIn(rightFoot)

rightFoot = shakeItAllAbout(rightFoot)

wholeSelf = doTheHokeyPokey(wholeSelf, rightFoot)

wholeSelf = turnYourselfAround(wholeSelf)

 

leftFoot = putItIn(leftFoot)

leftFoot = putItOut(leftFoot)

leftFoot = putItIn(leftFoot)

leftFoot = shakeItAllAbout(leftFoot)

wholeSelf = doTheHokeyPokey(wholeSelf, leftFoot)

wholeSelf = turnYourselfAround(wholeSelf)

 

rightHand = putItIn(rightHand)

rightHand = putItOut(rightHand)

rightHand = putItIn(rightHand)

rightHand = shakeItAllAbout(rightHand)

wholeSelf = doTheHokeyPokey(wholeSelf, rightHand)

wholeSelf = turnYourselfAround(wholeSelf)

 

leftHand = putItIn(leftHand)

leftHand = putItOut(leftHand)

leftHand = putItIn(leftHand)

leftHand = shakeItAllAbout(leftHand)

wholeSelf = doTheHokeyPokey(wholeSelf, leftHand)

wholeSelf = turnYourselfAround(wholeSelf)

 

rightSide = putItIn(rightSide)

rightSide = putItOut(rightSide)

rightSide = putItIn(rightSide)

rightSide = shakeItAllAbout(rightSide)

wholeSelf = doTheHokeyPokey(wholeSelf, rightSide)

wholeSelf = turnYourselfAround(wholeSelf)

 

leftSide = putItIn(leftSide)

leftSide = putItOut(leftSide)

leftSide = putItIn(leftSide)

leftSide = shakeItAllAbout(leftSide)

wholeSelf = doTheHokeyPokey(wholeSelf, leftSide)

wholeSelf = turnYourselfAround(wholeSelf)

 

wholeSelf = putItIn(wholeSelf)

wholeSelf = putItOut(wholeSelf)

wholeSelf = putItIn(wholeSelf)

wholeSelf = shakeItAllAbout(wholeSelf)

wholeSelf = doTheHokeyPokey("", wholeSelf)

wholeSelf = turnYourselfAround(wholeSelf)

'And that's what it's all about!

End Function

Sorry for the length of this post and especially if it does not format correctly (first timer here) but I couldn't resist ;)

Anonymous:

Damn VB or C# every time. Does no one have any LISP or FORTRAN WTFs to share?