Comment On The "Who Knows?" Code

When Vladimir first received his orders, the blood drained from his face. He was to take the legacy VB5 application, a system used daily by scores of users daily, and uplift it to C++.

After reviewing a few parts of the application, things began looking hopeless, however there was some good news! Vladimir had a department full of developers at his disposal and most of them had a hand in the creating and maintenance of the application. 

After finding the following snippet of code, he printed it out and proceeded to grill every developer who was shown to have touched the source file in he past.

“No idea, go try Henrik,” said Edvard.

“Sorry, you might want to check in with Viktor, he wrote the reconciliation part of the system,” suggested Henrik.

“Nope, did you talk to Simon?” quizzed Viktor.

Simon lead to another developer, who suggested someone else and, skip ahead right on back to Edvard, the developer he had asked in the first place.

Facing a dead end and needing to move on with his life, Vladimir took the cavalier Oh, just screw it approach and pasted the code into the C++ app hoping that some day, it wouldn't come down to him having to explain what the code did.

If m(1) = 0 Then GoTo i2 
  For i1 = 1 To m(1) 
i2: If m(2) = 0 Then GoTo i3 
   For i2 = 1 To m(2) 
      If i2 = i1 Then Exit For 
i3: If m(3) = 0 Then GoTo i4 
      For i3 = 1 To m(3) 
        If i3 = i1 Or i3 = i2 Then Exit For 
i4:   If m(4) = 0 Then GoTo i5 
        For i4 = 1 To m(4) 
          If i4 = i1 Or i4 = i2 Or i4 = i3 Then Exit For 
i5:     If m(5) = 0 Then GoTo i6 
          For i5 = 1 To m(5) 
            If i5 = i1 Or i5 = i2 Or i5 = i3 Or i5 = i4 Then Exit For 
i6:       If m(6) = 0 Then GoTo i7 
            For i6 = 1 To m(6) 
              If i6 = i1 Or i6 = i2 Or i6 = i3 Or i6 = i4 Or _
	         i6 = i5 Then Exit For 
i7:         If m(7) = 0 Then GoTo i8 
              For i7 = 1 To m(7) 
                If i7 = i1 Or i7 = i2 Or i7 = i3 Or i7 = i4 Or _
		   i7 = i5 Or i7 = i6 Then Exit For 
i8:           If m(8) = 0 Then GoTo i9 
                For i8 = 1 To m(8) 
                  If i8 = i1 Or i8 = i2 Or i8 = i3 Or i8 = i4 Or _
		     i8 = i5 Or i8 = i6 Or i8 = i7 Then Exit For 
i9:             If m(9) = 0 Then GoTo i10 
                  For i9 = 1 To m(9) 
                    If i9 = i1 Or i9 = i2 Or i9 = i3 Or i9 = i4 Or _
		       i9 = i5 Or i9 = i6 Or i9 = i7 Or i9 = i8 Then Exit For
i10:              If m(10) = 0 Then GoTo i11 
                    For i10 = 1 To m(10) 
                      If i10 = i1 Or i10 = i2 Or i10 = i3 Or i10 = i4 Or _
		         i10 = i5 Or i10 = i6 Or i10 = i7 Or i10 = i8 Or _
			 i10 = i9 Then Exit For
i11:                If m(11) = 0 Then GoTo i12 
                      For i11 = 1 To m(11) 
                        If i11 = i1 Or i11 = i2 Or i11 = i3 Or i11 = i4 Or _
			   i11 = i5 Or i11 = i6 Or i11 = i7 Or i11 = i8 Or _
			   i11 = i9 Or i11 = i10 Then Exit For
i12:                  If m(12) = 0 Then GoTo i13 
                        For i12 = 1 To m(12) 
                          If i12 = i1 Or i12 = i2 Or i12 = i3 Or i12 = i4 Or _
			     i12 = i5 Or i12 = i6 Or i12 = i7 Or i12 = i8 Or _
			     i12 = i9 Or i12 = i10 Or i12 = i11 Then Exit For
i13:                    If m(13) = 0 Then GoTo i14 
                          For i13 = 1 To m(13) 
                            If i13 = i1 Or i13 = i2 Or i13 = i3 Or i13 = i4 Or _
			       i13 = i5 Or i13 = i6 Or i13 = i7 Or i13 = i8 Or _
			       i13 = i9 Or i13 = i10 Or i13 = i11 Or _
			       i13 = i12 Then Exit For
i14:                      If m(14) = 0 Then GoTo i15 
                            For i14 = 1 To m(14) 
                              If i14 = i1 Or i14 = i2 Or i14 = i3 Or _
			         i14 = i4 Or i14 = i5 Or i14 = i6 Or _
				 i14 = i7 Or i14 = i8 Or i14 = i9 Or _
				 i14 = i10 Or i14 = i11 Or _
				 i14 = i12 Or i14 = i13 Then Exit For
i15:                        If m(15) = 0 Then GoTo i16 
                                For i15 = 1 To m(15) 
                              If i15 = i1 Or i15 = i2 Or i15 = i3 Or _
			         i15 = i4 Or i15 = i5 Or i15 = i6 Or _
				 i15 = i7 Or i15 = i8 Or i15 = i9 Or _
				 i15 = i10 Or i15 = i11 Or i15 = i12 _
				 Or i15 = i13 Or i15 = i14 Then Exit For
i16:                          If m(16) = 0 Then GoTo i17 
                                  For i16 = 1 To m(16) 
                                If i16 = i1 Or i16 = i2 Or i16 = i3 Or _
				   i16 = i4 Or i16 = i5 Or i16 = i6 Or _
				   i16 = i7 Or i16 = i8 Or i16 = i9 Or _
				   i16 = i10 Or i16 = i11 Or i16 = i12 _
				   Or i16 = i13 Or i16 = i14 Or i16 = i15 Then Exit For
i17:                                 
                            Combination(kom + 1) = Format(i16, "00") & _
			      Format(i15, "00") & Format(i14, "00") & _
			      Format(i13, "00") & Format(i12, "00") & _
			      Format(i11, "00") & Format(i10, "00") & _
			      Format(i9, "00") & Format(i8, "00") & _
			      Format(i7, "00") & Format(i6, "00") & _
			      Format(i5, "00") & Format(i4, "00") & _
			      Format(i3, "00") & Format(i2, "00") & _
			      Format(i1, "00")
                            kom = kom + 1 
                                Next i16 
n16:                           If m(15) = 0 Then GoTo n15 
                              Next i15 
n15:                         If m(14) = 0 Then GoTo n14 
                            Next i14 
n14:                       If m(13) = 0 Then GoTo n13 
                          Next i13 
n13:                     If m(12) = 0 Then GoTo n12 
                        Next i12 
n12:                   If m(11) = 0 Then GoTo n11 
                      Next i11 
n11:                 If m(10) = 0 Then GoTo n10 
                    Next i10 
n10:               If m(9) = 0 Then GoTo n9 
                  Next i9 
n9:              If m(8) = 0 Then GoTo n8 
                Next i8 
n8:            If m(7) = 0 Then GoTo n7 
              Next i7 
n7:          If m(6) = 0 Then GoTo n6 
            Next i6 
n6:        If m(5) = 0 Then GoTo n5 
          Next i5 
n5:      If m(4) = 0 Then GoTo n4 
        Next i4 
n4:    If m(3) = 0 Then GoTo n3 
      Next i3 
n3:  If m(2) = 0 Then GoTo n2 
    Next i2 
n2: If m(1) = 0 Then GoTo n1 
  Next i1 
n1: