Having just inherited a mammoth, ASP-based ecommerce application created in a developmestuction by a handful of different consultants over several years, Ryan Davis found himself asking one question, over and over: why?

Why didn't they use some off-the-shelf ecommerce site? Why aren't there any comments, anywhere?? Why did anyone let the original developer near a keyboard, let alone allow him to program!? Why did I even bother coming in today!?!?

After nearly reaching his very last nerve, Ryan noticed a file that came up in his search for "contact_id". It was simply named why.txt and, although it was a mere 114 bytes, he hoped it would contain the answer to all the questions he had asking. Upon opening the file, however, it left him with one more question...

/cart/checkout.asp:15 if not contact_id <> 0 then

Why indeed.

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