The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

omg.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

formattedComment.Append("f"); formattedComment.Append("i"); formattedComment.Append("r"); formattedComment.Append("s"); formattedComment.Append("t"); return formattedComment.ToString;

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Ah, the for-case. An easy mistake to make. It just seems so natural.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Djikstra would be happy. Two or more sequential statements, use a for-case.

dpm · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.

Kermos · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
  switch(i)
  {
    case 0:
      comment.append("W");
      break;
    case 1:
      comment.append("T");
      break;
    case 2:
      comment.append("F");
      break;
  }
}

return comment;

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

[code] For i = 0 To 3 Select Case i Case 0 response.Append("W") Case 1 response.Append("T") Case 2 response.Append("F") Case 3 response.Append("?") End Select Next

dpm · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Damn, now you've got me wondering if I've ever done that. I've coded a lot of stupid things in twenty-five years, but I can't remember doing a for-case . . . which means I probably did and then savagely repressed the memory.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

The return of the for-case paradigm!

campkev · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

dpm:
Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.

Using the same verification standard, I have verified that my ****** is 10 inches long.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Nice clean and readable piece of code, cheers !

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

python-style:

output = ''
for i in range(4):
  if i == 0:
    output.append("W")
  elif i == 1:
    output.append("T")
  elif i == 2:
    output.append("F")
  elif i == 3:
    output.append("?")
print output

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Bah! Mine goes up to eleven!

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Sorry, let me try again

campkev:
dpm:
Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.
Using the same verification standard, I have verified that my ****** is 10 inches long.

BAH! Mine goes up to eleven!

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

What's wrong with a for-case? It's not needed here (LUT can be used, and would be much better here), but for more advanced decoding it's a perfectly valid way of running a (fixed length) state machine.

I haven't have my coffee yet, but it doesn't look so far fetched.

Pim · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

I want to see what the StripNonNumericCharacters function looks like!

Otterdam · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

JimmyVile:
What's wrong with a for-case? It's not needed here (LUT can be used, and would be much better here), but for more advanced decoding it's a perfectly valid way of running a (fixed length) state machine.
I haven't have my coffee yet, but it doesn't look so far fetched.

Promise me you won't write any code until you've had your coffee.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

dpm:
Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.

Where does it do that? I only see a check for length = 0, otherwise it assumes all the characters are there. So if cleanPhoneNumber comes back with only 9 chars or less, it will blow up.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

'i' before 'e', except after 'c' ...

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

my Str $tired_comment = "";

for 0 .. 2 { when 0 { $tired_comment ~= "W" } when 1 { $tired_comment ~= "T" } when 2 { $tired_comment ~= "F" } }

say $tired_comment;

=end

Really, some people just need to be beaten daily with a good reference for their programming language of choice until they learn that it has more features than the ones they misuse every day.

campkev · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

some schmoe:
dpm:
Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.
Where does it do that? I only see a check for length = 0, otherwise it assumes all the characters are there. So if cleanPhoneNumber comes back with only 9 chars or less, it will blow up.

Let me help you out

dpm:
<sarcasm>Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.</sarcasm>

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Otterdam:
JimmyVile:
What's wrong with a for-case? It's not needed here (LUT can be used, and would be much better here), but for more advanced decoding it's a perfectly valid way of running a (fixed length) state machine.
I haven't have my coffee yet, but it doesn't look so far fetched.

Promise me you won't write any code until you've had your coffee.

Yeah, i needed a coffe to see the WTF too. The downside is that I almost choke on it.

WayneCollins · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

What's wrong with a for-case? It's not needed here (LUT can be used, and would be much better here), but for more advanced decoding it's a perfectly valid way of running a (fixed length) state machine

No, a for-case is completely retarded. A while-case is a perfectly valid way of running a state machine. Something like:

int state = 0;

while(state < stateMax) { case 0: // This is probably not a real function call, but a few // lines directly inline, but you get the idea state = doSomethingAndGetNextState(); break; case 1: state = doSomethingAndGetNextState(); break; ... }

If you muck with the state variable in your loop construct, you'll complicate the hell out of your state machine...

Kermos · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

You know, the real WTF and really sad thing is that people who write stuff like that likely get paid way more than I do...

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

s/(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})/(\1) \2-\3/

amidoinitrite?

Otto · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Otterdam:
JimmyVile:
What's wrong with a for-case? It's not needed here (LUT can be used, and would be much better here), but for more advanced decoding it's a perfectly valid way of running a (fixed length) state machine.
I haven't have my coffee yet, but it doesn't look so far fetched.

Promise me you won't write any code until you've had your coffee.

I too have seen a for-case used for a large state machine. In particular, some of the cases modified the value currently in the for loop, to skip states or to go back states in some cases.

Sadly, instead of making it sane, I added more states to it. Yes, I am ashamed, but sometimes you just gotta get the damn job done and get paid.

dpm · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

campkev:
some schmoe:
dpm:
Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.
Where does it do that? I only see a check for length = 0, otherwise it assumes all the characters are there. So if cleanPhoneNumber comes back with only 9 chars or less, it will blow up.

Let me help you out

dpm:
<sarcasm>Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.</sarcasm>

I beg your pardon! My claim that "the code sucks" was not sarcastic at all.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

bashscript'd

for i in seq 0 3; do case "$i" in "0") echo -n "W"; ;; "1") echo -n "T"; ;; "2") echo -n "F"; ;; "3") echo; ;; esac; done

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

daniel:
Ah, the for-case. An easy mistake to make. It just seems so natural.

.> Really? If I ever did this, I'd shoot myself....

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

OMG, that's a major WTF. No 'Else' case? that's baaaaad. Always put an 'Else' case. Some people never learn. tsk, tsk.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

campkev:
dpm:
Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.
Using the same verification standard, I have verified that my ****** is 10 inches long.

My ruler is 12 inches. A much more common format.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Yeah, in my first year as an asp.net coder, I'm pretty sure I did that. Though, I did add length validation so as to not add the parens on a number that was only 7 digits. Looking back, I regret using the for-case.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

At least he put it in a function.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

It's wrong here because you could remove the for and case, and just have the statements execute in order. Using for and case statements to implement a state machine is probably fine (though I'd consider "while" instead of "for"). Using it to implement a linear ordering of statements is not fine; that's what the statement terminator (newline, semicolon, whatever) is for.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Naw - it's much too readable.

            For i = 0 To 14
                Select Case i
                    Case 0
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("(")
                    Case 1,2,3
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(i+1))
                    Case 4
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(") ")
                    Case Is < 7
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(i-2))
                    Case 8
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("-")
                    Case 9 To 13
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(i-3))
                    Case Else
			Return formattedPhoneNumber.ToString
                End Select
            Next

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

            For i = 0 To 12

                Select Case i
                    Case 0
                    Case 1
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(1))
                    Case 2
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(2))
                    Case 3
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(3))
                    Case 4
                    Case 5
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(5))
                    Case 6
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(6))
                    Case 7
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(7))
                    Case 8
                    Case 9
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(9))
                    Case 10
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(10))
                    Case 11
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(11))
                    Case 12
                        unformattedPhoneNumber.Append(uncleanPhoneNumber.Chars(12))

                End Select

            Next

Obvious, isn't it?

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Kermos:
You know, the real WTF and really sad thing is that people who write stuff like that likely get paid way more than I do...

Thanks, now I've gone from laughing to crying...

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Pim:
I want to see what the StripNonNumericCharacters function looks like!

Previous comment should have quoted this before the code segment. :/

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Typo: Case 9 To 12 ..of course. ;)

Smash King · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

If you look carefully, you'll notice that the code isn't even checking for the right range. A zero-to-twelve loop does 13 passes, not 12.

At least it shouldn't take too long to fix this crap without side-effects. But if this guy managed to screw with something so simple, I can only imagine how awful this system's more complicated functions can be.

And if anyone suppose that the right way to handle a phone validation is a state machine, go back to Programming Logic 101 right away.

dpm · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Trondster:
Naw - it's much too readable.
                    Case Is < 7

I really, really hope that whatever language that is *guarantees* evaluations are performed in order of appearance, or I'm really, really gonna laugh.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

campkev:
Let me help you out
dpm:
<sarcasm>Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.</sarcasm>

Ah-ha!

dpm · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Smash King:
And if anyone suppose that the right way to handle a phone validation is a state machine, go back to Programming Logic 101 right away.

You'd let them keep "programmer" as a career choice? You are far more lenient than I.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

... ...

.... uh.. wow..

That was amazing stupidity.

Almost as bad as an obfuscated 700 line function I saw once in Perl that gets the mean average of an array of numbers. I wish I had code from that project somewhere, that was absolutely amazing, and it took me hours to figure out what it did.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

campkev:
dpm:
Yeah, the code sucks, but at least the length is verified before they try to access all ten digits they expect to be there.
Using the same verification standard, I have verified that my ****** is 10 inches long.

Yes, but is it clean?

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

My god, I remember when I thought VB was awesome. How stupid and naive I was in those days...

dpm · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Smash King:
If you look carefully, you'll notice that the code isn't even checking for the right range. A zero-to-twelve loop does 13 passes, not 12.

I see the "0 to 12" and I see "case 0" through "case 12" inclusive, all of which are correct (given the original WTF), so I have no idea what you're complaining about.

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Bah, ugly!

print ''.join(['W', 'T', 'F', '!'][i] for i in xrange(4))

2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Horrendous.

What is neat is that you can strip away, Picasso-style, and get at the essence of ApplyPhoneNumberFormatting.

Public Shared Function ApplyPhoneNumberFormatting(ByVal phoneNumber As String) As String
        Dim cleanPhoneNumber As String
        Dim formattedPhoneNumber As New System.Text.StringBuilder
        'Dim i As Integer

                'If phoneNumber Is Nothing Then
                        'Return String.Empty
                'End If

        cleanPhoneNumber = StripNonNumericCharacters(phoneNumber)

        If cleanPhoneNumber.Length = 0 Then
            Return String.Empty
        Else

            'For i = 0 To 12

                'Select Case i
                    'Case 0
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("(")
                    'Case 1
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(0))
                    'Case 2
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(1))
                    'Case 3
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(2))
                    'Case 4
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(") ")
                    'Case 5
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(3))
                    'Case 6
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(4))
                    'Case 7
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(5))
                    'Case 8
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("-")
                    'Case 9
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(6))
                    'Case 10
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(7))
                    'Case 11
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(8))
                    'Case 12
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(9))

                'End Select

            'Next

            Return formattedPhoneNumber.ToString

        End If

    End Function

Or with lines stripped out:

Public Shared Function ApplyPhoneNumberFormatting(ByVal phoneNumber As String) As String

    Dim cleanPhoneNumber As String
    Dim formattedPhoneNumber As New System.Text.StringBuilder

    cleanPhoneNumber = StripNonNumericCharacters(phoneNumber)

    If cleanPhoneNumber.Length = 0 Then
        Return String.Empty
    Else
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("(")
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(0))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(1))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(2))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(") ")
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(3))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(4))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(5))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("-")
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(6))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(7))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(8))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(9))
        Return formattedPhoneNumber.ToString
    End If

End Function

Certainly braindead, and still worthy of WTF - unless input is guaranteed to be 0 or 9+ numeric characters.

campkev · 2009-03-09 Reply Admin

Buddy:

Horrendous.

What is neat is that you can strip away, Picasso-style, and get at the essence of ApplyPhoneNumberFormatting.

Public Shared Function ApplyPhoneNumberFormatting(ByVal phoneNumber As String) As String
        Dim cleanPhoneNumber As String
        Dim formattedPhoneNumber As New System.Text.StringBuilder
        'Dim i As Integer

                'If phoneNumber Is Nothing Then
                        'Return String.Empty
                'End If

        cleanPhoneNumber = StripNonNumericCharacters(phoneNumber)

        If cleanPhoneNumber.Length = 0 Then
            Return String.Empty
        Else

            'For i = 0 To 12

                'Select Case i
                    'Case 0
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("(")
                    'Case 1
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(0))
                    'Case 2
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(1))
                    'Case 3
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(2))
                    'Case 4
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(") ")
                    'Case 5
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(3))
                    'Case 6
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(4))
                    'Case 7
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(5))
                    'Case 8
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("-")
                    'Case 9
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(6))
                    'Case 10
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(7))
                    'Case 11
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(8))
                    'Case 12
                        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(9))

                'End Select

            'Next

            Return formattedPhoneNumber.ToString

        End If

    End Function

Or with lines stripped out:

Public Shared Function ApplyPhoneNumberFormatting(ByVal phoneNumber As String) As String

    Dim cleanPhoneNumber As String
    Dim formattedPhoneNumber As New System.Text.StringBuilder

    cleanPhoneNumber = StripNonNumericCharacters(phoneNumber)

    If cleanPhoneNumber.Length = 0 Then
        Return String.Empty
    Else
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("(")
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(0))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(1))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(2))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(") ")
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(3))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(4))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(5))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append("-")
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(6))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(7))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(8))
        formattedPhoneNumber.Append(cleanPhoneNumber.Chars(9))
        Return formattedPhoneNumber.ToString
    End If

End Function

Certainly braindead, and still worthy of WTF - unless input is guaranteed to be 0 or 9+ numeric characters.

Ironic that in a post about removing unnecessary lines, you have an if-return-else statement.

Formatting a Phone Number - The Long Version

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