The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

IFRisTP0zTer();

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Wow. That is insane.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

I love it. And you know if he came across you checking >=1 in, you know, the sane way; he'd really get the hump!

Raedwald · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

My god. Its full of typing.

frits · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?

tiller · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?

Yes but in this case, using isEmpty() is better. (I asume there is an isEmpty method).

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?

(!myList.Count) should do the job, assuming a sane language.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

It's still better than sourcesafe.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

public bool IsListconntSmalleThaOne(IList<IContact> listOfResults)
{
try
  {
    listOfResults[1];
    return false;
  }
  catch(IndexOutOfRangeException e)
  {
    return true;
  }
}

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

if len(list) < 1: profit();

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

At least it's not VB.

/duck /run

lazloman · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

I don't know, but it might not be thread safe

Smitty · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

I see this kind of bullshit fairly regularly at my current job. Inane functions with misspelled words, random missing letters and my personal favorite, random Capitalization.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

littlebobbytables:
It's still better than sourcesafe.

WIN!

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Our work is done on an inhouse framework (for better or worse) and has some nice simple functionality exposed to the developer, including a validity check method. For aggregated classes you just call it on all child classes and bingo, right... Not if you are our italian subcontractor:

bool result = (CheckValidity() != false) ? false : result;

yes, a doubly inverted comparitive self assignment, molto bene!

Smitty · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

NoAstronomer:
At least it's not VB.
/duck /run

Everyone loves a holy war. Kill the beast!!

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Its missing the unit tests...

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

public bool IsListconntSmalleThaOne(IList<IContact> listOfResults)

{

int count = 0; foreach (IContact contact in listOfResults) { count = count + 1; }

if (count >= 1) { return 1 != 0; // I don't trust "false" } else { return 1 == 1; // is "true" really true?? } }

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

What sane language could allow mixing of boolean and integral values?

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Oops I forgot the code tags. Fixed :)

pbean:

public bool IsListconntSmalleThaOne(IList<IContact> listOfResults)
{
  int count = 0;
  foreach (IContact contact in listOfResults)
  {
    count = count + 1;
  }
if (count >= 1)
{
return 1 != 0; // I don't trust "false"
}
else
{
return 1 == 1; // is "true" really true??
}
}

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

anonymous coward:
frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?

(!myList.Count) should do the job, assuming a sane language.

What sane language could allow mixing of boolean and integral values?

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Obviously meant for embedded systems.

huai · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

And he doesn't even guard for null

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

final static String TCAR = "t";
final static String RCAR = "r";
final static String UCAR = "u";
final static String ECAR = "e";

public boolean isFlse (boolean bolean) {
    if (bolean.toString().equals(TCAR + RCAR + UCAR + ECAR) {
          return false;
    }else{
          return true;
    }
}

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

tiller:

frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?
Yes but in this case, using isEmpty() is better. (I asume there is an isEmpty method).

You are also assuming that myList.Count is never negative!!

toth · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

dignissim:
anonymous coward:
frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?

(!myList.Count) should do the job, assuming a sane language.

What sane language could allow mixing of boolean and integral values?

PHP or Perl

Oh, sane? None.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

anonymous coward:
frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?

(!myList.Count) should do the job, assuming a sane language.

That's only if you want to look 1337 by showing off your ability to treat integers as booleans. The rest of us would just use a form of !myList.isEmpty(), which is much more clear and, depending on the internal implementation of myList, may well get better performance.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

What about the obvious FILENOTFOUD?

toth · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

myList.Count == 0

OTFY

Unless, of course, you're dealing with weird, unnatural, abomination-before-God data structures that allow lists with negative or non-integral numbers of elements.

I want to see a list whose count is 0.5.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Nahgoe:
tiller:

frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?
Yes but in this case, using isEmpty() is better. (I asume there is an isEmpty method).
You are also assuming that myList.Count is never negative!!

Exactly the point I was going to make. It could be a list of antiIContacts!

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Knux2:

final static String TCAR = "t";
final static String RCAR = "r";
final static String UCAR = "u";
final static String ECAR = "e";
public boolean isFlse (boolean bolean) {
if (bolean.toString().equals(TCAR + RCAR + UCAR + ECAR) {
return false;
}else{
return true;
}
}

Don't forget to handle case sensitivity.

final static String TCAR = "t";
final static String RCAR = "r";
final static String UCAR = "u";
final static String ECAR = "e";
final static String TCARCAP = "T";
final static String RCARCAP = "R";
final static String UCARCAP = "U";
final static String ECARCAP = "E";

public boolean isFlse (boolean bolean) {
    if (bolean.toString().equals(TCAR + RCAR + UCAR + ECAR) {
          return false;
    }else if(bolean.toString().equals(bolean.toString().equals(TCARCAP + RCARCAP + UCARCAP + ECARCAP){
          return false;
    }    
    }else{
          return true;
    }
}

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

toth:
myList.Count == 0
OTFY

Unless, of course, you're dealing with weird, unnatural, abomination-before-God data structures that allow lists with negative or non-integral numbers of elements.

I want to see a list whose count is 0.5.

Obviously representing one potential contact. 0.3 for a lead. 0.9 for that chick you ALMOST got digits from.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Oh my God that hurts. This is exactly the sort of shoddy coding that pisses me off the most. Atrocious spelling, useless method name, pointless functionality and it doesn't even work as advertised. But what really compounds the WTF is that this is so damn simple. When you screw up this badly doing something this simple, it's time to seriously consider whether software development is your calling in life. Note to the submitter, maybe you should leave a McDonalds job application form on his desk, see if he gets the hint.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

pbean:

Oops I forgot the code tags. Fixed :)

pbean:

public bool IsListconntSmalleThaOne(IList<IContact> listOfResults)
{
  int count = 0;
  foreach (IContact contact in listOfResults)
  {
    count = count + 1;
  }
if (count >= 1)
{
return 1 != 0; // I don't trust "false"
}
else
{
return 1 == 1; // is "true" really true??
}
}

Thanks. That makes it so much more readable (saner, too).

Satanicpuppy · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

tiller:
frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?

Yes but in this case, using isEmpty() is better. (I asume there is an isEmpty method).

Pssh. Unlike the subby, you're not accounting for the case where there is a negative number of elements in the list.

Quicksilver · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Don't we have webservices nowadays to check for list sizes?

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Note to the submitter, maybe you should leave a McDonalds job application form on his desk, see if he gets the hint.

Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

CAPTCHA: conventio (a convention followed by this story's coder).

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

toth:
myList.Count == 0
OTFY

Unless, of course, you're dealing with weird, unnatural, abomination-before-God data structures that allow lists with negative or non-integral numbers of elements.

I want to see a list whose count is 0.5.

Kudos to the first to implement a TruncatedList collection class where you can index with floats and it somehow cuts the elements in pieces

Examples:

Strings:
0: Test
1: Truncated
2: List

Strings[0.5] = "Te"
Strings[1.22] = "Tr"

Integers:
0: 84
1: 1337
2: 2147483647

Integers[0.5] = 42
Integers[1.7] = 935.9

Kiss me I'm Polish · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Sometimes it's better to write some more code just for the sake of code cleanliness, but this... this is just wrong.

snoofle · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

toth:
myList.Count == 0
OTFY

Unless, of course, you're dealing with weird, unnatural, abomination-before-God data structures that allow lists with negative or non-integral numbers of elements.

I want to see a list whose count is 0.5.

list.get(Math.sqrt(-1.23456));

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Oh my God that hurts. This is exactly the sort of shoddy coding that pisses me off the most. Atrocious spelling, useless method name, pointless functionality and it doesn't even work as advertised. But what really compounds the WTF is that this is so damn simple. When you screw up this badly doing something this simple, it's time to seriously consider whether software development is your calling in life. Note to the submitter, maybe you should leave a McDonalds job application form on his desk, see if he gets the hint.

public boolean isDoubleCheeseBruger(int patties) { if (patties * patties == 4) return true; else return false; } }

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Stevil:
Not if you are our italian subcontractor:
bool result = (CheckValidity() != false) ? false : result;

yes, a doubly inverted comparitive self assignment, molto bene!

It makes perfectly sense, since in Italian double negation, well, negates. I am Italian, anyway: I have not said nothing.

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

The real WTF is that this is not an extension method.

RogerC · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

wtf:
Anonymous:
Oh my God that hurts. This is exactly the sort of shoddy coding that pisses me off the most. Atrocious spelling, useless method name, pointless functionality and it doesn't even work as advertised. But what really compounds the WTF is that this is so damn simple. When you screw up this badly doing something this simple, it's time to seriously consider whether software development is your calling in life. Note to the submitter, maybe you should leave a McDonalds job application form on his desk, see if he gets the hint.

public boolean isDoubleCheeseBruger(int patties) { if (patties * patties == 4) return true; else return false; } }

Wonderful! You give me two patties and I will then inform you that I've handed you a double cheesebruger. Win-win.

snoofle · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

pbean:
toth:
myList.Count == 0
OTFY

Unless, of course, you're dealing with weird, unnatural, abomination-before-God data structures that allow lists with negative or non-integral numbers of elements.

I want to see a list whose count is 0.5.

Kudos to the first to implement a TruncatedList collection class where you can index with floats and it somehow cuts the elements in pieces

Examples:
Strings:
0: Test
1: Truncated
2: List

Strings[0.5] = "Te"
Strings[1.22] = "Tr"

Integers:
0: 84
1: 1337
2: 2147483647

Integers[0.5] = 42
Integers[1.7] = 935.9

Sorry, no time to play with strings, but for integers:

class FloatingIntArray {
	private List<Integer> data = new ArrayList<Integer>();
	public void add(Integer val) {
		data.add(val);
	}
	public double get(double index) {
		int signMultiplier = index >= 0.0 ? 1 : -1;
		index = Math.abs(index);
		int arrayIndex = (int) Math.floor(index);
		if (arrayIndex >= data.size()) { 
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Index: "+index+" is out of range"); 
		}
		double origValue = data.get(arrayIndex);
		double fraction  = index - arrayIndex;
		return signMultiplier * origValue * fraction;
	}
}
public TestBed() {
	FloatingIntArray fia = new FloatingIntArray();
	fia.add(84);
	fia.add(1337);
	fia.add(2147483647);
	System.out.println("fia.get(0.5) = "+fia.get(0.5));
	System.out.println("fia.get(1.7) = "+fia.get(1.7));
	System.out.println("fia.get(-0.5) = "+fia.get(-0.5));
	System.out.println("fia.get(-1.7) = "+fia.get(-1.7));
}

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

Clearly this person was getting paid by the line and was interested in creating a code-base which engendered long term maintenance to ensure job security.

Always ask yourself: "Is this a WTF or am I just missing the intent?"

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

pbean:

Strings:
0: Test
1: Truncated
2: List
Strings[0.5] = "Te"
Strings[1.22] = "Tr"

Yeah, THAT makes sense!

Strings[0.25] = "T" Strings[0.5] = "Te" Strings[0.75] = "Tes" Strings[1] = "Truncated"

Exactly what I'd have expected!

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

tiller:
frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?

Yes but in this case, using isEmpty() is better. (I asume there is an isEmpty method).

There isn't. And it would be IsEmpty() if there were.

RobFreundlich · 2010-06-09 Reply Admin

pbean:
toth:
I want to see a list whose count is 0.5.

Death to the first to implement a TruncatedList collection class where you can index with floats and it somehow cuts the elements in pieces

FTFY

2010-06-09 Reply Admin

toth:
dignissim:
anonymous coward:
frits:
Did anybody notice that (myList.Count < 1) is significantly shorter than IsListconntSmalleThaOne(myList) ?

(!myList.Count) should do the job, assuming a sane language.

What sane language could allow mixing of boolean and integral values?

PHP or Perl

Oh, sane? None.

C and C++ will both accept it too; as boolean values are simply integers, where 0 is false and any other value is true.

I personally don't consider it an insanity of the language, more a laziness of the people who can't be bothered to actually state what they're doing in their operation. Just because a language lets you do something doesn't mean you should.

"if (!myList.Count)" and "if (myList.Count == 0)" are functionally equivalent. The latter, however, is far more succinct, even if more verbose.

IsListconntSmalleThaOne

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