• GovtContractorGuy (unregistered)

    was unable to get it to use 100mb of memory but it likes to use 100% of cpu :)

  • MadGamer (unregistered)

    Nice table

  • (cs)

    Nice choice of wooden table entries. The calculator looks very nicely used.

    Kinda scary how it runs away with 99% proc time. I didn't give it very long before I killed it.

    Excellent(ly bad) entry!!

  • RC Pinchey (unregistered) in reply to BradC

    Bonus points to this entry- I had a copy of shimeng.dll from Platform Builder 4.2 sat on my desktop, and when I ran the calculator it popped up with an error message telling me it couldn't load the dll.

    WTF?!?!?!?

  • Fert (unregistered)

    Nice! I didn't know 0/9 = 1, I'll have to remember that one...great entry

    CAPTCHA: Ewww

  • RC Pinchey (unregistered) in reply to RC Pinchey
    RC Pinchey:
    Bonus points to this entry- I had a copy of shimeng.dll from Platform Builder 4.2 sat on my desktop, and when I ran the calculator it popped up with an error message telling me it couldn't load the dll.

    WTF?!?!?!?

    Right, EXTRA bonus points because I've now looked through the code and I STILL can't figure out why, how or even where it's trying to load that dll. Anyone?

  • Someone (unregistered) in reply to RC Pinchey
    RC Pinchey:
    Right, EXTRA bonus points because I've now looked through the code and I STILL can't figure out why, how or even where it's trying to load that dll. Anyone?

    Did you download the calculator to your desktop? Perhaps it's trying to blindly load all the DLLs in its own folder.

  • SomeoneElse (unregistered)

    Extra Bonus points fro crashing everytime a number that is to large is entered. If the display reaches the wooden table, watch out!

  • SomeoneElse (unregistered)

    Extra Bonus points for crashing every time a number that is to large is entered. If the display reaches the wooden table, watch out!

  • (cs)

    I wonder exactly how much power your system would need for this to run at a decent speed? 10Ghz?

    I am in awe of it's ability to use every availible bit processor, and still not return results after several minutes. That's some strong kung WTFu!

  • Mike (unregistered)

    I entered too many digits too, reached the wooden table, and it crashed. Windows offered to send Microsoft an error report so I said OK. I hope that it helps someone there.... Or that someone reads it....

  • (cs)

    Another entry from a Waterloo graduate?! Terry, do I know you?

  • Mio (unregistered)

    I can't even get it to eat more than like, a meg and a half :( I mean, it eats up CPU time like crazy, but I can't get it to spike on memory.

  • danfiru (unregistered)

    I don't really get this one... seriously... hard to follow entry #08

  • (cs)

    I like that it fills the display from the left. A nice modern version of the 30+ years old UI :)

  • (cs)

    Awesome. Great interface. If this were actually a fully functional, non-WTF calc, I might one with that interface (especially if all the functions worked).

    Great WTF though. The thing slowed my computer down so much, I couldn't check my Gmail...even after I closed it, it didn't leave the memory and kept processing 98%, 100%, whatever it could take.

  • S|i(3_x (unregistered)

    When I click the buttons, it doesn't do anything. Also, I can't move the window but when I point at it, I see a disk, a printer, an envelope and a stamp in a raincoat.

  • siriousje (unregistered)

    this thing is an absolute winner. it's so evil that when I tried to divide 8 by 3 it took 100% cpu and continued even after I closed the application.

    in the end the only way to get my machine back was to pull the powerchord and remove the battery.

    absolute winner :-)

  • (cs) in reply to siriousje

    Oh man, this thing is like the calculator virus. It took about 5 minutes to get task manager open on my work comp after I shut it down.

    Beautiful stuff!

  • Per (unregistered)

    Excellent Entry.

    I love the "Calculating..." on the screen

  • (cs)

    I started this multiplying a 3-digit number by a 5-digit number, and when I left for lunch 20 minutes later it was still going. When I got back, it had finished. Woo!

  • Feyr (unregistered)

    , and requires a good 100MB+ of memory to run.

    not unlike java then, it's a winner!

  • (cs)

    This submission embodies the true spirit of the competition. The use of XML, the memory leaks, the user interface.

    This is the first submission that made me laugh out loud and say "Hey Bob, you gotta SEE this thing!" (Bob is in the cube next door)

    I don't think I need to read any more submissions. This is clearly the WTF to vote for.

  • JF (unregistered) in reply to lizardfoot

    User is confused...couldnt see the entire calculator and no scrollbar on my wooden table?

    I tried maximize but then I was left with half of a calculator that's not working.

    I'll be returning the product for a refund...but I'm keeping the table as a free gift thank you.

  • Jesse (unregistered)

    If you cover the solar panel with another window, will the screen fade out?

  • (cs)

    5 x 101 = 55. Brillant.

  • Amalas (unregistered) in reply to JF

    I couldn't get the window to scroll either...

  • (cs)

    Just try "2=".

    Calculating...

  • Izzy (unregistered)

    I love the way the bottom row of buttons, with the important zero, decimal point and equal, is almost off screen. You can't scroll it either. (It's not a bug. it's a feature.) This has got to be the greatest UI (or ewww) I've ever seen.

  • (cs)

    Ouch, this thing is multithreaded - the more calculations you do, the more threads it spawns, each one consuming as much CPU time as possible. Wouldn't have imagined something could make a mouse pointer stutter on a quad-core...

  • dkf (unregistered)

    I like the fact that it's using Peano arithmetic. But the author should have used C++ operators to hide the fact, concealing all the code in a header file deep in a subsubdirectory that's included in a tortuous way. With that, I'm sure total confusion could have been achieved.

  • diagonalfish (unregistered)

    With a dual-core processor I am impervious to being frozen up- it is of course not multithreaded so only 50% of my 3Ghz is used. :)

  • (cs) in reply to Welbog
    Welbog:
    Another entry from a Waterloo graduate?! Terry, do I know you?

    UW should be so proud to have two alumni as finalists in a contest like this.

    I graduated in 1996, which must have been before your time if you learned about web pages in middle school. I feel old now :)

  • MartialDev (unregistered)

    "Skinned" applications like this should never have a window border, and their buttons must not exceed 8x8 pixels in size!

  • (cs) in reply to siriousje
    siriousje:
    this thing is an absolute winner. it's so evil that when I tried to divide 8 by 3 it took 100% cpu and continued even after I closed the application.

    in the end the only way to get my machine back was to pull the powerchord and remove the battery.

    absolute winner :-)

    There is a comment in calcfunc.cpp that explains why it doesn't exit properly if you close it while it's in the middle of a calculation. It's an intentional bug :)

  • (cs) in reply to rbowes
    rbowes:
    I started this multiplying a 3-digit number by a 5-digit number, and when I left for lunch 20 minutes later it was still going. When I got back, it had finished. Woo!

    Ogawd! this is all making me feel soooo inadequate. Aside from sizing issues [I had to hide my taskbar to even get to the + or = buttons] I have been totally unable to reproduce any of the memory leaks or high CPU loads others have referred to...oh bingo! there we go! It took a multi-digit denominator, and then went to 98% CPU. Still no excessive memory usage, though. I did have to force shutdown, so that's a good WTF.

  • (cs) in reply to Terry
    Terry:
    Welbog:
    Another entry from a Waterloo graduate?! Terry, do I know you?

    UW should be so proud to have two alumni as finalists in a contest like this.

    I graduated in 1996, which must have been before your time if you learned about web pages in middle school. I feel old now :)

    Yeah. I'm a 2006 grad. Was Tie Guard in '05. Did you take Real Time? Oh man, I love UW so much! Good luck to you, fellow UW graduate. May the best alumnus win.

    Addendum (2007-06-07 20:45): Oh, man. I think we should tell UW if one of us wins. That would be hilarious.

  • Not the best UW alumnus (unregistered)

    "Good luck to you, fellow UW graduate. May the best alumnus win."

    It won't happen. The best UW alumnus didn't have time to write an entry. Neither did lots of others.

    On the other hand, if you see an entry which doesn't work, but which is accompanied by really perfect clear understandable thorough documentation of some working-but-imaginary entry...

  • Joutsa (unregistered)

    Oh, the nostalgia. I used to have the calculator in the picture in high school. I can't understand why Terry didn't implement the magnificent feature of solving linear 3 equation groups. That feature was completely useless, had the most confusing user interface ever and still caused the calculator to be confiscated in university entrance exams.

  • abcdef (unregistered)

    A good point that is seems to run on some computers but not on all.

    Nice wooden table too.

  • totolamoto (unregistered) in reply to flobi
    Awesome. Great interface. If this were actually a fully functional, non-WTF calc, I might one with that interface (especially if all the functions worked).

    This you can have, there is a Sharp pocket computer emulator that uses the original picture of the different models as user interface. http://pockemul.free.fr/screenshots.htm

  • Foobar (unregistered)

    Try to type more than 10 digits quick, that's really awesome!

  • Waf (unregistered) in reply to abcdef
    abcdef:
    A good point that is seems to run on some computers but not on all.
    Unlike the previous, this runs without the gas libraries.

    Bonus #1, if you resize, you can get several more calculators (unclickable). Bonus #2, if you close the window, the program keeps running, sure i still want the solution on the closed display!

  • Valacosa (unregistered)

    The dearth of submissions from University of Waterloo students makes sense. At least it does if you've ever had to use the online system to say, check your marks or sign up for classes here.

    But hey! I hear the website won't be down between Midnight and 8 AM anymore!

    You heard me right. The website we use for such things has business hours.

  • (cs) in reply to Valacosa

    Hi Valacosa. It's me, squirrelKING. I need your IM contact info or something.

  • Rippy (unregistered)

    Hehe this thing made me laugh :D. It also has dual core sopport, if you do a second entry while the first one is being calculated it will use the second CPU too.

    Brilliant :D

  • Kliment (unregistered) in reply to Valacosa
    Valacosa:
    You heard me right. The website we use for such things has business hours.

    Heh, same thing in Finland, the online train ticket shop closes for the night. Check it yourself at www.vr.fi

    Kliment

Leave a comment on “OMGWTF Finalist #09: Terry's Calculator”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #:

Log Out

« Return to Article