• (cs)

    Fist post. The one that replaces the UI as a whole every time you press a button reminds me of the code I wrote before I discovered arrays. Appropriate, since the guy who wrote it lives around the corner from me.

  • (cs)

    It appears as though the download links on all the individual entry pages are not working.

    Alex? Are you still messing with the script on the live site? :)

    Addendum (2007-06-11 12:47): Ooh.. the download script is working now. Yay for developmenstruction.

    Note from Alex: This was a result of some bizarre configuration problem on IIS... some downloads worked, some didn't. All files were in same directory... recycling the app pool did the trick.

  • (cs)

    The real WTF is that he used sliders to enter numbers instead of radio buttons.

  • (cs) in reply to Nandurius

    I love the MSPaint job. :D Too bad I can't download any, and the descriptions are missing all their formatting

  • (cs)

    Wow, the ConsoleCalc is just boggling my mind. I love the character drawing, and I have no idea how the "Console" window is working with the mouse and line drawing. Pretty spiffy.

    Also, 1+1+1 = 12. Of course. And 1+1+1+1 = 112.

    Fractions... I have no idea. There's just no system to them at all.

  • (cs)

    The latest ConsoleCalc is actually http://omg.worsethanfailure.com/Entries/ViewEntry.aspx?id=100349

    I entered the final version as a separate entry, because I wasnt sure it worked, and I had only seconds to go before the deadline. I had no idea how to do math in a clever way, so with about an hour left I just started coding something. :) The GUI is identical.

    Whats fun about ConsoleCalc is that it attempts to take over any active window with "ConsoleCalc" in the title. It doesnt always succeed, but when it does it's entertaining.

  • Single Male (unregistered) in reply to DigitalLogic
    DigitalLogic:
    The real WTF is that he used sliders to enter numbers instead of radio buttons.

    I would have picked two list boxes with "up" and "down" buttons between them, e.g.

    
    One
    One
    One
    One

    [Up] [Down]

    One
    One
    One
    One
    One

    As you press the "Up" button, the last "One" would be removed from the top of the lower list and added to the bottom of the higher list. Repeated presses of "Up" and "Down" slide the "bead" closest to the buttons into the other list box. "0" is the state where the top listbox is empty, "9" where the bottom listbox is empty.

    Just like a real abacus.

    (Well, except a real abacus has multiple bead colors, with different colors representing different number bases, and can do multiplication and division using some algorithm that makes a slide rule seem simple by comparison).

    For extra WTFness, use a list box with a scrollbar and maximum height 2, and disable the down-arrow key.

  • (cs) in reply to Zor

    I get it.. so the display has nothing to do with it being a console window, but it just took over the display from cmd.exe - that's neat !

  • oGMo (unregistered)

    All these entries, and no one implemented Dirk Gently's I-CHING calculator.

  • RedKnight (unregistered)

    I'm supprised that the calculator that only works in 24-bit mode didn't make the final cut. That has more of a WTF feeling than some of the finalists.

  • headshit (unregistered)

    Is that every update on this site is now an 'omgwtf' contest entry.

    Booorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.

  • Thatguy (unregistered) in reply to headshit
    headshit:
    Is that every update on this site is now an 'omgwtf' contest entry.

    Booorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.

    if only there was a way to determine which new post is omgwtf related... Too bad Alex doesn't identifiy these in anyway whatsoever!

  • (cs)

    The REAL WTF is that this "highlights" of the fvcking lame-ass contest keeps on taking the place of REAL articles. Come on, man! Keep this shit in the forum for it. I want to read GOOD articles.

  • (cs) in reply to RedKnight

    This one was mine! Under the hood, of course, it's perfectly logical -- the only UI event that really gets handled is "window was clicked somewhere" -- the calculator determines what button was clicked by verifying that the R and G components of the target pixel are maxed out, and scrapes the value of the button out of the B component. At color depths less than 24-bit, there's no 1:1 correspondence between pixel color and button value, so hitting '2' yields '1' and so on.

  • Grandpa (unregistered) in reply to ObiWayneKenobi
    ObiWayneKenobi:
    The REAL WTF is that this "highlights" of the fvcking lame-ass contest keeps on taking the place of REAL articles. Come on, man! Keep this shit in the forum for it. I want to read GOOD articles.

    You are so right... You should demand a refund.

  • Erik (unregistered)

    the only UI event that really gets handled is "window was clicked somewhere" -- the calculator determines what button was clicked by verifying that the R and G components of the target pixel are maxed out, and scrapes the value of the button out of the B component. At color depths less than 24-bit, there's no 1:1 correspondence between pixel color and button value, so hitting '2' yields '1' and so on.

    That... might be the most beautiful sentence I've ever read. You magnificent bastard. I'll try to work that kind of reasoning into my next UI design, for that added bit of non-deterministic user experience.

  • (cs) in reply to ObiWayneKenobi
    ObiWayneKenobi:
    The REAL WTF is that this "highlights" of the fvcking lame-ass contest keeps on taking the place of REAL articles. Come on, man! Keep this shit in the forum for it. I want to read GOOD articles.
    You'd rather read more like Lost in the Jungle?
  • Resonant (unregistered)

    The scalable calculator actually made me laugh out loud. It really reminds of of some of the worse interfaces I have ever had to use that look good, but just don't work well.

  • Ian (unregistered)

    I just don't get the people who are dissing the contest. It's one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen on the net. OMGWTF FTW

  • (cs) in reply to Twon
    Twon:
    This one was mine! Under the hood, of course, it's perfectly logical -- the only UI event that really gets handled is "window was clicked somewhere" -- the calculator determines what button was clicked by verifying that the R and G components of the target pixel are maxed out, and scrapes the value of the button out of the B component. At color depths less than 24-bit, there's no 1:1 correspondence between pixel color and button value, so hitting '2' yields '1' and so on.
    You know what? You win. I don't care about the finalists and the voting. This is the most asinine, brilliant UI idea I've seen in a long time. You are the king of this contest, and it would be an honor to serve in your 24-bit-colored court.
  • Captain Spongebath (unregistered) in reply to ObiWayneKenobi
    ObiWayneKenobi:
    The REAL WTF is that this "highlights" of the fvcking lame-ass contest keeps on taking the place of REAL articles. Come on, man! Keep this shit in the forum for it. I want to read GOOD articles.

    The real WTF is that it doesn't stop us coming here.

  • smack-a-do (unregistered) in reply to Nandurius

    IIS? Thats the real WTF, right there for you.

  • (cs)

    The documentation for PITACalc is truly great. IMHO it deserved being a finalist more than some of the previous twelve.

  • (cs) in reply to oGMo
    oGMo:
    All these entries, and no one implemented Dirk Gently's I-CHING calculator.

    Well... I thought about it... But I barely have time reading the site right now ;)

    The I-Ching was the 1st thing that came to my mind when i read about a wtf-calc contest :D

  • Thijs (unregistered) in reply to oGMo
    oGMo:
    All these entries, and no one implemented Dirk Gently's I-CHING calculator.

    See http://www.thateden.co.uk/dirk/

  • (cs) in reply to Pasotaman
    Pasotaman:
    The documentation for PITACalc is truly great. IMHO it deserved being a finalist more than some of the previous twelve.

    Thank you. Even though my code was near the bottom for WTF-ness, I was hoping to get style points for that.

  • (cs) in reply to bstorer

    Agreed. In its subtle, pure WTFery nature this one is certainly deserving of a top 3 finish. Not quite as enterprisey as the OCRCAL one, but definitely one of my favorites. And it's a favorite of mine because while on the surface it appears to work, looks bright and "fun", and tests just fine on a "developer's box"; under the hood it's truly a design disaster just waiting for all of those field personnel still using Win95 at 800x600 resolution in 16bit colors to crash and burn in a spectacular day of horrible losses in sales revenue due to a horribly buggy application that wasn't tested thoroughly for the user base that would need to use it.

    To me, this one represents the non-obvious, big fat WTF type of IT project that we all have to deal with on a daily basis. The design specs were too loose, the coder didn't give a rat's ass about robust design, and the test team tested with only one environment in mind: namely, anything in 24-bit color or better. Alex missed this one because it's not a stand-alone programming WTF, but it still has WTF written all over it! Nice job, man!

  • Fry-kun (unregistered)

    I think the Scalable Calculator creator might've had qbits in mind when adding the sliding bars. (I remember from some explanation that a qbit stores information in this manner.. but i'm probably wrong)

    Anyway, awesome entries!

  • (cs) in reply to cavemanf16
    cavemanf16:
    and the test team tested with only one environment in mind: namely, anything in 24-bit color or better.

    You can't be certain that it will work properly in "or better". 32-bit color, being 24-bit color with a leading alpha byte, should work, but who knows how 48-bit and 64-bit color will be implemented?

  • hmm (unregistered)

    Bad my idea wasnt acceptet because it would have needed special hardware. I sugested to use a olf pen plotter to press the buttons of a pocket calculator, whose display is read by a webcam and then OCRed.

    Other option would be using lots of solenoid actuators and motors to control a huge old mechanical calculator, or better an abacus.

  • (cs) in reply to oGMo
    oGMo:
    All these entries, and no one implemented Dirk Gently's I-CHING calculator.

    A suffusion of yellow

  • WhiskyTangoFoxtrott (unregistered)

    I can't understand why David Lees's entry didn't make it to the finalists...WTF?

    From divfunc.cpp:

    /* 
we have had to break the loop as it was going on for to long
I can't split the text over multiple lines, so the next line is rather long....
for added legibility in all languages this has been translated by google into French,
then into German, then finally back to English
*/

    This and the rest of the code just made me laughing so hard! :)

  • (cs) in reply to bstorer
    bstorer:
    Twon:
    This one was mine! Under the hood, of course, it's perfectly logical -- the only UI event that really gets handled is "window was clicked somewhere" -- the calculator determines what button was clicked by verifying that the R and G components of the target pixel are maxed out, and scrapes the value of the button out of the B component. At color depths less than 24-bit, there's no 1:1 correspondence between pixel color and button value, so hitting '2' yields '1' and so on.
    You know what? You win. I don't care about the finalists and the voting. This is the most asinine, brilliant UI idea I've seen in a long time. You are the king of this contest, and it would be an honor to serve in your 24-bit-colored court.

    I'm with you on this one. I may be biased since I actually know this guy (he introduced me to this site, in fact) but I think this wins on sheer insanity alone.

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