The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

The only relevant response is this: bottom fish banana.

spxza · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

*bangs head on desk

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Comment line 1 is in date format

("Maybe I'm frist").

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

well, the logic behind this is, uhm...

a) nonexistent b) fuzzy c) an indicator of what horrors might be hidden on that codebase d) a testimony to the higher-ups's stupidity, for not allowing such crap to be overwritten with something sane e) all of the above

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

My favorite part is the nonsensical "&& string.IsNullOrEmpty(processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1)" in the outer if.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

I have a fix for you. a /* before the for statement, a */ at the end of it. Replace with nothing.

CAPTCHA: paratus, pair of what you say?

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

I'm sure there's a street somewhere in Liverpool called "Octopus Gardens..."

This code is quite brillant, in fact. It goes way beyond the traditional temptation to be "paid by the line." It's actually the first WTF I've seen that clearly has no possible utility whatsoever.

Sad Bug Killer · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Btw, what language is that? String, string and IsNullOrEmpty suggest C#, but the for (String month : months) is not C#-y. Anonymization gone wrong?

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

More validation is always better. We can't have our data jumpin' around all nimbly-bimbly from tree to tree...

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Hope there's no October Road in Scunthorpe.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

I wondered why I couldn't order anything off you guys.

Regards

Jane Doe 42 Juliet Place Marchwood

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Great stuff, there has to be a ton of street names that will run foul of this: Mayflower Juliet Mars

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
I wondered why I couldn't order anything off you guys.
Regards

Jane Doe 42 Ju liet Place Ma rchwood

FTFY, It should work now.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Anon:
Anonymous:
I wondered why I couldn't order anything off you guys.
Regards

Ja ne Doe 42 Ju liet Place Ma rchwood

FTFY, It should work now.

Whoops, missed one.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Bim Job:
It's actually the first WTF I've seen that clearly has no possible utility whatsoever.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The_Brillant_Paula_Bean.aspx and http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The_Brillant_Paula_Strikes_Back.aspx will fix that. http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Web_0_0x2e_1.aspx can help unless you want to be very stubborn.

Helix · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

the beholder:
Comment line 1 is in date format
("Maybe I'm frist").

Damn, thats what i was going to put but comments were not working..... at least they are working now: ("Comment Line %i is in date format", &line)

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

the beholder:
well, the logic behind this is, uhm...
a) nonexistent b) fuzzy c) an indicator of what horrors might be hidden on that codebase d) a testimony to the higher-ups's stupidity, for not allowing such crap to be overwritten with something sane e) all of the above

There is no room in programming for logic.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Sad Bug Killer:
Btw, what language is that? String, string and IsNullOrEmpty suggest C#, but the `for (String month : months)` is not C#-y. Anonymization gone wrong?

C++ (well, C++0x, or C++1x as it should be known now) has that construct.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Sad Bug Killer:
Btw, what language is that? String, string and IsNullOrEmpty suggest C#, but the `for (String month : months)` is not C#-y. Anonymization gone wrong?

Nope, it's Java. This syntax is often referred to as the enhanced for statement and it is used for iterating collections and arrays. This is actually the recommended way of structuring a for statement in Java, according to Sun.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

I have absolutely no idea as to why anyone would do that to their system, but I guess that the developers did not grow up in my hometown:

Google map link to a load of streets, all named after months ...

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Source line 3 is in date format ( "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", ). Source line 4 is in date format ( "Apr", "May", "Jun", ). Source line 5 is in date format ( "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", ). Source line 6 is in date format ( "Oct", "Nov", "Dec").

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
I wondered why I couldn't order anything off you guys.
Regards

Jane Doe 42 Juliet Place Marchwood

And I'd thought you boycotted our whole town ...

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

I can guess what happened here. The database was initially seeded from a whole bunch of externally-supplied files, some of which were in a format different from what was expected, having dates where addresses were expected. We've done similar things in the past.

In order for the app to detect that such a file was of that format, this snippet was written (by an intern, as this is the sort of thing you give rookies to program). Unfortunately, due to some configuration management mistake, it made it to production. And the guy who was initially behind this code snippet (the bloke who initially told the intern / student what to do) is no longer around.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Bim Job:
I'm sure there's a street somewhere in Liverpool called "Octopus Gardens..."
This code is quite brillant, in fact. It goes way beyond the traditional temptation to be "paid by the line." It's actually the first WTF I've seen that clearly has no possible utility whatsoever.

I'd like to be under the sea In an octopus' garden in the shade He'd let us in, knows where we've been In his octopus' garden in the shade

frits · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Quirkafleeg:
Sad Bug Killer:
Btw, what language is that? String, string and IsNullOrEmpty suggest C#, but the `for (String month : months)` is not C#-y. Anonymization gone wrong?
C++ (well, C++0x, or C++1x as it should be known now) has that construct.

And C++ has the flexibility (C macros, overloading) to impersonate other languages or combination of languages.
Although, it could be J#.

the real wtf fool · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Don Petrus:
I have absolutely no idea as to why anyone would do that to their system, but I guess that the developers did not grow up in my hometown:
Google map link to a load of streets, all named after months ...

There seems to be as little logic to that street layout as to the code snippet.

If you're walking along Nørregyde you get: Jul Jan Feb Aug Mar Sep Oct May Apr.

If you do it N->S it's: Apr May Jan Feb Mar Jul Aug Sep Oct

I haven't managed to find June and it seems they couldn't be bothered to finish the sequence off with Nov & Dec?

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

This system is clearly in need of some upgrades - it isn't even internationalized to support multiple languages...

What if someone enters a date in french?!?

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Seminymous Coward:
Bim Job:
It's actually the first WTF I've seen that clearly has no possible utility whatsoever.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The_Brillant_Paula_Bean.aspx and http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The_Brillant_Paula_Strikes_Back.aspx will fix that. http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Web_0_0x2e_1.aspx can help unless you want to be very stubborn.

Stubborn as in actually using the word "brillant" in my post?

I'm not talking about WTFs that clearly fail to do what they're supposed to do. I'mm talking about this WTF being so useless that, as the OP said, it's impossible to work out what problem the stupid thing was meant to do in the first place.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

BA: The users want the system to identify addresses that may be dates.

DEV: Wha!?!?!?

BA: The users want the system to identify addresses that may be dates.

DEV: That sounds pretty dumb, what problem are they trying to solve?

BA: That the system doesn't identify addresses that may be dates.

DEV: Uh...but...

This is just an example of what happens when you are given solutions instead of requirements.

frits · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

/*
string[] months =
{
 "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", 
 "Apr", "May", "Jun", 
 "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", 
 "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"
};

if (processingClient.StreetAddress != null
  && string.IsNullOrEmpty(processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1))
{
  for (String month : months)
  {
  if (processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 != null
    && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1.Contains(month))
  {
    writeError(processingClient,
      errorList,
      "Street address line 1 is in date format ("
        + processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 + ").");
  }
  if (processingClient.StreetAddress.Line2 != null
    && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line2.Contains(month))
  {
    writeError(processingClient,
      errorList,
      "Street address line 2 is in date format ("
        + processingClient.StreetAddress.Line2 + ").");
  }
  if (processingClient.StreetAddress.Line3 != null
    && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line3.Contains(month))
  {
    writeError(processingClient,
      errorList,
      "Street address line 3 is in date format ("
        + processingClient.StreetAddress.Line3 + ").");
  }
  }
}
*/

There. I fixed it.

toth · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

I suspect the intent of this code is to scold the user if they accidentally fill in the address line 1 with a date (i.e. the field above is a date field and they occasionally run into issues with people misaligning their information).

toshir0 · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Couldn't it also be written in D ? (although this one hasn't been used a lot ^^)

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Wow. Standing ovation. This one's an instant classic.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Sad Bug Killer:
Btw, what language is that? String, string and IsNullOrEmpty suggest C#, but the `for (String month : months)` is not C#-y. Anonymization gone wrong?
Nope, it's Java. This syntax is often referred to as the enhanced for statement and it is used for iterating collections and arrays. This is actually the recommended way of structuring a for statement in Java, according to Sun.

But hang on, Java doesn't have a IsNullOrEmpty on the string class and it uses lower case method names (eg 'contains' instead of 'Contains'). The code looks just like C# but the enhanced for is taken straight out of Java (after all, C# has the "foreach" construct which is it's own way of implementing Java's enhanced for). So I'm a bit confused as to the origins of this snippet, it certainly does look like two different langauges.

frits · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

toth:
I suspect the intent of this code is to scold the user if they accidentally fill in the address line 1 with a date (i.e. the field above is a date field and they occasionally run into issues with people misaligning their information).

Good point. In that case DateTime.TryParse() or it's equivalent would be much more appropriate than that crap.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

frits:

/*
string[] months =
{
 "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", 
 "Apr", "May", "Jun", 
 "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", 
 "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"
[…]
*/

There. I fixed it.

Meta-comment. You win one tube-clogging Internet.

toth · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

if (processingClient.StreetAddress != null && string.IsNullOrEmpty(processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1)) { for (String month : months) { if (processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 != null && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1.Contains(month)) { writeError(processingClient, errorList, "Street address line 1 is in date format (" + processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 + ")."); }

Is this supposed to be "!string.IsNullOrEmpty()"? Since this loop will only run if Line1 is null or empty, the condition "processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 != null && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1.Contains(month)" will always be false, won't it? Unless month is the empty string, in which case it will always be true (I think--I'm not sure if every string Contains the empty string, but I suspect they do).

md5sum · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Alex Papadimoulis:
Aaron adds, Aaron adds, “I’m not exactly sure what thought process lead to this, but the powers that be aren’t too keen about changing it, leaving our end users to adding random hyphens and spaces for those unfortunate enough to live on ‘October Road’.”

I'm curious as to why they would need to add or change anything... the only time that this code would ever run is if "processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1" is empty or null...

Alex Papadimoulis:
if (processingClient.StreetAddress != null && string.IsNullOrEmpty(processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1)) { ... }

Admittedly the code is a WTF, but so are the statements made about it...

Rootbeer · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

“Our codebase is a bit... backwards, to say the least,” writes Aaron Silver, “things that should go up don’t go up or down... instead, they&rsqou;re painted orange .”

Non-existent character entity 'rsqou'
Even if it were spelled correctly, it should be an 'apos' rather than an 'rsquo'.
Superfluous space before terminating period.
Metaphor nonsensical.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Bim Job:
Seminymous Coward:
Bim Job:
It's actually the first WTF I've seen that clearly has no possible utility whatsoever.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The_Brillant_Paula_Bean.aspx and http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The_Brillant_Paula_Strikes_Back.aspx will fix that. http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Web_0_0x2e_1.aspx can help unless you want to be very stubborn.
Stubborn as in actually using the word "brillant" in my post?

I'm not talking about WTFs that clearly fail to do what they're supposed to do. I'mm talking about this WTF being so useless that, as the OP said, it's impossible to work out what problem the stupid thing was meant to do in the first place.

Clearly, the addresses are copied and pasted from an Excel spreadsheet, which has the annoying habit of converting things that are not dates to date format.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

The thing is... the whole block is only called if processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 is null or empty, so if that's the case why would they decide that it needed a check to see if it contains a month? And why is it OK for lines to contain months if line1 is NOT null or empty?

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

toth:
if (processingClient.StreetAddress != null && string.IsNullOrEmpty(processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1)) { for (String month : months) { if (processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 != null && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1.Contains(month)) { writeError(processingClient, errorList, "Street address line 1 is in date format (" + processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 + ")."); }

Is this supposed to be "!string.IsNullOrEmpty()"? Since this loop will only run if Line1 is null or empty, the condition "processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 != null && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1.Contains(month)" will always be false, won't it? Unless month is the empty string, in which case it will always be true (I think--I'm not sure if every string Contains the empty string, but I suspect they do).

That first IsNullOrEmpty prevents the block from executing if nothing has been entered into the address Line1 field. In other words, only perform this (crappy) address validation if an address (or at least the first line of an address) has been entered.

Not sure what you mean about every string containing the empty string. If you call the 'Contains' method on an empty string (ie length=0), it will only match another empty string (ie length=0).

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

PITA:
I'd like to be under the sea In an octopus' garden in the shade He'd let us in, knows where we've been In his octopus' garden in the shade

If you listen carefully, you'll notice the Beatles got their apostrophes right.

I'd like to be under the sea In an octopus's garden in the shade He'd let us in, knows where we've been In his octopus's garden in the shade

Just the one octopus, so it takes "'s"

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Matt Westwood:
I can guess what happened here. The database was initially seeded from a whole bunch of externally-supplied files, some of which were in a format different from what was expected, having dates where addresses were expected. We've done similar things in the past.
In order for the app to detect that such a file was of that format, this snippet was written (by an intern, as this is the sort of thing you give rookies to program). Unfortunately, due to some configuration management mistake, it made it to production. And the guy who was initially behind this code snippet (the bloke who initially told the intern / student what to do) is no longer around.

toth:
I suspect the intent of this code is to scold the user if they accidentally fill in the address line 1 with a date (i.e. the field above is a date field and they occasionally run into issues with people misaligning their information).

+1. One of those must be the explanation.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Actually, now I come to think about it, the lyrics don't just repeat the "octopus's garden" line like that. The point stands though.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
toth:
if (processingClient.StreetAddress != null && string.IsNullOrEmpty(processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1)) { for (String month : months) { if (processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 != null && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1.Contains(month)) { writeError(processingClient, errorList, "Street address line 1 is in date format (" + processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 + ")."); }

Is this supposed to be "!string.IsNullOrEmpty()"? Since this loop will only run if Line1 is null or empty, the condition "processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 != null && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1.Contains(month)" will always be false, won't it? Unless month is the empty string, in which case it will always be true (I think--I'm not sure if every string Contains the empty string, but I suspect they do).
That first IsNullOrEmpty prevents the block from executing if nothing has been entered into the address Line1 field. In other words, only perform this (crappy) address validation if an address (or at least the first line of an address) has been entered.

Not sure what you mean about every string containing the empty string. If you call the 'Contains' method on an empty string (ie length=0), it will only match another empty string (ie length=0).

Oh, but it isn't !IsNullOrEmpty at all! OK, so I'm guessing this was a transcribing error. I'm sure that first call to IsNullOrEmpty is supposed to be !IsNullOrEmpty.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

’ = right single quotation mark

rsquo ’ U+2019 (8217) HTML 4.0 HTMLspecial ISOnum right single quotation mark

Presumably put in the html as ’ as we see it like that.

the code snippet will rarely execute the for loop as the frist line of the address is unlikely to be blank if this is behind a UI.

So random testing will be unlikely to find the problem.

WTFIFWWY !

frits · 2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Quirkafleeg:
frits:
/*
string[] months =
{
 "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", 
 "Apr", "May", "Jun", 
 "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", 
 "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"
[…]
*/
There. I fixed it.
Meta-comment. You win one tube-clogging Internet.

Steve Holt!

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Rootbeer:
“Our codebase is a bit... backwards, to say the least,” writes Aaron Silver, “things that should go up don’t go up or down... instead, they&rsqou;re painted orange .”
[…] 4. Metaphor nonsensical.

I don&rsqou;t think so. It&rsqou;s perfectly clear, not to mention obvious, that they should be painted purple.

2010-03-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
toth:
if (processingClient.StreetAddress != null && string.IsNullOrEmpty(processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1)) { for (String month : months) { if (processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 != null && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1.Contains(month)) { writeError(processingClient, errorList, "Street address line 1 is in date format (" + processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 + ")."); }

Is this supposed to be "!string.IsNullOrEmpty()"? Since this loop will only run if Line1 is null or empty, the condition "processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1 != null && processingClient.StreetAddress.Line1.Contains(month)" will always be false, won't it? Unless month is the empty string, in which case it will always be true (I think--I'm not sure if every string Contains the empty string, but I suspect they do).
That first IsNullOrEmpty prevents the block from executing if nothing has been entered into the address Line1 field. In other words, only perform this (crappy) address validation if an address (or at least the first line of an address) has been entered.

Not sure what you mean about every string containing the empty string. If you call the 'Contains' method on an empty string (ie length=0), it will only match another empty string (ie length=0).

Except it doesn't negate the check, so it'll never happen.

October Road

Regards

Regards

Regards

Regards

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