The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

rogthefrog · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

I like the fact that the code needs to be fixed every year to make the current year available in the year pull-down.

2005-05-31 Reply Admin

rogthefrog:
I like the fact that the code needs to be fixed every year to make the current year available in the year pull-down.

Two words: job security :-)

rogthefrog · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

I suspect the cyear(pyear,2004) is a function that returns "selected" if $_GET['pyear']==2004 or some other form var ("cOMPAREyear", get it?), to prepopulate the pulldowns.

If that's the case, having cyear, cmonth, etc. is an even bigger wtf than the hardcoding of all the values.

lunk · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Magic Numbers Truly ROCK!

2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Anyone got a rope? 'bout time we's had ourselves a lynchin'.

Sean · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Maybe the "X" key was broken on the coder's computer, making a for...next loop impossible.

lucio · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Seen lots and lots of stuff just like this, unfortunately =/

haveworld · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Sean:
Maybe the "X" key was broken on the coder's computer, making a for...next loop impossible.

Still no excuse. I'm sure he could have found an x somewhere to copy and paste.

2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Writing idiotic code that could've been written in around five lines? You better BELIEVE that's a paddlin'.

2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Folks, this type of code is very common among the graduates of Krusty the Klown Kollege of Komputing. Yikes! :S

2005-05-31 Reply Admin

oh what an ASS MONKEY.

Bustaz Kool · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

haveworld:
Sean:
Maybe the "X" key was broken on the coder's computer, making a for...next loop impossible.

Still no excuse. I'm sure he could have found an x somewhere to copy and paste.

Now THAT is funny!!!

2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Also like that I could choose February, 31th. Very Nice!

triso · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
"...Krusty the Klown Kollege of Komputing."...

An old and venerable instutuion, I'm sure. However, I have a feeling that this person was unable to graduate.

cm5400 · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Sean:
Maybe the "X" key was broken on the coder's computer, making a for...next loop impossible.

Ever heard of holding down the alt key while typing 120? There is never an exuse for a broken keyboard. Just use the alt key and the ASCII number of the letter. Works every time!! [:D]

DZ-Jay · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

Maybe this programmer got paid by the lin^H^H^Hcharacter?

dZ.

Maurits · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

cm5400:
Sean:
Maybe the "X" key was broken on the coder's computer, making a for...next loop impossible.

Ever heard of holding down the alt key while typing 120? There is never an exuse for a broken keyboard. Just use the alt key and the ASCII number of the letter. Works every time!! [:D]

Thanks to Word's Insert Symbol feature, you can even program exclusively with a mouse. Until you need a CRLF, anyway.

christoofar · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

StringBuilder myWTF = new StringBuilder(270);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"I don't see what the{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"big deal is.{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"He could have also done{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"this with the{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"FABULOUS{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"new StringBuilder{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"Copy+Paste Visual Studio{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"plugin{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"and make this mess a lot{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"easier to maintain! Just keep{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"his months, days{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"and years in a seperate{0}", Environment.NewLine);
myWTF.AppendFormat(@"text file </kidding> :-)");

2005-05-31 Reply Admin

I think he actually tried to unroll the loop to improve the performance [:D]

clockwise · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

This reminds me of a student of mine once in programming 101. The lesson was for-loops. First task. Write a program that prints out "hello world" ten times. So what does this guy do?

printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");

And then he was incenced that I wouldn't give him full marks :)

smitty_one_each · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

That them-thar 'function call' things in them new-fangled 'libraries' is jes' totally inny-fish-int.
Jethro says that calendars are for immigrants and carpetbaggers, and, ya know, Jethro is right!
Inline all the way, 'til the South rises again, boys!

Jon Limjap · 2005-05-31 Reply Admin

clockwise:
This reminds me of a student of mine once in programming 101. The lesson was for-loops. First task. Write a program that prints out "hello world" ten times. So what does this guy do?

printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");

And then he was incenced that I wouldn't give him full marks :)

He was incensed?

Watch his work closely. Your student is a potential WTF resource! :p

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

clockwise:
This reminds me of a student of mine once in programming 101. The lesson was for-loops. First task. Write a program that prints out "hello world" ten times. So what does this guy do?

printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");

And then he was incenced that I wouldn't give him full marks :)

If the assignment wasn't specified more than the above, then I actually understand the student. Te poor guy gets a functional specification, fulfills it to the letter, and then doesn't get rewarded.

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

I agree. The performance would probarly even be better !

maribert · 2005-06-01 Reply Admin

In this case, the WTF would have been on the part of the teacher for not spelling out what the assignment really is about.

DJDanny · 2005-06-01 Reply Admin

The biggest WTF, of course, is that he didn't close his <OPTION> tags in the first effort. What a muppet! That's just sloppy.

Stan Rogers · 2005-06-01 Reply Admin

Seen worse. I once replaced 2906 non-blank, non-comment lines with 12 (wrote it down when I did it, 'cuz I thought it might be some kind of a record) -- and added a condition check that wasn't in the original along with error trapping. Now, even the rawest cut-n-paste-n-edit newbie has got to start wondering around line 1400 or so if there's a better way....

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

Sean:
Maybe the "X" key was broken on the coder's computer, making a for...next loop impossible.

No excuse: he could have resorted to a do/while loop.... [:)]

What scares me is that these are supposed to be professional developers??? I fear the day he enters my team.... [6] But wait! I am a Java-developer!!! W00T!! [:P] HE won't be in my team!!! YEAH!!!

RayS · 2005-06-01 Reply Admin

Maurits:
cm5400:
Sean:
Maybe the "X" key was broken on the coder's computer, making a for...next loop impossible.

Ever heard of holding down the alt key while typing 120? There is never an exuse for a broken keyboard. Just use the alt key and the ASCII number of the letter. Works every time!! [:D]

Thanks to Word's Insert Symbol feature, you can even program exclusively with a mouse. Until you need a CRLF, anyway.

Not even that is an excuse.

(not exact, can't remember the syntax off the top of my head)

Public Sub InsertCrLf()
Word.CurrentDocument.Insert(vbCrLf)
End Sub

and assign to a toolbar button or something.

RayS · 2005-06-01 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Sean:
Maybe the "X" key was broken on the coder's computer, making a for...next loop impossible.

No excuse: he could have resorted to a do/while loop.... [:)]

What scares me is that these are supposed to be professional developers??? I fear the day he enters my team.... [6] But wait! I am a Java-developer!!! W00T!! [:P] HE won't be in my team!!! YEAH!!!

Until the day he reads 'Java for Dummies'. Fear for your life.

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

I think its fairly safe to say this guy does not know what an array is.

I've worked with someone before, and seen the exact same problems, once it was shown to them, they quicky for to grips with loops through data etc.

Scary thing is, these are qualified people.

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

How does this page work on the first of january???
name='<%=pday%>' and name='<%=pmonth%>'

both will be named '1'???

:D

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

Okay, so this guy was using a paper terminal with broken "w" and "x" keys.   That explains why he didn't have any cut/paste, or alt-120 tricks to fall back on.

I want to know why someone would be forced to write ASP code on a paper terminal in this day and age.    For that matter why you would have a paper terminal setup and working, but graphical terminals. You could buy a new comptuer at worst buy for less than the costs of my time to do it this way instead of right.

For bonus points you can also find me an editor that works on a paper terminal, and allows saving your work, and exiting without using the 'w' and 'x' keys.

Heck, I'd be happy if you could find me a paper terminal with enough supplies that you could use it.   The one I've got needs special paper that I'm not sure where to find anymore. (last I checked all the keys worked)

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

clockwise:
This reminds me of a student of mine once in programming 101. The lesson was for-loops. First task. Write a program that prints out "hello world" ten times. So what does this guy do?

printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");

And then he was incenced that I wouldn't give him full marks :)

He should have re-done the assignment using a for loop:

for (x = 0; x < 1; x++) {
 printf ("Hello World");
 printf ("Hello World");
 printf ("Hello World");
 printf ("Hello World");
 printf ("Hello World");
 printf ("Hello World");
 printf ("Hello World");
 printf ("Hello World");
 printf ("Hello World");
 printf ("Hello World");
}

:D

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

sigh

That first line should have been:
for (x = 0; x < 1; x++) {

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

Ok, I give up. There's clearly no way to actually get a less than symbol to appear in a post.

cjs · 2005-06-01 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
clockwise:
This reminds me of a student of mine once in programming 101. The lesson was for-loops. First task. Write a program that prints out "hello world" ten times. So what does this guy do?

printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");

And then he was incenced that I wouldn't give him full marks :)

If the assignment wasn't specified more than the above, then I actually understand the student. Te poor guy gets a functional specification, fulfills it to the letter, and then doesn't get rewarded.

Actually, if that's the case, he definitely deserves a big, fat zero.

"But it works" is a firing offense for me. I'm sick of shit that works now and then costs me an arm and a leg in future maintenance.

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

No, in fact they are no qualified people.

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

Ack, that above was in response to this:

I think its fairly safe to say this guy does not know what an array is.

I've worked with someone before, and seen the exact same problems, once it was shown to them, they quicky for to grips with loops through data etc.

Scary thing is, these are qualified people.

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

And I need to learn how to spell. They are NOT qualified people is what I meant.

nsimeonov · 2005-06-01 Reply Admin

Stan Rogers:
Seen worse. I once replaced 2906 non-blank, non-comment lines with 12 (wrote it down when I did it, 'cuz I thought it might be some kind of a record) -- and added a condition check that wasn't in the original along with error trapping. Now, even the rawest cut-n-paste-n-edit newbie has got to start wondering around line 1400 or so if there's a better way....

Man that doesn't stop them. Believe me I've seen miracles around. There's was a brilliant example produced by a guy from India and then "fixed" by the hosting company guys - a SQL for every case of parameters. The function could take around 10 fields as parameters and had a special case (and executing a special select SQL) for every combinations of parameters (City, State, Zip, Business Category, Company Name, Phone etc). Can you imagine the nightmare of supporting something like this?

I'm not sure if I keep it or not - I remember I was searching for that a couple of months ago and definitely if I found it I should have sent it to Alex.

2005-06-01 Reply Admin

clockwise:

This reminds me of a student of mine once in programming 101. The lesson was for-loops. First task. Write a program that prints out "hello world" ten times. So what does this guy do?

printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");
printf ("Hello World");

And then he was incenced that I wouldn't give him full marks :)

____

If the assignment wasn't specified more than the above, then I actually understand the student. Te poor guy gets a functional specification, fulfills it to the letter, and then doesn't get rewarded.

Actually, if that's the case, he definitely deserves a big, fat zero.

"But it works" is a firing offense for me. I'm sick of shit that works now and then costs me an arm and a leg in future maintenance.

WOW. Your attitude is the real WTF.

It's not just "that it works", but in fact he fulfilled the requirements to the letter.

You are making the assumption that the class was tought how to do loops already. If so, what kind?

The teacher should be slapped for not specifying to use a loop, the student should have gotten a perfect score, but then had his code used as an example )shown to the rest of the class), so they could have a group discussion on the "better" ways to do it.

2005-06-02 Reply Admin

In my cpsc 100 class we had the standard "write a program that generates a pyramid of *s" for an exam question. It explicitly stated to use loops. Apparently, one of my classmates managed to do a pyramid (with a base of 9 *s) with something like 25 for-loops. hmm.

2005-06-02 Reply Admin

FIRED

tag · 2005-06-02 Reply Admin

rogthefrog:
I suspect the cyear(pyear,2004) is a function that returns "selected" if $_GET['pyear']==2004 or some other form var ("cOMPAREyear", get it?), to prepopulate the pulldowns.

If that's the case, having cyear, cmonth, etc. is an even bigger wtf than the hardcoding of all the values.

Thank you for reminding me once again why I despise PHP "developers".

2005-06-02 Reply Admin

cjs:

"But it works" is a firing offense for me. I'm sick of shit that works now and then costs me an arm and a leg in future maintenance.

So you don't like the "It compiles, ship it!" philosophy? :)

joodie · 2005-06-02 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
In my cpsc 100 class we had the standard "write a program that generates a pyramid of *s" for an exam question. It explicitly stated to use loops. Apparently, one of my classmates managed to do a pyramid (with a base of 9 *s) with something like 25 for-loops. hmm.

Please please please find that code and post it.

*holds breath*

Blue · 2005-06-02 Reply Admin

tag:
rogthefrog:
I suspect the cyear(pyear,2004) is a function that returns "selected" if $_GET['pyear']==2004 or some other form var ("cOMPAREyear", get it?), to prepopulate the pulldowns.

If that's the case, having cyear, cmonth, etc. is an even bigger wtf than the hardcoding of all the values.

Thank you for reminding me once again why I despise PHP "developers".

Presumably, you mean "People who learned PHP from a website or dummie's book, and are now calling themselves a developer", and not "Anyone who develops using PHP, whether exclusively or in part."

Quinnum · 2005-06-04 Reply Admin

The lesson at hand was for 'for' loops. Do the math.

Quinnum · 2005-06-04 Reply Admin

Quinnum:
The lesson at hand was for 'for' loops. Do the math.

hmmm.... Ding's post should have been quoted.

Looks like my first post here is a WTF. whoops

Time Well Spent

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