• (cs) in reply to Flooger
    Flooger:
    Jeremy:
    geoffrey:
    The submitter fails to mention whether or not the code in question worked. If it does/did, then it should not matter how it implemented..

    One of the characteristics of obfuscated code is that is very difficult to verify that it works. (NB "works" is here defined as "always does what it is supposed to do", not "I ran it a few times and didn't immediately notice anything wrong")

    Mate, it compiled with no errors and only a few harmless warnings - at least the warnings looked harmless. This is production ready. Testing is just for Wusses who don't trust their code.
    Didn't even bother to compile it. Look, I know it works, I'm good at my job innit?

  • Mike2 (unregistered) in reply to Matt Westwood
    Matt Westwood:
    Nag-Geoff:
    I see that the bunch of righteous cunts have jumped on the "I hate M$" bandwagon.

    We certainly have. Microsoft products get worse with every upgrade. Office 2010 is outrageously bad.

    Office 2010 certainly takes some adjustment, and we'll see what turns out with it.

    As for the rest of it, Microsoft was resisting Standardisation at about the same time Compaq was trying to do the same thing with hardware (I think they were using PS/2 while everyone else was using a chunky Keyboard plug and a Serial Mouse cable). They became the standard. Perhaps Microsoft would have too if they weren't so paranoid about people stealing their IP (and you could argue that much of their IP was the result of collaboration with other companies anyway). One way or another, I use windows because almost everything I need is available on Windows, but not necessarily on other OS's. I use MS Office because despite minor headaches it gives me, alternatives I've tried are for more frustrating. In short, I hear a lot of people preaching the evils of Microsoft, but I see very few people giving evidence that better alternatives exist.

    I know people will argue the OS here, but that's horses for courses. For a server, maybe I like something *nix (I don't need a GUI) for a home PC, windows is fine!!! May not be the best, but it works and tends to be more compatible with much of the software (read games) I use.....but hey - I'm not saying it's better than your *nix boxes - nor that you shouldn't use them if you're that way nclined....

  • (cs) in reply to Mike2
    Mike2:
    Matt Westwood:
    Nag-Geoff:
    I see that the bunch of righteous cunts have jumped on the "I hate M$" bandwagon.

    We certainly have. Microsoft products get worse with every upgrade. Office 2010 is outrageously bad.

    Office 2010 certainly takes some adjustment, and we'll see what turns out with it.

    As for the rest of it, Microsoft was resisting Standardisation at about the same time Compaq was trying to do the same thing with hardware (I think they were using PS/2 while everyone else was using a chunky Keyboard plug and a Serial Mouse cable). They became the standard. Perhaps Microsoft would have too if they weren't so paranoid about people stealing their IP (and you could argue that much of their IP was the result of collaboration with other companies anyway). One way or another, I use windows because almost everything I need is available on Windows, but not necessarily on other OS's. I use MS Office because despite minor headaches it gives me, alternatives I've tried are for more frustrating. In short, I hear a lot of people preaching the evils of Microsoft, but I see very few people giving evidence that better alternatives exist.

    I know people will argue the OS here, but that's horses for courses. For a server, maybe I like something *nix (I don't need a GUI) for a home PC, windows is fine!!! May not be the best, but it works and tends to be more compatible with much of the software (read games) I use.....but hey - I'm not saying it's better than your *nix boxes - nor that you shouldn't use them if you're that way nclined....

    2010 wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many bugs in it. For the first three weeks of using it, I encountered several bugs which I now know enough to work round, which means I can use it but it limits its convenience to me. If that's its expected benaviour, then you can shove your fucking Microshit apologism up your arse.

  • Fletch (unregistered)

    He should have tried some other languages. These days, with the help of Google translate, you could have hundreds of different names without even changing case.

  • L. (unregistered) in reply to Wehey
    Wehey:
    L.:
    Ralph:
    Programmers who indulge their compulsions of misplaced "coolness" over actual usefulness need to be sent to another planet, preferably one without air. And that includes 99.44% of so called "web developers" who only know how to do client side code.

    Don't presume too much, they don't know how to do client side code.

    Just take a look at any website today, people in the web dev business can't code for shit, they don't even get HTML and CSS right --

    Don't generalize too much, makes you come across a bit of a dick. I for one am currently working on a ASP.net MVC project which uses both server side and client side (As you would expect) And everyone here seems adept at both. Working in web dev does not automatically make you a bad coder, its just easier for bad coders to get away with it.

    Dude, asp.net

  • L. (unregistered) in reply to Jim
    Jim:
    Wehey:
    L.:
    Ralph:
    Programmers who indulge their compulsions of misplaced "coolness" over actual usefulness need to be sent to another planet, preferably one without air. And that includes 99.44% of so called "web developers" who only know how to do client side code.

    Don't presume too much, they don't know how to do client side code.

    Just take a look at any website today, people in the web dev business can't code for shit, they don't even get HTML and CSS right --

    Don't generalize too much, makes you come across a bit of a dick. I for one am currently working on a ASP.net MVC project which uses both server side and client side (As you would expect) And everyone here seems adept at both. Working in web dev does not automatically make you a bad coder, its just easier for bad coders to get away with it.

    This ^1000

    Everyone wants a website. It is easy to make pretty pictures on a webpage and appear competent to someone who doesn't know anything about the mystical world of computers. Ergo many shops make the mistake of hiring cheap web developers because of the pretty unicorns (sorry Remy). In the old days, people who used Computer Systems were often semi-technical, and the computer would be used to aid or replace some laborious task. Today people seem to think it's practically illegal not to have a website - so they use google to find "cheap website". This can only ever end in tears, because Joe Peanut who once created and eBay account for his Grandma and has since personalised his facebook page now believes he is an expert in programming, and advertises his web development expertise.

    That said, I still think Web Devs are pretend programmers....

    What else could they be ?

    When most of them can't code shit by hand, use dreamweaver or joomla or some other ghey piece of failware written by faildevs because they thought it'd be great if more faildevs like them could sell random crap.

  • Jack Strikes Back (unregistered)

    looks at calendar: 12/14 looks at article: 12/12 looks at article website: reads the word "daily" *scratches chin": (yeah right).

  • (cs) in reply to XXXXX
    XXXXX:
    int up, Up, UP, uP, _up, _UP, _uP, up_, uP_; int uup, uUp, uUP, uuP, _uup, _uUP, _uuP, uup_, uuP_; int down, Down, DOWN, doWN, _down, _DOWN, _doWN, down_ doWN_; int ddown, dDown, dDOWN, ddoWN, _ddown, _dDOWN, _ddoWN, ddown_ ddoWN_; int left, Left, LEFT, leFT, _left, _LEFT, _leFT, left_ leFT_; int right, Right, RIGHT, riGHT, _right, _RIGHT, right_, riGHT_; int lleft, lLeft, lLEFT, lleFT, _lleft, _lLEFT, _lleFT, lleft_ lleFT_; int rright, rRight, rRIGHT, rriGHT, _rright, _rRIGHT, rright_, rriGHT_; int bb, Bb, BB, bB, _bb, _BB, _bB, bb_, bB_; int aa, Aa, AA, aA, _aa, _AA, _aA, aa_, aA_;
    You forgot start.
  • (cs) in reply to amischiefr
    amischiefr:
    XXXXX:
    int up, Up, UP, uP, _up, _UP, _uP, up_, uP_; int uup, uUp, uUP, uuP, _uup, _uUP, _uuP, uup_, uuP_; int down, Down, DOWN, doWN, _down, _DOWN, _doWN, down_ doWN_; int ddown, dDown, dDOWN, ddoWN, _ddown, _dDOWN, _ddoWN, ddown_ ddoWN_; int left, Left, LEFT, leFT, _left, _LEFT, _leFT, left_ leFT_; int right, Right, RIGHT, riGHT, _right, _RIGHT, right_, riGHT_; int lleft, lLeft, lLEFT, lleFT, _lleft, _lLEFT, _lleFT, lleft_ lleFT_; int rright, rRight, rRIGHT, rriGHT, _rright, _rRIGHT, rright_, rriGHT_; int bb, Bb, BB, bB, _bb, _BB, _bB, bb_, bB_; int aa, Aa, AA, aA, _aa, _AA, _aA, aa_, aA_;
    You forgot start.

    What fun in waste of time like this? You people having nothing beter to do?

  • (cs) in reply to Mike
    Ralph:
    I curse Bill Gates and Co. on the average of several times a day for the dumb things they've done to save an hour that still cost extra work for their victims years later. Like ending every line with two characters (return, newline) instead of one.
    wtf? crlf is the standard, see RFC 0821 (SMTP), RFC 1939 (POP), RFC 2060 (IMAP), or RFC 2616 (HTTP).

    Personally, I blame MS for inventing Ajax, which has held back web development by at least a decade.

    your the real wtf...

  • Rollyn01 (unregistered)

    I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates Ajax. I still want to know why some people think it was the precursor of Java.

    Captcha: tation. It wasn't a good tation sandwich.

  • (cs) in reply to Rollyn01
    Rollyn01:
    I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates Ajax. I still want to know why some people think it was the precursor of Java.

    Alphabetical order?

  • geoffrey (unregistered) in reply to frink
    frink:
    Ralph:
    I curse Bill Gates and Co. on the average of several times a day for the dumb things they've done to save an hour that still cost extra work for their victims years later. Like ending every line with two characters (return, newline) instead of one.
    wtf? crlf is the standard, see RFC 0821 (SMTP), RFC 1939 (POP), RFC 2060 (IMAP), or RFC 2616 (HTTP).

    Personally, I blame MS for inventing Ajax, which has held back web development by at least a decade.

    your the real wtf...

    Ajax has ruined the lives of developers who value making their code pretty over enhancing the user's experience in an application.

    Users should understand that their needs are secondary to the ego of the developer.

  • (cs)
    <grumble>

    Damn converted COBOL programmers...

  • Brian White (unregistered) in reply to DaveK
    DaveK:
    Recursive Reclusive:
    Uncle Remus:
    faoileag:
    If you read the article again, you might stumble upon the clause: "A lot of people have no idea that the word "uppity," [i]when applied to black people[i], has racist connotations" (markup by me).

    So I wouldn't think it problematic in the sense of code discussions - unless applied to a coder of known african-american origin, of course.

    OK I get it. It's like when white people call each other the N-bomb-- Totally not racist, just stupid.

    No, it's not like that at all. It has nothing to with race. It can, like all negative or derogatory words, be used in a racist context, but that doesn't make it a racist word.

    See: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uppity

    Actually, see something with some etymology to it. If I told you that the word originated around 1875-1880 in the USA and its first recorded use was in "Uncle Remus", would you then perhaps accept that it was a variant of the earlier English term "uppish" that was coined specifically to refer to blacks?

    See: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=uppity&searchmode=none. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/uppity

    <sings> Fuck you Akismet, fuck you A-kis-met, fuck you fuck you very muu-uuu-uuu-ch! </sings>

    1880, from up + -ity; originally used by blacks of other blacks felt to be too self-assertive.

    A term made up by blacks to refer to blacks is a racist term?

    The parallel British variant uppish (1670s) originally meant "lavish;" the sense of "conceited, arrogant" being first recorded 1734.

    The british term is 150 years older than uppity, and was not created to talk about blacks. Did you read any of the page you linked?

  • (cs) in reply to Brian White
    Brian White:
    A term made up by blacks to refer to blacks is a racist term?
    You're right, Brian "White". "House N-Bomb" is totally not racist.
  • Christophe (unregistered)

    int up, Up, UP, uP, _up, UP, uP, up, uP;

    Chance for him(her) C is case sensitive :

  • (cs) in reply to Mike2
    Mike2:
    Matt Westwood:
    Nag-Geoff:
    I see that the bunch of righteous cunts have jumped on the "I hate M$" bandwagon.

    We certainly have. Microsoft products get worse with every upgrade. Office 2010 is outrageously bad.

    Office 2010 certainly takes some adjustment, and we'll see what turns out with it.

    As for the rest of it, Microsoft was resisting Standardisation at about the same time Compaq was trying to do the same thing with hardware (I think they were using PS/2 while everyone else was using a chunky Keyboard plug and a Serial Mouse cable).

    One of the advantages of being older is that one was there when "it" happened, for at least some values of "it". In this case, PS/2. PS/2 was an IBM thing...went along with OS/2...went away about the same time. Designed to be a PC manufactured in an automated facility, with the "catchy" (???) slogan of "How you gonna do it? You're gonna PS/2 it!" (<bleah!>) it succeeded mostly in inspiring jokes ("Hey, IBM - PS/OnIt!"). My experience was that they were unusually unreliable - had a couple of top-end models that died shortly after arrival. Of course IBM replaced them, but it left a bad taste in the mouth. Also suffered from low performance - at a time when the top-end Intel chip was the 80386 clocked at 20 MHz (oooh!) IBM's top-end machine was only clocked at 16 MHz. I was miffed that my cheap clone box at home was faster than the spiffy new PS/2 I had at work that cost twice as much. Incompatible with existing boards + high prices + low performance = recipe for disaster. You can see how well they lasted.

  • (cs) in reply to Ol Bob

    fuck off bob

  • Rollyn01 (unregistered) in reply to frink
    frink:
    fuck off bob

    Don't tell him to fuck off. Tell him to fuck on a cactus. That way, he's being told to be productive.

  • (cs)

    I used to maintain a DOS ISAM database ERP system that had its own language. All variables were global. You could have subroutines,but still with global variables. There was a limit on name length as well. At least in the version I used you could have if..then.. else & elseif with blocks of statements terminated by an endif & while loops. In the previous version everything was done in the trad spaghetti style with gotos. We tried to maintain an off-the-peg ERP system in that version for another company. You could reference database fields directly with a dot notation, so you could create a table that was never saved to disk for use as variables in a program. They had done this, but just named the table "M" and all the fields were just numbered like M.1.0.0.1, M.1.0.1.1, and so on for a hundred or so names. The language allowed comments, but the purpose of these variables was uncommented and could only be inferred. Debugging errors in their Stock Control was entertaining to say the least. The improved version we used, despite the global variables, still was fairly cool for an 1990ish DOS-based ERP system.

  • Fela (unregistered) in reply to RN
    RN:
    Is it racist when no-one knows that it is?

    Does God exist anymore when no-one remembers him?

    All these questions...

    No and no.

    Both are man made, abstract definitions; the only meaning in them is what everyone gives them.

    About the OP... I don't have anything to say. Parameters are the most basic concept.

  • Sam I am (unregistered)

    Now, Imagine a source file with 40 functions in it, all modestly complex (between 1000 and 4000 lines) that only differed from each other by which global variable they operated on.

  • daGerman (unregistered) in reply to UncleAldo

    That's all about the famous Nietzsche conjecture.

  • Argle Bargle (google)

    I know this is years later from the comments, but since there were comments about my name, I had better explain. I was a big fan of "Bored of the Rings" by the Harvard Lampoon. At the time, I think P.J. O'Rourke was editor. He later used "Argle Bargle" a lot in his writings. I essentially glommed onto using Argle a lot for online identification. When I jumped into Second Life, I was going to use Argle once again when I saw the surname "Zymurgy" was available. I didn't know it at the time, but all surnames had limited engagements, so you could tell when someone arrived in SL from their Surname. (A few years later, that whole scheme got dropped... something that I thought added considerable color, but I kinda get why they got tired of it.) I decided I wanted to end up on either end of any collating sequence, so Argle became Aargle. I spent a few years as a celebrity there until the legal situation there got untenable. One of the SL creators created something called "Cloud Party." That needed a facebook account to connect, so I made one connected to my existing SL persona. Google (or someone big) bought out Cloud Party and shut it down. So sad. But I found I could use my FB login to visit all kinds of interesting places. As of 4 days before this post I used VR and dropped into Anyland. THAT is computer geek heaven. It's like a VR SL. Visit ASAP and PDQ. There I'm Argle Bargle again.

  • Argle Bargle (google) in reply to Puppity

    OK, here's the aftermath:

    After looking that that mayhem that the hopelessly incompetent programmer created, I knew better than to torture myself. The contract rate I would have demanded to justify the agony would be more than any reasonable company would pay, so I politely declined. I got a call from my contacts a few days later. Their legal people went over the contract they had with the original programmer and what they wanted done was contractually obliged to be fixed gratis. The programmer had to wallow in his own muck to fix it in a timely fashion or his a** would get sued for big buck$.

    There's your happy ending, folks.

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