• (cs)

    that is awesome

  • (cs)

    Forty Two

    (or six times nine)

  • (cs)

    This is truly a Kafka-esque WTF.

  • (cs) in reply to Sean

    Who is Keyser Soze ?

  • uep (unregistered)

    A little eccentric, but I think it's pretty cool actually.  I remember reading that story in highschool...

    Just like the story, the code turned into a cockroach... or maybe it's not like the story, because cockroaches don't die.

  • (cs) in reply to uep

    Who is John Galt?

  • (cs)

    cockroach = bug ... coincidence?
    ---------------------------------------
    Chance favors the prepared mind. - L. Pasteur

  • Pyromancer (unregistered) in reply to uep

    Well that is definitely a BUG in the program :)

  • JL (unregistered)

    At least they thoroughly documented it.

  • APAQ11 (unregistered) in reply to Pyromancer

    At least it was well commented.

  • Dazed (unregistered)

    People who dream up these sorts of names should be dragged in from their day off and made to debug an application with similarly obscure names under the eyes of an agitated client. Repeat until lesson learned.

  • (cs)

    W. T. F.

  • (cs) in reply to Dazed

    Anonymous:
    People who dream up these sorts of names should be dragged in from their day off and made to debug an application with similarly obscure names under the eyes of an agitated client. Repeat until lesson learned.

    Amen

  • Whacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man (unregistered)

    I'm thinking the name has more to do with the cockroach reproduction frequency, since this is an infinite recursion error.  Could just be coincidence too...

  • unedjamacated (unregistered)

    I know in my days I've embedded snippets into CVS/subversion logs, and comments.

    One time I put the entire intro from an episode of the twilight zone, and another time, the six million dollar man.

    "Submitted for your approval: one Max Phillips, a slightly the worse for wear maker of book, whose life has been as drab and undistinguished as a bundle of dirty clothes. And though it's very late in his day, he has an errant wish that the rest of his life might be sent out to a laundry to come back shiny and clean, this to be a gift of love to a son named Pip. Mr. Max Phillips, Homo sapiens, who is soon to discover that man is not as wise as he thinks, said lesson to be learned in the Twilight Zone."

    On a bugfix commit ;) I thought it was rather nice.

    Also:

    "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster."

    On a commit to improve the performance of the innermost loop in a part of our application that was slowing down too much. PS object creation is slow, don't loop around it.

  • (cs) in reply to tookie tookie
    tookie tookie:

    Anonymous:
    People who dream up these sorts of names should be dragged in from their day off and made to debug an application with similarly obscure names under the eyes of an agitated client. Repeat until lesson learned.

    Amen

    And a Hallelujiah.  Stuff like this is funny when you're writing it, but there should definitely be a price to pay when someone else has to deal with your "cleverness" later.

  • Nonny moose (unregistered)

    its open source it can't have bugs

    oh and you haven't seen the spec

    </sarcasm>

  • (cs) in reply to unedjamacated

    Sometimes I feel the same way as Gregor Samsa when I have to use XSLT...

    <font color="#000000">"What has happened to me?", he thought. It was no dream....he was being forced to write XSLT!!! Oh Noos!!!11"</font>

  • Mike K. (unregistered)

    This is a good one. We need more open source code WTF's. I know there a lot of them out there, as I've always been a huge open-source advocate.

  • doodle (unregistered) in reply to unedjamacated

    Anonymous:
    PS object creation is slow, don't loop around it.

    Just make sure that object cleans up everything it needs to after every loop.

    I was caught off guard by this one day, an email class that I wrote, and used many times, but used only to send 1 email at a time.

    I had to send an email to about 20 clients about a problem with their orders placed over the weekend after a stored proc didn't get updated (#1 WTF) on Friday (#2 WTF)

    Seconds before running the script, the project manager wanted a CC on every email, and before then, I  had the object creation inside the loop.  After this request, I moved the object creation outside of the loop.

    The horror exposed itself after running the script and the send() function did not clear out items like Message Body, To, CC, BCC fields.

    Client #1 got the email perfectly.

    Client #2 got Client's #1 email, plus his appended to the message body

    Client #20... well, got to see all Client#1-Client19's messages and email addresses in the To: field.

    I almost hurled, then fixed the class.

     

     

  • Time Waster (unregistered) 
    From: Xalan Developer
    Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 2:30 PM
    To: The Apache Software Foundation
    Subject: Source Code Availablity

    Dear Apache Software Foundation,

    I've noticed that you released my project as open source, as I have seen my
    comments on The Daily WTF.  Be warned that the comments in my code are immune
    to goggles are should be immediately removed from your site.

    Thank you for your cooperation.

    -- Xalan Developer

    captcha: stfu (I should listen to it, shouldn't I?)
  • (cs) in reply to doodle
    Anonymous:

    Anonymous:
    PS object creation is slow, don't loop around it.

    Just make sure that object cleans up everything it needs to after every loop.

    I was caught off guard by this one day, an email class that I wrote, and used many times, but used only to send 1 email at a time.

    I had to send an email to about 20 clients about a problem with their orders placed over the weekend after a stored proc didn't get updated (#1 WTF) on Friday (#2 WTF)

    Seconds before running the script, the project manager wanted a CC on every email, and before then, I  had the object creation inside the loop.  After this request, I moved the object creation outside of the loop.

    The horror exposed itself after running the script and the send() function did not clear out items like Message Body, To, CC, BCC fields.

    Client #1 got the email perfectly.

    Client #2 got Client's #1 email, plus his appended to the message body

    Client #20... well, got to see all Client#1-Client19's messages and email addresses in the To: field.

    I almost hurled, then fixed the class.

     

     


    lol...#20 mustve had a VERY long Email to read
  • (cs) in reply to Time Waster 
    From: The Apache Software Foundation
    Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 2:30 PM
    To: Xalan Developer
    Subject: RE: Source Code Availablity
    Dear Xalan Developer,

    Thank you for your past request. 

    The Apache Software Foundation provides organizational, legal, and financial

    support for a broad range of open source software projects. The Foundation provides an established framework for intellectual property and financial contributions that simultaneously limits contributors potential legal exposure. Through a collaborative and meritocratic development process, Apache projects deliver enterprise-grade, freely available software products that attract large communities of users. The pragmatic Apache License makes it easy for all users, commercial and individual, to deploy Apache products.

    Formerly known as the Apache Group, the Foundation has been incorporated as a membership-based, not-for-profit corporation in order to ensure that the Apache projects continue to exist beyond the participation of individual volunteers. Individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to collaborative open-source software development, through sustained participation and contributions within the Foundation's projects, are eligible for membership in the ASF. An individual is awarded membership after nomination and approval by a majority of the existing ASF members. Thus, the ASF is governed by the community it most directly serves -- the people collaborating within its projects.

    The Foundation is a collaborative project of the ASF. Our goal is to build and sustain the literal foundation upon which our open-source software projects are based. Like the other projects, we will need help to achieve this goal, and several groups have already contributed their time and effort to good effect. However, it is often difficult to find volunteers to perform the essential grunge work behind the scenes. We are in the process of putting together a support organization, using funds contributed by the Apache community, that will provide the administrative assistance needed to keep the projects moving at full steam.

    Anonymous:
    From: Xalan Developer
    Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 2:30 PM
    To: The Apache Software Foundation
    Subject: Source Code Availablity

    Dear Apache Software Foundation,

    I've noticed that you released my project as open source, as I have seen my
    comments on The Daily WTF.  Be warned that the comments in my code are immune
    to goggles are should be immediately removed from your site.

    Thank you for your cooperation.

    -- Xalan Developer

    captcha: stfu (I should listen to it, shouldn't I?)
  • BletchleyPark (unregistered)

    A new take on literate programming...
     


  • mare (unregistered)

    oh, come on, this is no wtf :P

    ...that Apache Xalan, an XSLT processor...
    XSLT, which is a language for transforming XML documents...
    ...he found himself transformed...

  • (cs)

    AHHH!  The flashbacks!

    http://thedailywtf.com/forums/thread/52710.aspx

  • Mark H (unregistered) in reply to Sean
    Sean:
    This is truly a Kafka-esque WTF.


    This is a very clever WTF. I mean, the guy wakes up as a cockroach and there is ZERO explanation of it. Even Samsa himself adjusts pretty quickly. Meanwhile, the reader is muttering to himself "wtf?"

    Same thing with The Trial, just drops the reader into the middle of a bizarre world with no explanation. It's a close analogy to most of the stories here, where somebody gets pulled into maintain code without any explanation of what's going on, and the deeper they dig...

    Why they would intentionally do this in public code is beyond me, though. Maybe some obscure design philosophy?
  • squirrel (unregistered)

    And how simple it would have been to switch one line: protected static String DEFAULT_TRANSLET_NAME = "GregorSamsa";

    becomes protected static String GREGOR_SAMSA = "DefaultTransletName";

    You can even keep the clever comment.

  • Wang-Lo (unregistered)

    I do this sort of thing all the time. But I never substitute cute remarks for proper comments.

    Well... hardly ever. I have labeled the cleanup section of a unit with the comment

    "What am I, your mother?"

    but it was pretty obvious that it was just a cleanup section.

    -Wang-Lo.

  • Sam (unregistered)

    Actually, as soon as I saw the title I knew this had to do with The Metamorphosis.

    The real WTF is that he wasn't a cockroach.  He was some other kind of beetle, according to novelist/entomologist Vladimir Nabokov.  Really, Alex, spreading such falsities....tsk, tsk.

  • (cs) in reply to Sam

    Alex!! What has thou done?

    Apparently at this very moment, our dear Paula has taken notice and started writing comments of similar nature in her code. That unfortunately, has resulted in the exclusion of the unnaturally Brillant tragedy of the single system.out.println statement

  • (cs) in reply to Wang-Lo
    Anonymous:
    I do this sort of thing all the time. But I never substitute cute remarks for proper comments.

    Well... hardly ever. I have labeled the cleanup section of a unit with the comment

    "What am I, your mother?"

    but it was pretty obvious that it was just a cleanup section.

    -Wang-Lo.



    I love this section of code, seeing as how the code is almost always added (checked in) to a repository that already tracks this.

    /* Change Log: Enter Comments Below
      2002-11-01:  USER A
      Fixed Bug with...
      .....
      2006-07-11: SMART-A$$
      Go check the CVS logs and compare if you want to know what was done.
      DUH!  No, we would rather have a huge list of changes dating back years that cause
      us to scroll numerous pages before we can get to the actual code.
    */

  • Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to Sam
    Anonymous:

    Actually, as soon as I saw the title I knew this had to do with The Metamorphosis.

    The real WTF is that he wasn't a cockroach.  He was some other kind of beetle, according to novelist/entomologist Vladimir Nabokov.  Really, Alex, spreading such falsities....tsk, tsk.



    Damnit Jim, I'm a Philosopher, not an entomologist!
  • (cs)
  • (cs)
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    ...Apache Xalan, an XSLT processor, creates "Translet" classes at runtime...


    <font size="5">W</font>hat is the purpose of creating classes at runtime other than a WTF generator?  
  • (cs) in reply to ParkinT
    ParkinT:

    Forty Two

    (or six times nine)


    "Nobody writes jokes in base 13." - DNA
  • (cs)

    What's truly frightening about this is how widespread xalan is.  It's the default transformer of Java.

    Every time I see source from an Apache project, my confidence in all Apache projects dwindles.

  • (cs)

    He is Franz Kafka!
    Franz Kafka!
    Be careful if you get him pissed…
    Franz! Franz Kafka!
    He’ll smite you with metaphor fists
    Right now he can, he’s just a man
    A warrior of words taking a stand
    He is Franz Kafka!
    Oh look, but there he is, what will he say?
    I’m a lonely German…a lonely German from Prague!
    Kafka! Kafka! Kafka!

  • Scalar Context! (unregistered) in reply to GoatCheez

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Samsa

    You'll notice that the Wikipedia knew about this class all along!

  • Reed (unregistered)

    I love it!!


  • qntmfred (unregistered) in reply to Scalar Context!

    all along? well, a couple hours maybe

  • Vercintegorix. (unregistered) in reply to triso
    triso:
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    ...Apache Xalan, an XSLT processor, creates "Translet" classes at runtime...


    <font size="5">W</font>hat is the purpose of creating classes at runtime other than a WTF generator?  
    It's all the rage these days. runtime classes + reflection. Why write code when you can write code to write code (to write code(to write code(to write code( ... ))))?
  • (cs) in reply to qntmfred
    Anonymous:
    all along? well, a couple hours maybe

    :-$
  • hanuman (unregistered) in reply to GoatCheez
    GoatCheez:
    He is Franz Kafka!
    Franz Kafka!
    Be careful if you get him pissed…
    Franz! Franz Kafka!
    He’ll smite you with metaphor fists
    Right now he can, he’s just a man
    A warrior of words taking a stand
    He is Franz Kafka!
    Oh look, but there he is, what will he say?
    I’m a lonely German…a lonely German from Prague!
    Kafka! Kafka! Kafka!


    That's my favorite reference I've seen on this site... ever.  Good stuff.  BTW, have you seen this GoatCheez: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dethklok

    Where is Carmen San Diego?
  • (cs) in reply to hanuman
    Anonymous:
    GoatCheez:
    He is Franz Kafka!
    Franz Kafka!
    Be careful if you get him pissed…
    Franz! Franz Kafka!
    He’ll smite you with metaphor fists
    Right now he can, he’s just a man
    A warrior of words taking a stand
    He is Franz Kafka!
    Oh look, but there he is, what will he say?
    I’m a lonely German…a lonely German from Prague!
    Kafka! Kafka! Kafka!


    That's my favorite reference I've seen on this site... ever.  Good stuff.  BTW, have you seen this GoatCheez: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dethklok

    Where is Carmen San Diego?


    Oh I can't wait at all. I'm a HUGE metal fan. I think Dethklok will be one of the greatest shows ever.

    He is Franz Kafka!
  • Aeonymause (unregistered)

    gregor samsa was NOT transformed into a "cockroach". This is a point of controversy, as the cockroach was a result of an overzealous first translation into english, and many (rightly) believe that it ruins the experience of reading it for the first time.

    A more accurate translation is that he was transformed into a "bug" or "Monstrous Vermin"

  • Inmare (unregistered)

    Reminds me of a programming test I did two or three weeks ago. It was the day before the soccer match Germany-Sweden, so, living in Germany, the task was to do a match-tracking tool (goals, time...). The lecturer predicted the actual result with his example, letting Germany win by 2:0. I couldn't resist and wrote the text of the Swedish national anthem as only comment (except of registration no and my name). Still got the best grade :-) but Sweden lost :-(.

  • Rimu (unregistered) in reply to doodle

    I did this once.... Only it was sent to 9000 people.

    Needless to say, the server was bought to it's knees and the hosting company was not happy. At all.

  • Anonymous Coward (unregistered)

    Oh, the wonders of programmers completely stripped of any talent. 

    I think the author of that class ought to be identified (no, I haven't bothered to look it up), and ridiculed as the pretentious dinwit he is for failing to pick a self-explanatory name for his class (any, and I mean, ANY monkey of a programmer can do that), while at the same time trying to appear clever by namedropping characters from last century's most tedious, overrated, dystopian.

  • (cs)

    I will really interested to know how the user of xalan library will reproduct the problem?

    Can anyone show me the code that will trigger the problem?

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