The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

Zacrath · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

public static string[] VALID_FRISTS = new string[] 
{
    "frist",   // English
    "erste",   // German
    "première",     // French
    "最初",    // Japanese
    "처음으로",    // Korean
    "første",   // Danish
    "ensimmäinen",     // Finnish
    "första",   // Swedish
    "første",    // Norwegian
    "eerste",    // Dutch
    "primero"     // Spanish
};

Anonymous · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Did I just read this article on TDWTF?

... I am losing faith...

VinDuv · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

That sounds familiar…

EDIT: replacing one _ with %5F in the href so Discourse doesn’t replace my valid link with an invalid one.

Zacrath · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

VinDuv:
That <a href="http://thedailywtf.com/articles/Laying_the_Foundation_for_i18n,_Brick_by_Brick">sounds</a> <a href="http://thedailywtf.com/articles/Classics-Week-Laying-the-Foundation-for-i18n%2c-Brick-by-Brick">familiar</a>…

Result from first link: [image]

TheDailyWTF now has it's own "error while displaying the error" Error'd.

Also: WHAT! Thats literally the same WTF!

VinDuv · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Zacrath:
Result from first link:

Some _’s in the href are replaced with <em></em>. Paging @discoursebot…

discoursebot · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

@VinDuv - Days Since Last Discourse Bug: 0

aliceif · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Wow. I am truly impressed by your searching skills / memory.

Oh look, @Remy wrote a comment about all this:

That's why you put E-Mails that have been successfully worked on into a separate folder!

VinDuv · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

aliceif:
I am truly impressed by your searching skills / memory.

Thanks. I tend to only remember completely useless things, though... (at least looking for “Deulish” was easy enough)

Zacrath · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

discoursebot:
@VinDuv - Days Since Last **Discovered Undocumented Discourse Feature**: 0

FTFY.

Yes, I know you're a bot.

No, I don't care.

JBert · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

VinDuv:
That <a href="http://thedailywtf.com/articles/Laying_the_Foundation_for_i18n,%5fBrick_by_Brick">sounds</a> <a href="http://thedailywtf.com/articles/Classics-Week-Laying-the-Foundation-for-i18n%2c-Brick-by-Brick">familiar</a>…
EDIT: replacing one _ with %5F in the href so Discourse doesn’t replace my valid link with an invalid one.

What, a repost? I want my money back!

Nutster · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

So the original was in C# and this one is in Java. I can just see it now. "Well, this is how I wrote it while working for another company. I can do the same here, but in Java this time."

aliceif · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Java? Java uses Strings. Not strings.

Nzall · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Let's count the WTFs, shall we?

Using a string array instead of an enum;
Not using the appropriate ISO-codes;
comparing each individual letter instead of the entire string;
Looping over all the strings instead of an Array.Contains() function.
Passing the entire url instead of just the code;
The fact that this has already been released before, twice even.

Zacrath · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Nzall:
The fact that this has already been released before, twice even.

The second was a "Classic WTF" article. Doesn't count.

abarker · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Apparently the server does not see fit to preview the comments.

[image]

JBert · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Very odd, it used to work earlier.

The Frontpage is no longer worthy of Discourse's comments.

xaade · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Zacrath:
The second was a "Classic WTF" article. Doesn't count.

Yes it does. He gets two links to read how not to do it.

Yes, TDWTF is mandatory reading for any professional :)

JazzyJosh · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

TRWTF is 12 space indents.

cellocgw · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Hey, at least this structure is infinitely extensible!

if ( turtle) { if ( turtle) { if ( turtle) { if ( turtle) { ... ... ... return (allthewaydown.txt) } ... ... } } }

accalia · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

:facepalm:

just.... just :facepalm:

Zylon · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

VinDuv:
That sounds27 familiar18…

Ah, the joys of Discourse's idiotic click counters.

FrostCat · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Hey now, that was funny.

Tsaukpaetra · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

VinDuv:
That sounds familiar…

That sounds32 familiar21…

Zylon:
VinDuv: That sounds27 familiar18…
Ah, the joys of Discourse's idiotic click counters.

Hmm, only happens when I copy-paste. Apparently using the Quote tool "works just fine". :white_check_mark:

xaade · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

You gave up after finite tries?

while (turtle); return (notallthewaydown.txt);

chubertdev · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

xaade:
You gave up after finite tries?
while (turtle); return (notallthewaydown.txt);

hmmm......

CoyneTheDup · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Wouldn't it be more appropriate to use the "minutes" unit? Or even seconds?

Gaska · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

xaade:
while (turtle); return (notallthewaydown.txt);

But you got rid of the nested statements. This is the proper way:

template <int i = 0>
bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()
{
    if (turtlesHere(i) {
        return isTurtlesAllTheWayDown<i+1>();
    } else {
        return not true;
    }
}

Filed under: If C macros were recursive, it would be not only infinite buttembly but also infinite source file

xaade · 2014-11-03 Reply Admin

Wait. If I understand C++ templates.... that won't finish compiling.

Because it has to make an instance of the function for every possible content of the <>.

accalia · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

that is a malformed template, sure.

it won't complete compiling successfully ever, but it may eventually complete with error.

Gaska · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

Actually, assuming you're not targetting abstract Turing machine, I think it should stop at 4294967296th specialization, which shouldn't be outside of today's computers reach. Can't test right now though.

Also, I would nominate you two for not getting the joke badge if I knew how.

accalia · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

flag as notify moderators and mention the badge you are flagging for.

of course there's the possiblility we got the joke and decided to play along rather than calling you out on it. :smiley: i know that's what i was doing (although the mods might disagree)

Gaska · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

accalia:
of course there's the possiblility we got the joke and decided to play along rather than calling you out on it. i know that's what i was doing (although the mods might disagree)

It would be more believable if you hearted my post.

accalia · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

maybe. like i said the mods might disagree with my assertion that i got the joke.

PJH · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

xaade:
Because it has to make an instance of the function for every possible content of the <>.

[postgres@sofa tmp]$ cat turtles.cpp 
bool turtlesHere(int i){
        return false;
}

template <int i = 0>
bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()
{
    if (turtlesHere(i)) {
        return isTurtlesAllTheWayDown<i+1>();
    } else {
        return not true;
    }
}

int main(void){
        return isTurtlesAllTheWayDown();
}[postgres@sofa tmp]$ gcc turtles.cpp -o turtles -std=c++11
turtles.cpp:9:44: error: template instantiation depth exceeds maximum of 900 (use -ftemplate-depth= to increase the maximum) substituting 'template<int i> bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 900]'
turtles.cpp:9:44:   recursively required from 'bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 1]'
turtles.cpp:9:44:   required from 'bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 0]'
turtles.cpp:16:32:   required from here

turtles.cpp:9:44: error: no matching function for call to 'isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()'
turtles.cpp:9:44: note: candidate is:
turtles.cpp:6:6: note: template<int i> bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()
turtles.cpp:6:6: note:   substitution of deduced template arguments resulted in errors seen above
[postgres@sofa tmp]$

Gaska:
Actually, assuming you're not targetting abstract Turing machine, I think it should stop at 4294967296th specialization, which shouldn't be outside of today's computers reach. Can't test right now though.

Even 99,999 takes bloody ages though. Not going to even try deeper:

[postgres@sofa tmp]$ time gcc turtles.cpp -o turtles -std=c++11  -ftemplate-depth=999 
turtles.cpp:9:44: error: template instantiation depth exceeds maximum of 999 (use -ftemplate-depth= to increase the maximum) substituting 'template<int i> bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 999]'
turtles.cpp:9:44:   recursively required from 'bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 1]'
turtles.cpp:9:44:   required from 'bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 0]'
turtles.cpp:16:32:   required from here

turtles.cpp:9:44: error: no matching function for call to 'isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()'
turtles.cpp:9:44: note: candidate is:
turtles.cpp:6:6: note: template<int i> bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()
turtles.cpp:6:6: note:   substitution of deduced template arguments resulted in errors seen above

real    0m0.131s
user    0m0.113s
sys     0m0.009s

[postgres@sofa tmp]$ time gcc turtles.cpp -o turtles -std=c++11  -ftemplate-depth=9999
turtles.cpp:9:44: error: template instantiation depth exceeds maximum of 9999 (use -ftemplate-depth= to increase the maximum) substituting 'template<int i> bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 9999]'
turtles.cpp:9:44:   recursively required from 'bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 1]'
turtles.cpp:9:44:   required from 'bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 0]'
turtles.cpp:16:32:   required from here

turtles.cpp:9:44: error: no matching function for call to 'isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()'
turtles.cpp:9:44: note: candidate is:
turtles.cpp:6:6: note: template<int i> bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()
turtles.cpp:6:6: note:   substitution of deduced template arguments resulted in errors seen above

real    0m2.647s
user    0m2.542s
sys     0m0.096s

[postgres@sofa tmp]$ time gcc turtles.cpp -o turtles -std=c++11  -ftemplate-depth=99999
turtles.cpp:9:44: error: template instantiation depth exceeds maximum of 99999 (use -ftemplate-depth= to increase the maximum) substituting 'template<int i> bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 99999]'
turtles.cpp:9:44:   recursively required from 'bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 1]'
turtles.cpp:9:44:   required from 'bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown() [with int i = 0]'
turtles.cpp:16:32:   required from here

turtles.cpp:9:44: error: no matching function for call to 'isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()'
turtles.cpp:9:44: note: candidate is:
turtles.cpp:6:6: note: template<int i> bool isTurtlesAllTheWayDown()
turtles.cpp:6:6: note:   substitution of deduced template arguments resulted in errors seen above

real    3m22.952s
user    3m21.085s
sys     0m0.793s

Naïevely extrapolating¹ suggests at least 3+ months to (fail to) compile 4294967296.

1 https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=(4294967296%2F99999*3)+minutes+in+days

Gaska · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

No wonder it takes so long. If no inlining would be done, the executable would be in tens of gigabytes. Still, gonna do some more testing tomorrow. On short int.

EvanED · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

short unsigned int. The signedness means technically, instantiating your template causes UB. Probably would come out working the way you expect, but using unsigned will make sure.

Gaska · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

On x86, it is de facto implementation-defined rather than undefined - and implementations define it as "treat signed overflow the same as unsigned overflow".

EvanED · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

That's probably true during template instantation, but considering what goes on in optimization with normal code (where it is most definitely not treated as defined, wraparound behavior) I don't see why you'd pick the one with actually-defined behavior when it doesn't really have any downsides for your experiment. Sort of a "I type ++i for iterators because maybe, in some cases, the optimizer will be dumb even though it probably won't" kind of thing.

PJH · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

EvanED:
*Probably* would come out working the way you expect,

I'd be very surprised if it didn't come out working the way I expect...

I'd fully expect it to not get as far as compiling, and I'd be very surprised at any other outcome...

Gaska · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

EvanED:
considering what goes on in optimization

This experiment **won't** work with optimizations enabled. Template function calls will get inlined, impossible paths will be cut, tail call optimization will kick in, and the only leftover will be infinite loop doing nothing. -O0 is the only option (pun not intended).

Anyway, the reason why I wrote short int and not unsigned short int is because it was 1AM.

PJH:
I'd fully expect it to not get as far as compiling

Why? The code is valid C++. The only reason why it doesn't compile is because of compiler limitations. It will overflow stack and crash at runtime, however - but that's too just platform limitations and not because of invalid code.

PJH · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

Gaska:
The code is valid C++.

Really?

Let me know which section of the C++ standard allows for ∞ to be stored in an int, and I may concede the point.

Jaloopa · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

doesn't it only specify the minimum size for an int? No maximum, therefore ℵ₀ is an acceptable value

PJH · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

Jaloopa:
doesn't it only specify the minimum size for an int? No maximum, therefore ℵ0 is an acceptable value

<limits.h> specifies the largest (positive and negative) values an int may hold.

[lib.numeric.limits] describes has_infinity and indicates that it is true only for floating point types (and the only other specialisation given is for bool, for which it is, obviously, FILE_NOT_FOUND.)

Jaloopa · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

I stand corrected. Luckily, I've never had to delve too deep into the inner workings of C++

PJH · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

Jaloopa:
I stand corrected. Luckily, I've never had to delve too deep into the inner workings of C++

The Standard's aren't exactly riveting reading....

Gaska · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

PJH:
Let me know which section of the C++ standard allows for ∞ to be stored in an int, and I may concede the point.

§4.7.3 "If the destination type is signed, the value is unchanged if it can be represented in the destination type (and bit-field width); otherwise, the value is implementation-defined."

accalia · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

limits.h is only valid for the architecture it's compiling for. there are different values for 32, 64 and 128 bit compilers (yes we do have a few 128 bit processors. they cost as much as a vintage mustang in mint condition but they do exist)

so one could expand that to a thoretical infinite bit computer....

of course we probably couldn't build the sucker, but we can theorize about it and, more importantly, implement a C compiler for it.

xaade · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

You don't have to theorize for it.

You just have to reserve a value to represent infinity, then create the rules for how it interacts with other values.

infinity +/- (finite int value) = infinity.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.double.positiveinfinity(v=vs.110).aspx

accalia · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

floating point numbers make provisions for non number values in their ISO spec. integers don't. they are simply numbers stored as 2's compliment values (for signed numbers) there is no "not a finite number" value there.

i can look up chapter and verse if you want, but it's lunch hours. i'd much rather work on sockbot.

dkf · 2014-11-04 Reply Admin

PJH:

[postgres@sofa tmp]$ time gcc turtles.cpp -o turtles -std=c++11  -ftemplate-depth=99999

…

PJH:

real    3m22.952s

Nearly 3 and a half minutes to count to about 100k? That's a crappy scripting language there. Why not switch to something faster? Like Ruby… ;-)

Brick by Brick

Leave a comment on “Brick by Brick”