• (nodebb)

    Cargo cult programming at its finest.

    Of course, "copy goofy thing without understanding why it's like that" infests far more than programming. See https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/grandmas-cooking-secret/ for a series of definitely non-programming examples. (Noteworthy because I was chasing a good example of the cut-end pot roast thing.)

  • (nodebb)

    Oh, yeah, and "make build" is a one line command to build your program, once you have the makefile set up.

  • Best Of 2021 (unregistered)

    This is why it's important to put in comments like that why it shouldn't be changed. Then, people copy/pasting for a new context can judge whether they need to keep it or not.

  • my name is missing (unregistered)

    COW means copy on write, i.e. copy these lines right after creating the file.

  • Jaloopa (partially registered) (unregistered) in reply to Best Of 2021

    Then, people copy/pasting for a new context can judge whether they need to keep it or not.

    Yes, I definitely believe that would happen

  • my name (unregistered)

    <please note this comment, do not change>

  • WTFGuy (unregistered)

    What Kai ought to do is moo-dify newline to include the cow in the definition of newline. And correct the two places in the one makefile where newline is actively used so they don't trip over the unexpected cow. Arrange a script to moo-dify a few makefiles every day.

    Soon there will be a whole herd of those cows spreading through the codebase. And long after Kai is gone to greener pastures (or been ground down to burger then flushed), more cargo cult programmers will be copying his cows into what ought to be greenfield makefiles.

  • ooOOooGa (unregistered) in reply to WTFGuy

    Would be amusing. Unfortunately the only place that 'newline' is actively used is deep in the early version control history.

  • Barry Margolin (github)

    Reminds me of the story of the "We've always done it that way" experiment with monkeys: https://bright-am.com/because-that-s-the-way-we-ve-always-done-it/

  • Argle (unregistered)

    Years ago, I watched a cow-orker laboriously noting each source file he changed so he could compile and link after. I extolled the virtues of 'make.' He declared he didn't have time to learn that. Repeat this several times over a period of months. Ultimately he's in my office talking me through some changes I was making. After saving the last file I typed 'make' and off it went. "Wait! How did you do that?" I replied, "it's what I've been trying to get you to use for months now." He looked a bit sheepish, but suddenly the whole department adopted using it.

  • (nodebb)

    The syntax for makefiles is among the most miserable out there, and the way to get a newline is one of the worst parts. It could have been worse though; when someone decides to use functions to write implicit dependency rules that are included and which depend on the correct VPATH…

    Stick to the simple stuff. It's verbose. It will have lots of cut-n-paste scripting code. You'll be able to debug it.

  • a cow (not a robot) (unregistered) in reply to my name

    <noted this comment, changed>

  • Fizzlecist (unregistered)

    So don't leave us on tenterhooks, did the cow go forth & multiply? Is there a herd out there grazing the vast make pastures?

  • razer (unregistered)

    Many many years back as a brand new COBOL programmer in a large Telco, I realised that I could have a template with all the Identification Division etc stuff there, so I could reuse it. The template also had my name in it as the program author, or whatever the syntax was. Go forward about ten years (yes I was still there, now suffering in management) I had an irate call from the ops manager. A program with my name as author was burning through precious mainframe cycles, walking disk packs around. . . Of course it wasn't mine. The template still lived, and was being copied blindly by quite a few of the developers. I had become the most prolific programmer in the shop.

  • spk (unregistered)

    Please note my name is Kai, do not change to Kay.

    <Insert story>

    Dang it.

  • Please Not(e) (unregistered)

    It gets worse! The e at the end of Not was accidentally added! There were never supposed to be two lines!!!

  • löchlein deluxe (unregistered)

    Ah yes, cargo cult laziness. Last week, I got a ticket "why does our registration page say '''example template for new design'''?"

  • Your Name (unregistered)

    Still using makefiles nowadays is the real WTF. That was funny 40 year ago, but it isn't anymore.

    And yes, I still have to use them for some mainframe projects.

  • Jaloopa (partially registered) (unregistered) in reply to Barry Margolin

    The Monkey experiment is made up. There was a slightly similar one but the methods, result and aim were all different

    https://www.throwcase.com/2014/12/21/that-five-monkeys-and-a-banana-story-is-rubbish/

  • Oh, sweet irony! (unregistered) in reply to Jaloopa (partially registered)

    It's like one of those plays where the audience gets involved!

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