The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

Classic WTF: Wordy Invoice

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2023-05-29

It's a holiday weekend in the US, which means we dip back into the archives for a classic story. This one remembers the good old days, of greenbar paper and programs that can't handle large numbers because they don't have the memory for it. Original -- Remy

The daisy wheel stabbing at green-lined sheets could have been Satan’s fanfare, but Andy was long accustomed to tuning out ambient printer noise. It was 1982, and he spent most of his time before his Commodore PET 4032, churning out useful things in 6502 Assembly. Most of the code was for printing invoices, much like customer invoice currently printing and making all of that racket.

A sudden cloud formed over his desk. Once Andy clued in to the shadow overhead, he glanced up to find the new regional sales manager, Rick, accordion-folded printout in hand.

17 comments - Last comment @ 2023-07-08

Best of 2022: The Biased Bug

by Ellis Morning in Best of… on 2022-12-26

As per usual, we're looking back at some of the best articles of the year. This one's so good, we need to quote it twice. Original --Remy

Back in the 90s, Steve was the head (i.e. only) programmer and CEO of a small company. His pride and joy was a software package employed by many large businesses. One day, a client of Steve's named Winston called him concerning a critical, show-stopping bug.

12 comments - Last comment @ 2023-01-04

Clbuttic Consequences

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2022-10-10

ComCorp went through a rather lengthy process to rebuild its website. One of the many changes implemented was to stop using titles as part of customer names. The lead developer on the project decided that removing the titles from all the places where they appeared was simply too much work.

26 comments - Last comment @ 2022-10-11

C, But Worse

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2022-08-24

Alyssa worked in a shop building small runs of custom hardware. Recently, she tackled a project that involved an Arduino talking to an LCD screen. Since several programmers had just left their jobs, she was the last programmer standing and thus on her own for this assignment. One of the engineers who'd worked there before her had really liked a particular brand of programmable displays because they came with software that allowed non-programmers to design serial-driven user interfaces, and had its own onboard processor. That was what Alyssa wound up using for this project.

30 comments - Last comment @ 2022-09-19

The Silent Partner

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2022-07-18

Lucio worked as a self-employed IT consultant. His clients tended to be small firms with equally small IT departments. When they didn't know where else to turn, they called on Lucio for help.

41 comments - Last comment @ 2022-10-29

The Squawk Card

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2022-04-19

In 1981, Mark was hired at a company that produced minicomputers widely used in retail establishments and small/medium businesses. On the first day, Roger gave him a tour of the plant and introduced him to his new coworkers. After shaking hands and parting ways with Walt, the Manufacturing QA manager, Roger beckoned Mark to lean in close with an impish smirk.

13 comments - Last comment @ 2022-06-11

Court-Martial

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2022-03-15

At the age of 17, our friend Argle had a job as a programmer for an aerospace firm, mostly working with commercial flight-deck equipment. Like with anyone new to a given industry, he found himself puzzling over the plethora of acronyms that got thrown around in conversation without a thought. Lacking an Internet to go look these things up in, Argle was forced to ask people to stop, go back, and explain. But what 17 year-old feels comfortable interrupting much older adults like that? Most of the time, the acronyms were scribbled down on a yellow legal pad, to be figured out later.

23 comments - Last comment @ 2022-04-05

The Biased Bug

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2022-02-15

Back in the 90s, Steve was the head (i.e. only) programmer and CEO of a small company. His pride and joy was a software package employed by many large businesses. One day, a client of Steve's named Winston called him concerning a critical, show-stopping bug.

47 comments - Last comment @ 2022-02-28