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Coding Horror

Evil Phil · 2009-09-18 10:18:29

This is a place to vent your frustration however there is one rule: 1. Do not name a company, organisation or individual as an attempt to undermine or discredit them in any way. This will really be a question of moderator discretion but use your common sense here. Boards.ie Ltd does not want to have fight what is…

Comments

#452 12-01-2015 10:55am

oscarBravo

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0
#453 12-01-2015 10:21pm

Colonel Panic

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Posts: 1996

No coding standards or coding standards you don't agree with. Which is worse?

0
#454 12-01-2015 10:38pm
Anesthetize

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Maximus Alexander wrote: »

You'd hate me then, because I'd probably have written:
if (.....) <some statement>; else <some statement>; <some statement>;

That's a paddlin'

0
#455 13-01-2015 12:06am

IRLConor

Subscribers Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭

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Posts: 3924

Colonel Panic wrote: »

No coding standards or coding standards you don't agree with. Which is worse?

Coding standards you don't agree with. At least when there are no coding standards, you're not angry all the time.

0
#456 13-01-2015 12:09am

Maximus Alexander

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Anesthetize wrote: »

That's a paddlin'

Meh. Java's unnecessarily verbose at times. I value consistency and clarity, but also brevity.

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#457 13-01-2015 10:27am

Aswerty

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Colonel Panic wrote: »

No coding standards or coding standards you don't agree with. Which is worse?

Subjectively; the former. Objectively; the latter.

0
#458 13-01-2015 10:30am

Calina

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Posts: 7725

Colonel Panic wrote: »

No coding standards or coding standards you don't agree with. Which is worse?

Well, if there are no coding standards you stand a chance of getting some you approve of implemented at some point.

Coding standards you don't agree with are just a recipe for daily frustration.

0

#459 13-01-2015 2:48pm

Buford T Justice

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One of the many many loops in one method. The old, lets just bring everything back in an SQL query and work it all out in a controller afterwards.

foreach ($aryLineItems as $lineItemKey => $lineItemVal) {
                    $arySelectedSupplierProducts = array();
                    if (!empty($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'])) {
                        if (strpos($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'], "|") !== false) {
                            $aryLineItemProductIds = explode("|", $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id']);
                            foreach ($aryLineItemProductIds as $lineItemProductQtyId) {
                                if (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, "::") !== false) {
                                    $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                    $lineItemProductQty = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::') + 2));
                                }
                                else {
                                    $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                    $lineItemProductQty = "1";
                                }
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                        }
                        else {
                            if (strpos($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'], "::") !== false) {
                                $lineItemProductQtyId = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'];
                                $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                $lineItemProductQty = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::') + 2));
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                            else {
                                $lineItemProductId = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'];
                                $lineItemProductQty = "1";
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                        }
                    }

                    if (count($arySelectedSupplierProducts) > 0) {
                        $aryLineItemProducts = $this->Arrangement->LineItem->LineItemProduct->find('all', array(
                                'recursive' => 0,
                                'conditions' => array('LineItemProduct.id' => array_keys($arySelectedSupplierProducts)),
                            )
                        );
                        $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProducts'] = $aryLineItemProducts;
                        $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProductsQtys'] = $arySelectedSupplierProducts;
                    }
                    else {
                        if (!empty($lineItemVal['LineItem']['cheque_name'])) {
                            $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProducts'][0]['Contact']['company_name'] = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['cheque_name'];
                        }
                    }

                }
                $aryData['LineItem'][$sLineItemType] = $aryLineItems;
            }

And lets not forget

foreach ($aryLineItems as $lineItemKey => $lineItemVal) {
                    $arySelectedSupplierProducts = array();
                    if (!empty($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'])) {
                        if (strpos($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'], "|") !== false) {
                            $aryLineItemProductIds = explode("|", $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id']);
                            foreach ($aryLineItemProductIds as $lineItemProductQtyId) {
                                if (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, "::") !== false) {
                                    $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                    $lineItemProductQty = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::') + 2));
                                }
                                else {
                                    $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                    $lineItemProductQty = "1";
                                }
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                        }
                        else {
                            if (strpos($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'], "::") !== false) {
                                $lineItemProductQtyId = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'];
                                $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                $lineItemProductQty = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::') + 2));
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                            else {
                                $lineItemProductId = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'];
                                $lineItemProductQty = "1";
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                        }
                    }

                    if (count($arySelectedSupplierProducts) > 0) {
                        $aryLineItemProducts = $this->Arrangement->LineItem->LineItemProduct->find('all', array(
                                'recursive' => 0,
                                'conditions' => array('LineItemProduct.id' => array_keys($arySelectedSupplierProducts)),
                            )
                        );
                        $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProducts'] = $aryLineItemProducts;
                        $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProductsQtys'] = $arySelectedSupplierProducts;
                    }
                    else {
                        if (!empty($lineItemVal['LineItem']['cheque_name'])) {
                            $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProducts'][0]['Contact']['company_name'] = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['cheque_name'];
                        }
                    }

                }
                $aryData['LineItem'][$sLineItemType] = $aryLineItems;
            }

Only about 3K lines of code like that in one controller

#460 13-01-2015 2:52pm

irishgeo

Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,527 ✭✭✭

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Posts: 8914

Buford T Justice wrote: »

One of the many many loops in one method. The old, lets just bring everything back in an SQL query and work it all out in a controller afterwards.

foreach ($aryLineItems as $lineItemKey => $lineItemVal) {
                    $arySelectedSupplierProducts = array();
                    if (!empty($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'])) {
                        if (strpos($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'], "|") !== false) {
                            $aryLineItemProductIds = [B]explode[/B]("|", $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id']);
                            foreach ($aryLineItemProductIds as $lineItemProductQtyId) {
                                if (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, "::") !== false) {
                                    $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                    $lineItemProductQty = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::') + 2));
                                }
                                else {
                                    $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                    $lineItemProductQty = "1";
                                }
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                        }
                        else {
                            if (strpos($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'], "::") !== false) {
                                $lineItemProductQtyId = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'];
                                $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                $lineItemProductQty = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::') + 2));
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                            else {
                                $lineItemProductId = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'];
                                $lineItemProductQty = "1";
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                        }
                    }

                    if (count($arySelectedSupplierProducts) > 0) {
                        $aryLineItemProducts = $this->Arrangement->LineItem->LineItemProduct->find('all', array(
                                'recursive' => 0,
                                'conditions' => array('LineItemProduct.id' => array_keys($arySelectedSupplierProducts)),
                            )
                        );
                        $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProducts'] = $aryLineItemProducts;
                        $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProductsQtys'] = $arySelectedSupplierProducts;
                    }
                    else {
                        if (!empty($lineItemVal['LineItem']['cheque_name'])) {
                            $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProducts'][0]['Contact']['company_name'] = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['cheque_name'];
                        }
                    }

                }
                $aryData['LineItem'][$sLineItemType] = $aryLineItems;
            }

And lets not forget

foreach ($aryLineItems as $lineItemKey => $lineItemVal) {
                    $arySelectedSupplierProducts = array();
                    if (!empty($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'])) {
                        if (strpos($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'], "|") !== false) {
                            $aryLineItemProductIds = explode("|", $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id']);
                            foreach ($aryLineItemProductIds as $lineItemProductQtyId) {
                                if (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, "::") !== false) {
                                    $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                    $lineItemProductQty = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::') + 2));
                                }
                                else {
                                    $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                    $lineItemProductQty = "1";
                                }
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                        }
                        else {
                            if (strpos($lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'], "::") !== false) {
                                $lineItemProductQtyId = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'];
                                $lineItemProductId = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, 0, strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::'));
                                $lineItemProductQty = substr($lineItemProductQtyId, (strpos($lineItemProductQtyId, '::') + 2));
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                            else {
                                $lineItemProductId = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['line_item_product_id'];
                                $lineItemProductQty = "1";
                                $arySelectedSupplierProducts[$lineItemProductId] = $lineItemProductQty;
                            }
                        }
                    }

                    if (count($arySelectedSupplierProducts) > 0) {
                        $aryLineItemProducts = $this->Arrangement->LineItem->LineItemProduct->find('all', array(
                                'recursive' => 0,
                                'conditions' => array('LineItemProduct.id' => array_keys($arySelectedSupplierProducts)),
                            )
                        );
                        $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProducts'] = $aryLineItemProducts;
                        $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProductsQtys'] = $arySelectedSupplierProducts;
                    }
                    else {
                        if (!empty($lineItemVal['LineItem']['cheque_name'])) {
                            $aryLineItems[$lineItemKey]['LineItemSupplierProducts'][0]['Contact']['company_name'] = $lineItemVal['LineItem']['cheque_name'];
                        }
                    }

                }
                $aryData['LineItem'][$sLineItemType] = $aryLineItems;
            }

Only about 3K lines of code like that in one controller

what does explode do?:D

#461 13-01-2015 9:44pm

Maximus Alexander

Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,080 ✭✭✭✭

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Posts: 13042

Buford T Justice wrote: »

One of the many many loops in one method. The old, lets just bring everything back in an SQL query and work it all out in a controller afterwards.

...

Only about 3K lines of code like that in one controller

My stomach actually knotted up thinking about what that work day must have been like.

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#462 15-01-2015 10:29am
L.Jenkins

Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 19,241 Mod ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: May 2009

Posts: 18487
Buford T Justice wrote: »

One of the many many loops in one method. The old, lets just bring everything back in an SQL query and work it all out in a controller afterwards.
Some Code

And lets not forget
More Code

Only about 3K lines of code like that in one controller

0
#463 15-01-2015 11:38pm

Buford T Justice

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Posts: 5970

Itzy wrote: »

That kinda sums it up. I'm the one that's left with servicing & trying to fix this steaming pile of scutter

0

#464 23-01-2015 5:13am

punk_one82

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Posts: 1102

/**
     * this method is not used.
     * 
     * @param busEntity  Business Entity. 
     * @return null 
     */
	@Override
	public BenefitEntity methodName(final BusinessEntity busEntity) {
		// Not used
		return null;
	}

Stuff like this drives me mad, but probably not uncommon at all.

#465 25-01-2015 6:49pm
L.Jenkins

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punk_one82 wrote: »

/** * this method is not used. * * @param busEntity Business Entity. * @return null */ @Override public BenefitEntity methodName(final BusinessEntity busEntity) { // Not used return null; }

Stuff like this drives me mad, but probably not uncommon at all.

You mean stuffing methods in or leaving a bunch of shít hanging around when it's not needed? Working on Application migration and fault finding and have found way too much unnecessary crap in nearly every file I went through.

0
#466 27-01-2015 12:49am

punk_one82

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Posts: 1102

Itzy wrote: »

You mean stuffing methods in or leaving a bunch of shít hanging around when it's not needed? Working on Application migration and fault finding and have found way too much unnecessary crap in nearly every file I went through.

Leaving a load of crap in the code. If a method has no use and somebody has the time to comment it saying so why not just remove the method.

0
#467 30-01-2015 7:01pm

Capt'n Midnight

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From the Most stupid requests you've ever had at work? thread

Wossack wrote: »

Database admin decides he needs to save some space on their sql servers, so goes through C:\windows and deletes all files whose filenames are blue (opposed to normal uncompressed black), thinking that meant they were backed up and redundant.

Happy with his work, he scripts it, and runs it across another 23 servers before he cops the first one has keeled over.. and, like stars winking out in the night sky, the rest gradually follow suit

0
#468 30-01-2015 7:54pm

oscarBravo

Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,820 Mod ✭✭✭✭

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Posts: 26940

Oh.

My.

Teapot.

:eek:

0
#469 30-01-2015 9:37pm

BrokenArrows

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Posts: 6933

Surely noone can be that stupid.

0
#470 30-01-2015 10:02pm

[Rasta]

Registered Users Posts: 428 ✭✭

Join Date: February 2008

Posts: 426

Currently we have numerous VB scripts (inside BPM application workflows) that have hardcoded strings for database access...

Not to mention the numerous 'temporary' fixes to these workflows which still grab information from dev servers (why in the sweet jesus would you do that anyway).

There is no documentation for these workflows, because 'we make a lot of changes and documentation would just take too much time'.
I looked through the publish history of these workflows, most hadn't had any change in the past 3 months. Adding people to CCs on emails that are sent by the workflow was a common reason given for a publish.

Changes are usually published to live without testing (only a peer review is done to see if both people agree that the changes shouldn't cause an issue).

A lot of the code either lacks comments or has comments which are out of date.
Quite often method/function/member names have no correlation with their functionality/purpose or are even entirely misleading.

I saw an if statement:
if(archived == false && archivedInverse == true)
..some code

and at some point earlier on:
if(archived == true)
archivedInverse = false
else
archivedInverse = true

not a coding issue but:
We backup data onto the same machine the data is on. After 3 days it is automatically picked up by an external company who copy it onto tapes.
Someone requested a backup 2 weeks ago. Yet to see any progress.

0
#471 06-02-2015 10:15am

L.Jenkins

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Posts: 18487

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Surely noone can be that stupid.

You'd be surprised and I wouldn't be if the first thing they did on a Linux box was to run rm -rf / as an admin to save space also.

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#472 16-03-2015 9:30pm

Capt'n Midnight

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Posts: 90709

Panda antivirus software labels itself as malware

0
#473 17-03-2015 9:19pm

L.Jenkins

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Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Panda antivirus software labels itself as malware

That was one of the best reads in a long time, apparently bricking the machine it was installed on.

0
#474 05-04-2015 7:24pm

FobleAsNuck

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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#475 07-04-2015 9:49pm
Pov06

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Posts: 1424
if (some_var < 0) another_var -= abs(some_var); else another_var -= some_var;

Kill me now :eek:

0
#476 07-04-2015 9:58pm
Boskowski

Closed Accounts Posts: 5,361 ✭✭✭

Join Date: November 2007

Posts: 5269
Pov06 wrote: »

if (some_var < 0) another_var -= abs(some_var); else another_var -= some_var;

Kill me now :eek:

At least the compiler will sort that out.

0
#477 07-04-2015 10:48pm

brevity

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Posts: 8535

Not quite a coding horror as such but a great article nonetheless

http://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks

0
#478 09-04-2015 2:02pm

Pov06

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Boskowski wrote: »

At least the compiler will sort that out.

The more worrying part is the fact that a developer with such concepts is working on big projects.

0
#479 09-04-2015 2:22pm

Boskowski

Closed Accounts Posts: 5,361 ✭✭✭

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Posts: 5269

Pov06 wrote: »

The more worrying part is the fact that a developer with such concepts is working on big projects.

It is - although technically it's not wrong. Just a bit .... convoluted?

The worrying bit is the obvious lack of understanding.

0
#480 10-04-2015 11:20am
not1but4

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Posts: 214
Pov06 wrote: »

if (some_var < 0) another_var -= abs(some_var); else another_var -= some_var;
Kill me now :eek:

At the risk of asking a very stupid question what is the issue with this?

Is it the case if you where to use a 16 bit integer (range being -32768 to + 32767)

You'd get the following;
abs(-32767) = 32767
abs(-32768) = -32768

EDIT:
What would be the correct implementation of this then?

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#481 10-04-2015 11:25am
Maximus Alexander

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Posts: 13042
not1but4 wrote: »

At the risk of asking a very stupid question what is the issue with this?

Is it the case if you where to use a 16 bit integer (range being -32768 to + 32767)

You'd get the following;
abs(-32767) = 32767
abs(-32768) = -32768

No, it's that it's totally redundant.

It could be replaced with
another_var -= abs(some_var);

0
#482 10-04-2015 11:41am

Slutmonkey57b

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not1but4 wrote: »

At the risk of asking a very stupid question what is the issue with this?

Is it the case if you where to use a 16 bit integer (range being -32768 to + 32767)

You'd get the following;
abs(-32767) = 32767
abs(-32768) = -32768

EDIT:
What would be the correct implementation of this then?

It's a waste of time. If a negative value return is possible, and you don't consider it an error, then you should just always abs() the original value returned and carry on.

But fundamentally one should be suspicious that a negative value is treated the same as its positive counterpart. They're different values for a valid reason so either you're missing an error or the calculation which returned somevar is set up incorrectly.

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#483 10-04-2015 12:14pm

Aswerty

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Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

But fundamentally one should be suspicious that a negative value is treated the same as its positive counterpart. They're different values for a valid reason so either you're missing an error or the calculation which returned somevar is set up incorrectly.

But there is plenty of times where the reason for the differing signs doesn't matter with regards to what you are calculating. That's why the abs() function exists in the first place. So I don't think it is reasonable to consider ignoring the sign as fundamentally suspicious.

0
#484 10-04-2015 12:44pm
croo

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I read this a while back and never noticed it mentioned .. anywhere never mind this thread.

This code came from the installation script for Steam for Linux
# figure out the absolute path to the script being run a bit # non-obvious, the ${0%/*} pulls the path out of $0, cd's into the # specified directory, then uses $PWD to figure out where that # directory lives - and all this in a subshell, so we don't affect # $PWD STEAMROOT="$(cd "${0%/*}" && echo $PWD)" # Scary! rm -rf "$STEAMROOT/"*
Of course the flaw is obvious. Even to the developer given their "Scary!" comment... still it is very easy to install Linux isn't it?

Full story was on the register a few months back.

0
#485 10-04-2015 5:34pm

Slutmonkey57b

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Aswerty wrote: »

But there is plenty of times where the reason for the differing signs doesn't matter with regards to what you are calculating. That's why the abs() function exists in the first place. So I don't think it is reasonable to consider ignoring the sign as fundamentally suspicious.

True, but you'd need the context of the original code to be sure. Without it, my first question to the dev would be "why?"

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#486 10-04-2015 11:31pm
Idleater

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croo wrote: »

I read this a while back and never noticed it mentioned .. anywhere never mind this thread.

This code came from the installation script for Steam for Linux
# figure out the absolute path to the script being run a bit # non-obvious, the ${0%/*} pulls the path out of $0, cd's into the # specified directory, then uses $PWD to figure out where that # directory lives - and all this in a subshell, so we don't affect # $PWD STEAMROOT="$(cd "${0%/*}" && echo $PWD)" # Scary! rm -rf "$STEAMROOT/"*
Of course the flaw is obvious. Even to the developer given their "Scary!" comment... still it is very easy to install Linux isn't it?

Full story was on the register a few months back.

Related rhel bug ?https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1202858

Had cause to Google Heisenbug this week, and duly found Hindenbug

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#487 11-04-2015 10:58am

croo

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Idleater wrote: »

Related rhel bug ?https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1202858

Had cause to Google Heisenbug this week, and duly found Hindenbug

Wow... steam I might forgive but RHEL & squid? That must be an extremely common combination. Amazing!

Hindenbug

That's a new one for me too.

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#488 14-04-2015 2:20pm
Pov06

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not1but4 wrote: »

At the risk of asking a very stupid question what is the issue with this?

Is it the case if you where to use a 16 bit integer (range being -32768 to + 32767)

You'd get the following;
abs(-32767) = 32767
abs(-32768) = -32768

EDIT:
What would be the correct implementation of this then?

Just:
another_var -= abs(some_var);

Absolute value will always return a positive number no matter whether you supply a positive or negative.

EDIT: Didn't notice it was answered already.

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#489 15-04-2015 9:06am

tobsey

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I've just been tasked with fixing bugs in a solution that was previously looked after by one of my colleagues who was let go a couple of months ago. The main page in the asp.net site has the following in the code-behind:

line 896: protected void buttonGo_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
            {
                  // Loads of validation code

line 994:      if (myDropdown.SelectedValue = MyValues.Value1.ToString())
                  {
                         // set a load of values in a repository
                         // trigger a change in state
                  }
line 1291:     else if (myDropdown.SelectedValue = MyValues.Value2.ToString())
                  {
                         // set a load of the same values in a repository
                         // trigger a different change in state
                  }
line 1306:     else if (myDropdown.SelectedValue = MyValues.Value3.ToString())
                  {
                         // set a load of the same values in a repository
                         // trigger a different change in state
                  }
line 1321:     else if (myDropdown.SelectedValue = MyValues.Value4.ToString())
                  {
                         // set a load of the same values in a repository
                         // trigger a different change in state
                  }
line 1456:     else if (myDropdown.SelectedValue = MyValues.Value5.ToString())
                  {
                         // set a load of the same values in a repository
                         // trigger a different change in state
                  }

// six more of these else if statements

line 2153: }

#490 15-04-2015 9:10am

L.Jenkins

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Did he or she ever hear of switch/case? I could understand if they were working with 2/3 cases, but 11! I'm sure that some how you could condense that down even further/tidy it up.

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#491 15-04-2015 9:18am

Eugene Norman

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Switch statements are syntax sugar. It would still be as long a function, and long functions are my bugbear. Switch statements often -- like this else if -- have huge amounts of code per statement that could be factored out. also I don't know asp.net but surely a method could be set for each menu item.

Edit. Oh, it looks like the same code bar some state setting is set in each if statement. I've seen the same in switch statements.

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#492 15-04-2015 9:44am

oscarBravo

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Interestingly, Python doesn't have a switch statement; it has an if/elif/else construct similar to the above.

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#493 15-04-2015 10:18am

Tar.Aldarion

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It's either easy or hard to code switch equivalency in python, it depends on whether you view fall through as a feature or a bug :pac:

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#494 15-04-2015 11:43am
tobsey

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Eugene Norman wrote: »

Switch statements are syntax sugar. It would still be as long a function, and long functions are my bugbear. Switch statements often -- like this else if -- have huge amounts of code per statement that could be factored out. also I don't know asp.net but surely a method could be set for each menu item.

Edit. Oh, it looks like the same code bar some state setting is set in each if statement. I've seen the same in switch statements.

Bingo. DRY seems to have been completely lost on him.

Another favourite of mine in the codebase:
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> myData in SQLDal.GetSomeData()) { if (myData.Key.ToString() == keyDropDown.SelectedValue) { valueDropDown.SelectedValue = myData.Key; } else if (keyDropDown.SelectedValue.Trim() == "") { valueDropDown.SelectedValue = " "; } }

For all records in DB
--> if a field matches record, set other field.
--> Else if field is blank, clear other field

So if 100 records are returned from the DB and none match, we will have checked a field on our form 100 times for an empty string.

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#495 29-04-2015 2:38pm

Tar.Aldarion

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http://thedailywtf.com/articles/The-Speedup-Loop

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#496 01-05-2015 10:40am

L.Jenkins

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Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

http://thedailywtf.com/articles/The-Speedup-Loop

One innovative way to keep a job for yourself.

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#497 01-05-2015 10:56am

Korvanica

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Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

http://thedailywtf.com/articles/The-Speedup-Loop

Our software just got slightly slower... until I come save the day.:cool:

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#498 11-06-2015 9:56pm

SimonTemplar

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Our core system is written in a proprietary language developed by our vendor and used only by the vendor’s applications. I occasionally do some coding in it mostly for data extracts. Was writing a script today and it was failing (it doesn’t provide a line number or even a reason for the error, just a big fat fail). Spent over an hour trying to debug and couldn’t understand what was happening. Got support from the vendor – it turns out that the language is designed so that you can only set the value of a variable once. If you try to change a variable’s value, it will fail. What a pile of absolute crap!!

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#499 11-06-2015 9:59pm

Calina

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SimonTemplar wrote: »

Our core system is written in a proprietary language developed by our vendor and used only by the vendor’s applications. I occasionally do some coding in it mostly for data extracts. Was writing a script today and it was failing (it doesn’t provide a line number or even a reason for the error, just a big fat fail). Spent over an hour trying to debug and couldn’t understand what was happening. Got support from the vendor – it turns out that the language is designed so that you can only set the value of a variable once. If you try to change a variable’s value, it will fail. What a pile of absolute crap!!

Surely that's not then a variable, but a constant, no?

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#500 11-06-2015 10:00pm

SimonTemplar

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Calina wrote: »

Surely that's not then a variable, but a constant, no?

If that's the case, this language only has constants and no variables.

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#501 12-06-2015 1:36am

jonster

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Could be immutable variables ala functional programming languages?

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