Coding Horrors: You can gather all your technical debt into one easy framework!

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ijustam: Jun 20, 2005

You can have brackets close in separate code chunks? :psyduck:

# ? Apr 19, 2012 18:42

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# ? May 14, 2024 01:31

Vanadium: Jan 8, 2005

How else would you do this?

php:

<? for ($i = 0; $i < 5; ++$i) { ?>
welp
<? } ?>

# ? Apr 19, 2012 18:50

Contero: Mar 28, 2004

php:

<? WELP: ?>
welp
<? goto WELP; ?>

# ? Apr 19, 2012 19:43

Ensign Expendable: Nov 11, 2008; Lager beer is proof that god loves us; Pillbug

Why does a modern programming language still have gotos!?

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:00

Malloc Voidstar: May 7, 2007; Fuck the cowboys. Unf. Fuck em hard.

Ensign Expendable posted:

Why does a modern programming language still have gotos!?

PHP added gotos in 2009, actually.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:03

No Safe Word: Feb 26, 2005

Ensign Expendable posted:

Why does a modern programming language still have gotos!?

Modern programming languages having gotos is not a horror.

PHP having gotos probably is, and them explicitly adding them ~15 years after the language came about is probably a bigger one

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:10

The Gripper: Sep 14, 2004; i am winner

No Safe Word posted:

Modern programming languages having gotos is not a horror.

PHP having gotos probably is, and them explicitly adding them ~15 years after the language came about is probably a bigger one

The official docs even include an XKCD comic about using gotos http://php.net/manual/en/control-structures.goto.php

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:15

baquerd: Jul 2, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Ensign Expendable posted:

Why does a modern programming language still have gotos!?

Every so often explicit code jumps are useful, here's a fragment I recently used one in. While you can write this block in other ways, I like the flow better this way.

code:

  nextList:
  for (String key : thresholdMap.keySet()) {
    ArrayList<String> currAdditiveKeys = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(key.split("\\+")));

    if (currAdditiveKeys.size() > 1) {
      for (ArrayList<String> testKeyList : additiveThresholdKeys) {
        if (testKeyList.equals(currAdditiveKeys)) {
          continue nextList;
        }
      }
      additiveThresholdKeys.add(currAdditiveKeys);
    }
  }

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:16

Suspicious Dish: Sep 24, 2011; 2020 is the year of linux on the desktop, bro; Fun Shoe

php:

<?php
function h3($body) {
?>
<h3><?= $body ?></h3>
<?php
}

h3("One");
h3("Two");
?>

code:

<h3>One</h3>
<h3>Two</h3>

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:19

baquerd: Jul 2, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Suspicious Dish posted:

<?= $body ?>

What is this special "<?=" opener? I can't find any docs on that.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:24

Freaksaus: Jun 13, 2007; Grimey Drawer

baquerd posted:

What is this special "<?=" opener? I can't find any docs on that.

I believe that just does an echo.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:28

MasterSlowPoke: Oct 9, 2005; Our courage will pull us through

It's short for "<? echo ".

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:29

trex eaterofcadrs: Jun 17, 2005; My lack of understanding is only exceeded by my lack of concern.

No Safe Word posted:

Modern programming languages having gotos is not a horror.

PHP having gotos probably is, and them explicitly adding them ~15 years after the language came about is probably a bigger one

I use gotos in PHP to abandon deep foreach loops because break N; is bullshit.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:41

Internet Janitor: May 17, 2008; "That isn't the appropriate trash receptacle."

trex eaterofcadrs: I find that when I have deeply nested loops which I might want to exit, it's better to break the loop nest out into a separate function and do an early return.

I've actually spent years trying to find a situation where a labeled break is the cleanest way to solve a problem, and I've always come up with a different solution. The best defense of goto that I've seen is implementing state machines in procedural languages.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:48

Toady: Jan 12, 2009

Ensign Expendable posted:

Why does a modern programming language still have gotos!?

goto isn't automatically bad. Example: http://kerneltrap.org/node/553/2131

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:53

Rocko Bonaparte: Mar 12, 2002; Every day is Friday!

Would anybody consider it to be a design horror whenever you hear somebody talk about "adding a layer," then seeing the layers being represented as a bunch of boxes with arrows pointing all over the place? Wouldn't you expect layers to, say, layer?

If that is so odd, would you consider it to be a megahorror when somebody proposes a layer to poll on a database to find new operations to do?

# ? Apr 19, 2012 20:56

Suspicious Dish: Sep 24, 2011; 2020 is the year of linux on the desktop, bro; Fun Shoe

Internet Janitor posted:

trex eaterofcadrs: I find that when I have deeply nested loops which I might want to exit, it's better to break the loop nest out into a separate function and do an early return.

I've actually spent years trying to find a situation where a labeled break is the cleanest way to solve a problem, and I've always come up with a different solution. The best defense of goto that I've seen is implementing state machines in procedural languages.

I have one case where I use goto; matched with a label, out:

code:

static Texture *
load_texture_from_name (char *name)
{
  Texture *texture = NULL;
  char *filename;
  FILE *fp;
  png_structp png_ptr = NULL;
  png_infop info_ptr = NULL;

  filename = asprintf (TEXTURE_DIR "%s.png", name);
  fp = fopen (filename, "rb");

  png_ptr = png_create_read_struct (PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, NULL, NULL, NULL);
  if (png_ptr == NULL)
    goto out;

  info_ptr = png_create_info_struct (png_ptr);
  if (info_ptr == NULL)
    goto out;

  if (setjmp (png_jumpbuf (png_ptr))
    goto out;

  /* Not going to include full IO stuff, consult libpng docs */

out:
  free (filename);
  fclose (fp);
  png_destroy_read_struct (png_ptr, info_ptr, NULL);

  return texture;
}

That is, memory management in C sucks.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 21:10

Contero: Mar 28, 2004

Internet Janitor posted:

trex eaterofcadrs: I find that when I have deeply nested loops which I might want to exit, it's better to break the loop nest out into a separate function and do an early return.

I've actually spent years trying to find a situation where a labeled break is the cleanest way to solve a problem, and I've always come up with a different solution. The best defense of goto that I've seen is implementing state machines in procedural languages.

I haven't had to use a goto or labelled break in years, but I certainly feel more comfortable knowing they're available.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 21:12

hobbesmaster: Jan 28, 2008

Ensign Expendable posted:

Why does a modern programming language still have gotos!?

A reminder that Djikstra wrote that paper in 1968. Take a look at arithmetic ifs and imagine trying to get anything done in FORTRAN circa 1968.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 21:41

Rothon: Jan 4, 2012

Suspicious Dish posted:

I have one case where I use goto; matched with a label, out:

code:

static Texture *
load_texture_from_name (char *name)
{
  Texture *texture = NULL;
  char *filename;
  FILE *fp;
  png_structp png_ptr = NULL;
  png_infop info_ptr = NULL;

  filename = asprintf (TEXTURE_DIR "%s.png", name);
  fp = fopen (filename, "rb");

  png_ptr = png_create_read_struct (PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, NULL, NULL, NULL);
  if (png_ptr == NULL)
    goto out;

  info_ptr = png_create_info_struct (png_ptr);
  if (info_ptr == NULL)
    goto out;

  if (setjmp (png_jumpbuf (png_ptr))
    goto out;

  /* Not going to include full IO stuff, consult libpng docs */

out:
  free (filename);
  fclose (fp);
  png_destroy_read_struct (png_ptr, info_ptr, NULL);

  return texture;
}

That is, memory management in C sucks.

Another nice feature is that execution falls through labels nicely, so you can do more complicated cleanup like this.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 22:06

qntm: Jun 17, 2009

In retrospect I have no problem with goto as long as it doesn't jump backwards through the code somehow.

Now, in terms of nonlinear code execution, here's the real horror.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 22:08

NovemberMike: Dec 28, 2008

Suspicious Dish posted:

php:

<?php
function h3($body) {
?>
<h3><?= $body ?></h3>
<?php
}

h3("One");
h3("Two");
?>

code:

<h3>One</h3>
<h3>Two</h3>

Wait, this actually works? This just seems wrong to me for some reason.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 22:23

pigdog: Apr 23, 2004; by Smythe

baquerd posted:

Every so often explicit code jumps are useful, here's a fragment I recently used one in. While you can write this block in other ways, I like the flow better this way.

code:

  nextList:
  for (String key : thresholdMap.keySet()) {
    ArrayList<String> currAdditiveKeys = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(key.split("\\+")));

    if (currAdditiveKeys.size() > 1) {
      for (ArrayList<String> testKeyList : additiveThresholdKeys) {
        if (testKeyList.equals(currAdditiveKeys)) {
          continue nextList;
        }
      }
      additiveThresholdKeys.add(currAdditiveKeys);
    }
  }

I don't have a compiler at hand at the moment, so this is straight from the hip, but I think this could be written as

code:

for (String key : thresholdMap.keySet()) {
	ArrayList<String> currAdditiveKeys = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(key.split("\\+")));
	if (currAdditiveKeys.size()>1 && !additiveTresholdKeys.contains(currAdditiveKeys)) {
		additiveTresholdKeys.add(currAdditiveKeys);
	}
}

# ? Apr 19, 2012 22:23

A A 2 3 5 8 K: Nov 24, 2003; Illiteracy... what does that word even mean?

NovemberMike posted:

Wait, this actually works? This just seems wrong to me for some reason.

If PHP had a slogan, that would be it.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 22:34

Plorkyeran: Mar 22, 2007; To Escape The Shackles Of The Old Forums, We Must Reject The Tribal Negativity He Endorsed

NovemberMike posted:

Wait, this actually works? This just seems wrong to me for some reason.

It's perfectly sensible if you think of PHP as a templating language rather than a general-purpose programming language. Actually switching between PHP and HTML when using PHP as a programming language is a horror, of course.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 22:40

trex eaterofcadrs: Jun 17, 2005; My lack of understanding is only exceeded by my lack of concern.

Plorkyeran posted:

It's perfectly sensible if you think of PHP as a templating language rather than a general-purpose programming language. Actually switching between PHP and HTML when using PHP as a programming language is a horror, of course.

Yeah, all php is doing is building an output buffer and writing it to some pipe/stream. Escaping is really "shorthand" for buffer concatenation.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 23:26

Zhentar: Sep 28, 2003; Brilliant Master Genius

I'm pretty sure the ability to do things like that is the only reason most people put up with PHP at all.

Edit: VB.NET can do similar things with XML Literals:

code:

Dim xml = <?xml version="1.0"?>
          <menu>
              <course name="appetizer">
                  <%= From m In menu _
                      Where m.Course = "appetizer" _
                      Select <dish><%= m.Food %></dish> _
                  %>
              </course>
              <course name="main">
                  <%= From m In menu _
                      Where m.Course = "main" _
                      Select <dish><%= m.Food %></dish> _
                  %>
              </course>
              <course name="dessert">
                  <%= From m In menu _
                      Where m.Course = "dessert" _
                      Select <dish><%= m.Food %></dish> _
                  %>
              </course>
          </menu>

Zhentar fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Apr 19, 2012

# ? Apr 19, 2012 23:51

baquerd: Jul 2, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

pigdog posted:

I don't have a compiler at hand at the moment, so this is straight from the hip, but I think this could be written as
code:
for (String key : thresholdMap.keySet()) {
	ArrayList<String> currAdditiveKeys = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(key.split("\\+")));
	if (currAdditiveKeys.size()>1 && !additiveTresholdKeys.contains(currAdditiveKeys)) {
		additiveTresholdKeys.add(currAdditiveKeys);
	}
}

Yeah you're right, I did what was going to happen behind the scenes needlessly there.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 23:55

pseudorandom name: May 6, 2007

hobbesmaster posted:

A reminder that Djikstra wrote that paper in 1968. Take a look at arithmetic ifs and imagine trying to get anything done in FORTRAN circa 1968.

Yeah, you have to remember that paper isn't so much against goto as it is advocating the use of language constructs like loops, blocks, else clauses, and switch statements, which weren't common at the time.

# ? Apr 20, 2012 00:10

Strong Sauce: Jul 2, 2003; You know I am not really your father.

Suspicious Dish posted:

php:

<?php
function h3($body) {
?>
<h3><?= $body ?></h3>
<?php
}

h3("One");
h3("Two");
?>

code:

<h3>One</h3>
<h3>Two</h3>

The only coding horror is that he doesn't bother just using the short tags since he's already ruined it by having a "<?="

Why bother with "<?php" if you're already guaranteeing your script to fail when someone turns off short tag support.

Edit: Ah apparently since 5.4 <?= is accessible regardless of whether short tags is on or off... Certainly not a coding (implementation?) horror. No siree bob.

Strong Sauce fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Apr 20, 2012

# ? Apr 20, 2012 01:05

tef: May 30, 2004; -> some l-system crap ->

Vanadium posted:

How else would you do this?
php:
<? for ($i = 0; $i < 5; ++$i) { ?>
welp
<? } ?>

like so

php:

<? for ($i = 0; $i < 5; ++$i): ?>
welp
<? endfor ?>

# ? Apr 20, 2012 01:16

trex eaterofcadrs: Jun 17, 2005; My lack of understanding is only exceeded by my lack of concern.

tef posted:

like so

php:

<? for ($i = 0; $i < 5; ++$i): ?>
welp
<? endfor ?>

Probably the absolute best aspect of php.

# ? Apr 20, 2012 01:19

Contero: Mar 28, 2004

Plorkyeran posted:

Actually switching between PHP and HTML when using PHP as a programming language is a horror, of course.

I'm not a professional web dev by any means, but why is this such a horror?

The function makes sense if you think about it differently:

php:

<?php
function h3($body) {
   ?><h3><?= $body ?></h3><? 
}

h3("One");
h3("Two");
?>

Where

?><h3><?= $body ?></h3><?

expands to:

echo "<h3>" . $body . "</h3>"

It's godawfully ugly when it's spaced out like that of course. I just think of these kind of languages as having statement-level automatically-printing html literals.

# ? Apr 20, 2012 01:23

Simulated: Sep 28, 2001; Lowtax giveth, and Lowtax taketh away.; College Slice

ASP.Net will let you do the same thing, so do the MVC partial views. It's just shorthand for wrapping the text between the code bits in a string then doing an output stream write of that string.

Wait, it's PHP it probably does something much dumber than that...

# ? Apr 20, 2012 01:39

Plorkyeran: Mar 22, 2007; To Escape The Shackles Of The Old Forums, We Must Reject The Tribal Negativity He Endorsed

Contero posted:

I'm not a professional web dev by any means, but why is this such a horror?

"Don't mix HTML generation and program logic" is pretty much the most basic rule for designing a web application that is not an unmaintainable mess. A straightforward conclusion based on this is that a feature which makes it easier to embed HTML should only be used when PHP is being used as a templating engine, not as a general-purpose programming language.

# ? Apr 20, 2012 01:52

Gazpacho: Jun 18, 2004; by Fluffdaddy; Slippery Tilde

Contero posted:

I'm not a professional web dev by any means, but why is this such a horror?

It's a horror because the dev is going out of his way to avoid HTML templating in an HTML template language. It's not unique to PHP. I've seen the same thing in Mason from devs who just don't "get" templates.

# ? Apr 20, 2012 02:20

Scaevolus: Apr 16, 2007

There's a "new" OpenSSL vulnerability in the parser for ASN.1, a good example of the hilarious overcomplication that design-by-committee causes.

Some people are smart:

djmdjm posted:

FYI OpenSSH's sshd is not vulnerable, despite using OpenSSL. Back in 2002 and after a different ASN.1 bug, Markus Friedl observed that RSA verification used the OpenSSL's full ASN.1 parser to parse PKCS#1 RSA signatures despite them having an almost entirely fixed format under the parameters used in the SSH protocol.
He wrote a minimal RSA signature verification implementation that we've used ever since. This is the eighth bug that it has saved us from in the last ten years.

Some are cheeky as well:

mdowd posted:

I published that bug in our book (TAOSSA) in 2006. I just neglected to mention it was 0day.

# ? Apr 20, 2012 03:11

Contero: Mar 28, 2004

Plorkyeran posted:

"Don't mix HTML generation and program logic" is pretty much the most basic rule for designing a web application that is not an unmaintainable mess. A straightforward conclusion based on this is that a feature which makes it easier to embed HTML should only be used when PHP is being used as a templating engine, not as a general-purpose programming language.

If all you're saying is "separate business logic from presentation" then I'm completely on board with you.

I think you've confused me by using "program logic" (is a loop not program logic?) and "general-purpose programming" to mean complicated or application specific logic:

Plorkyeran posted:

Actually switching between PHP and HTML when using PHP as a programming language is a horror, of course.

If not as a programming language I'm not sure how you're supposed to use PHP.

The way you worded it made it sound like you were advocating something like this:

code:

<center>
<table>
<c:forEach var="book" begin="0" items="${bookDB.books}">
  ...
<c:set var="salePrice" value="${book.price * .85}" />
  <c:set var="price" value="${book.price}" />
  <c:choose>
    <c:when test="${book.onSale}" >
      <jsp:invoke fragment="onSale" />
    </c:when>
    <c:otherwise>
      <jsp:invoke fragment="normalPrice"/>
    </c:otherwise>
  </c:choose>
...
</table>
</center>

Which I consider to be a horror. Remember kids, if text isn't formatted as XML, it's literally impossible to parse!

# ? Apr 20, 2012 04:04

duck monster: Dec 15, 2004

Gazpacho posted:

If you consider COBOL dead maybe your "sense of the industry" isn't quite as good as you think.

I spent the first part of my career as a COBOL programmer. Its not the language thats dead, but me who is dead, inside. Terrible terrible language.

But yeah, theres still billions of lines of that godawful poo poo out there.

# ? Apr 20, 2012 05:00

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# ? May 14, 2024 01:31

duck monster: Dec 15, 2004

Zamujasa posted:

php:
<?
// END CODE FROM testcreateinfo.php
}}}}}}
}// goodtogo = 1, infoid passed is available to the passed username/password
 }// end of check to see if info id is passed
} // end of valid user/pass test and info return
} // end of is api command 'doeverything'
mysql_close($con);
} // End of is api functions?>
(The lack of formatting here isn't some error, there are about 4 copies of this file and this is how they are: left justified. boss doesn't believe in indentation because he does coding on a 1024x768 TV and indents are just wasted space. )

Edit: Oh, the snip from the last post is from this file, too, but run through a code reformatter. (Rest assured, it was left-justified too.)

quote:

} // end of is api command 'doeverything'

hahaha

# ? Apr 20, 2012 05:02

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