
Ask HN: what is the most stupid line of code you saw? - _yields
Believe it or not, i just saw this:<p>`if (true === true)`<p>^^ Old PHP site.
======
fzfzqfz
Old php site from year 2000.

Each line of HTML is generated like that :

$html.='<html>';

$html.='<body>';

$html.='The content';

$html.='</body>';

$html.='</html>';

The dev used this in every file, each file contain thousands of lines like
that. Worst project i have ever seen, and i must work alone on it. FML.

~~~
krapp
I've seen this done with SQL queries all the time but... ouch.

------
pyfap
Saw the title. Immediately thought of something I saw today at work. Not too
different from yours. 'if ('True' == 'True')'. I should note that this is
javascript generated by a template file.

------
tdubbed
I've actually used 1==2 and 1==1 to basically comment sections out or create
an infinite while loop. Only really useful in C-style languages

Dumb mistakes I've seen include commented out error checking because of a
reversed greater than sign and a SQL query that deletes the whole table before
rebuilding the entire thing every day

------
eb0la
I remember in college, someone left his/hers C assignment source code in the
lab (laptops were a luxury in that time).

The code was really awful, and that part hurt my eyes:

/* commented out code. <\--- Yep. That was the actual comment.

    
    
      and here was the code
      seriously
     */
    

At least (s)he knew what a block comment was.

------
DanielN
My personal favorite:

    
    
      $array = array('z'=>12, 'o'=>43, 't'=>32, 'th'=>85, 'f'=>91, 'fi'=>42);
    

Take a minute look at that and tell me what the keys stand for. When you
figure it out you'll realize why this is the worst piece of code you've ever
seen.

------
whalesalad
I do that sometimes during debugging. It stands out and I know to change it
later. If 1 == 0, etc...

------
krapp

       <?php /* Start the Loop */ ?>
    

Followed by more php.

~~~
dangrossman
That's not bad code, it's just WordPress lingo you're unfamiliar with.
<http://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop>

~~~
krapp
I wish I were unfamiliar with it....

I think it is bad practice at least then, if not explicitly bad code, because
it's needlessly overcomplicated. Why use the end tag when you're not switching
contexts between php and html? After this line there's just another open tag
and more code... it's a pointless way of writing php that makes it aggravating
to read and edit.

------
chrisdevereux
This might make some sense if it wasn't for the comment at the end...

    
    
      enum BankID {
       ONE = 1,
       TWO = 2,
       THREE = 3,
       FOUR = 4
       // add more if needed
      };

------
AbhishekBiswal
My Teacher used this code to explain conditions in class :

if( 1 == 1 ) cout << "it's true" << endl; else cout << "false" << endl;

Haha, 1==1

------
orangethirty
Mine. From a long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away.

    
    
        #python SQL injection paradise.
        sql = 'SELECT * FROM %s' % table

------
kschua
Java code

if (obj instanceof java.lang.Object)

~~~
eduardordm
First, your answer is why I almost never criticize people's code:

This is (was in Sun's time) an actual possible certification question and you
are wrong, this CAN return false:

    
    
            Object obj = new Object() {{ System.out.println(false); System.exit(0); }};
            
            System.out.println(obj instanceof Object);

------
codeonfire
saw this a while back:

if (failed) { return SUCCESS; }

------
graycat
i = j+++++k

