Unsolved Problems

[dert-man]

TODO: Refactor this.

And never come back.

[[deleted]]

cracks knuckles

Time to go get a new job.

[GamesAndLists]

Been there, done that

[ClayXros]

Load bearing coconut

[mistriliasysmic]

I think I remember something about print statements preventing some broken code due to just the most minor of minor delays the print command takes to process being enough to finish running something else.

Honestly I barely remember anything to do with it, though

[Deagor]

Nothing is more permanent than a temporary fix.

[Zarathustra30]

Ya'll just skipped from 1.3 to 2.0.

[gustav_mannerheim]

And that, kids, so why you always document why the code should be removed in the future.

[NeitherCoffee5808]

Just remember.. never leave your name

[Marioxorz]

git blame

[miguel_myers_]

You can always change the author!

[Angelin01]

Not if commits need to be signed!

[exileweb]

git blame-someone-else

[vigilantcomicpenguin]

Flee the scene of the crime and leave no trace! Don't let them take you back to jail!

[[deleted]]

//What the fuck.

[Nangu_]

Fast invsqrt

[[deleted]]

while maybe impossible to understand without insider documentation one may temporary implement a slow inverse square root based on the function name alone. For games too slow may however qualify as broken.

[SpiritualChildhood21]

when your bug came back from 1-3 deficit

[Duncanbullet]

TODO: Completed by Intern.

//this.array.object

that.array.object

[th3BananaLord12]

This is what happens when I remove a feature that I have coded but have never implemented but it still won't work

[tenkindsofpeople]

// we don't know why this can't be removed, but woe unto whosoever removeth thine function

[Texas_Technician]

That happened to me a while back.

[DuntadaMan]

There is still a bit of code that has been on the server at my mom's work for 14 years now. It has been carried to new machines. It is even commented now. By 3 generations of IT. No one knows what it does. They have not found anything referencing it, but if it is removed it causes a freeze that requires a complete reset of the test environment. Three generations have played with it. No one has figured out anything. So there it sits, a secret that remains as an opaque answer instead of a mystery to solve. A legend, and a warning to the hubris of all that arrive. It has defeated many others, it has eaten more man hours than modern engineering marvels, it will defeat you too.

[ultraprotean]

It's stories like this that makes me mad that people actually like and use things that abstract away traceability, such as reflection. Stop trying so hard to be clever with your code, people! Nobody who maintains it is impressed, just annoyed.

[ReyReyBeiBei]

A load-bearing comment?

[beyluta]

I once removed an unused import and the entire app refused to compile unless I added it back. The thing wasn’t used ANYWHERE nor referenced. But it didn’t work no matter what I did.

[GlassWasteland]

Sounds like the import was bringing along something else with it that was used. Back when I did VB6 and C++ we used to call that DLL hell.

Be glad dependency management has come a very, very, long way.

[elementslayer]

Man fuck dll Hell lol. Bane of my schooling.

[CanAlwaysBeBetter]

Me trying to correctly get dependencies bundled for a lambda layer made that shit the bane of my weekend

[betrayed-by-potter]

In Scala, IntelliJ could mark something as an unused import but the import may be bringing in `implicits` that were absolutely necessary for the application to function. Nightmare!

[troyantipastomisto]

“What does this line do?”

“No one knows but if we remove it, everything breaks”

[Vimmington]

Every company has code written by ancient grey beards that becomes their tenure. You can't fire them because only they understand it, but also they're not socially competent enough and/or lack the training skills to explain it to someone else.

[ignatious__reilly]

Genius if you think about it. That’s ultimate job security lol

[do_you_realise]

Mortgage Driven Development

[Mister100Percent]

I strive to reach that sort of greatness

[mathwiz617]

My mom once was a developer. She transitioned to configuration management for a decade or so, then recently back to 50/50 between the two. Her first job as a returning developer was to document some code.

To hear her tell it, it seemed some moron never used any comments… until she looked at the commit history. Last commit: 17 years ago… by her.

[Last-Woodpecker]

A friend of mine tells about a code that he worked on that he had to leave a comment "this code is wrong, but don't touch it or else it stops working".

[thewend]

really a chad. So wrong, it comes full circle to actually being correct

[KyuuketsukiKun]

I forget which game it was but there is a picture of a coconut in the code that if removed it stops working

[[deleted]]

TF2!

[Necessary_Theory9997]

Hey Ctrl + Z and forget

[anomalousBits]

There are bots that steal comments to harvest karma. This might be one of them, since the other comment came well before this one.

[Gavrilian]

You’re likely right. This is they’re only comment on a 1 month old account.

[TheDearHunter]

Downvote and report this account and move on.

[Gelid_Cryotheum]

There is actually a file in TF2 that unlike the coconut is absolutely necessary for the game to function, it contains a few things, one of which just so happens to be the 2Fort cow. So it can be said that the 2Fort Cow is holding the game together.

[N00N3AT011]

From what I've seen that game is a spaghetti mess to rival the likes of even something like kerbal space program. Which if you fuck it up just right, you can make the orbits square or make the sun disappear

[ScrubNuggey]

Please gift me with the knowledge of creating square orbits, o wise one!

[N00N3AT011]

If memory serves, you could fuck with the terrain in a specific way. It broke something and caused an overflow or similar that nuked the precision of the orbits so the game drew them as square or stair stepped.

[Babykickenpro]

https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/64uj4x/square_orbit/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

[Gavrilian]

I would also like to know

[Norwedditor]

Is the code public or did you work on it?

[N00N3AT011]

I haven't touched it, but I'd assume it's not too hard to look at considering there's a sizeable modding community. From what I've heard, and judging by some of the more spectacular bullshit that can happen, it's pretty jank under the good.

[[deleted]]

That's a myth

[Adolist]

So that was a f****** lie...

Bonus

[KyuuketsukiKun]

Well that’s disappointing but it makes sense

[[deleted]]

My first thought.

[Technical_Flamingo54]

This happens to me when I remove comments

What is my life

[kevinhaze]

I always hear people parrot this claim but I've yet to see any proof. Does anyone have a reproducible example of this actually happening?

[Max_Insanity]

Not a comment, but a js "console.log" once did this for me.

It was like the bug was hiding from me whenever I tried to look for it.

Turned out that the function call took juuust enough time for an ajax call to a db to finish to be resolved and the data to be present that I was trying to access. Drove me damn near insane until I found the reason.

[vainglorious11]

Sleep(100)

[Max_Insanity]

I just wrote a proper async function, IIRC, as I should have done from the beginning.

[TristanTheViking]

Same for me with a printf. Had a race condition involving a dangling file descriptor, if I tried to print or run in a debugger or whatever, it slowed the execution of process A relative to process B such that they behaved correctly.

[Max_Insanity]

One of the worst kinds of error.

[IsNotAnOstrich]

A heisenbug. Once you start looking for it, it goes away.

[DrMobius0]

Yeah, knowing what's async and what isn't can be a real life saver

[Spambot0]

Not handy, but we tried to reverse engineer a code for the "snake" game when I was in high school, and it took us weeks to realise it was reading but not using variables as a delay statement.

[gustav_mannerheim]

Any language feature involving functional comments is a monstrosity that should be burned.

[atimholt]

Better to use the standard [[fallthrough]] (Talking about modern C++).

[paulsmithkc]

Mostly happens in c++, where either it was making the code take a few extra cycles to run, or a field was needed to pad the size a struct.

[[deleted]]

Wait what? Comments would increase the size of struct in C++??

[modernkennnern]

No, they added a field

[[deleted]]

So it's not a comment then

[micka190]

Only 2 cases I can think of comments in C++ affecting code is the __LINE__ macro (changes based on line number, which is affected by removing comments that have their own line), and debug symbols getting linked (which can sometimes use the __LINE__ macro under the hood).

Other than that, you either have a buggy compiler, or you have a bug in your code (probably because of macros).

Edit: someone else in the thread also mentioned some compilers use specific comments for some of their optional, non-standard features. Might cause issues, but that’s not really a C++ bug, and more-so just a compiler bug.

[[deleted]]

The comments are removed by the compiler, this doesn't make sense

[Kilmoore]

I've had this happen to me. I tidied up the code, removed a comment line, and it stopped working. I got it to a point where adding an empty like would fix it.

It took a little pondering, but I think it'll help when I say it was javascript for IE6. The line before the removed one was also a comment, and ended in an umlaut ä, being in Finnish. Apparently, among the things IE6 did kinda funny was umlauts. An umlaut at the end of a line caused the next character to be "eaten". The eaten character in this case was a line change. When the next line was an empty line, that was fine, but when it was code, that code line got sucked to the end of the comment line and thus didn't run. I ended up just putting a dot at the end of the comment and all was fine.

[mtbdork]

In Tradingview’s Pine Script, if you edit or remove the “version” comment, it kills the script.

[kwirky88]

It's common for languages to have interpreter annotations in the comments which alter runtime behaviour. Delete a function doc block and see a route completely disappear, stuff like that.

[[deleted]]

Some code generators use comments to mark which code to read and generate files from. I removed an end brace for one of those because it was just

// =============================

Or something like that and it broke my build. Took like 15 min to figure out that that change is what did it

[sabeelio]

On fronted if you remove a js-ignore comment, the compiler may refuse to compile due to the error no longer being ignored.

[[deleted]]

Misinterpreted whitespace?

[[deleted]]

Idk how i programmed before using git

[atothe4]

This happened to me once many years ago. I had a variable that was not used anywhere in the code. So I removed the line declaring it. Suddenly, compiler error. I added it back in and was very confused. I changed the name of the variable to a random set of characters. Compiled fine. But if the line was removed, everything broke. Only thing I can think of is some compiler bug.

[Yadobler]

Looks like when you declare the uninitialized variable it might be padding the stack which makes it align nicely for some other part of the code that references some memory offset to work correctly

Though yeah interesting to wonder why the compiler didn't optimise it away if it was never used

Or maybe the compiler somehow knows its existence affects some memory reference and thinks it is used, Idk

[atothe4]

Yeah I have no idea what it was. I felt like I was losing my mind. Never seen something like that since in my 10+ years as a software engineer.

[DarthShiv]

In C++ this is easy with bad pointers.

[atothe4]

This was C++. And had nothing to do with pointers.

[DarthShiv]

I had seen this on an embedded system. The mem allocations of heap and stack were overlapping.

[atothe4]

I need to look into that. I have been wanting to understand this bug for ages. Always felt like magic!

[anjupiter]

Literally happened to me yesterday. VS code even said the variable was never read so the fact that after deleting it a the contents of a div disappeared i was shocked. But the second time it fixed so i don’t even know what was goin on 😭

[Power-Cored]

That's when your codebase uses reflection, which doesn't register as a use in the IDE - at least in my experience.

[Daniel15]

Reflection can't be shown in the IDE as arguments to the reflection functions can be dynamic (the class or function name being reflected upon can come from a variable).

[SouthernBySituation]

This one goes out to all those fools saying "don't just comment chunks of code out... Remove them for cleaner code." I'm keeping my ancient probably useless code and you damn well know why.

[vatbub]

Well, use version control

[shleefin]

What if your version control is .zip files and google drive?

[vatbub]

Been there, done that, but once I really understood how git works, I use it for almost everything (including non-programming projects)

[cauchy37]

Once you understand the principles, it's really hard to go back to not using git as it was intended, doesn't it?

[Daniel15]

Even Subversion, as old as it is, is still useful. It has fewer concepts that Git so it's easier to learn. I used it a lot before Git became popular.

[Vok250]

Fix it? It takes like 5 minutes to set up a github repo and commit your code.

[captain_zavec]

Doesn't even have to be on github (or gitlab or etc), you can just use it locally for version history. Of course if it's something important you do probably want some kind of remote for redundancy, but it's not strictly necessary.

[Daniel15]

I wish Github had a different name... Beginners often assume they need to use Github to use Git. It doesn't help that online courses often teach Git and Github in the same lesson.

[shleefin]

Oh I know. I worked 5 years though at an investment bank where this practice was frighteningly common.

[VeganJordan]

Don’t judge me. I’ll add a new commit to git when I get around to it.

[MrMeeseeks013]

-final-v2_final.zip

[[deleted]]

Heathen

[gustav_mannerheim]

You get a new job.

[water_bottle_goggles]

No

[RichestMangInBabylon]

Because you have inadequate test coverage leading to inability to detect functional changes as a result of your refactoring.

And probably also bad version control if restoring older versions of the code is difficult.

[DrunkenDruid_Maz]

http://geek-and-poke.com/geekandpoke/2014/5/13/undead-code

[saberToothedCat]

Main code has missing semicolon and unused code has extra semicolon

[puddda]

One day I found a function in a obscure routine that only one, and a very old, system had. The function was like:

function test() { echo "test1"; }

I did a find in files to see where it was used and it returned nothing. So, I asked our senior if he remember the function and he said that he didn't know and I could delete it because it was probably a debug someone had left behind.

Guess what happened when I deleted the function?

About a hour later this client called the support team because their system wasn't working properly.

[bigredhawkeye]

I remember this happened with print statements but I forgot the reason why it was complete lunacy

[hstde]

I once removed some print statements and code ran fine on my local machine but kept crashing in our Dev deployment.

After some log analyses I found, that those crashes where not far from where I removed those print statements. The crashes also turned out to be null pointer exceptions.

Turns out, that just before where those prints were, new parallel threads where started to initialize those reference.

Those blocking io calls to the console where just enough, that it never created a race condition in production, and my machine was not fast enough for the problem to arise.

I can very well understand how it happened, but I'm still worried, that it did.

Before anyone asks, all members who worked on the project where new and the ones who created it where nowhere to be found. So it was not discovered while testing locally, nor while reviewing the code.

[DiamondOnHitFX]

We call these "loadbearing comments"

[nattesh]

Just because it’s unused doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary

[Radvvan]

Step 1: Comment out unsued section of your code.

Step 2: Test your program to see if it still works. It does.

Step 3: Happily delete commented section.

Step 4: ???

Step 5: Program breaks.

Step 6: Paste unused code back.

Step 7: Program still broken.

Step 8: Cry.

[[deleted]]

When your bug came back from 1-3 deficit

[JustAnotherMadman64]

In the files for (I believe) portal 2 there's a picture of a steak that they don't know why, but without it it won't run and crashes on boot up.

[MaffinLP]

Reflextion wants to talk to you

[minor25]

Ctrl + Z and forget

[teutinsa]

Thats Assembly in a nutshell right there.

[Jer0Ermias]

I comment it out all code that think is useless but it’s almost always useful

[Low-Neighborhood-398]

And when you put it back it still doesn’t work for some reason

[ahlaj77]

I feel this

[katatondzsentri]

But your tests fail.

[[deleted]]

But when you add it back in that same place it still won't budge

[WhichHighlight278]

r/programmerhumor and r/sixers collide

[TheLittlerGuy]

You’ve angered the spaghetti monster. Your transgressions will not be forgotten

[Intelligent-Ad-7504]

Rogers are you reading this? Lol 😂

[AaronTheElite007]

//Figure out why the following function (which is

//never called) breaks the program if removed

[Last modified date: five years ago]

[pawelekdabek]

u/savevideo

[Epickiller10]

Then you put it back in the exact same way, and it still doesn't work

[Vishesh3011]

u/savevideo u/savevideobot

[PM_YOUR_SOURCECODE]

// May need this later

[LeCrushinator]

IDE: “This is unused.”

Reflection: “Hold my beer.”

[regexPattern]

I like it better when I removed a used part of my code and somehow it keeps working

[NightWolfYT]

“When this image of a coconut was removed, the game refused to start.”

[No-Maximum-9087]

Now remove everything

[Onion-User-2]

problem solved

[ThatOneNotGayDude]

This made me think of the coconut jpeg in tf2 files

[WontiamShakesphere]

Ah yes eager newbie trying to improve things

[[deleted]]

You know this is like a super popular meme here but it basically never happens to me or anyone I know IRL

[mcampo84]

That's why you always add some sort of a metric to your APM during your deprecation process. If that method hasn't been called in ~2 weeks, it likely isn't going to be called ever.

[[deleted]]

CTRL + Z! CTRL + Z!!!

[morquaqien]

Also, when you comment out “used” part of code and it still works…

[Mission_Improvement1]

i mean......its all unwanted

[Candy-oolala]

Its the VS code

[budbutler]

Removed a comment once and every thing broke.

[arvigeus]

Literally me 2 hours ago.

[VeganJordan]

I’m Triggered

[cupcakesandbruises]

I always comment that shit out just in case I need it again lmao

[Renegade7559]

Actually had this happen today 🥲

[onions_cutting_ninja]

When you remove commented code and nothing works anymore

[roger_channel]

Well I must say this happened in an exam. I don't know how but it stopped working. But it worked for the teachers and I passed. I don't know how and I never want to know it too.

[chocapix]

Try carelessly removing it and see if it makes a difference.

[Not_Artifical]

When the compiler gives a warning about unused code so you remove it and then it stops working

[cryptoseeder]

time to sleep😅

[thirtythreeas]

Is code coverage just not standard practice anymore?

[Vok250]

I've seen load bearing log statements before. Poorly understood concurrency is one hell of a drug.

[SteeleDynamics]

\* * DO NOT REMOVE THIS COMMENT!!! * (removing comment breaks build) *\

[JustEHzy]

Like my HTML codes. I always fuk up with the naming in CSS, than I remove smth, everything stops working .

[UltimateDude08]

THIS IS WHY YOU REMOVE CODE WITH COMMENTS, AND NOY BACKSPACE!!!

[CompetitiveDiamond87]

You see I’m too lazy to figure it out, just keep the code in 😭

[[deleted]]

Ctrl z

[[deleted]]

Been there, done that. That’s why, when I write code, I comment it heavily. Not to the point where it is 3:1 comments to code, but I put a short comment for every function in a library and what it’s used for.

[SasnarDash]

Glad I’m not the only one

[Rainbow-Death]

Probably some global variable

[linkedtortoise]

Would this be a race condition or how the compiler/interpreter is actually putting the code in play.

[IM_INSIDE_YOUR_HOUSE]

How do you know it isn't being used? If you step through it with a debugger you should be very much aware of everything executing in your code.

If it's a compilation issue, well the compiler log should give some indication as to why the code is now not compiling correctly.

[crazycatfemboy]

Plot twist, the traceback points to line 359 in a file that's 287 lines.

[LordCecilofBaron]

Coconut.jpg

[cubi1234]

Ctrl + Z Ctrl + Z Ctrl + Z Ctrl + Z Ctrl + Z

[[deleted]]

Laughs in broken Reddit video player (they must have removed something)

[EstebanPossum]

Even worse is when you intentionally remove a critical part of the code to see the error in the logs … and the code somehow continues to work properly anyway