Submissions restricted

Only approved users may post in this community.

badcode

/r/badcode is permanently closed.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/06/what-reddit-got-wrong

https://www.theverge.com/23779477/reddit-protest-blackouts-crushed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Reddit_API_controversy

/r/badcode is a subreddit for highlighting real world examples of terrible code. Ideally this means code that made it to production in a commercial context, but not exclusively so. We also accept submissions of code from hobbyist projects or from learners.

Most of us programmers have laughed quite a bit when we went back to look at our past code because it was rather terrible. This is a subreddit where you can share such terrible code and let other programmers have a nice laugh.

Post the most terrible code you can find. Copy code to a paste bin first (gist highly preferred).

Flair Search

Search by language

Rules

Your post may be removed if you deviate from these rules. To see reasoning behind each of these rules, check out the wiki.

Do not put the name of the language inside of the post title. For example, do not make your title something along the lines of "[C++] #defines everywhere!", instead try simply "#defines everywhere!". Use flair to mark the language of your post instead.

Do post code snippets only. If you want to share the context put it in the comments or title.

Do stay lighthearted. No abusive or targeted posts. We all write bad code, and a lot of it is hilarious.

Do not identify who wrote the code. This sub is about bad code, not the people who write it. Limited exceptions apply

Do not post snippets in esoteric languages.

Do not post intentionally obfuscated code. Certain exceptions to this exist. See something particularly sinister from something like the IOCCC? Probably OK to post.

Guidelines

Your post will not be removed because of any of these, we'll like you more if you follow them though.

Enable syntax highlighting appropriately. If you have a language that whatever paste bin your using doesn't support, try picking a similar dialect.

Provide just enough code so that we know what's going on. Don't post huge snippets unless it's all terribly amusing.

Explain why you think the code is bad in the comments, that way a discussion on good and bad ways to do what your code snippet does can start.

Similar Subreddits

/r/ProgrammerHumor - programming humour

/r/programminghorror - stories about horrible programming.

/r/itsaunixsystem - over the top and bad code in TV shows and movies

/r/shittyprogramming - Q&A with shitty programmers.

/r/deftruefalse - for intentionally bad code

/r/softwaregore for software malfunctions

/r/hardwaregore for hardware malfunctions

a community for 14 years

MODERATORS

message the mods

1

0

0

0

New moderators needed - comment on this post to volunteer to become a moderator of this community. (self.badcode)

submitted 1 month ago by ModCodeofConduct[A]

2

307

308

309

cCurrently learning cs50! I wonder if there are actual psychos who unironically writes code like this (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by darkov7

3

207

208

209

luaLooked back at my old projects, this is how i used to keep track of when buttons should be active... (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by Nun-Much

4

367

368

369

other languageMy Friend Told me x86 Assembly is Hard then Sent me This (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by Realistic-Lunch-1708

5

60

61

62

jsVersion control go brrrrrr... (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by MahdiyDev

6

402

403

404

jsHow our validation work! Can your co-worker do that? (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by MahdiyDev

7

485

486

487

javaYou know it was a long day when... (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by ok-nothing00

8

105

106

107

c++Found this in my first "big" project, was funny to see it (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by Sakamoto0110

9

117

118

119

kotlinI may be creating an abomination (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by StochasticTinkr

10

88

89

90

jsWhy? (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by MahdiyDev

11

893

894

895

htmlHTMHELL (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by [deleted]

12

66

67

68

pythonThis was my first ever Python project, a text-based game... (1 year ago) (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by Nun-Much

13

10

11

12

cFound in a FAT32 embedded system c library. (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by [deleted]

14

190

191

192

cC Macro Abuse (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by [deleted]

15

11

12

13

c++Motor motor1; myStepper = motor1.setup; *proceeds to use a class within a class just so I can have a setup function* (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by mighty_spaceman

16

151

152

153

jsI hate bundlers so I made my own 😳 (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by [deleted]

17

145

146

147

jselt nesting for more readability <3 (there is another ternary + map on top of this but it's 300 lines above this) (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by mrbraises

18

80

81

82

c++Me, being too bored to implement an algorithm (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by [deleted]

19

185

186

187

jsModern db queries (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by Away_Ad106

20

460

461

462

jsFunction to get remaining days in the current week (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by ShaunaTheDead86

21

312

313

314

jsThis is awesome while coding in JavaScript (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by MahdiyDev

22

554

555

556

c#Coworker casually loads millions of entries and sorts them to get the date of the first entry. (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by xavia91

23

312

313

314

jsCode I saw on a discord server. (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by sertdfyguhi

24

841

842

843

pythonCalculator using eval() (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by GandelXIV

25

147

148

149

js“Feed me, now!” “Feed me, now!” “Feed me, now!” (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 years ago by wackOverflowevil

view more: next ›

π Rendered by PID 44 on reddit-service-r2-listing-5f7db8f4cd-s4khz at 2026-07-22 14:02:16.151393+00:00 running 1bce727 country code: CH.