Reply to: What is the best comment in source code you have ever encountered?

[CoolCat]

Left by a friend (lets call him Fred) who had left a few months previously in a very obscure part of a very big lot of code which had :

/* Dear CoolCat, I knew you would get here eventually I know there are major problems in here somewhere, I spent 3 months trying to figure out whats going on, but I couldn’t solve it, good luck Fred */

or on another project there was a routine that went

if (cfweweew) then

elseif (efqercqre) then

elseif (eqerce) then

and so on all the way down to

else

/* its impossible to get here */

print to all the senior management consoles “TOTAL INTERNAL TULIP ERROR!!!”

endif

oh those were the days, now who took the call from senior managers saying why does my console say “TOTAL INTERNAL TULIP ERROR!!!”

happy days

[DimPrawn]

/* This code is forked. See repository B. Tim Smith 05/07/07. */
/* You ain't kidding it's forked. DP 17/09/13. */

[Zippy]

//Fixed by AB
//Made to work by XY

[CourtesyFlush]

In a very long sql stored proc :

//There's a problem somewhere between here

..... 500 lines of code

//and here and I'm buggered if I can find it.

The sproc was around 5000 lines long IIRC. This was at a very large trading floor in London.

[bobspud]

In a unix script for a bank back in the 90's...

## speed this up by replacing /dev/rmt0 with /dev/null

[KentPhilip]

Shouldn't that be FUKUP

Good idea. I'll change the job name on our live server right now

[DimPrawn]

// TODO
// 1. Post on CUK
// 2. Get phone number of girl in accounts
// 3. Send invoice
// 4. Get contract renewed AND THEN
// 5. Remove this TODO list from source code

[MyUserName]

A file in the middle of a hideous 3G telecoms algorithm had not changed for years and the last change was:

// this does not work, will fix it

[BrilloPad]

1. you will never figure this code out - this is the recipe for a really good cocktail instead <recipe listed>.
2. this is a pdp 11-70 not the starship enterprise.

[doodab]

// We're going to need some better programmers

[SimonMac]

"Full UK backup"
was abbreviated to: fuk

Shouldn't that be FUKUP

[NotAllThere]

...'this shouldn't happen'

Now a feature of many languages : ASSERT.

// I have used "HIPPOTAMUS" as the EOF marker, as there is no EOF marker in this sorry excuse for a language.

The language was RPF - ROSCOE Programming Facility.

[KentPhilip]

"Full UK backup"
was abbreviated to: fuk

[NickFitz]

Related: when I was writing game conversions in the 80s, some publishers would insist on a cheat code in the game. The idea was that once the initial sales had died down, the games mags would publish the cheat code, and it would boost sales briefly. (Yes, all those "secret cheat codes" in the games mags were actually given to them by the publishers. You were fourteen and thought it was a real secret. Not your fault.)

All mine were abuse directed at the leader of the government and her cronies. They didn't get published

[SunnyInHades]

// If reach here the unit is on fire