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  3. And the prize for the most stupid error messages goes to....

And the prize for the most stupid error messages goes to....

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Lounge
csharphelp
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  • L Lost User

    So "" != String.Empty ? :laugh:

    Now is it bad enough that you let somebody else kick your butts without you trying to do it to each other? Now if we're all talking about the same man, and I think we are... it appears he's got a rather growing collection of our bikes.

    OriginalGriffO Offline
    OriginalGriffO Offline
    OriginalGriff
    wrote on last edited by
    #13

    Nope, it's much better! :laugh:

    Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

    "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
    "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

    L M 2 Replies Last reply
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    • K kalberts

      Maybe we should have a modifier "SetOnceReadMany", to describe something that is not a "constant" in the sense of a literal, but will always return the same value when read. At least in a given run it returns the same value - not necessarily under varying conditions, such as moving your code to another operating system. The value is not modifiable (hence 'constant'), but depends on the OS (or some similar external condition.)

      L Offline
      L Offline
      Lost User
      wrote on last edited by
      #14

      Does not help. It still needs to store the string somewhere, even if the string is "" and once it does that, (1) what's stored at that location can be externally modified after compilation and/or during execution.

      Sin tack the any key okay

      K 1 Reply Last reply
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      • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

        Nope, it's much better! :laugh:

        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

        L Offline
        L Offline
        Lost User
        wrote on last edited by
        #15

        Wait, what? You know you can't get high on diesel. Or are we still excited with that extra 40% per gallon by switching fuels?

        Sin tack the any key okay

        L 1 Reply Last reply
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        • L Lost User

          F-ES Sitecore wrote:

          You should give your variables meaningful names.

          I'm sure it was just an example but how do you know it's not meaningful anyway?

          Sin tack the any key okay

          F Offline
          F Offline
          F ES Sitecore
          wrote on last edited by
          #16

          It was only a joke :)

          L 1 Reply Last reply
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          • F F ES Sitecore

            It was only a joke :)

            L Offline
            L Offline
            Lost User
            wrote on last edited by
            #17

            StyleCop: missing joke icon. :suss:

            Sin tack the any key okay

            K L 2 Replies Last reply
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            • L Lost User

              Does not help. It still needs to store the string somewhere, even if the string is "" and once it does that, (1) what's stored at that location can be externally modified after compilation and/or during execution.

              Sin tack the any key okay

              K Offline
              K Offline
              kalberts
              wrote on last edited by
              #18

              Sure, even if the value is burnt into a ROM, you can unsolder that ROM and put another one in place. So you can set Environment.NewLine to "xyzzy", if that satisfies you one way or the other. But that will neither change the newline convention in Windows, *nix or OSX. I've seen people, in classic K&R C, set up #define to give FALSE the value 1 and TRUE the value 0. And I've heard of people programming in Forth to set the value of 3 to 17 - in that language, the literal 3 is a symbol that just happens to initially have the value of e.g. the count of x-es in the string "xxx", but it can be redefined som something else. Aa a code obfuscation mechanism, it is of course great. I think that when you work in a given language, your task should be solved in that language, using the abstractions and concepts in that language. If it says that a value is constant, it IS constant for that problem solution. Just like you can go behind the compiler's back and change a contant value, you can also open an .exe or .dll file before it is run and change a "greater than" conditional jump to a "greater that or equal to" conditional jump. So the loop termination, while appearing to be constant at the source code level, is actually varying depending on which modification are made to the executable code file. If you start digging a huge hole in the ground underneath your house, your house will fall into it. You asked for it, you got it.

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • L Lost User

                StyleCop: missing joke icon. :suss:

                Sin tack the any key okay

                K Offline
                K Offline
                kalberts
                wrote on last edited by
                #19

                Haha, that's a good one. While we are at it: How about truths, are they jokes? Like: Constants aint. Variables won't. (Maybe these are not absolute truths, even though you sometimes get that feeling.)

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • L Lost User

                  Wait, what? You know you can't get high on diesel. Or are we still excited with that extra 40% per gallon by switching fuels?

                  Sin tack the any key okay

                  L Offline
                  L Offline
                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #20

                  Lopatir wrote:

                  You know you can't get high on diesel.

                  Well, technically.. [Continental Diesel](http://www.continentaldiesel.com/typo3/index.php?id=2&L=1) :laugh:

                  Now is it bad enough that you let somebody else kick your butts without you trying to do it to each other? Now if we're all talking about the same man, and I think we are... it appears he's got a rather growing collection of our bikes.

                  1 Reply Last reply
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                  • L Lost User

                    StyleCop: missing joke icon. :suss:

                    Sin tack the any key okay

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #21

                    Lopatir wrote:

                    missing joke icon

                    This is a form of natural selection.

                    Peter Wasser "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

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                    • D David Radcliffe 0

                      Microsoft C#. I set a function parameter (string myVar = string.Empty) and got: Default parameter value for 'myVar' must be a compile-time constant I fail to see how anything could be more constant than string.Empty.... :laugh:

                      S Offline
                      S Offline
                      S Douglas
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #22

                      I raise you a SQL error.. [Error Message] TITLE: SQL Server Setup failure. ------------------------------ SQL Server Setup has encountered the following error: The given key was not present in the dictionary.. For help, click: ------------------------------ BUTTONS: OK ------------------------------ [/Error Message] In the end, it was not happy about an IP address in the cluster.


                      Common sense is admitting there is cause and effect and that you can exert some control over what you understand.

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                      • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                        Nope, it's much better! :laugh:

                        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

                        M Offline
                        M Offline
                        Mycroft Holmes
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #23

                        What!!! I've been extremely anal about using string.Empty instead of "" and you tell me it's the lesser option.

                        Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

                        1 Reply Last reply
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                        • F F ES Sitecore

                          You should give your variables meaningful names.

                          G Offline
                          G Offline
                          Gary Huck
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #24

                          Tell him there's no functions in C#.

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • L Lost User

                            So "" != String.Empty ? :laugh:

                            Now is it bad enough that you let somebody else kick your butts without you trying to do it to each other? Now if we're all talking about the same man, and I think we are... it appears he's got a rather growing collection of our bikes.

                            W Offline
                            W Offline
                            Wearwolf
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #25

                            Run this code

                            if (ReferenceEquals(string.Empty, ""))
                            {
                            Console.WriteLine("\"\" is the same as String.Empty");
                            }

                            String.Empty and "" are likely to reference the same memory location so they are effectively the same (There's a name for this combining of string resources but I forget what it is). The problem with using String.Empty as a default value for a function parameter is that it's not a COMPILE time constant. The value stored in String.Empty is a reference to the string "" stored in memory and that reference doesn't get set until the program starts and the string "" gets loaded into memory. Because how can you have a reference to a memory location before the program has started? So basically this error message is 100% accurate. It wanted a compile time constant but was given a runtime constant and it said "That's not good enough, mate".

                            L 1 Reply Last reply
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                            • W Wearwolf

                              Run this code

                              if (ReferenceEquals(string.Empty, ""))
                              {
                              Console.WriteLine("\"\" is the same as String.Empty");
                              }

                              String.Empty and "" are likely to reference the same memory location so they are effectively the same (There's a name for this combining of string resources but I forget what it is). The problem with using String.Empty as a default value for a function parameter is that it's not a COMPILE time constant. The value stored in String.Empty is a reference to the string "" stored in memory and that reference doesn't get set until the program starts and the string "" gets loaded into memory. Because how can you have a reference to a memory location before the program has started? So basically this error message is 100% accurate. It wanted a compile time constant but was given a runtime constant and it said "That's not good enough, mate".

                              L Offline
                              L Offline
                              Lost User
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #26

                              I wasn't too serious :laugh: However, I think it would make sense if Microsoft actually allow parameters to have a default value of string.Empty instead of "". It's always been pushed as being a bad practice to have 'magic strings' in code.

                              Now is it bad enough that you let somebody else kick your butts without you trying to do it to each other? Now if we're all talking about the same man, and I think we are... it appears he's got a rather growing collection of our bikes.

                              1 Reply Last reply
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                              • D David Radcliffe 0

                                Microsoft C#. I set a function parameter (string myVar = string.Empty) and got: Default parameter value for 'myVar' must be a compile-time constant I fail to see how anything could be more constant than string.Empty.... :laugh:

                                K Offline
                                K Offline
                                Kelly J Grant
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #27

                                Many of you may not be old enough to remember this one. Dumbest error message I ever saw was from early Microsoft DOS: Keyboard not found. Press Enter to continue.

                                J 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • D David Radcliffe 0

                                  Microsoft C#. I set a function parameter (string myVar = string.Empty) and got: Default parameter value for 'myVar' must be a compile-time constant I fail to see how anything could be more constant than string.Empty.... :laugh:

                                  L Offline
                                  L Offline
                                  Lost User
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #28

                                  What about: Keyboard not found. Press any key to continue.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • D David Radcliffe 0

                                    If it is set to readonly so can never change, doesn't that make it constant?

                                    D Offline
                                    D Offline
                                    Daniel Wilianto
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #29

                                    Bro... Readonly field / variable is not the same as constant. I thought it was a very basic knowledge. It seems that I was wrong.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • D David Radcliffe 0

                                      Microsoft C#. I set a function parameter (string myVar = string.Empty) and got: Default parameter value for 'myVar' must be a compile-time constant I fail to see how anything could be more constant than string.Empty.... :laugh:

                                      P Offline
                                      P Offline
                                      Peltier Cooler
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #30

                                      Nah, it's this one: I ran into a nasty little problem while creating the .CAB file which contains the installation, since I have a thousand sound files, which is more than the cabwiz.exe which comes with Visual Studio 2008 can accommodate…and the error code for this defect is completely unhelpful, in the grand Microsoft tradition: Error: File c:\users\[me]\appdata\local\temp\wizbbe1.inf contains DirIDs, which are not supported ERROR: The Windows CE CAB Wizard encountered an error. See the output window for more information. It turns out that VS2008’s cabwiz.exe chokes on more than 998 included files, and this application has 1057. The workaround is to download the SDK for Windows Mobile 6 and use the cabwiz.exe (and the cabwiz.ddf) from that version instead (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\SmartDevices\SDK\SDKTools\CabWiz.exe and CabWiz.ddf with the ones under C:\Program Files\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\Tools\CabWiz). No problem once I had done this. Painful details: Win CE Audible Spanish Flashcards | Stuffilike.net[^]

                                      1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • K Kelly J Grant

                                        Many of you may not be old enough to remember this one. Dumbest error message I ever saw was from early Microsoft DOS: Keyboard not found. Press Enter to continue.

                                        J Offline
                                        J Offline
                                        James Curran
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #31

                                        Actually, that was from the ROM BIOS. (ANd I haven't tried in a while, but you can probably still get it)

                                        Truth, James

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • D David Radcliffe 0

                                          Microsoft C#. I set a function parameter (string myVar = string.Empty) and got: Default parameter value for 'myVar' must be a compile-time constant I fail to see how anything could be more constant than string.Empty.... :laugh:

                                          J Offline
                                          J Offline
                                          James Curran
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #32

                                          Wait I can beat that. I got that same error message just this week, and this code (simplified):

                                          Func Five = ()=>5;

                                          void MyFunc(Func func = Five) { }

                                          How is THAT not a constant?

                                          Truth, James

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