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Cleverest Code of the Day!

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  • E Ehsan Sajjad

    While comparing my changes with the server source code, just saw with my two eyes this great piece of code which checks if an nullable int is null or not :

    private bool IsHasValue(int? a)
    {
    if (a== null)
    {
    return false;
    }
    return true;
    }

    The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c# :laugh:

    K Offline
    K Offline
    kalberts
    wrote on last edited by
    #15

    Remimds me of the code generated by a compiler I once knew: This was in the days of the superminis, very much CISC. This machine (called ND-500) had a "LoadIndex [register] [indexvalue] [min] [max]" instruction: If the value at [indexvalue] was not between [min] and [max], a exception was generated. This compiler could (optionally) verify all array indexing, using this instruction, but not quite in the straightforward way that you might think. A disassembly showed something like this LOAD R4, indexvalue COMP R4, min JUMPLT error COMP R4, max JUMPGT error % everything is OK, go ahead ... error: LOADINDEX R4, R4, 0, -1 % no legal range, will unconditionally generate exception Generating six instructions to replace a single one can be meaningful, but hardly when one of the six is the instruction you want to replace... I was working in the company making both the CPU and the compiler, so I went to the compiler guy for an explanation. He insisted that since index check was an option, it should not change any code generated, only add code: The index check is like a debugging aid that you might turn off in a production build, and the production version should be exactly the code you debugged, minus the debug features. With the option off, the first instruciton (LOAD R4, indexvalue) was generated. Turn it on, and you get the five additional instructions. Needless to say: Even though his argument sort of sounds plausible, I strongly disagreed with him. First, index checking is not a debug feature; you keep it on in the production version. Second: Given an option set, the compiler should be free to the best code for that selection of options, ignoring other option sets (think of optimization options!) After much arguing, he agreed to rather generate LOAD R4, indexvalue LOADINDEX R4, R4, min, max ... two instructions is better than six. But he stuck to his principles: I never got him to generate a singel LOADINDEX.

    E 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • K kalberts

      Remimds me of the code generated by a compiler I once knew: This was in the days of the superminis, very much CISC. This machine (called ND-500) had a "LoadIndex [register] [indexvalue] [min] [max]" instruction: If the value at [indexvalue] was not between [min] and [max], a exception was generated. This compiler could (optionally) verify all array indexing, using this instruction, but not quite in the straightforward way that you might think. A disassembly showed something like this LOAD R4, indexvalue COMP R4, min JUMPLT error COMP R4, max JUMPGT error % everything is OK, go ahead ... error: LOADINDEX R4, R4, 0, -1 % no legal range, will unconditionally generate exception Generating six instructions to replace a single one can be meaningful, but hardly when one of the six is the instruction you want to replace... I was working in the company making both the CPU and the compiler, so I went to the compiler guy for an explanation. He insisted that since index check was an option, it should not change any code generated, only add code: The index check is like a debugging aid that you might turn off in a production build, and the production version should be exactly the code you debugged, minus the debug features. With the option off, the first instruciton (LOAD R4, indexvalue) was generated. Turn it on, and you get the five additional instructions. Needless to say: Even though his argument sort of sounds plausible, I strongly disagreed with him. First, index checking is not a debug feature; you keep it on in the production version. Second: Given an option set, the compiler should be free to the best code for that selection of options, ignoring other option sets (think of optimization options!) After much arguing, he agreed to rather generate LOAD R4, indexvalue LOADINDEX R4, R4, min, max ... two instructions is better than six. But he stuck to his principles: I never got him to generate a singel LOADINDEX.

      E Offline
      E Offline
      Ehsan Sajjad
      wrote on last edited by
      #16

      that's why i wouldn't get in discussion with senior dev on this :laugh:

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • Z Z C M

        A consultant friend of mine who has been programming far longer than I have—he started programming on the early Macs and helped write the first music notation software for the Mac—doesn't see why C# should need to use .SubString() to get the left/right most characters from a string and instead wrote these. I don't really have a problem with this sort of thing. I just don't see the point, but that's just me.

            public string LeftStringFunction(string sValue, int iMaxLength)
            {
                //Check if the value is valid
                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(sValue))
                {
                    //Set valid empty string as string could be null
                    sValue = string.Empty;
                }
                else if (sValue.Length > iMaxLength)
                {
                    //Make the string no longer than the max length
                    sValue = sValue.Substring(0, iMaxLength);
                }
        
                //Return the string
                return sValue;
            }
        
            public string RightStringFunction(string sValue, int iMaxLength)
            {
                //Check if the value is valid
                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(sValue))
                {
                    //Set valid empty string as string could be null
                    sValue = string.Empty;
                }
                else if (sValue.Length > iMaxLength)
                {
                    //Make the string no longer than the max length
                    sValue = sValue.Substring(sValue.Length - iMaxLength, iMaxLength);
                }
        
                //Return the string
                return sValue;
            }
        

        "...JavaScript could teach Dyson how to suck." -- Nagy Vilmos

        E Offline
        E Offline
        englebart
        wrote on last edited by
        #17

        If Right$() and Left$() make some other code easier to parse. Good for him. It seems like those should be static or some sort of extension method. What is "this" in those methods?

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

          Looks like somebody's trying to reinvent VB6's Left$ and Right$, neither of which throw an exception if you specify a length that's longer than the string. :)


          "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

          D Offline
          D Offline
          den2k88
          wrote on last edited by
          #18

          Richard Deeming wrote:

          either of which throw an exception if you specify a length that's longer than the string.

          Why on Earth should they?

          GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

          Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • E Ehsan Sajjad

            While comparing my changes with the server source code, just saw with my two eyes this great piece of code which checks if an nullable int is null or not :

            private bool IsHasValue(int? a)
            {
            if (a== null)
            {
            return false;
            }
            return true;
            }

            The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c# :laugh:

            O Offline
            O Offline
            obermd
            wrote on last edited by
            #19

            Does it predate the Nullable data type being added to the framework?

            E 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • O obermd

              Does it predate the Nullable data type being added to the framework?

              E Offline
              E Offline
              Ehsan Sajjad
              wrote on last edited by
              #20

              the parameter is itself a Nullable and i know this is the latest code that we are working on in .NET 4.0 using C# 6 language in it.

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • E Ehsan Sajjad

                While comparing my changes with the server source code, just saw with my two eyes this great piece of code which checks if an nullable int is null or not :

                private bool IsHasValue(int? a)
                {
                if (a== null)
                {
                return false;
                }
                return true;
                }

                The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c# :laugh:

                G Offline
                G Offline
                Gary Huck
                wrote on last edited by
                #21

                You could consider telling the senior dev about the .HasValue property; knowledge share. Also, the correct English for "... an nullable ..." is "... a nullable ...". :)

                E 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • G Gary Huck

                  You could consider telling the senior dev about the .HasValue property; knowledge share. Also, the correct English for "... an nullable ..." is "... a nullable ...". :)

                  E Offline
                  E Offline
                  Ehsan Sajjad
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #22

                  senior is aware of that, but i am not getting why this method was authored in first place :) I will discuss for sure sometime that.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • E Ehsan Sajjad

                    While comparing my changes with the server source code, just saw with my two eyes this great piece of code which checks if an nullable int is null or not :

                    private bool IsHasValue(int? a)
                    {
                    if (a== null)
                    {
                    return false;
                    }
                    return true;
                    }

                    The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c# :laugh:

                    R Offline
                    R Offline
                    rnbergren
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #23

                    quit reviewing my code little dude. :)

                    To err is human to really mess up you need a computer

                    E 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • R rnbergren

                      quit reviewing my code little dude. :)

                      To err is human to really mess up you need a computer

                      E Offline
                      E Offline
                      Ehsan Sajjad
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #24

                      :omg: it was you, didn't knew :laugh:

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • E Ehsan Sajjad

                        While comparing my changes with the server source code, just saw with my two eyes this great piece of code which checks if an nullable int is null or not :

                        private bool IsHasValue(int? a)
                        {
                        if (a== null)
                        {
                        return false;
                        }
                        return true;
                        }

                        The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c# :laugh:

                        P Offline
                        P Offline
                        patbob
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #25

                        Ehsan Sajjad wrote:

                        The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c#

                        There's the problem right there -- they're not used to thinking of base, simple types as classes. Ask them what they think an int? is, and they'll probably tell you it's a pointer to an int. Pointers aren't classes that can have functions. Took me a while to get used to the concept too.

                        I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.

                        E 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • P patbob

                          Ehsan Sajjad wrote:

                          The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c#

                          There's the problem right there -- they're not used to thinking of base, simple types as classes. Ask them what they think an int? is, and they'll probably tell you it's a pointer to an int. Pointers aren't classes that can have functions. Took me a while to get used to the concept too.

                          I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.

                          E Offline
                          E Offline
                          Ehsan Sajjad
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #26

                          you are probably right, once i was having code review meeting with that dev and i was asked to replace var keyword with that particular type name, as according to him, it will degrade performance, i then corrected him and gave reference to a post which explained it is just implicit variable that infers the type and nothing else. :)

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • Z Z C M

                            A consultant friend of mine who has been programming far longer than I have—he started programming on the early Macs and helped write the first music notation software for the Mac—doesn't see why C# should need to use .SubString() to get the left/right most characters from a string and instead wrote these. I don't really have a problem with this sort of thing. I just don't see the point, but that's just me.

                                public string LeftStringFunction(string sValue, int iMaxLength)
                                {
                                    //Check if the value is valid
                                    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(sValue))
                                    {
                                        //Set valid empty string as string could be null
                                        sValue = string.Empty;
                                    }
                                    else if (sValue.Length > iMaxLength)
                                    {
                                        //Make the string no longer than the max length
                                        sValue = sValue.Substring(0, iMaxLength);
                                    }
                            
                                    //Return the string
                                    return sValue;
                                }
                            
                                public string RightStringFunction(string sValue, int iMaxLength)
                                {
                                    //Check if the value is valid
                                    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(sValue))
                                    {
                                        //Set valid empty string as string could be null
                                        sValue = string.Empty;
                                    }
                                    else if (sValue.Length > iMaxLength)
                                    {
                                        //Make the string no longer than the max length
                                        sValue = sValue.Substring(sValue.Length - iMaxLength, iMaxLength);
                                    }
                            
                                    //Return the string
                                    return sValue;
                                }
                            

                            "...JavaScript could teach Dyson how to suck." -- Nagy Vilmos

                            M Offline
                            M Offline
                            MSBassSinger
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #27

                            I seem to remember VB having that functionality for strings.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • N Nish Nishant

                              Left$ would be GwBasic (not VB6 where the $s were dropped) :-)

                              Nish Nishant Consultant Software Architect Ganymede Software Solutions LLC www.ganymedesoftwaresolutions.com

                              Richard DeemingR Offline
                              Richard DeemingR Offline
                              Richard Deeming
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #28

                              The $s weren't required, but IIRC they were still allowed. Left returned a Variant, whereas Left$ returned a String. But I could be wrong - it's been over 15 years since I last touched VB6. :D


                              "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                              "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

                              N 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • D den2k88

                                Richard Deeming wrote:

                                either of which throw an exception if you specify a length that's longer than the string.

                                Why on Earth should they?

                                GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

                                Richard DeemingR Offline
                                Richard DeemingR Offline
                                Richard Deeming
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #29

                                Because that's how there were designed. Probably because that's how the Java version[^] works. :) Specifying an index or a length outside of the string is usually a sign that something's gone wrong. In which case, it's better to have your application crash than for it to continue with potentially corrupted data. If you don't like it, you can always add your own checks. Or roll your own "ignore-the-errors" wrappers. Or call the VB.NET methods[^].


                                "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                                "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

                                  The $s weren't required, but IIRC they were still allowed. Left returned a Variant, whereas Left$ returned a String. But I could be wrong - it's been over 15 years since I last touched VB6. :D


                                  "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                                  N Offline
                                  N Offline
                                  Nish Nishant
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #30

                                  Ah yes, now that you say it, it sounds vaguely familiar :-)

                                  Nish Nishant Consultant Software Architect Ganymede Software Solutions LLC www.ganymedesoftwaresolutions.com

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • E Ehsan Sajjad

                                    While comparing my changes with the server source code, just saw with my two eyes this great piece of code which checks if an nullable int is null or not :

                                    private bool IsHasValue(int? a)
                                    {
                                    if (a== null)
                                    {
                                    return false;
                                    }
                                    return true;
                                    }

                                    The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c# :laugh:

                                    L Offline
                                    L Offline
                                    Lost User
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #31

                                    My issue is with "IsHas". I use "is" or "has", not both.

                                    "(I) am amazed to see myself here rather than there ... now rather than then". ― Blaise Pascal

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • E Ehsan Sajjad

                                      While comparing my changes with the server source code, just saw with my two eyes this great piece of code which checks if an nullable int is null or not :

                                      private bool IsHasValue(int? a)
                                      {
                                      if (a== null)
                                      {
                                      return false;
                                      }
                                      return true;
                                      }

                                      The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c# :laugh:

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

                                      He hasn't written enough code for the week.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • R raddevus

                                        Well obviously checking for false (in the calling code) is so much better than checking for null. Plus, if the int isn't null (contains a value) then you get the wonderful True back and true just makes you feel good. :laugh:

                                        E Offline
                                        E Offline
                                        Ehsan Sajjad
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #33

                                        my one of the colleague just pinged me with :

                                        IsHasValue() => IsHasHavingValuePerhaps();

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • E Ehsan Sajjad

                                          While comparing my changes with the server source code, just saw with my two eyes this great piece of code which checks if an nullable int is null or not :

                                          private bool IsHasValue(int? a)
                                          {
                                          if (a== null)
                                          {
                                          return false;
                                          }
                                          return true;
                                          }

                                          The code is written by very senior developer on my team with huge years of experience in c# :laugh:

                                          M Offline
                                          M Offline
                                          Member_5893260
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #34

                                          My all-time favourite was from a mid-level programmer of ours who wanted to pass a form field value from one web page to the next: something he did all the time... except that in this instance, for some inexplicable reason, he created a table in the database, used Ajax to write the value to it and retrieve a record ID; he then put the record ID into a hidden field on the page, submitted the form, and then, in the next page, used the record ID to retrieve the value from the database and delete the record. Unfortunately, his English wasn't that great... so in response to the question, "What the hell is this supposed to be?" he said, "That mean I do my way. Fuck you, Dan!"

                                          E 1 Reply Last reply
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