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#1 2009-08-16 08:42:09
- MathsIsFun
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Programming Joke
A programmer is sent to the supermarket with instructions to "buy butter and if they have eggs then buy a dozen."
Returning with 12 butters, the programmer says, "they had eggs".
"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..." - Leon M. Lederman
#2 2009-08-16 09:32:14
- bobbym
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Re: Programming Joke
Hi MathsisFun;
I think he did the right thing.
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as nobody has the slightest notion what it means.
90% of mathematicians do not understand 90% of currently published mathematics.
#4 2010-01-24 05:42:02
- John E. Franklin
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Re: Programming Joke
Good One! (read it 6 months late)
Imagine for a moment that even an earthworm may possess a love of self and a love of others.
#5 2010-02-24 07:31:16
- crystal123
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Re: Programming Joke
i dont get it
im only young thats why
someone explain it plz 
#7 2010-03-01 00:24:28
- bob farey
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Re: Programming Joke
crystal,
It is not a very good joke.
"buy butter and if they have eggs then buy a dozen."
Coders are seen as pedantic persons with absolutely no common sense. This coder was told definitely to buy butter. He was then told that if they have eggs, buy a dozen. The stupid coder thought "the condition IF THEY HAVE EGGS has been met, so I must follow the next instruction, which is buy a dozen. Only an idiot would think that buy a dozen referred to butter. This is because eggs come in dozens, and are a normal purchase, and nobody would buy 12 packs of butter....
#8 2010-03-01 01:33:08
- Devantè
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#9 2010-03-01 03:11:36
- mathsyperson
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Re: Programming Joke
Hey, it's not the programmer's fault if he got bad instructions.
Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.
#13 2010-03-10 04:06:50
- bob farey
- Guest
Re: Programming Joke
buy butter is a specific instruction, so pop a block into your basket
and means more instructions are coming
if they have eggs means if there are eggs on sale, chicken duck or ostrich, it doesn't matter, read the next instruction
if there are no eggs on sale, you have finished, proceed to checkout
buy a dozen means I don't want 6 or 24 now proceed to checkout
#15 2010-03-10 08:25:27
- phrontister
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Re: Programming Joke
bob farey wrote:
if they have eggs means if there are eggs on sale
Why now limit the eggs to those that are on sale? That adds a constraint to the original instructions.
Last edited by phrontister (2010-03-10 09:24:23)
"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson
#21 2010-06-08 04:11:10
- KrazyKyngeKorny
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Re: Programming Joke
I knew a fellow, early twenties, who aspired to be a professional programmer.
He showed me some code for a program he was writing (BASIC).
At one point he had code like
if x < 10 then
if x < 8 then
(code)
else if x < 5 then
(code)
Unfortunately, much of this sort of thing goes on in professional programming.
#22 2010-07-06 03:10:29
- jk22
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Re: Programming Joke
programmers have noticed it's much easier to program an automatic insult generator than a worship generator.
and that death of people was always the same : enough money was put in the bet, that it was worth programming the death of with certainty : take bill with the more money corresponding, say the cause.
Last edited by jk22 (2010-07-06 03:20:06)
#24 2011-12-02 17:23:53
- DaveRobinsonUK1
- Member
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Re: Programming Joke
KrazyKyngeKorny wrote:
I knew a fellow, early twenties, who aspired to be a professional programmer.
He showed me some code for a program he was writing (BASIC).
At one point he had code like
if x < 10 then
if x < 8 then
(code)
else if x < 5 then
(code)
Unfortunately, much of this sort of thing goes on in professional programming.
Yeah! tell me about it. I work with artists who think because they have learned how write a small script
they are somehow equivalent to god. Not only do they do things like this, they also NEVER comment their
code. Then to add further complication they needlessly split functions out into separate files. Also they
don't document or provide test data for the program. As a result when you come to make some changes
you have to go through the whole thing line by line. They don't seem to understand the concept of making
it work on paper before going anywhere near a keyboard.
These people are a menace and have no business being in charge of a programming language.
I see it, but I don't believe it.
#25 2011-12-02 20:13:53
- bobbym
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Re: Programming Joke
Hi DaveRobinsonUK1;
Calm down Dave. Thoughts like that only elevate your blood pressure. They do not change the way they work.
But between you and I, you are absolutely correct.
They don't seem to understand the concept of making
it work on paper before going anywhere near a keyboard.
I did not think anyone coded like that anymore or even knew about it.
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as nobody has the slightest notion what it means.
90% of mathematicians do not understand 90% of currently published mathematics.