Another day down the tubes

[gbonehead]

So, another day down the tubes. Be prepared for a code-heavy entry. This is the shit I dealt with today; the GUI for our application wouldn't start, see if you can tell why:

for (int iItemIndex=1; iItemIndex <= int(num_tanks); iItemIndex

Comments

[anonymous]

You think this is bad? I found code like this in something that's supposedly has been QA'd already!

BigDecimal something = new BigDecimal();
something.add(somethingElse);

(Dunno how much Java you remember but BigDecimals are immutable). Who needs testing, right?

[kasia]

Er, that comment above was me.

Testing? We don't need no stinking testing.

[gbonehead]

Clearly nobody.

Isn't it special that the software I'm working on will be used TO CONTROL GAS STATIONS. Thankfully the idiot brigade is only working on the GUI. (Most) actual control systems are being done in-house.

But there's still plenty of room for error. I've been going in loop-de-loops with Captain Obstruction about setting default values.

Captain Obstruction is the guy (you may recall) that caused my hire to be delayed by about a month because he's incapable of actually saying anything good about anyone without sounding like he has some hidden dirt on the person. I didn't see the email he sent, but I heard about it after. I heard that everyone gave me a thumbs up except one person, who seemed to have some reservations, and this created a comedy of errors that stalled the whole process over the Christmas holiday. I do recall he kept trying to trip me up about OO design in the interview.

A typical, exchange with this guy is like:

Me: The code does XYZ

Re: Testing? We don't need no stinking testing.

[kasia]

With those braces in all the wrong places I'm not surprised!

Seriously though.. too many developers don't get bit shifting. I've been asking about it in interviews, batting 0 so far.