Half a gig, half a gig,
Half a gig onboard,
All in the valley of Automation
Ran the six hundred line scripts.
'Forward, the Spaghetti Brigade!
Charge for the system resources!' he said:
Into the valley of Automation
Ran the six hundred line scripts.

'Forward, the Spaghetti Brigade!'
And there was many a user dismay'd.
Yet the scripts knew not
Some one(s) had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do{} && die;
Into the valley of Automation
Ran the six hundred line scripts.

Data to right of them,
Data to left of them,
Data in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with foreach() and while(),
Boldly they ran, not well,
Into the jaws of Automation,
Into the mouth of Data-hell
Ran the six hundred line scripts.

Flash'd nested loops bare,
Flash'd as data turn'd in air
grep()ping the data there,
Charging an army of data, while
All the users wonder'd:
Plunged in the system resources
Right thro' the CPU they broke;
Tester and Designer
Reel'd from the data-churn
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then we rewrote them well, but not
Not six hundred line scripts.

Rewrite to the left of them,
Rewrite to the right of them,
Rewrite behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with foreach() and while(),
While nested loops fell,
They had worked not so well
Came thro' the jaws of Automation,
Back from the mouth of Data-hell
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred line scripts.

When can memory of their excesses fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the users wonder'd.
Beware the charge they made!
Beware the Spaghetti Brigade,
ignoble six hundreds of lines!
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