Re: The joys of bad code

This charmer was found in the codebase im working on now. I almost fell out of my chair when I first encountered it:

Public Function MyMonthName(ByVal m As Long, _
                            Optional ByVal appr As Boolean = False) As
+ String

   Dim tmp As String

   Select Case m
      Case 1:     tmp = "January"
      Case 2:     tmp = "February"
      Case 3:     tmp = "March"
      Case 4:     tmp = "April"
      Case 5:     tmp = "May"
      Case 6:     tmp = "June"
      Case 7:     tmp = "July"
      Case 8:     tmp = "August"
      Case 9:     tmp = "September"
      Case 10:    tmp = "October"
      Case 11:    tmp = "November"
      Case 12:    tmp = "December"
      Case Else:  tmp = Format(m, "0")
   End Select

   If appr Then
      MyMonthName = Left(tmp, 3)
   Else
      MyMonthName = tmp
   End If

End Function
[download]

---
demerphq

_{First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

-- Gandhi

Flux8}

Comment on Re: The joys of bad code Download Code

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Re^2: The joys of bad code by bart (Canon) on Oct 26, 2004 at 20:13 UTC
Plenty of similar code on thedailyWTF.com, for example Thankfully, there's only twelve months and Remember when Java didn't have any loop structures?. Plenty of fun to be had there, and new ones are added (almost) daily.	[reply]
Re^2: The joys of bad code by thor (Priest) on Oct 26, 2004 at 15:35 UTC
Perhaps I don't know enough Visual Basic (I think this is what this is anyways...). Care to elaborate so I too can fall out of my chair? thor `Feel the white light, the light within Be your own disciple, fan the sparks of will For all of us waiting, your kingdom will come`	[reply]
Re^3: The joys of bad code by hardburn (Abbot) on Oct 26, 2004 at 16:41 UTC
Glad somebody was brave enough to ask. It seems like reasonable code to me, too. There are better ways to do it in other languages, but if you're writing in VB, you have to live with the limitations that implies. (In Perl I'd either use DateTime or make it a hash lookup.) "There is no shame in being self-taught, only in not trying to learn in the first place." -- Atrus, Myst: The Book of D'ni.	[reply]
Re^4: The joys of bad code by demerphq (Chancellor) on Oct 26, 2004 at 17:36 UTC
A hash lookup? Why not an array? Anyway, i wouldnt have laughed so hard if it had been written something like the following: Public Function GetMonthName(ByVal m As Long, _ Optional ByVal abbr As Boolean = False) As String Static Months(12) As String If (Months(1) <> "January") Then Months(1) = "January" Months(2) = "February" Months(3) = "March" Months(4) = "April" Months(5) = "May" Months(6) = "June" Months(7) = "July" Months(8) = "August" Months(9) = "September" Months(10) = "October" Months(11) = "November" Months(12) = "December" End If Dim tmp As String If (m >= 1 And m <= 12) Then tmp = Months(m) Else tmp = Format(m, "0") End If If abbr Then GetMonthName = Left(tmp, 3) Else GetMonthName = tmp End If End Function [download] --- demerphq _{First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi Flux8}	[reply] [d/l]
Re^5: The joys of bad code by hardburn (Abbot) on Oct 26, 2004 at 18:30 UTC
Re^5: The joys of bad code by Anonymous Monk on Oct 28, 2004 at 00:06 UTC
Re^6: The joys of bad code by demerphq (Chancellor) on Oct 28, 2004 at 08:11 UTC
Some notes below your chosen depth have not been shown here
Re^6: The joys of bad code (coupling) by g00n (Hermit) on Oct 28, 2004 at 06:42 UTC
Re^4: The joys of bad code by Dylan (Monk) on Oct 26, 2004 at 17:37 UTC
An array lookup would work, too.	[reply]
Re^4: The joys of bad code by jdporter (Paladin) on Oct 28, 2004 at 17:47 UTC
Actually, there's a pretty nifty native way to do this. Probably less efficient than a hash lookup, but more consistent. `Function MyMonthName(ByVal m As Long, Optional ByVal appr As Boolean = + False) As String Dim v v = CDate("2004-" & m & "-01") Dim fmt As String If appr Then fmt = "MMM" Else fmt = "MMMM" End If MyMonthName = Format(v, fmt) End Function` [download]	[reply] [d/l]