Why, of all possible languages, would you suggest this for Javascript where semicolons are not mandatory
Ask the author of this meme.
Not only that, the interpreter will point directly to the line of code and possibly to the exact character that is the problem. Any programmer worth anything would find the issue or, worst case, retype the line of code and have the problem fixed rather quickly. “Illegal character” is a pretty easy error to diagnose.
But…I still chuckled a little at the intent of the joke. I’m sure there are better pranks one could come up with, though.
rule 24
Even better would be to remap their keyboard’s semicolon key to that symbol
you are a criminal.
Before I read this comment I believed the concept of hell was immoral.
We all have the one friend or coworker…
U+037E
BOM U+FEFF is another fun one, most editors won’t show it but it can cause errors like when I found one in a SQL script that was combined from existing utf-8 files together with cat. You’ll see it in a hex editor or in notepad I think it just made the rest of the line italic.
Hah. Try it on my version controlled project!
What? Remapping your keyboard? Well, there are worst jokes, I still remember that time when the first PCs appeared and you could try them in shopping centers. They quickly stopped doing this, because some went into the BIOS and disabled the keyboard or worse, the screen, Hail Satan. Good ol’ times 😏
No I mean the code is on a git repository so you see unsaved changes
When your keyboard is remapped, you commit those changes yourself.
u/foundsatan
Would be cooler if u do it in C
Wanted to use this to prank a colleague but SQL server accepts that as well lol
MSVC supports unicode. In C or C++, you could try:
#define ; ;
Second one is the greek semicolon but the client I’m using may strip it out. I’m too lazy to try.
I’m not sure but I think the second one looks just a tiny bit different, so it should have worked.
Running #define ; anything yields error: macro names must be identifiers for both C and C++ in an online compiler. So I don’t think the compiler will let you redefine the semicolon.
Haha. Thanks for checking. Given the C pre-processor, I’m sure there’s a way to maliciously bork it if someone sets their mind to it.
Well I just tried #define int void in C and C++ before a “hello world” program. C++ catches it because main() has to be an int, but C doesn’t care. I think it is because C just treats main() as an int by default; older books on C don’t even include the “int” part of “int main()” because it’s not strictly necessary.
#define int void replaces all ints with type void, which is typically used to write functions with no return value.
Replace all
Wouldn’t most development programs tell them the syntax error on the line and column where you replaced the semicolon
This wouldn’t work
Yeah, doing something similar with brackets would be much more effective since that usually doesn’t give a line number. Is there a unicode clone of )?
Yup. It’s as if we’re assuming this friend is coding inside Notepad.
Just tested in the console, it gives an illegal character error and gives you the line number.
VSCode will add a yellow box around the character and tell you it’s an uncommon glyph.
https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_63#_unicode-highlighting
To note, this came about because it could be valid code and it’s a security risk from copy/pasting malicious code. See:
It would work for someone just starting and not knowing good tooling yet. However, the compiler should also tell you where to look and give you the area to look at as well. It’ll be less clear than an IDE, though.
Imagine using a language that still uses semicolons.
I still use it in Spanish, English and also in German, but certainly not very often.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/a-guide-to-using-semicolons
Klingon doesn’t have a semicolon, switch to that.
But they programm in Malbolge
I use Rust
What about the Oxford semicolon in formal languages?
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HiltMeanwhile in VS Code: hey, I see this Unicode symbol that’s confused for this expected symbol, would you like to replace it?
Maybe if you’re “coding” in notepad
I had a friend who was a compsci minor who did almost the entirety of said minor on a really old chromebook. They did everything on a basic text editor. You would be surprised
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I mean, if they’re evaluating hand written code no sane teacher is going to go “Good God this isn’t a semi colon, it’s a Greek question mark!”
And what of the insane ones?
