• gmtom@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    All programs can be written with on less line of code. All programs have at least one bug.

    The humble “Hello world” would like a word.

    • Amberskin@europe.pub
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      2 months ago

      Just to boast my old timer credentials.

      There is an utility program in IBM’s mainframe operating system, z/OS, that has been there since the 60s.

      It has just one assembly code instruction: a BR 14, which means basically ‘return’.

      The first version was bugged and IBM had to issue a PTF (patch) to fix it.

      • DaPorkchop_@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Okay, you can’t just drop that bombshell without elaborating. What sort of bug could exist in a program which contains a single return instruction?!?

        • Amberskin@europe.pub
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          2 months ago

          It didn’t clear the return code. In mainframe jobs, successful executions are expected to return zero (in the machine R15 register).

          So in this case fixing the bug required to add an instruction instead of removing one.

    • phx@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      You can fit an awful lot of Perl into one line too if you minimize it. It’ll be completely unreadable to most anyone, but it’ll run