Editing 1926: Bad Code

{{comic
| number    = 1926
| date      = December 8, 2017
| title     = Bad Code
| image     = bad_code.png
| titletext = "Oh my God, why did you scotch-tape a bunch of hammers together?" "It's ok! Nothing depends on this wall being destroyed efficiently."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a bad coder, very incomplete, added (possibly excessive) explanation for load-bearing wall. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Ponytail]] has caught [[Cueball]] in the act of writing some messy code - code in the form of a spreadsheet formula, which in turn produces another program in a language called {{w|Haskell (programming language)|Haskell}}.
It is explained that ''this'' code will in turn interpret ''more'' source code, specifically markup in {{w|HTML}}.
After Cueball excuses his bad code by stating that "nothing depends on this" (meaning that no other projects rely on this code being good to operate properly), Ponytail uses the analogy of breaking a non-load-bearing wall to ridicule Cueball's excuse.

A load-bearing wall is the wall that supports main structure of the building. Damaging it may cause serious issues. Typically, not all walls in the building are load-bearing; as such, they can be destroyed fairly safely, because "a building doesn't depend on it". However, supporting the building is just ''one'' of the functions on which having an intact wall ''depends''; walls serve many other important purposes, from creating opaque and soundproof barriers (necessary for privacy purposes, particularly for bedrooms and bathrooms), to containing and protecting water pipes and electrical wiring. Thus Ponytail's analogy does not bear much relation to Cueball's code, which really does have no consequence beyond upsetting Ponytail.

Immediately after, Ponytail appears to have realized that she's only ''inspired'' Cueball to go ahead and break the wall, instead of swaying him away from writing ugly code. If left unchecked, this will only end in tragedy. [[905: Homeownership|Hilarious, knee-slapping tragedy.]]

This is most likely a continuation of the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series, but it differs slightly. For one thing, all of the previous strips were name "Code Quality <number>", with the exception of the first, which was just named "Code Quality". Also note that, unlike the previous Code Quality strips, Ponytail does not start using similes like "This is like being in a house built by a child using nothing but a hatchet and a picture of a house". It's also the longest explanation of Cueball's code by Cueball himself.

The title text suggests that Cueball's approach to breaking the wall, scotch-taping a bunch of hammers together, is as good as his code. And his excuse is similar.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is at his desk in a swivel chair, using his computer. Ponytail walks towards him.]
:Ponytail: That's the ugliest mess of code I've ever seen! What on earth are you working on?

:[Cueball swivels his chair to face Ponytail in a frameless panel.]
:Cueball: It's nothing weird this time, I swear.
:Cueball: It just looks bad because it's a spreadsheet formula.

:[Cueball is facing his computer again.]
:Cueball: ...which assembles a Haskell function.
:Ponytail: Uhhh.
:Cueball: ...for parsing HTML.
:Ponytail: ...oh my God.

:[Ponytail is pointing away from the scene.]
:Cueball: It's ok! Nothing depends on this.
:Ponytail: That wall isn't load-bearing. Does that mean we can just throw hammers at it?
:Cueball: ...I mean...
:Ponytail: Wait. Crap.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]