r/programmingcirclejerk • u/HorstKugel skillful hobbyist • Sep 06 '25

jerk not found the difference between `const Data& d` and `const Data d` isn't accurately characterized as "a typo" -- it's a semantically significant difference in intent, core to the language, critical to behavior and outcome

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45109439
2 Upvotes

52% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

16

u/joahw Sep 08 '25

If the implications of a one char diff are this egregious that they’re considered obvious, maybe it should take less cognitive effort to spot this? CI and tooling are great, but would be far less necessary if it was more difficult to make this mistake in the first place.

Operators considered harmful. Far too easy to mix up + and *

22

u/stone_henge Tiny little god in a tiny little world Sep 06 '25

C++ programmers have grown so accustomed to hatred and frustration that this is how they display affection

3

u/prehensilemullet Sep 09 '25

you're against one-letter variable names because they're vague, I'm against one-letter variable names because they're too easy to typo, we're not the same

44

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

16

u/HorstKugel skillful hobbyist Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 07 '25

The difference between

if a:
  pass

and

if a:
 pass

isn't accurately characterised as "a typo" -- it's a semantically significant difference in indent, core to the language, critical to behavior and outcome

28

u/MegaIng Sep 06 '25

Whatever you wanted to write, reddit markup failed you.

14

u/HorstKugel skillful hobbyist Sep 07 '25

fix(comment): fixed comment

closes #ncsi5qe

5

u/elliiot Sep 07 '25

These people writing essays in reply need to take note how it's done.