Isn't this problem mostly solved by type casting? I've never encountered a problem where 'Null' and Null were the same thing. Is it just shoddy code that runs everything through an eval or lambda?
People with names that break computers
41–50 of 288 posts
Re: People with names that break computers
#42Breaking computers can be useful. Isaac Asimov had a series of short stories written in the form of conversations between the writer and a friend named George. George claims to have discovered how to summon a demon, and the conversations are about that demon. The demon is not allowed to directly help George, but he will do favors for George's friends. These favors invariably do not turn out good for the friend. Each…
This story is great, I want to checkout the author now! The demon seems less of an actual evil being and more as a person who gets excited about awesome stories, uses ying yang guide the vine of destiny. Maybe half expecting a smile only to see horror. I know this is now the best place for poetry, but this story was very fun to read
Re: People with names that break computers
#43People do no have names that break computers. Programmers believe they have certain structures when they don't then his or her code fails. http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-b...
For what it's worth, programmers do not have the tools to perfectly handle the complexity of human language. It's a hard problem.
That, and we have bosses who don't believe us that a single string for first and last name won't work for everyone.
Re: People with names that break computers
#44People do no have names that break computers. Programmers believe they have certain structures when they don't then his or her code fails. http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-b...
For what it's worth, programmers do not have the tools to perfectly handle the complexity of human language. It's a hard problem.
Names are an incredibly tiny subset of human communication, and if we were having a beer at the bar, I'd take a swing at arguing that they're not part of language at all.
Re: People with names that break computers
#45Air Canada and several other airlines have for several years been unable to read my passport on the automated check in because I have a suffix in my name (II). I am told that "this happens with everyone who has a suffix", which just boggles my mind.
I've run into the same thing on trips to Toronto and Montreal recently. I'm (marginally) glad that I'm not the only one.
Re: People with names that break computers
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what it's worth, programmers do not have the tools to perfectly handle the complexity of human language. It's a hard problem.
That, and we have bosses who don't believe us that a single string for first and last name won't work for everyone.
Conversely (or is it inversely?), I've got a coworker whose entire, full, legal name is a single word. It just shows up twice in all of our systems.
Re: People with names that break computers
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
And if you are naming kids and want to save them a lot of bureaucracy in their lives, give them short names. I think it depends. Sometimes it's helpful to give them names that are just long enough to make their identities unique, so when they apply for police clearances, for example, they are not mistaken for similarly-named people with criminal records, or even nasty reputations.
I suspect the worst case is when you have a name that is neither common nor unique that you share with someone who is notorious in some manner. I used to know someone who lived in the same city and shared a name with someone who was in the news for some unsavory activity related to a local sports team. He literally had death threat voicemails left on his phone.
A family member of mine shares a name with a fairly notorious con artist in the SoCal area, who has been convicted multiple times for a series of increasingly big, elaborate, and bizarre frauds. Their names are just unique enough that many people assume my family member is the criminal. Fortunately, the felon was put away for 30+ years recently, so we hope he won't continue to make local headlines.
Re: People with names that break computers
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what it's worth, programmers do not have the tools to perfectly handle the complexity of human language. It's a hard problem.
A free text entry field would cover almost everyone.
Except people without a single canonical name, or those with no names. Doesn't solve ordering. Or a few more problems from http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-b... I'm sure.
Re: People with names that break computers
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect the worst case is when you have a name that is neither common nor unique that you share with someone who is notorious in some manner. I used to know someone who lived in the same city and shared a name with someone who was in the news for some unsavory activity related to a local sports team. He literally had death threat voicemails left on his phone.
A family member of mine shares a name with a fairly notorious con artist in the SoCal area, who has been convicted multiple times for a series of increasingly big, elaborate, and bizarre frauds. Their names are just unique enough that many people assume my family member is the criminal. Fortunately, the felon was put away for 30+ years recently, so we hope he won't continue to make local headlines.
Let's just hope that nobody comes to try and "return" your family member to prison.
Re: People with names that break computers
#50I have a first name composed of two names, and one of them with an acute accent. This is enough to cause some of my credit cards to be printed with a repeated name because they assume my "second first name" to be a middle name too. The acute accent results in encoding problems once in a while. But nothing compares the problems that people with names longer than 30 characters have to face. Creating a SSN card, or driv…
Have a friend with two names, one of which is two words. That one fails all kind of checks on its own, but it gets worse: many places ask for the local equivalent of the ssn which has a part derived from the name. So if he omits the name, sanity checks on that field will fail.