Semi-colon: A Developer’s Nemesis
Fun 4 Comments »It is in almost every programming language,
And there for our use.
It typically goes at the end of a line and is
Sometimes allowed to be doubled – just abuse.
A morning started out fine,
And on the right track.
Until an bug pops up in the code,
Now you have to back-track.
Debug is open.
Print statements are everywhere.
The frustration. The horror!
You feel like pulling out your hair.
You’ve poured over code
For hours on end.
You’ve even solicited help
From your colleagues and friends.
It seems that no one can find the answer
So you look and look and look.
Still no luck, but your determination
Keeps you hooked.
Its the end of the day
And time to go to your humble abode.
The whole trip home,
You brain is in debug mode.
You’re up all night,
Thinking of ideas to try.
You just go to bed, but inside
This problem makes you want to cry.
Aaaaah. A good night sleep
And you’re off to work.
You’re sure you’ve dreamed the answer,
So you arrive with a knowing smirk.
You open your IDE,
It goes to where you left off.
You scroll down a few lines of code,
And a light-bulb goes off!
After a whole day wasted
And eyes blurry and swollen.
It is then you realize,
Your problem was a simple, misplaced, semi-colon.
– Antoine E. Hall
© April 9, 2010
