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Developers: Behold the bug NOBODY can fix
Coder's error is inked in his memory ... and his arm
A developer going by the name Spydon has done something very silly: the tattoo he requested of some code contains an error.
Spydon details his problem here at Stack Overflow, where he explains “A few months ago I tattooed a fork bomb on my arm and I skipped the whitespace because I think it looks nicer without it. But to my dismay, sometimes (not always) when I run it in a shell it doesn't start a fork bomb but just gives a syntax error.
Spydon now has to live with the mistake pictured below.
Spydon's tattoo reads ':(){:|:&};:' but should say ':(){ :|:& };:' to run reliably
The tattoo is not the only technology-related ink known to El Reg: in the 1990s is was quite the thing to have the RSA algorithm applied to one's skin, because at the time it was classified as a munition by the USA, which forbade the export of such commodities. Walking onto planes with the tattoo exposed was an interesting way to point out the weirdness of classifying algorithms as weapons.
The USA has since changed that classification. Spydon may yet change his tattoo.
And you, dear readers? Feel free to share images of technology-related ink with us here and if we get some good 'uns – and the wearers agree to publication – we may pop up a gallery in future. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
