5th Underhanded C Contest Now Open 162
Posted
by
CmdrTaco
from the i-c-what-you've-done-there dept.
from the i-c-what-you've-done-there dept.
Xcott Craver writes "The next Underhanded C Contest has begun, with a deadline of March 1st. The object of the contest is to write short, readable, clear and innocent C code that somehow commits an evil act. This year's challenge: write a luggage routing program that mysteriously misroutes a customer's bag if a check-in clerk places just the right kind of text in a comment field. The prize is a gift certificate to ThinkGeek.com."
Re:This sounds familiar to, (Score:0, Insightful)
Yes, because no one but a C programmer could ever do such a thing. Fuck you.
Re:Watch list? (Score:5, Insightful)
Funny, but you've got a point. What would a potential employer think when, upon googling your name, they learn that you're so good at hiding malicious code that you won a contest for it. Would you hire that guy?
It's not worth the $100 gift certificate.
Re:Watch list? (Score:5, Insightful)
Would you hire that guy?
Definitely, but maybe for QA or as a Code Review consultant. Of course, I'm assuming that the winner of the contest would also be clever enough to detect hidden maliciousness in others' code.
Re:Not fair! (Score:4, Insightful)
Hardly. It is supposed to be "short, readable, clear and innocent". What are the odds that any of the airline production code meets that description?
Hardly. It is supposed to be "short, readable, clear and innocent". What are the odds that any software written in C meets that description?
There, fixed.
Re:Watch list? (Score:3, Insightful)
>What would a potential employer think when, upon googling your name, they learn that you're so good at hiding malicious code that you won a contest for it.
Thats a pretty lousy line of reasoning and probably responsible for all the mediocrity out there in the computer world. Heck, what if your employer found out you were in the military and fought? Do you want to hire the guy who shot at Iraqis with a 50 caliber machine gun? Or the guy who wrote an ad blocking program? Or the guy who wrote a cover letter well enough to fool you into interviewing him?
Yes, you do because all these things are signs of courage and intelligence. Once you start filtering anyone with any background in anything controversial, powerful, different, or mildly questionable then you can pretty much guarantee yourself a staff of dim bulbs and products that do miserably in the market.
This is also why I think its so hard for smart people to be in politics. The electorate is so scared of anything that deviates from the mainstream that we only vote in conformist 'never rock the boat' overly-religious men, who turn out to be good at not cheating on their wives and going to church but not so good at governing and coming up with and implementing good solutions for the public good.