Thread: Object Oriented - Funny story

  1. #1
    Microsoft. Who? MethodMan's Avatar
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    Object Oriented - Funny story

    My professor told us about this funny story, and I did search at google to get the whole thing. I found it pretty funny, thought I would share it.


    CARELESS CODE RECYCLING CAUSES KILLER KANGAS
    Mutant Marsupials Take Up Arms Against Australian Air Force

    The reuse of some object-oriented code has caused tactical
    headaches for Australia's armed forces. As virtual reality
    simulators assume larger roles in helicopter combat training,
    programmers have gone to great lengths to increase the realism of
    their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and - in the case
    of the Northern Territory's Operation Phoenix- herds of kangaroos
    (since disturbed animals might well give away a helicopter's
    position).

    The head of the Defense Science & Technology Organization's Land
    Operations/Simulation division reportedly instructed developers
    to model the local marsupials' movements and reactions to
    helicopters.
    Being efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some code
    originally used to model infantry detachment reactions under the
    same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a soldier to a
    kangaroo, and increased the figures' speed of movement.

    Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting
    American pilots, the hotshot Aussies "buzzed" the virtual
    kangaroos in low flight during a simulation. The kangaroos
    scattered, as predicted, and the visiting Americans nodded
    appreciatively... then did a double-take as the kangaroos
    reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of Stinger
    missiles at the hapless helicopter.
    (Apparently the programmers had forgotten to remove that part of
    the infantry coding.)

    The lesson?

    Objects are defined with certain attributes, and any new object
    defined in terms of an old one inherits all the attributes. The
    embarrassed programmers had learned to be careful when reusing
    object-oriented code, and the Yanks left with a newfound respect
    for Australian wildlife.

    Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point onward
    have strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were meant to
    -MethodMan-

    Your Move:Life is a game, Play it; Life is a challenge, Meet it; Life is an opportunity, capture it.

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  2. #2
    pronounced 'fib' FillYourBrain's Avatar
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    of course that's not really a lesson against OOP but against hacking up one object to play the part of another. But I see that there is a point to that story. They basically decided that a trooper could be a kangaroo? interesting.
    "You are stupid! You are stupid! Oh, and don't forget, you are STUPID!" - Dexter

  3. #3
    Refugee face_master's Avatar
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    why does everyone have to pick on the kangaroos?

  4. #4
    Seeking motivation... endo's Avatar
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    Thats a great story, I'm off to make my tetris blocks inherit uzi's from their great-granddaddy!
    Couldn't think of anything interesting, cool or funny - sorry.

  5. #5
    train spotter
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    Ahh

    So thats why they had to cull all the kangas on Pukapunia (military base).

    May be they are worried MS knows about it and may try a robo-kanga. After reading the news about the new XBox and how

    "Although Microsoft habitually experiments on the Australians, we do not think this is an experiment." MS spokeman.

    Could be worse Sony could clone Steve Erwin........by crikey!
    "Man alone suffers so excruciatingly in the world that he was compelled to invent laughter."
    Friedrich Nietzsche

    "I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars......the rest I squandered."
    George Best

    "If you are going through hell....keep going."
    Winston Churchill

  6. #6
    Registered User VBprogrammer's Avatar
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    Actually read that story in a Pilot mag a few months ago, pretty funny all the same.
    VC++ 6

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