Hidden jokes in Microsoft

[Hum]

MICROSOFT?S programmers may have been creating some of the biggest and most important software titles back in the 1980s, but that didn?t stop them from joking around inside the code.

Yesterday, Microsoft and the Computer History Museum released the source code for early versions of Microsoft?s MS-DOS and Word programs, which one developer ciphered through and found hidden jokes.

Lines like ?coded inline because we?re Gods,? were hidden throughout, the f-bomb gets dropped a few times, while progammers also commented on ?dumb users?. All of the unusual comments can be seen below.

 

 

http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/early-microsoft-code-riddled-with-hidden-jokes/story-fnjwukfu-1226866435651

[Elliot B.]

More images in the link :)

[Starbuck84]

Hehe, although this doesn't come as a suprise, I think it's funny. As long as it's not influencing the code (written as a comment, so no worries). :)

[Elliot B.]

Since the programs in question were probably less than a MB (I don't remember), wouldn't this extra code be a little substantial, size-wise?

[Hum]

^ The ; is a Remark symbol, [and what text follows] which is ignored, so it wouldn't slow the programs down.

 

I'm not sure if Remarks are filtered out of the Compiled code -- which would condense the actual running software size.

 

badfart is a variable, which is just as good as any other legal name in the program.

[cork1958]

Cool! :)

[(Account no longer active)]

Apple went one step further and gave their compiler a sense of humor: http://www.ralentz.com/old/mac/humor/mpw-c-errors.html

 

---

 

 "String literal too long (I let you have 512 characters, that's 3 more than ANSI said I should)"

"...And the lord said, `lo, there shall only be case or default labels inside a switch statement'"

"a typedef name was a complete surprise to me at this point in your program"

"`Volatile' and `Register' are not miscible"

"This struct already has a perfectly good definition"

"Only one parameter per register please "

"type in (cast) must be scalar; ANSI 3.3.4; page 39, lines 10-11 (I know you don't care, I'm just trying to annoy you)"

"This array has no size, and that's bad"

"Huh ?"

"can't go mucking with a `void *'"

"we already did this function"

"The target of this goto is a label in a block that has an automatic variable with an initializer"

"This label is the target of a goto from outside of the block containing this label AND this block has an automatic variable with an initializer AND your window wasn't wide enough to read this whole error message"

"Call me paranoid but finding `/*' inside this comment makes me suspicious"

"This function has an explicit return type and deserves a return value"

"You are comparing two structures that have holes in them"

"Too many errors on one line (make fewer)"

"Symbol table full - fatal heap error; please go buy a RAM upgrade from your local Apple dealer"

"Trailing comma not permitted in enum definition. (This time I'm letting you off with a warning)"