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Software Glitch Leads To $23,148,855,308,184,500 Visa Charges

Posted by timothy on from the what's-the-grace-period-again dept.

Hmmm2000 writes "Recently several Visa card holders were, um, overcharged for certain purchases, to the tune of $23,148,855,308,184,500.00 on a single charge. The company says it was due to a programming error, and that the problem has been corrected. What is interesting is that the amount charged actually reveals the type of programming error that caused the problem. 23,148,855,308,184,500.00 * 100 (I'm guessing this is how the number is actually stored) is 2314885530818450000. Convert 2314885530818450000 to hexadecimal, and you end up with 20 20 20 20 20 20 12 50. Most C/C++ programmers see the error now ... hex 20 is a space. So spaces were stuffed into a field where binary zero should have been."

3 of 544 comments (clear)

  1. C/C++ programmers by anonymousNR · · Score: 0, Troll

    I am ruby programmer so i didn't understand what caused those numbers. somebody please explain.

    --
    -- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. -- Aristotle
  2. Re:meh by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 0, Troll

    I've a-heard of silver dollars, an someone I knew had a gold double-eagle oncet. So there's all kinds a dollars. But what kind a dollar is a "trillian" ?

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  3. Re:meh by feepness · · Score: 0, Troll

    Matching the growth (or shrinkage!) of the money supply based solely on the discovery, loss, or recovery of a particular natural resource hardly seems like a good plan for managing the economy.

    Matching the growth or shrinkage of the money supply based on the whims of banks and legislators seems like a much worse plan. They've done such a wonderful job recently, haven't they?