5th Underhanded C Contest Now Open

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."

Comments

So that's what happened at DIA!

[plopez]

But years before the contest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_International_Airport#Automated_baggage_system

http://users.csc.calpoly.edu/~dstearns/SchlohProject/problems.html

The second article sounds familiar. All the warning signs of a risky project failure were there, but no one seemed to know it or pay attention.