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OpenJDK Bug Report Complains Source Code 'Has Too Many Swear Words' (java.net)

Thursday a bug report complained that the source code for OpenJDK, the free and open-source implementation of Java, "has too many swear words." An anonymous reader writes: "There are many instances of swear words inside OpenJDK jdk/jdk source, scattered all over the place," reads the bug report. "As OpenJDK is used in a professional context, it seems inappropriate to leave these 12 instances in there, so here's a changeset to remove them."
IBM software developer (and OpenJDK team member and contributor) Adam Farley responded that "after discussion with the community, three determinations were reached":
  • "Damn" and "Crap" are not swear words.
  • Three of the four f-bombs are located in jszip.js, which should be corrected upstream (will follow up).
  • The f-bomb in BitArray.java, as well as the rude typo in SoftChannel.java, *are* swear words and should be removed to resolve this work item.

He promised a new webrev would be uploaded to reflect these determinations, and the bug has been marked as "resolved."


1 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. Heat by JBMcB · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've seen very select cases where swearing in comments can be useful.

    There was a piece of code I saw that people thought was a bug, but was actually purposefully written a particular way to get around a bug in the compiler. Even after comments like // SERIOUSLY do not touch this it's a workaround for CVXXXXXX

    People kept messing with it. Finally the dev checked in // DO NOT F****ING TOUCH THIS

    and the regressions went away. Again, niche applications, but still valid.

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.