Foul Language hidden in programming code

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

Stuff happens.

This didn't just "happen".

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Yeah, it's not professional, it shouldn't be there, all that's true. But come on, these are teenagers. They're not going to have their moral values corrupted, they're not going to become dropout lowlifes if they read a few bad words that they've already been using themselves for years.

*gasp*

Also that MS Word source code is hilarious.

All I can think of when I see these posts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Yeah, it's not professional, it shouldn't be there, all that's true. But come on, these are teenagers. They're not going to have their moral values corrupted, they're not going to become dropout lowlifes if they read a few bad words that they've already been using themselves for years.

No it isn't going to corrupt anyone to a major degree, however it will give a strong example that this kind of thing is okay. It doesn't matter how much you think someone won't see something, everything you make should be something you would share openly with anyone who will be an end user.

FIRST is an activity that a lot of kids use to learn about being professional by working with professionals. What does it say about the program when one of those professionals suddenly doesn't seem so professional? People get fired from jobs all the time for saying less than that in a much less public place. No matter your view on how his will affect the kids you work with, this is not the kind of language I allow to be displayed in a public area nor does it send the message of kindness and professionalism that I have come to expect and depend on from organizations associated with FIRST.

Beyond that, it is disrespectful. We learn a lot by trial and error. If one of your students made a mistake coding something and got that as a response how would you feel about that? What if you made a mistake at work and that was the response you got from your boss?

[Amar Shah]

Can we all agree that it shouldn't be there because it is unprofessional, not because it would corrupt the morals of children?

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by Amar Shah

Can we all agree that it shouldn't be there because it is unprofessional, not because it would corrupt the morals of children?

I don't think we can. How can I say what words all high school kids have been exposed to? Even if they have heard it before doesn't mean I want them reading it in a comment written by someone who provided materials intended for the education of children.

[asid61]

As a current child in an extremely sheltered area, I would be far more worried about professionalism. This kind of stuff does send the message that it's okay in a professional area to do this kind of thing.
Bad words, well. One episode of South Park, Family Guy, American Dad (pretty much any kind of TV show) or one 45-minute lunch with friends contains a lot more foul language.

[Dunngeon]

Originally Posted by asid61

As a current child in an extremely sheltered area, I would be far more worried about professionalism. This kind of stuff does send the message that it's okay in a professional area to do this kind of thing.
Bad words, well. One episode of South Park, Family Guy, American Dad (pretty much any kind of TV show) or one 45-minute lunch with friends contains a lot more foul language.

Agreed, it's the precedent this sets professionally that's the problem. Not exposing children to language, which will/should happen anyways.

[BradAMiller]

I would like to apologize for letting this happen and to explain the circumstances so perhaps we can all learn from this mistake.

The file in question was being developed by a WPI student, new to our development team. During a time of some frustration getting the camera code to work, the comment was added. It shouldn’t have been there in the first place and never got cleaned up before being pushed to our repository. When the student saw a post on reddit about the comment and realized they were talking about him, he contacted me immediately to let me know what he had done and how very sorry he was for the nonprofessional behavior. Like hitting the send button on an email message that maybe you should have slept on, once out, you can’t take it back. Something for all of us to remember.

The file has since been replaced in the most recent update.And you can be sure that going forward, we’ll take steps to ensure that everyone on the development team is aware of this and we’ll take steps to better verify submitted code.