The Daily WTF

Mark B sends us another sample from a big-ball-o-wtf.

Let’s take a look at two variables. One variable is named taskDetail. The other variable is named binaryTaskDetail. You might ask yourself: what are the differences between these two?

Well, one of them is a C# int- 32-bit integer. The other is a C# long- a 64-bit integer. And, as the name implies, binaryTaskDetail is meant to be a binary representation of the number.

“Wait,” you might ask, “aren’t all integers just binary representations under the hood? Can’t you just bitshift or mask or whatever you need to do? Do you mean they want to output binary data? Like as a print statement? Now I’m confused.”

I’m sorry I confused you. Let’s take a look at the code, and everything will be clear.

binaryTaskDetail = Int64.Parse(Convert.ToString(taskDetail, 2));

Let’s say that taskDetail contained the number 434. We use Convert.ToString to convert

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