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posts/best-bug.md

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+---
+title: Best Bug
+published: 2019-05-21
+---
+
+my pal and i accidentally introduced a bug in our code that sorta took up a personality of its own, heres the story.
+
+# the setting
+
+at university comp sci, me and my buddy entered a programming contest that was run by a health company. it was free, and we thought we might be able to get some of the prizes.
+
+the goal was to create an engine to play last card, and all the entries would be run against each other and ranked.
+
+this was in about two hours in one of the uni labs.
+
+> pretty boring stuff
+
+it had that yellow glow of the lights as well, because it was getting dark outside.
+
+# the fun
+
+we started implementing a pretty basic card counting thing, and to pass the time a bit were talking about our 'ai'
+
+> its super good at card games, even the basic ones
+
+> its like outta yugioh, its kaiba or something
+
+> yeah jojos poses every turn, better than the rest
+
+*etc etc*
+
+so we finished up after...
+
+***having to deal with whatever maven is***
+
+i still dont understand the hundred different package management things, why do they have to keep changing? `/rant over`
+
+# uh oh
+
+we ended up placing second, losing to the guy that already worked for the company running the event.
+
+we lost points because we didnt understand the state format correctly, but i believe we understand it right.
+
+what theyd done is ~~super gross~~ ~~logically wrong~~ had any collection of cards as the java version of `Maybe Cards` such that rather than an empty list being `[]`, the whole thing was a `Nothing`.
+
+a collection of cards that has zero cards in it is still a set, and therefore should be represented by `[]` or equivilent. `/rant over`
+
+the affect of this on ol` kaiba boi (aka kAIba which added to the charm) was that if it was the first player of a game, it would crash, timeout and the game manager would default to a pass.
+
+# neato bug
+
+this cemented the persona of this bug to be a kaiba-esque dramatic dickhead, threatening to fall off buildings if he loses, but saying:
+
+> huh! first player advantage? thats for **noobs**, you take it
+
+and yeeting the other player first turn.
+
+# fin
+
+memorable bugs are the best kind of bugs, and have a life all of their own. part of the magic of programmation is finding these so you gotta pay attention.
+
+`:wq`