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Linux Kernel *^(#! Count

durak.org — when you put it all together and consider that in the present kernel source, 275 credited kernel authors wrote over 1,895,964 lines of code and documentation (6,856,723 words) and only managed to cuss 29 times -- it would seem that these developers show incredible self restraint when expressing frustration, are complete professionals...

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  • nahteecirp, on 10/12/2007, -4/+66If I remember correctly, their was a higher obscenity count in the partial Windows source leak from awhile back. I also have a higher obscenity count when using Windows compared to using Linux ;). (Before everyone starts calling me a fanboy, I dual-boot both, and like both.)
    • zeptobyte, on 10/12/2007, -36/+10I can only imagine the sad soul who cared enough to count that..

      "WOO I GOT LEAKED WINDOWS SOURCE CODE! What should I do with it? OH I KNOW! I'll count the swear words!"
    • CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -9/+31Unfortunately, it's not the same for most. Getting linux to work with my ATI card was a huge pain in the ass and made me give up. Im a lazy PC user, like most of us..

      My linux obscenity count was massive.
    • nreynolds, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20ya, because it would probably be SO difficult to write a program read through a text file and count the number of cuss words.
      /sarcasm

      wait, I did that in 9th grade for Java class, but I wasn't searching for *****, *****, etc. i was searching for "things".....
    • elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -6/+24My Linux swear count was WAYYY higher than my Windows swear count has ever been. Damn sound card.
    • Kuroneko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7PVRs aren't all that happy go lucky with linux either. Did get it to work, after writing a new dictionary of cuss words.
    • skydivingdutch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Do the search yourself here! It's also fun to look for other swear words.

      http://lxr.linux.no/source/
    • deohieu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@nahteecirp:
      Theoretically Microsoft don't have to show you their source code. So it's understandable.
    • nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2linux kernel swear count
      http://www.vidarholen.net/contents/wordcount/
  • toast1226, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Funny, I saw a similar post regarding the count in Google Code Search.
  • Hellman109, on 10/12/2007, -1/+30not swearing in code = good at coding?

    err.....
    • propheci, on 10/12/2007, -0/+36I just looked at some of my own code and they include no cursing. Does that mean I'm infinitely better than the kernel programmers?
    • carapi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19Exactly. Complete professionals would = ZERO curses.
    • nreynolds, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15what?1!?!

      that's stupid. Unless it's open source, you should be able to cuss as much as you want in your source code. As long as it's commented out, no one will ever know except you - since it's not even compiled so it would be impossible to find out. And it's your own /* Damn */ fault if your source code gets leaked.
    • Nodren, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10i wrote a program once when i was younger, everyone thought it was really great, except it was coded horribly, then i grew up, and always promised a new version, which meant i had to re write it, so i re wrote it with expandability in mind, i didn't once cuss in my rewrite, where as my original was littered with cuss words.

      i've always believed cussing is a sign of stupidity, it means you're not using your brain to express yourself in a better way, so you throw a cuss word in there. now the words themselves really are only labeled as "bad" by society, theres nothing inherently wrong with them. yet consider where you hear it most often? by those who are not well educated. while i'm sure a guy with a PhD could go on a cussing spree and noone would doubt his intelligence the next day, but if my only impression of the person was them cussing, i'd think they were an idiot.
    • phatvolvo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8cussing in comments is one thing...

      but cussing in function and variable names is just funny!
  • drlha, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Only 29 swear words? How very professional!
    • t0ny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4well anything under 50 is technically professional.
  • Gherald, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13Marked as a dupe because this graph is ancient... just look at the most recent version number on the x-axis: 2.2

    Google Code Search is more interesting.
    • Virak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I noticed that too, so using the same method as used in this article, I found my kernel's source (2.6.17) has a total of 55 '*****'.
    • Virak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Argh, ***** edit timeouts. Anyway, here's the list of lines containing '*****' from the source, courtesy of grep:

      http://pastebin.ca/233788
    • bdxphoenix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, I did the same: kernel-2.4.33.3 has 35 ***** (some of which are repeats of the same code for different architectures) and 131 loves.

      Does the ***** count decrease the more stable the kernel gets? Once 2.8 is released will that mean the the number of ***** in 2.6 has decreased sufficiently? Is that the determining factor of these releases?
    • idonthack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Virak
      net/netfilter/nf_queue.c: /* James M doesn't say ***** enough. */

      My favorite from that list.
  • antareus, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5This has to be the single most asinine article I've ever seen on digg. And that is saying a LOT.
  • dracostimpy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+63I thought *^(#! was an angry cyclops with a bandage on his chin. Flagged as inaccurate.
  • 10poundbrown, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18i love me some mother ***** linux.
    • vuke69, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7And it be showin like a mofo
    • ogre2112, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18word
    • vuke69, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I'm so down with L-dizzle, I made me a mutha ***** grill out of Ubuntu CDs.
    • CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10How the hell is "word" +3?

      You guys are broken.
  • sishgupta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3at kernel 2.1 they either hired a potty mouth or 2.0 was really really buggy and it made a lot of programmers mad trying to fix it.
  • siedam2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8You have to remember the difference between Windows and Linux here. The coders for Linux need to show restraint because anyone can download and look at the source code. Windows on the other hand, nobody outside of Redmond is supposed to see that code so the developers probably feel free to curse. There is a big difference between cursing to your fiends, and cursing into a microphone.
    • gharding, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2And the Windows source leak was more than just the kernel. If I recall, the source leak was > 150mb compressed. Whereas the linux source is a mere 40mb.
    • ogre2112, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I saw the source for MSDOS 6.0 a while back and it head plenty of swearing too.
  • vuke69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well there is the following in 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6-i686:
    *****: 1 (2.6.18-1.2798.fc6-i686/include/linux/netfilter/xt_limit.h line 18 if anyone cares)
    love: 16

    So does that mean they are even more professional now?
    • vuke69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Scratch that...

      vanilla 2.6.18.1 kernel has 52 *****, but that is also from 6.7m lines of code vs. 1.9m line in TFA.

  • Intangir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4what is that then? 0.000422943% of the code is CUSS WORDS!
    blasphemous!
    boycot loonix!
  • cryonox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1there's also another similar counting..http://www.vidarholen.net/contents/wordcount/
    which got more swear words...the more the merrier ;-)

    it dint count love though...
  • pickypg, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2That's pretty weak. I've written applications that are over 50K lines long by myself, and none of them have any cuss words.
    • gharding, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Well aren't you a saint!
    • otatop, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12A ***** saint!
    • pickypg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's not a matter of being a saint. It's a matter of being professional.
  • Sulleric, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10That's crap... I've written applications that are 200 lines long that have more than a measly 52 cuss words.
  • demonthises, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Forget the curse words, the Linux kernel has happy_meal's in it
    static struct happy_meal *root_happy_dev;

    It also has this lovely tidbit in drivers/net/sunhme.c
    /* Welcome to Sun Microsystems, can I take your order please? */
    /* Would you like fries with that? */
    /* Anything else? */
    /* Fifty-two cents is your change, have a nice day. */
  • dicerandom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This chart doesn't even span the 2.3 development kernels, let alone 2.4 or 2.6. You're looking at a snapshot of what it was like over six years ago.
  • benc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3IMHO, trolling through source code for naughty words is a capital waste of time. Why not spend the time, say, fixing bugs or adding new features?

    Obligatory:
    QA to Developer: "you'll be happy to learn i grepped the entire source tree for GOTO's and SWEAR WORDS... let's review"
    http://www.leisuretown.com/library/qac/28.html
  • thewhitefedora, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't really care what words they put in the code. As long as I don't have to burn another disc because they couldn't fit all the ****s on the number they would have used, I'm in good shape.
  • natterca, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The last time I put a profanity in source was in 1982. I asked my HS teacher for assistance on the assignment I was working on (we had an Apple ][ lab). He scrolled to another part of the program and noticed the word "*****" in a comment. He just said "I better not see any anymore language like that". For the benefit of the kids here, swearing was a big ***** deal. Ever since then, I resisted the urge to put profanity in code. You never know who might see it.
  • Bisqwit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Somehow, my first interpretation of the title of this page was "number of regular expressions in the Linux Kernel".
  • jimmiejaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1[0] /usr/src#grep -iR ***** * |wc -l
    307
    FreeBSD, /usr/src contains kernel, base utils(ls, mv, grep, vi ifconfig, sendmail, bind...) GNU tools (gcc being a big one)

    The count is from Nov1,2006 sources, no I'm not in the mood to count lines, but a ls -R shows 45,732 directorys under /usr/src.

    awww ***** it ;)
  • mapkinase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That is the time spending worth the domain name!
  • mikhail, on 11/05/2007, -2/+1***** me gently with a chainsaw...
    • cryonox, on 11/05/2007, -2/+0calling 911...you have my prayers....*amem*
  • BlackAdderIII, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ahah this is very funny - as it happens one of the "build tools" myself and colleagues use will refactor stuff we commonly have in there (actual examples are "argh", "*****", "borkborkbork", "soapytitwank", "win32" and much worse) to nice sensible names.

    There seem to be two mindsets on this one.

    I think the majority of programmers I've known will happily lace their initial code with swearwords, risque variable names, TV references, comedy etc. if it's in-house stuff or closed source - and even when it's open source if they're prototyping - most especially if you're doing something arduously boring or very very mindbendingly complex - if for no other reasons than to make things stand out, or to spice up the experience and make you smile.

    Myself I'd never release anything like that open source - you can't take it back, and swearing in your work puts people off - even people who swear a lot themselves.
  • RenegadeMind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't get what the connection between professionalism and profanity is in closed source. It at least tells you later how frustrated you were at the time, which is information in itself. Using profanity in comments seems to be productive as you don't have to dance around and be all nice and pleasant which will just take more time.

    /*
    blah f***s up when blahing
    */

    /*
    blah doesn't behave properly when blahing -- extremely frustrating
    */

    I have no problems with profanity in the least. They're just words that happen to convey information that otherwise takes longer to articulate.
  • Tolero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0test
  • Tolero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just yesterday I grepped installed on my laptop whole distro Ubuntu Edgy for the same word, and I found 966 inclusions! Just check the link to my post: http://tech.tolero.org/blog/en/linux/brutal-linux
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