this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
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Programmer Humor

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[–] olenkoVD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 135 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I like how fox stays the same.

[–] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 58 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I like how pond is backwards.

[–] degen@midwest.social 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Eirrv is such a better word for river that I'm retconning the English language

[–] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 week ago

Feels like some new age Sindarin. I’m here for it tbh.

[–] nialv7@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

i wonder how many words are like that

[–] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I wish there were a free database of words to answer that question. :(

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you're on this sub, this is a good programming exercise for you if you're interested. I'm sure there are plenty of large lists of words in English, that should provide all the data needed.

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[–] BillyClark@piefed.social 117 points 1 week ago (2 children)
  1. alphabet
  2. come
  3. in
  4. order
  5. the
  6. they
[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

FTFY:

5. the
6. the

The alphabet provided ends with X. However, you apparently remove duplicates so maybe just cross out the last row?

[–] BillyClark@piefed.social 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

One important skill for school is to look at the entire question so that you can understand what the teacher is asking for, even if they don't format the question exactly right.

In this case, your answer would not fit into the 6 spaces provided for the answer.

So you have to ask yourself what they meant by "Write the following words". Since "the" is the same word repeated twice, once you've written "the" after 5, then I could argue that "the" has already been written.

Therefore, if there are only six blanks for the answer, looking at the entire question, I argue that the answer I provided is most likely correct.

You'll satisfy the teacher as often as possible and get good grades. I want to feel right as often as possible, which means I'll disrupt the class often and get called out during the parents-teachers meeting.

[–] conorab@lemmy.conorab.com 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Still an error unfortunately. Should be:

  1. the
  2. bart
  3. the
[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 11 points 1 week ago (5 children)

We really should stick with the orginal German verision.

  1. Die
  2. Bart
  3. Die
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[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 50 points 1 week ago

I like this kid.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 49 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The question is poorly worded. It asks for words in the order they come in the alphabet. Words aren't in the alphabet. Letters are in the alphabet, so they reordered the letters.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That's not being pedantic, it's just wrong. Do you not call the order of words in a dictionary "alphabetical order"?

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Of course, but this is a 6? year old. Read the question as a child would.

Put the following words in alphabetical order

All fine, but if they don't know the word "alphabetical" the clarification is...

(The order they come in the alphabet)

Confusing. "They" refers to the words and alphabet contains letters. If it had been "dictionary" and not "alphabet" then that would be clear.

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[–] AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@sh.itjust.works 49 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Or autistic. Most definitely autistic.

[–] excel@lemming.megumin.org 61 points 1 week ago (1 children)

OP already said programmer

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago

Some become engineers.

[–] aaaaaaaaargh@feddit.org 31 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

With more than three repetitions of the same algorithm the kid should've been automating the process.

[–] 5715@feddit.org 29 points 1 week ago

~~malicious~~ naive compliance

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

It makes sense if not taught the conventions of alphabetizing first. Kids don't know what they don't know.

Mr. Rogers understood this on a deep level.

[–] aev_software@programming.dev 23 points 1 week ago (3 children)

A clear indication of bad requirements.

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[–] CidVicious@piefed.zip 18 points 1 week ago

Completely misunderstanding the requirements? Yeah that's a dev alright.

[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 18 points 1 week ago (5 children)

In case anyways else looked for the comments to try to figure out what was done wrong, the expected answer would be: apple, fox, log, pond, pumpkim, river.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Are you asking if I was confused how they did something wrong? Yes.

Are you asking if "apple, fox, log, pond, pumpkim, river" was the intended answer? Also probably yes (but I didn't make it, so I can't be sure).

[–] marlowe221@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

I was sent to the principals office several times in elementary school because my teachers thought I was trying to be a smart ass. Because I would do what they literally, exactly asked me to do, and not what they apparently meant.

I was always very confused because I honestly believed I was doing my best to follow instructions.

It didn’t help that I grew up in the American southeast, a region where patterns of speech are very indirect and lean heavily on idioms and metaphors.

I was in middle school before I figured out what was happening and did not get into trouble in that way anymore. I’m in my 40s now but I’m still a literal-first thinker. And yeah, I’m a programmer.

[–] tja@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

So you would have done the same as the kid?

I would have done the same right now as an adult.

As a child, I'd probably get from context what was actually wanted since it probably complemented in-class lessons. But in primary school, I also sometimes liked to push the limits of what was asked. So I might do this and also put what was intended to the side.

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

I couldn't figure out what the clue was that the kid would be a programmer. Surely any kid could have gotten this right? Then I read your comment and it all made sense. Thank you.

And yes, yes I am a programmer.

[–] RedStrider@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

woah man, posting answers to tests online is cheating and can get you expelled!

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[–] killabeezio@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Forty is the only number when spelled out that is in alphabetical order

[–] CXORA@aussie.zone 10 points 1 week ago (4 children)

British spelling fixes this bug!

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[–] OpenPassageways@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 week ago
[–] palmtrees2309@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago
Words.sort()
Words.map(word => word.sort())

Baby steps in functional programmings

[–] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Programmer? IDK. Looks kind of antigrammar to me.

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[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I like it. He didn't meet the assignment but he proved his knowledge. Now to see if they mark on knowledge learnt or subjugation.

[–] wpb@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

They did fail to demonstrate knowledge of lexicographical order, which this exercise seems to be aiming for with the inclusion of pond and pumpkin, so I think it's a bit cynical to consider failing the student on this a means of opression or subjugation.

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[–] fell@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 week ago
[–] rustbuckett@lemmings.world 4 points 1 week ago

Well, he/she is not wrong.

[–] webpack@ani.social 3 points 1 week ago

list.toSorted() vs list.map(word => word.toSorted())

(note that you can't actually do string.toSorted() in js you have to convert into a list and back)

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