🎃 10 Scary Lines of Code I Wish I Never Wrote 💀
TL;DR
The author shares humorous examples of past coding mistakes, like misusing CSS and insecure practices, to highlight personal growth as a developer. These blunders, from forgotten debug logs to temporary fixes still in production, serve as learning moments. Readers are encouraged to share their own coding mishaps for a laugh.
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Ever opened your old project, looked at a line of code, and thought…
“Who the hell wrote this mess?”
…and then Git calmly whispered:
“It was you. Two years ago.” 😅
Been there. Many times.
At first, I used to cringe hard 😬, but eventually, I realized — that’s actually a good sign!
It means I’ve grown as a developer 👩💻 and that I’m writing (hopefully) less cursed code today.
So instead of crying over past monstrosities, let’s laugh at them together 😂
Here are some of my “legendary” mistakes — maybe you’ll recognize a few of your own.
💩 The Hall of Shame
1️⃣ text-align: left;
Because apparently, I thought that’s how you center things 😅
2️⃣ console.log('DEBUGGING...');
…still in production. Still haunting me 👻
3️⃣ if (this.isAdmin) { giveAllPermissions(); }
Because who needs security when you have trust? 💀
4️⃣ setTimeout(() => doSomething(), 10000);
A “temporary fix” from 2019 that’s still running strong 💪
5️⃣ border: 1px solid red;
The universal debugging tool™ 🔥
6️⃣ document.querySelector('#id').innerHTML = userInput
XSS? Never heard of her. 🙃
7️⃣ Array(10).fill({})
Ten objects, one reference. Ten bugs, one developer crying 😭
8️⃣ window.location.reload()
When in doubt — refresh it out 🤷♀️
9️⃣ style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100vw;height:100vh;"
My proudest “responsive” design moment 😭
🔟 git reset --hard HEAD~1
Didn’t even check what HEAD~1 was… instantly regretted 🪦
🫣 Bonus #11:
// quick fix for demo
That demo? 3 years ago. The fix? Still in production. 🧟♂️
💬 Your turn!
What about you — what’s your most cursed line of code? 😏
Share your shame below 👇 and let’s cry-laugh together like true devs 💻❤️
👋 I’m Sylwia, I break code so you don’t have to.
If you enjoy laughing at past bugs and learning from them — follow me here or on my Substack:
👉 https://sylwialask.substack.com/