Who's the Dummy, here, exactly?

[Guest]

Just found this in a piece of code I am tasked with migrating:

    // TODO remove code smell
    private static final String DUMMY = "393hlaf02lhasfh329";

What is it used for, you ask? Well I did, too. Here it is:

    public Boolean readParse(String key, Boolean defaultValue) {
        String retVal = ResReader.read(key, DUMMY);
        if (DUMMY.equals(retVal)) {
            return defaultValue;
        } else {
            return Boolean.valueOf(retVal);
        }
    }

Ugh. It's gonna be a long day...

[flabdablet]

Just change it to DUMMY = "whatever" and you're done.

[Guest]

@flabdablet said:

Just change it to DUMMY = "whatever" and you're done.

DUMMY = "You Big Dummy"

[Ben L.]

DUMMY = defaultValue.toString();

boom.

[Ronald]

@Ben L. said:

DUMMY = defaultValue.toString();

boom.

You are a "constant" source of amusement

[KarenM]

> svn blame dummyFile
Stupid variable checked in by PaolaBean

DUMMY = "PaolaBean"

May have gotten the details slightly wrong, but you get the idea.

[Guest]

I specially like how it returns false if retVal == "393hlaF02lhasfh329" or other such values.