{
  "id": 19889,
  "title": "Comment in code read 'Dear future me, sorry I wrote this'",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/07/20/comment-in-code-read-dear-future-me-sorry-i-wrote-this",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-07-20T06:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register Software",
    "slug": "the-register-software",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/07/20/comment-in-code-read-dear-future-me-sorry-i-wrote-this/5274130"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent contributor to The Register's \"Who, Me?\" column shared a story of regret regarding a piece of code they had written. The individual, who goes by the pseudonym \"Johnny,\" recounted how they once took a job as a Visual Basic developer, a role they considered beneath their skills. Undeterred, they proceeded with their duties until they were assigned a new project that required them to write in C#, a language they were unfamiliar with at the time.\n\nJohnny's C# code for string manipulation served its purpose satisfactorily, handling all the customer's requirements. However, the developer soon encountered a problem. The complex string manipulation routine started behaving erratically, working correctly half the time and failing completely the other half. Despite meticulously examining every aspect of the code, Johnny could not identify the root cause of the issue.\n\nIn a bid to track down the bug, Johnny began making random changes to the code, hoping that one of these alterations would expose the problem. Unfortunately, one of these changes inadvertently broke the entire system. Johnny reverted the changes, and the bug mysteriously disappeared.\n\nWith time, Johnny's memory of the incident faded. Several years later, still working at the same company and having risen to the position of senior developer, Johnny was tasked with addressing an intermittent bug that the support team could not solve. As part of his investigation, Johnny scrutinized the code comments to understand the intent behind the problematic section.\n\nIn the header of the code, Johnny found a comment originally written by his past self, which read, \"Dear future Johnny, I am very, very sorry.\" Johnny felt an immediate sense of dread upon reading this note. Reflecting on the situation, he realized that his own comment had foreshadowed the very issue he was now faced with.\n\nJohnny's story serves as a cautionary tale about the potential consequences of writing code that later comes back to haunt the developer. If such experiences resonate with readers, they are encouraged to share their own stories of regret through The Register's email, ensuring that their experiences are handled with care to prevent any further professional damage.",
  "summary": "Developer was hired to write VB, used C# instead, and thought he mostly made it work",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}