CodeSOD: Secondary Waits

ArSo works at a small company. It’s the kind of place that has one software developer, and ArSo isn’t it. But ArSo is curious about programming, and has enough of a technical background that small tasks should be achievable. After some conversations with management, an arrangement was made: Kurt, their developer, would identify a few tasks that were suitable for a beginner, and would then take some time to mentor ArSo through completing them.

It sounded great, especially because Kurt was going to provide sample code which would give ArSo a head start on getting things done. What better way to learn than by watching a professional at work?

DateTime datTmp;

File.Copy(strFileOld, strFileNew);
// 2 seconds delay
datTmp = DateTime.Now;
while (datTmp.Second == DateTime.Now.Second);
datTmp = DateTime.Now;
while (datTmp.Second == DateTime.Now.Second);
File.Delete(strFileOld);

This code copies a file from an old path to a new path, and then deletes the old path after a two second delay. Why is there a delay? I don’t know. Why is the delay written like this? I can’t possibly explain that.

Check the time at the start of the loop. When the second part of that time stops matching the second part of the current time, we assume one second has passed. This is, of course, inaccurate- if I check the time at 0:00:00.9999 a lot less than a second will pass. This delay is at most one second.

In any case, ArSo has some serious questions about Kurt’s mentorship, and writes:

Now I don’t know if I should ask for more coding tasks.

Honestly, I think you should ask for more. Like, I think you should just take Kurt’s job. You may be a beginner, but honestly, you’re likely going to do a better job than this.

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