( ? , qUeStIoNMaRk )

Somewhere in a Java source file…

// content does not include the quotes or curly braces around the string!
private String content;
/**
* content includes the quotes or curly braces around the string!
*
* @param content
*/
BibtexString(BibtexFile file, String content) {
super(file);
this.content = content;
}

This code features a self-contradicting couple of comments: “does not include” / “includes” referred to the same object, what can be called a Schroendiger’s String; i.e. until you open the box… hmmm… take a look at the actual code, content is a marvelous data structure able to and not to include the quotes or curly braces around the string at the same time. A look at the actual code, a few lines below, leads to the death of this quantum string, revealing it does not contain the quotes or curly braces around the string.

// is this really a number?
try {
Integer.parseInt(content);
writer.print(content);
} catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
writer.print('{');
writer.print(content);
writer.print('}');

“Si sta, come d’autunno,
sugli alberi, le foglie.”
(G. Ungaretti)

…e tira un vento forte.
(E. Biagi)

Enzo Biagi dies. We lose an Honest and Wise Man and a Great Journalist.

The reported speech is the answer he gave yesterday when questioned about his health status; it is honest, it is wise, it is great.