What was the scary code comment about dragons?

Question

The phrase was used as a warning that the code was pulling some serious stunts. My google search for this is pulling up nada; but I remember someone doing a search of google source for the phrase quite a while back.

in lies dragons?

dragons sleep here...

Bah...

Remembering the google code was an edit. If I had remembered a bit sooner... double bah. — CrashCodes, Jan 02 '09 at 16:01

score 47 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 02 '09 at 15:55

47

Here be Dragons.

originally sourced from old maps, not that any old maps actually used the term!

PS. Not recommended to use the original latin "hic sunt dracones" unless you want to be really nerdy and appear superior to future code maintainers :)

answered Jan 02 '09 at 15:55

gbjbaanb

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Here there be dragons, yar! (for talk like a pirate day). – Brian Knoblauch Jan 02 '09 at 16:03
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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur (whatever is said in Latin, sounds profound). – Bill Karwin Jan 02 '09 at 20:28
"Inveniam Viam Aut Faciemus" - We will find a way or make one (Upon facing those dragons) – Gal Bracha Jan 28 '18 at 17:21

bwDraco · Answer 2 · 2013-07-04T11:42:59.853

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// Here be dragons

An example is in the source code of HipHop for PHP, at line 649 of /src/runtime/ext/ext_imagesprite.cpp as of July 13, 2012:

// Here be dragons. Thou art forewarned

If for some reason the programmer(s) doesn't quite understand what the code is doing, a comment saying "here be dragons" means that the code is "uncharted territory".

(Note my username :P)

edited Jul 04 '13 at 11:42

answered Nov 06 '12 at 07:48

bwDraco

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score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 02 '09 at 15:56

5

Here be dragons

answered Jan 02 '09 at 15:56

alanc10n

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Daniel Hollinrake · Answer 4 · 2012-11-06T10:51:51.140

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"Here be dragons" is displayed when you go to about:config in the address bar in Firefox.

Edit: Please note I'm in the UK so this may be locale specific.

edited Nov 06 '12 at 10:51

answered Aug 09 '11 at 12:06

Daniel Hollinrake

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Disregard the previous comment--I just read through the source code, and it seems the "Here be dragons!" warning is shown in the en-GB localization, but not in en-US. – bwDraco Nov 06 '12 at 08:07
Here's the `config.dtd` file in Firefox 16.0.2, en-GB localization: http://pastebin.com/43yctp4f – bwDraco Nov 06 '12 at 20:49
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*(continuation of previous comment)* The phrase "**Here be dragons!**" appears on line 41 of the above DTD file. For en-US users, this phrase would be "**This might void your warranty!**" – bwDraco Nov 06 '12 at 20:57

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 24 '21 at 10:54

1

Search over GitHub repositories shows 1,904 occurrences of "Here be dragons": https://grep.app/search?q=Here%20be%20dragons.

Examples:

answered Jun 24 '21 at 10:54

ilyazub

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What was the scary code comment about dragons?

5 Answers5

// Here be dragons

Linked