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What's with the XKCD reference? SQL injection and XSS existed long before Munroe made a half-decent joke about it. I see no reason why we should assume the auth
by Locke1689 16y ago
What's with the XKCD reference? SQL injection and XSS existed long before Munroe made a half-decent joke about it. I see no reason why we should assume the author reads XKCD.
Edit: Sorry, I meant author of the blog post. I know the HN title style guide.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- pavel_lishin 16y agoThe author of the blog post, or the person who attempted the injection? Pretty sure the author's read it, since he's linked to the comic. Anyway, I think at this point it's a common enough reference that when you tell someone "Little Bobby Tables", they immediately associate it with SQL injection.
- redcap 16y agoIt's not so much that it's an SQL injection attempt, more so that it's an attempt through paper, which is the same as the Little Bobby Tables one.
- sunir 16y agoI don't think that is the correct interpretation. It's not that it's through paper that it's "Little Bobby Tables". Little Bobby Tables is an injection through someone's name. In this case, the reference is because it's through the voter registration list--i.e. voters purposefully put a SQL injection in their voter registration. The analogy breaks down if you look too closely because it's in the party name field, not the voter name field. However, I think it's funny enough to stand notwithstanding the fact we're sitting around analyzing the joke.
- jacobolus 16y agoSQL injection attacks existed, but how many people try pen-and-paper SQL injection attacks, even as a joke?
- InclinedPlane 16y agoSearching the internet existed long before google came along, yet "googling" has become synonymous with web search much the same way as "little Bobby tables" has become synonymous with certain kinds of sql injection.
- Locke1689 16y agoHmm, OK I guess. I wasn't aware that XKCD had attained that level of representation of CS as a whole (or I guess a paper-based SQL injection, even though simply naming someone a SQL injection string doesn't necessarily require it be paper based).
- noodle 16y agoyou'd be surprised. i have a bunch of friends who read XKCD for some of the generically geeky content, and to who i have to explain a lot of more technical punchlines to. including the premise behind little bobby tables. there's a lot of people whose initial exposure to a CS concept is through XKCD, which solidifies that relationship into the future.
- InclinedPlane 16y agoIt's not just that xkcd is so hugely famous, it's that the example is accurate, demonstrative, humorous, and memorable.