Since it's election day in the US, many people are thinking about counting today. We frequently discuss counting here, and how to do it wrong, so let's look at some code from RK.

This code may not be counting votes, but whatever it's counting, we're not going to enjoy it:

case LogMode.Row_limit: // row limit excel = 65536 rows
    if (File.Exists(personalFolder + @"" + fileName + ".CSV"))
    {
        using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(personalFolder + @"" + fileName + ".CSV"))
        {
            countRows = reader.ReadToEnd().Split(new char[] { '
' }).Length;
        }
    }

Now, this code is from a rather old application, originally released in 2007. So the comment about Excel's row limit really puts us in a moment in time- Excel 2007 raised the row limit to 1,000,000 rows. But older versions of Excel did cap out at 65,536. And it wasn't the case that everyone just up and switched to Excel 2007 when it came out- transitioning to the new Office file formats was a conversion which took years.

But we're not even reading an Excel file, we're reading a CSV.

I enjoy that we construct the name twice, because that's useful. But the real magic of this one is how we count the rows. Because while Excel can handle 65,536 rows at this time, I don't think this program is going to do a great job of it- because we read the entire file into memory with ReadToEnd, then Split on newlines, then count the length that way.

As you can imagine, in practice, this performed terribly on large files, of which there were many.

Unfortunately for RK, there's one rule about old, legacy code: don't touch it. So despite fixing this being a rather easy task, nobody is working on fixing it, because nobody wants to be the one who touched it last. Instead, management is promising to launch a greenfield replacement project any day now…

Have you always wanted to delight hobbit passerby with a beautiful springtime flower display but don't feel confident in your green thumb? Then you're in luck! Kili is here to show you just how easy it is to plant and grow bulbs! Watch the new episode and read her tips below.

Bulb planting tips:

• Plant bulbs in the autumn so that they have time to chill over winter.
• Choose a spot with partial to full sun
• Bulbs need soil that drains well (so they don't turn to mush after prolonged exposure to moisture), so amend clay soil with perlite or other substances to aid drainage
• As a general rule, dig a hole twice as deep as the bulb is tall.
• Plant bulbs in the autumn so that they have time to chill over winter.
• After the flowers have finished, don't prune them off! Allow the plant to continue its lifecycle. The leaves will continue to create and store energy that the bulb will use the following spring! The will die away on their own in mid-to-late summer.

Happy Hobbit has brought Middle-earth to its viewers' daily lives since 2012! Learn more hobbity recipes, crafts, and more by watching new episodes and/or perusing the 10+ years worth of videos on their YouTube channel. ???? New episodes debut every other Saturday, so be sure you are subscribed to Happy Hobbit so that you don't miss out!

Get even more slow-living hobbit content by following Happy Hobbit on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok! If watching the show has left you with an appetite for more, know that Kili (Kellie) has a podcast where Tolkien is often mentioned called Forests, Folklore & Fantasy

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