Can someone please tell me what this is?

[needhelp70]

On two recent visits to Yahoo Personals, I found the following string of text:

// doesn't come to here //apd_set_pprof_trace(); /* added by Shu for performance evaluation.


I've researched the

//apd_set_pprof_trace(); /*

part of it and found that it appears to be related to PHP or Advanced PHP Debugger - even though I've read what I could find about it, I still don't get it... or more importantly understand what it is for... could someone please tell me?

[hitman6003]

In a nutshell it provides the coder with a greater amount of feedback so that they can optimize their code.  Essentially, it's probably a mistake that you saw it on the part of the Yahoo devs.

[akitchin]

looks like someone at yahoo improperly commented out his debugging lines from the program.

'//' starts a comment line, while '/*' and '*/' delimit comments.  based on the '/*' at the end of that code, i'm guessing the developer mis-matched the comment delimiters (ie. used */ "COMMENT" here for debugging /*).

[b]EDIT:  hitman has faster typing.[/b]

[needhelp70]

I'm sorry... I don't understand... this was on the same person's profile that I went to on two separate occaisions.  So are you saying that this isn't keylogging or spyware?  Could you possibly explain it in more layman terms??? I'm sorry.

[hitman6003]

[quote]So are you saying that this isn't keylogging or spyware?[/quote]

No, it isn't.  It's just a utility that's built into php to help the programmer make his/her code better.

[needhelp70]

Someone actually told me that it was a command to trace who is viewing that particular page or logging your IP address.  Does that make any sense?

[hitman6003]

Everytime you visit ANY page on the internet the server knows your IP...it's has to be able to, other wise it wouldn't know who to send the information back to when you request the page.

If the server knows your IP, then the programmer can acess it.  It is used for a variety of applications...look at your posts in this thread...notice in the bottom right of each one an ip address is there?  That's your IP.  I can't see it, but you can.  I can see mine, but you can't.

In php, you can access the IP of the requesting computer by using $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'].

[akitchin]

a web server automatically grabs your IP and whatnot when you make a request regardless; if you want to avoid a server knowing your IP address, you'll have to stop using the internet.  it is whether or not people do anything with it that is the issue.

in this case, the developer is not logging any information other than what environment you are viewing the site with, and any circumstances that could have led to a parsing problem.  so in a word, yes, it does trace who is viewing that page.  not your PERSONAL info though, simply your computer info for their own debugging information.  this is what debugging is, and it is not a malicious habit.  it is meant to track how errors occur, and consequently fix it (or clean up one's code, as hitman says).

[b]EDIT:  hitman types faster again, but i'm hoping my explanation helps as well.[/b]

[needhelp70]

This all kind of makes sense... my little brother just called and I explained it to him and he said that it was Java script and that it was just a fluke that I could even see it on the web page... that it was the programmers "inner-notes".  Things that us regular viewers are not supposed to see.  He assured me that it was nothing to be concerned about and that it was nothing that could cause harm to my computer or that someone was trying to "maliciously" trace who was viewing that particular page. He explained the whole IP address thing more thoroughly to me also.  (which I get)

That's basically the same thing you guys were saying, right?

[hitman6003]

Yes, but it's not javascript...it's php.  Which are totally different, but I digress.