Names in goblet

[M. J. Pascual]

No: HPFGUIDX 59740

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jdr0918" <jdr0918 at h...> wrote:

> The Sergeant Majorette says:
> This is something that really bothers me, and I have the sinking 
> feeling that it is merely a plot hole; namely, how dumb does a
magic 
> object have to be to be fooled into thinking there could be a 
> *fourth" entrant in a *tri*-wizard tournament?
> --JDR

I can easily imagine that crafting magical items -- essentially
objects empowered (by magic) to automate things -- as the WW
equivalent to machinery and software.  The Sorting Hat is the 
equivalent to a university's admissions application which tries
to balance faculties and schools given a set of criteria, for 
example. (High scores in mathematics?  Science admission!)

As such, the Tri-Wizard Cup was enchanted ("programmed") to accept
paper with names and schools ("input") and return one person from
each school who best fits competition criteria ("output").  Anybody
who codes for a living knows this maxim all too well:

A computer does _exactly_ everything you tell it to.  Not what you
_want_.

The fact it's called  "Tri-Wizard Cup" is irrelevant. It could be 
called "The Culling Cup".  All that matters, is that it was instructed
to accept names with schools, group the schools uniquely, and select 
one from each of those groups.  The practice of only allowing students
from three schools to enter, hid this design/implementation flaw 
("bug").   

Now, I know fake-Moody said it was "hoodwinked" into accepted Harry's
name, but really... can you accept the word of a Voldemort supporter
at face value?  It may very well have been as easy as 'Harry Potter -
Nyah, nyah' on a scrap of parchment and slipped in during the evening.

--Mark