If you’ve spent more than five minutes in a computer science 101 class or scrolled through a programming subreddit, you’ve probably heard of Little Bobby Tables. He’s the patron saint of database disasters. But honestly, when people search for "little bobby question and answers," they’re usually looking for one of two things: either the literal answers to a 9th-grade English lesson about a kid stealing a statue, or the deep-dive explanation of a legendary xkcd comic that taught a generation of devs how to not get fired.
Let’s talk about the technical one first, because it’s the one that actually breaks the internet.
The Little Bobby Tables Question and Answers Everyone Gets Wrong
The "Bobby Tables" phenomenon comes from xkcd comic #327, titled Exploits of a Mom. In it, a school calls a mother to complain that her son, Robert, broke their computer system. The punchline? His full name is Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--.
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People often ask: "What does that string actually do?" Basically, it’s a manual SQL injection attack. If the school’s database was coded by someone being lazy—and let's be real, a lot of school software is—the system would just drop that name into a command like INSERT INTO Students (Name) VALUES ('Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--');.
The first part adds Bobby to the list. The second part, triggered by that sneaky semicolon, tells the database to delete the entire "Students" table. The two dashes at the end? They just turn the rest of the original code into a comment so the computer doesn't throw a fit and crash before the damage is done.
Why developers still care about a comic from 2008
You’d think we would’ve fixed this by now. It’s 2026, for crying out out loud. But SQL injection is still a top threat on the OWASP Top 10 list. It happens because we get comfortable. We trust user input when we shouldn't. Whether it’s a name field or a login box, if you aren't sanitizing your inputs or using parameterized queries, you’re basically leaving your front door unlocked and hoping no one notices.
The "Other" Little Bobby: A 9th Grade English Mystery
Now, if you aren't a coder, you might be looking for the Little Bobby question and answers from the popular school story often found in English curriculum (like the AP/TS SCERT syllabus). This Bobby isn't a hacker; he’s just a kid who wants a bike and has a very weird way of negotiating with God.
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In this story, Bobby writes letters to God, trying to convince Him he’s been a "good boy" to get a bike for his birthday. After realizing he’s actually been a bit of a brat, he realizes he can't lie to the Almighty. His solution? He steals a statue of the Virgin Mary from the church, takes it home, and writes a ransom note: "God, I’ve kidnapped your mom. If you want to see her again, send the bike!"
Common "Little Bobby" Study Questions (And the Real Answers)
- Was Bobby a good boy? Honestly, no. He admits it himself in his deleted drafts. He’s a troublemaker who eventually resorts to "kidnapping" a statue to get what he wants.
- What was the most humorous action? Most people say it’s the final letter. The sheer audacity of a child trying to "extort" God is what makes the story a classic for middle schoolers.
- What does the story teach us? It’s usually framed as a lesson on honesty or the innocence (or lack thereof) of children.
How to Actually Prevent a "Bobby Tables" Attack Today
If you're here for the tech side, you need actionable steps. You don't want your database to be the next one deleted by a clever vanity license plate or a kid with a weird name.
Stop building strings by hand
The biggest mistake is "string concatenation." Never do this:query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = '" + userInput + "'";
That’s how Bobby wins. Instead, use prepared statements. This tells the database, "Hey, I’m sending you a command, and then I’m sending you some data. Treat the data as just data, not more commands."
Use an ORM (Object-Relational Mapper)
Frameworks like Django, Hibernate, or Entity Framework handle a lot of this under the hood. They aren't foolproof—you can still write "raw SQL" if you try hard enough to break things—but they provide a massive safety net.
The Principle of Least Privilege
Why does the school's "add student" form have the permission to "DROP TABLE"? It shouldn't. Your web application’s database user should only have the permissions it absolutely needs to function. If the "Student Enrollment" account can't delete tables, even a successful injection attack is just a minor headache instead of a total wipeout.
What Really Matters in 2026
We’ve seen real-life versions of this. There was a guy who tried to get a "NULL" license plate and ended up getting every "owner unknown" ticket in the state of California. There are companies in the UK and Poland literally named after SQL injection strings to mess with web scrapers.
The lesson? Never trust the user. Whether you're a 9th-grade teacher grading a story about a kid and a bike or a senior backend engineer, the "Little Bobby" rule holds true: people will always find a way to test your systems.
To keep your data safe, start by auditing your oldest legacy code. Look for anywhere you're taking a string from a form and passing it directly to a database. Switch those to parameterized queries. It’s a boring Saturday afternoon task, but it beats explaining to your boss why the entire student body vanished because of a middle schooler's name.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Review your application's input fields for "special character" handling (like single quotes).
- Implement a Content Security Policy (CSP) to add an extra layer of defense.
- Ensure your database users are restricted to specific, necessary permissions (CRUD only, no Schema changes).