explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1218: Doors of Durin

2014-12-24T23:30:03Z

108.162.249.206: the balrogs were morgoth's elite troops, but this does not qualify as "high level", as even sauron is described as a low lieutenant

{{comic
| number = 1218
| date = May 29, 2013
| title = Doors of Durin
| image = doors of durin.png
| titletext = If we get the doors open and plug up the dam on the Sirannon so the water rises a little, the pool will start draining into Moria. How do you think the Watcher would fare against a drenched Balrog?
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is based on the ''{{w|Lord of the Rings}}'', specifically a scene from ''{{w|The Fellowship of the Ring}}'', where the eponymous fellowship is trapped outside the door to the {{w|Moria (Middle-earth)|Mines of Moria}}. There's a spoken password to open the doors, an Elvish inscription on them provides a clue: "Speak friend, and enter". The party leader ({{w|Gandalf}}) initially interprets this to mean that a friend could speak the password and enter. Only after many unsuccessful efforts does he realize it is actually a very simple riddle: The password is the Elvish word for "friend" ("mellon"), and the inscription should in fact be interpreted as "Speak [out loud the word] ''mellon'' [(the Elvish word for ''friend'')], and [you will be able to] enter". See the Wikipedia article {{w|Use–mention distinction}}.

In this comic, Cueball, White Hat, and Megan reenact the scene, with Cueball taking the role of Gandalf. The doors apparently open off-panel when the password is spoken. White Hat then wonders aloud what the Elvish word for "frenemy" is, and Cueball postulates "Mellogoth". This is a {{w|portmanteau}} of "mellon" and "goth", much like how "frenemy" is a portmanteau of "friend" and "enemy". The Elvish word-root ''goth'' is best known as part of the name of {{w|Morgoth}} (literally, "Black Enemy") of the ''{{w|Silmarillion}}''. The doors apparently immediately slam shut the moment Cueball says ''Mellogoth''. It is unclear whether this is because the opposite of the password has been spoken, or because the doors take offense to the word/concept ''frenemy'', of which xkcd has previously made fun in [[919: Tween Bromance]].

The title text ponders what would occur if the Sirannon, a stream running adjacent to the path leading to the doors, were to be completely blocked with the doors left open. The already partially blocked Sirannon had formed a pool before the doors; which contained some sort of monstrous horror from the depths of the Earth, referred to as the {{w|Watcher in the Water}}. Randall seems to think that the pond draining into the mines would connect the Watcher with another horror within: the {{w|Balrog}} (a low-level servant of Morgoth) living within the depths of the mines. Balrogs are primarily creatures of fire and shadow, so having a bunch of water dumped on it is unlikely to please it but may weaken it. He then goes on to wonder about the outcome of a battle between the two monsters.

==Transcript==
:Megan: I've got it!
:Megan: What's the elvish word for friend?
:Cueball: ''Mellon.''

:''RUMBLE''

:White Hat: So what's the elvish word for "frenemy"?
:Cueball: ''...Mellogoth?''
:'''SLAM!!'''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Language]]

1446: Landing

2014-11-12T06:02:46Z

108.162.249.206: /* Frame by Frame Breakdown */

{{comic
| number = 1446
| date = November 12, 2014
| title = ???
| image = http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/%3F%3F%3F.png
| titletext = ...
}}

==Explanation==
This comic seems to be changing over time like some past comics did. A Full explanation will likely have to wait till more panels are revealed.

It now says 3 hours to separation -- possibly about ESA landing probe on comet soon?

And now it's back to a blank frame.

12:50am: And now it says 'Has anyone ever tried this before?'.

'I don't think so.' A small black horizontal line, only a few pixels has appeared on the left.

Back to a wordless frame. The small black line has grown slightly. The black line has turned into the beginning of a shape, lengthening slightly with two small nubs on it.

==Frame by Frame Breakdown==
{| class="wikitable plainlinks table-padding"
|-
!Image
!Day/Time
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-10-00_fUWUYNkxwp.png
|00:10:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-15-00_74eSd3x7BQ.png
|00:15:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-20-00_UT4FKycrmC.png
|00:20:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-25-00_FX6hlfSQHR.png
|00:25:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-30-00_FjnXADopvO.png
|00:30:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-35-00_lVC98SMY1X.png
|00:35:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-40-00_wmf0bPtxDN.png
|00:40:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-45-00_MZprhbADHL.png
|00:45:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-50-00_Z63bWhoaxd.png
|00:50:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-55-00_2wCeCFN0R1.png
|00:55:00
|-
|http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_01-00-00_FRnIhqA5IZ.png
|01:00:00
|}

==Transcript==

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]

1446: Landing

2014-11-12T05:56:18Z

108.162.249.206: /* Frame by Frame Breakdown */

1446: Landing

2014-11-12T05:55:42Z

108.162.249.206: /* Frame by Frame Breakdown */

Talk:1421: Future Self

2014-09-16T01:56:41Z

108.162.249.206:

<nowiki>#</nowiki> Dear Future Editor 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> As author of the first explanation, I know of what I write. Perhaps minus the snarky code-commenting. 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> But I've a feeling there's a better way of writing it, and possibly a different context that I've missed. 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> ...so over to you.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 08:20, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

The last paragraph was written with assumption no other content is here yet (because there wasn't) - can someone incorporate it correctly with the rest, please? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 08:19, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
:(Dealing with edit conflict) Let me check what you mean. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 08:20, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
:Ahah! Yes, we were ''both'' dealing with edit conflicts, only in different orders (me in here, you in the main article). I think I'm going to let a third party resolve the explanation, it'd probably be best.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 08:23, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
::aaaand dodged by yet another editor [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 08:47, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure I totally agree with the sentence: "The parsing function seems to have lasted one year longer than expected by the younger Cueball." Younger Cueball expected that the parsing function would fail on or after 2013, which is pretty accurate if it failed in 2014. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 14:22, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
:"It's at least 2013" parsed to me as "this will certainly work until part-way through 2013", so the fact that the message in a bottle is uncovered in 2014 says a year longer than worst expectations. OTOH, an alternate interpretation would be "this can't fail before 2013". Maybe, just maybe, Past Cueball (and we don't know how long ago Past Cueball wrote this) is smart enough to say that, so... Who knows.
:(Also, related to what @Artyer below says, I've reconsidered my ideas about this. Maybe Past Cueball is actually just going "I wonder what it was like in Iceland?", but of course Present Cueball has a guilty conscience about this never coming to pass and takes the innocent comment badly. And I'm also seeing a lot of cynicism about Regexps... Using regexps is usually the best way to ''allow'' easy 'rekludging'. Indeed, import pattern-strings from a plain-text flatfile, branching options with and the like with sufficient power from an external flat-file and you needn't touch the ''code'' at all, just modift the associated "config file". Again, this is something I've done, for frequently permutating sources. But, even without, with access to the source code hard-coded regexps aren't necessarily the disaster.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 20:16, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
::This is almost mirroring the talk on the wikipedia page for write-only languages, but while *any* language can be written in a maintainable fashion, there are some situations where a quick result is the goal, and there are some languages/features that are amenable to that goal. The bad rap that scripting languages get for maintainability is almost certainly due more to the nature of problems that scripting languages are used to solve (and the time constraints in which they are written) than to the nature of the language itself. Finally, it's arguably better to spend a day writing a parser, then a day every year re-writing the parser because it broke, than a week writing the parser *properly*, then an hour a year updating the parser's config. Of course, YMMV. The description probably doesn't need any specific languages mentioned, but I think the reference to write-only code is relevant. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 01:52, 16 September 2014 (UTC)
There's nothng wrtten about the trip to Iceland that cueball was plannng to go on (procrastination caused him not to). Maybe something like "in this case, it was that cueball knew he wouldn't go on the trip he planned" but I rewrote it like 5 times, and it didn't work. —[[User:Artyer|Artyer]] ([[User talk:Artyer|talk]]) 16:45, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

I think the sentence about context free and regular grammars over-interpretates this a bit. First of all, there are many regex engines which support back-references, thus allowing more than regular grammars; second of all, a "kludged" parser very often assumes that the input is grammatically correct and just wants to extract the required information. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.32|108.162.254.32]] 17:01, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
:Agreed, and as I mentioned above maybe it's worth removing mention of regular expressions at all. There's nothing in the comic to suggest that the parse function would be using a single language or feature, so there's no reason to suggest Cueball would be using regular expressions without any kind of wrapping script. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 01:56, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

The first 'h' is backwards in the line " The parse function finally broke" 20:18, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
:It appears to be a capital-H (not technically chiral, unlike a small-h), to match the capitality of the long-standing standard of XKCD writing and the rest of the writing on this comic, but somehow obscured/over-smeared by the preceding "T". Image editing error, of some kind? ''Other'' characters' anti-aliased fringes quite happily run into their neighbours without similar artefacts. See the "TU" out of the first line's "FUTURE". On the other hand, the effect repeats in the "THAT" at the end of the "DEAR PAST SELF" text, except with a token two-pixel 'riser' remaining in this case. See also "# THAT TRIP TO ICELAND?" at the end and "THIS FILE" near the beginning. A style element?
:And to address the Incomplete-Tag's current question about the word "snark", please change it if you don't like it or know what that means (I suppose I'd say "snide and sarcastic" would be a good 'back portmanteau' explanation as to its intended usage). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 20:43, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1421: Future Self

2014-09-16T01:52:28Z

108.162.249.206:

<nowiki>#</nowiki> Dear Future Editor 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> As author of the first explanation, I know of what I write. Perhaps minus the snarky code-commenting. 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> But I've a feeling there's a better way of writing it, and possibly a different context that I've missed. 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> ...so over to you.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 08:20, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

The last paragraph was written with assumption no other content is here yet (because there wasn't) - can someone incorporate it correctly with the rest, please? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 08:19, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
:(Dealing with edit conflict) Let me check what you mean. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 08:20, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
:Ahah! Yes, we were ''both'' dealing with edit conflicts, only in different orders (me in here, you in the main article). I think I'm going to let a third party resolve the explanation, it'd probably be best.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 08:23, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
::aaaand dodged by yet another editor [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 08:47, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure I totally agree with the sentence: "The parsing function seems to have lasted one year longer than expected by the younger Cueball." Younger Cueball expected that the parsing function would fail on or after 2013, which is pretty accurate if it failed in 2014. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 14:22, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
:"It's at least 2013" parsed to me as "this will certainly work until part-way through 2013", so the fact that the message in a bottle is uncovered in 2014 says a year longer than worst expectations. OTOH, an alternate interpretation would be "this can't fail before 2013". Maybe, just maybe, Past Cueball (and we don't know how long ago Past Cueball wrote this) is smart enough to say that, so... Who knows.
:(Also, related to what @Artyer below says, I've reconsidered my ideas about this. Maybe Past Cueball is actually just going "I wonder what it was like in Iceland?", but of course Present Cueball has a guilty conscience about this never coming to pass and takes the innocent comment badly. And I'm also seeing a lot of cynicism about Regexps... Using regexps is usually the best way to ''allow'' easy 'rekludging'. Indeed, import pattern-strings from a plain-text flatfile, branching options with and the like with sufficient power from an external flat-file and you needn't touch the ''code'' at all, just modift the associated "config file". Again, this is something I've done, for frequently permutating sources. But, even without, with access to the source code hard-coded regexps aren't necessarily the disaster.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 20:16, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
::This is almost mirroring the talk on the wikipedia page for write-only languages, but while *any* language can be written in a maintainable fashion, there are some situations where a quick result is the goal, and there are some languages/features that are amenable to that goal. The bad rap that scripting languages get for maintainability is almost certainly due more to the nature of problems that scripting languages are used to solve (and the time constraints in which they are written) than to the nature of the language itself. Finally, it's arguably better to spend a day writing a parser, then a day every year re-writing the parser because it broke, than a week writing the parser *properly*, then an hour a year updating the parser's config. Of course, YMMV. The description probably doesn't need any specific languages mentioned, but I think the reference to write-only code is relevant. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 01:52, 16 September 2014 (UTC)
There's nothng wrtten about the trip to Iceland that cueball was plannng to go on (procrastination caused him not to). Maybe something like "in this case, it was that cueball knew he wouldn't go on the trip he planned" but I rewrote it like 5 times, and it didn't work. —[[User:Artyer|Artyer]] ([[User talk:Artyer|talk]]) 16:45, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

I think the sentence about context free and regular grammars over-interpretates this a bit. First of all, there are many regex engines which support back-references, thus allowing more than regular grammars; second of all, a "kludged" parser very often assumes that the input is grammatically correct and just wants to extract the required information. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.32|108.162.254.32]] 17:01, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

The first 'h' is backwards in the line " The parse function finally broke" 20:18, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
:It appears to be a capital-H (not technically chiral, unlike a small-h), to match the capitality of the long-standing standard of XKCD writing and the rest of the writing on this comic, but somehow obscured/over-smeared by the preceding "T". Image editing error, of some kind? ''Other'' characters' anti-aliased fringes quite happily run into their neighbours without similar artefacts. See the "TU" out of the first line's "FUTURE". On the other hand, the effect repeats in the "THAT" at the end of the "DEAR PAST SELF" text, except with a token two-pixel 'riser' remaining in this case. See also "# THAT TRIP TO ICELAND?" at the end and "THIS FILE" near the beginning. A style element?
:And to address the Incomplete-Tag's current question about the word "snark", please change it if you don't like it or know what that means (I suppose I'd say "snide and sarcastic" would be a good 'back portmanteau' explanation as to its intended usage). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 20:43, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

1421: Future Self

2014-09-15T09:12:52Z

108.162.249.206: /* Explanation */ editing good something something

{{comic
| number = 1421
| date = September 15, 2014
| title = Future Self
| image = future_self.png
| titletext = Maybe I haven't been to Iceland because I'm busy dealing with YOUR crummy code.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Mostly there?}}
The comic shows presumably a segment of a code transcript from an old project of Cueball's, this part entirely consisting of comments (a number of computer languages, including several popular dialects, use "#" to indicate "the remainder of this line is a comment") written with apparent foresight by the Cueball's 'younger self' in anticipation of being read by his 'older self' at some point in the future. The language in the comments is similar to how people address themselves in personal {{w|Time_capsule|time capsules}}, in which they put letters away to read years later to see how much they've changed.

A "{{w|Parsing#Parser|parse}} {{w|Subroutine|function}}" is code that interprets some form of input (e.g. the text of a web-page that has been 'scraped' by another part of the code) and makes sense of it in a way that enables functionality in some other part of the code. Parsing can be a difficult problem to solve in general, and programmers will often take shortcuts based on assumptions on the kinds of input that the parsing function will have to handle. If the programmer does not have control over the input, such as reading a page from someone else's web-site, then any changes to the input in the future can cause the parser to spontaneously break even if the parsing function has not changed. In the case of a web page, the difference may be in the structure of the page and not even visible to someone looking at the page in a web browser, or it could be the result of a "site refresh" where the look and feel of the entire web-site is changed to avoid appearing dated, or the website may no longer exist, or any number of other possible differences.

Certainly, that the parsing function has 'failed' indicates that it worked once but possibly it was {{w|kludge|kludged}} together with no expectation that it would handle future changes, and the comments indicate a firm belief that the parsing function could not be easily "rekludged" to handle the new situation but instead a would need to be re-written. This may be because the parsing function was written using {{w|Regular_expression|regular expressions}} or some other {{w|Write-only_language|write-only language}}, where the program is typically created through means of trial-and-error, and it is considered easier to start from scratch than try to determine how the original program worked. The parsing function seems to have lasted one year longer than expected by the younger Cueball. This is more likely due to external factors (the web page not changing as often or as much as expected) than the parsing function operating better than expected, however.

Current-day Cueball feels the need to retorically reply to his younger self's commentary, only to find a forward-looking snark that is both prescient and emotionally hard-hitting. The title-text is a comeback by current-day Cueball who lays the blame back on the younger Cueball. Past Cueball has the advantage that it is easy to predict that you might not follow through with aspirations or resolutions, but current-day Cueball seems to fail to realise that he is only blaming himself for his own problems.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Dear Future Self,
:<nowiki>#</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> You're looking at this file because
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> the parse function finally broke.
:<nowiki>#</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> It's not fixable. You have to rewrite it.
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Sincerely, Past Self

:Cueball: Dear Past Self, it's kinda creepy how you do that.

:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Also, it's probably at least
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> 2013. Did you ever take
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> that trip to Iceland?

:Cueball: Stop judging me!
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]

1421: Future Self

2014-09-15T09:06:51Z

108.162.249.206: /* Explanation */ grammar hard something something

{{comic
| number = 1421
| date = September 15, 2014
| title = Future Self
| image = future_self.png
| titletext = Maybe I haven't been to Iceland because I'm busy dealing with YOUR crummy code.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Mostly there?}}
The comic shows presumably a segment of a code transcript from an old project of Cueball's, this part entirely consisting of comments (a number of computer languages, including several popular dialects, use "#" to indicate "the remainder of this line is a comment") written with apparent foresight by the Cueball's 'younger self' in anticipation of being read by his 'older self' at some point in the future. The language is similar to how people address themselves in personal {{w|Time_capsule|time capsules}}, in which they put letters away to read years later to see how much they've changed.

A "{{w|Parsing#Parser|parse}} {{w|Subroutine|function}}" is code that interprets some form of input (e.g. the text of a web-page that has been 'scraped' by another part of the code) and makes sense of it in a way that enables functionality in some other part of the code. Parsing can be a difficult problem to solve in general, and programmers will often take shortcuts based on assumptions on the kinds of input that the parsing function will have to handle. If the programmer does not have control over the input, such as reading a page from someone else's web-site, then any changes to the input in the future can cause the parser to spontaneously break. In the case of a web page, the difference may be in the structure of the page and not even visible to someone looking at the page in a web browser, or it could be the result of a "site refresh" where the look and feel of the entire web-site is changed to avoid appearing dated.

Certainly, that the parser has 'failed' indicates that it worked once but possibly it was {{w|kludge|kludged}} together with no expectation that it would handle expected future changes and a firm belief that those changes could not be easily 'rekludged' to handle the new situation but instead a proper re-write of the code needs to be done. This may be because the parser was written using {{w|Regular_expression|regular expressions}} or some other {{w|Write-only_language|write-only language}}, where the program is created through means of trial-and-error, and it is considered easier to start from scratch than try to determine how the original program worked. The parse function seems to have lasted one year longer than expected, by the younger Cueball. This is more likely due to external factors (the web page not changing as often as expected) than the parsing function operating better than expected, however.

Current-day Cueball feels the need to retorically reply to his younger self's commentary, only to find a forward-looking snark that is both prescient and obviously emotionally hard-hitting. The title-text is a comeback by current-day Cueball who lays the blame back upon the historic Cueball persona. Past Cueball has the advantage that it is easy to predict that you might not follow through with aspirations or resolutions, but current-day Cueball seems to fail to realise that he is only blaming himself for his own problems.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Dear Future Self,
:<nowiki>#</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> You're looking at this file because
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> the parse function finally broke.
:<nowiki>#</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> It's not fixable. You have to rewrite it.
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Sincerely, Past Self

:Cueball: Dear Past Self, it's kinda creepy how you do that.

:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Also, it's probably at least
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> 2013. Did you ever take
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> that trip to Iceland?

:Cueball: Stop judging me!
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]

1421: Future Self

2014-09-15T09:05:04Z

108.162.249.206: /* Explanation */ Integrate the last paragraph, another link, reflection on resolutions

{{comic
| number = 1421
| date = September 15, 2014
| title = Future Self
| image = future_self.png
| titletext = Maybe I haven't been to Iceland because I'm busy dealing with YOUR crummy code.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Mostly there?}}
The comic shows presumably a segment of a code transcript from an old project of Cueball's, this part entirely consisting of comments (a number of computer languages, including several popular dialects, use "#" to indicate "the remainder of this line is a comment") written with apparent foresight by the Cueball's 'younger self' in anticipation of being read by his 'older self' at some point in the future. The language is similar to how people address themselves in personal {{w|Time_capsule|time capsules}}, in which they put away and read years later to see how much they've changed.

A "{{w|Parsing#Parser|parse}} {{w|Subroutine|function}}" is code that interprets some form of input (e.g. the text of a web-page that has been 'scraped' by another part of the code) and makes sense of it in a way that enables functionality in some other part of the code. Parsing can be a difficult problem to solve in general, and programmers will often take shortcuts based on assumptions on the kinds of input that the parsing function will have to handle. If the programmer does not have control over the input, such as reading a page from someone else's web-site, then any changes to the input in the future can cause the parser to spontaneously break. In the case of a web page, the difference may be in the structure of the page and not even visible to someone looking at the page in a web browser, or it could be the result of a "site refresh" where the look and feel of the entire web-site is changed to avoid appearing dated.

Certainly, that the parser has 'failed' indicates that it worked once but possibly it was {{w|kludge|kludged}} together with no expectation that it would handle expected future changes and a firm belief that those changes could not be easily 'rekludged' to handle the new situation but instead a proper re-write of the code needs to be done. This may be because the parser was written using {{w|Regular_expression|regular expressions}} or some other {{w|Write-only_language|write-only language}}, where the program is created through means of trial-and-error, and it is considered easier to start from scratch than try to determine how the original program worked. The parse function seems to have lasted one year longer than expected, by the younger Cueball. This is more likely due to external factors (the web page not changing as often as expected) than the parsing function operating better than expected, however.

Current-day Cueball feels the need to retorically reply to his younger self's commentary, only to find a forward-looking snark that is both prescient and obviously emotionally hard-hitting. The title-text is a comeback by current-day Cueball who lays the blame back upon the historic Cueball persona. Past Cueball has the advantage that it is easy to predict that you might not follow through with aspirations or resolutions, but current-day Cueball seems to fail to realise that he is only blaming himself for his own problems.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Dear Future Self,
:<nowiki>#</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> You're looking at this file because
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> the parse function finally broke.
:<nowiki>#</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> It's not fixable. You have to rewrite it.
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Sincerely, Past Self

:Cueball: Dear Past Self, it's kinda creepy how you do that.

:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Also, it's probably at least
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> 2013. Did you ever take
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> that trip to Iceland?

:Cueball: Stop judging me!
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:1421: Future Self

2014-09-15T08:47:10Z

108.162.249.206:

1421: Future Self

2014-09-15T08:45:17Z

108.162.249.206: added some links

{{comic
| number = 1421
| date = September 15, 2014
| title = Future Self
| image = future_self.png
| titletext = Maybe I haven't been to Iceland because I'm busy dealing with YOUR crummy code.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First attempt at explanation, taking over from the Bot, but probably debatable.}}
The comic shows presumably a segment of a code transcript from an old project of Cueball's, this part entirely consisting of comments (a number of computer languages, including several popular dialects, use "#" to indicate "the remainder of this line is a comment") written with apparent foresight by the Cueball's 'younger self' in anticipation of being read by his 'older self' at some point in the future.

A "{{w|Parsing#Parser|parse}} {{w|Subroutine|function}}" is code that interprets some form of input (e.g. the text of a web-page that has been 'scraped' by another part of the code) and makes sense of it in a way that enables functionality in some other part of the code. Parsing can be a difficult problem to solve in general, and programmers will often take shortcuts based on assumptions on the kinds of input that the parsing function will have to handle. If the programmer does not have control over the input, such as reading a page from someone else's web-site, then any changes to the input in the future can cause the parser to spontaneously break. In the case of a web page, the difference may be in the structure of the page and not even visible to someone looking at the page in a web browser, or it could be the result of a "site refresh" where the look and feel of the entire web-site is changed to avoid appearing dated.

Certainly, that the parser has 'failed' indicates that it worked once but possibly it was {{w|kludge|kludged}} together with no expectation that it would handle expected future changes and a firm belief that those changes could not be easily 'rekludged' to handle the new situation but instead a proper re-write of the code needs to be done. This may be because the parser was written using {{w|Regular_expression|regular expressions}} or some other {{w|Write-only_language|write-only language}}, where the program is created through means of trial-and-error, and it is considered easier to start from scratch than try to determine how the original program worked. The parse function seems to have lasted one year longer than expected, by the younger Cueball. This is more likely due to external factors (the web page not changing as often as expected) than the parsing function operating better than expected, however.

Older cueball feels the need to retorically reply to his younger self's commentary, only to find a further forward-looking snark that is both prescient and obviously emotionally hard-hitting. The title-text is a further come-back by the older-self, who lays the blame back upon the historic Cueball persona.

Some people write letters to their "future self", which they put away and read years later to see how much they've changed. In this comic, the letter wasn't written for entertainment purposes, but rather it is a comment in source code file in which Cueball of the past admitted he did a horrible job writing a parsing routine, and knew that somewhere in the future, he would have to go back to this code and fix some bug that wasn't the problem back then, but it turned out to be now. He knew that the code will be very hard to fix and left the letter as a reminder to not try to fix it and rewrite it from scratch instead. Cueball of the present, shown on the comic, is absolutely bewildered how accurate the note he left years ago is.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Dear Future Self,
:<nowiki>#</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> You're looking at this file because
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> the parse function finally broke.
:<nowiki>#</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> It's not fixable. You have to rewrite it.
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Sincerely, Past Self

:Cueball: Dear Past Self, it's kinda creepy how you do that.

:<nowiki>#</nowiki> Also, it's probably at least
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> 2013. Did you ever take
:<nowiki>#</nowiki> that trip to Iceland?

:Cueball: Stop judging me!
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]

1402: Harpoons

2014-08-01T12:14:12Z

108.162.249.206: /* Explanation */ cp - apos

{{comic
| number = 1402
| date = August 1, 2014
| title = Harpoons
| image = harpoons.png
| titletext = To motivate it to fire its harpoons hard enough, Rosetta's Philae lander has been programmed to believe it is trying to kill the comet.
}}

==Explanation==

The latter peak on this graph refers to the Rosetta unmanned spacecraft. As part of its mission, it's carrying two tethers to anchor itself to the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_%28spacecraft%29

The first peak is probably a joke. Officially, Apollo 12 carried neither harpoons nor rum. However, Randall may have heard many insider-stories while working at NASA. He may know more about space-shenanigans than the general public.

The caption implies that the spacecraft is sentient, and believes that its mission is to kill the comet. This is obviously a joke, as sentient spacecraft cannot be created with current technology.

==Transcript==
:'''Number of harpoons in space'''
:by year
:[A chart with a red graph is drawn below]
:[The y-axis]
:0 1 2 3
:[The x-axis]
:1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
:[The graph is at zero until a sharp peak to 1 in 1970. The peak is labeled]
:Apollo 12 rum incident
:[The graph then stays at 0 until 2004. Then it rises to 2 and stays there until today, continuing as a dotted line after 2014. The rise is labeled]
:Rosetta comet mission launched carrying lander with harpoon tethers

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1398: Snake Facts

2014-07-24T08:48:47Z

108.162.249.206:

I thought the Worlds longest snake was so long that it took up enough space to be in Brazil, Peru, and Chile at the same time.~~

Just a couple of thoughts: How big was the person whose digestive tract became the longest snake in the world? Also, does the grosser end of the digestive tract develop into the head of a venomous snake? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.29|108.162.223.29]] 06:57, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

The snake in the map shades Chile, BOLIVIA and Brazil, not Peru. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.125|108.162.229.125]] 08:25, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
:Randall has corrected the map on xkcd... Someone should upload the updated version. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.29|108.162.223.29]] 09:48, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
::Updated the image to match the one on xkcd.com. [[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]] ([[User talk:Nialpxe|talk]]) 10:00, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, the shading (unless randell's updated after reading this) does track chili, up the Pacific Coast, across the border with Peru and veers east into Brazil.

I did wonder if 'the World's longest snake' was a reference to the south American highway, part of the pan American highway. Parts were completed in the 1950's making it 'over 60years old', and does track chili as per the 'snakes' body into Peru but the brazilian section is connected elsewhere, neatly crushing my wild theory. :-( [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.161|141.101.99.161]] 09:39, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

The first factoid contains a common misconception about evolution, namely that species evolve ''only'' in small steps. It's entirely possible that a small mutation caused a protein that appeared in snakes' saliva to suddenly be ''very'' poisonous to the snake's prey or enemies. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.98|108.162.231.98]] 11:13, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
:It is possible, but unlikely. Snake venom is not a single chemical, but a mixture of several enzymes and toxins. There is a lot of variation in protein structure and enzymatic properties of the constituents of different snakes' venom, which suggests a gradual shift from one or two simpler lytic enzymes to a complex mixture. Each protein could have mutated separately, but the composition of the venom of each species almost certainly developed over a prolonged period of time. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.29|108.162.223.29]] 11:34, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
::I don't think the implication was that every venom evolution happened in one fail swoop. I believe he was pointing out that instead of people thinking that venom evolution started with bad breath (minuscule unnoticeable changes) more likely started with a reasonably poisonous mutation that actually benefited a snakes survival.--[[User:Bmmarti3|Bmmarti3]] ([[User talk:Bmmarti3|talk]]) 12:46, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
:: Exactly what Bmmarti3 said. ''"the composition of the venom of each species"'' You mean of today's snakes. This is what we would expect for animals that have been around for almost 100M years. The venom of the first poisonous snakes was certainly weaker (and probably only worked on specific targets), but that doesn't mean it was weak. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.98|108.162.231.98]] 13:05, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Is it possible that the alt-text is a reference to Cyrano de Bergeracs "L’Autre monde ou les états et empires de la Lune" ("Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon")? I don't have a proper translation, but there's a dialogue that says that every man is born with a snake inside his belly as a punishment by god.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.129|141.101.104.129]] 15:35, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

That ive seen, Randall is usually very precise in his work. getting a wrong breed for 'longest snake' seems odd to me. Could the 'longest snake' be referring to either a 'longest lived' specimen, or a geographical feature named for a snake? Or perhaps an extinct species? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.196|108.162.215.196]] 15:51, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
::I think he's referring to an actual specimen that is pictured. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.49|108.162.216.49]] 18:12, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

I second the suggestion that this is not actually referring to a species of snake, or a particular specimen even.... It seems odd that Randall would post inaccurate information about snakes for no apparent reason. Perhaps this is a reference to something else entirely... previous dictators? Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? N'Sync reunion concerts? {{unsigned ip|108.162.246.215}}
::Agreed. Anaconda's are not found in Chile either... though Google says that the Anaconda Copper Company owned the largest Copper Mine in the world, located in Chile. I can't connect that factoid with the "more than 60 years" part, though. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.167|173.245.56.167]] 22:18, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

I agree that some people are taking this too literally. Imagine if you approached the situation in reverse, accepting the factoids about a word that you are unfamiliar with. Our digestive tract swallows food, processes it, and evacuates the waste through a flexible wavy tube with several independent parts. The skeleton of the snake looks like a wavy line of individual segments, maybe implying where the name came from. The shaded area on the map looks pretty spot on with the location of the Andes mountain range (the longest continental mountain range on Earth and definitely believed to be over 60 years old). The top factoid is about the animal we have named after the concept of a snake as a wavy not straight staying thing. I like this idea and think I shall keep it. Thank you everyone for your help in offering inadequate information, and while that may seem sarcastic, it is not. I regularly use incorrect examples to get my mind on the correct path to good ones.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.74|199.27.128.74]] 06:32, 24 July 2014 (UTC)
::Created an account to accept potential wrath. [[User:JovialRoger|JovialRoger]] ([[User talk:JovialRoger|talk]]) 06:38, 24 July 2014 (UTC)
:The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes] The peak[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aconcagua] is in Argentina. Randall would probably take the opportunity to make the snake longer, if he had meant the Andes. Plus, no Bolivia/Peru map issue. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.29|108.162.223.29]] 07:42, 24 July 2014 (UTC)
There's an obvious reference to Ze Frank's True Facts series here, both in the amount of truth the facts have, and the use of the name Frank.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.238|108.162.210.238]] 07:49, 24 July 2014 (UTC)jivadent

Is the 'wikipedia says' at the start of every sentence necessary?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 08:48, 24 July 2014 (UTC)