312: With Apologies to Robert Frost

2013-12-21T13:10:11Z

199.27.128.149: rm bogus cat

{{comic
| number = 312
| date = September 5, 2007
| title = With Apologies to Robert Frost
| image = with apologies to robert frost.png
| titletext = Some say the world will end in fire; some say in segfaults.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic presents a poem about a god's dilemma of whether to create the world using {{w|Perl}} or {{w|Lisp (programming language)|Lisp}}, two popular computer programming languages. The god has chosen to write it in Perl but since then appears to lament the choice, apparently expressing that if given the chance to write the world's code again, he or she or it would use Lisp instead.

The grammar of Lisp as a language requires the programmer to use a multitude of parentheses, and in many cases it can be difficult to determine whether all of the parentheses have been properly matched up to one another. In fact, Lisp programs will often run, possibly incorrectly, even if there are mismatched parentheses or parentheses missing where they should be present, and so, many Lisp programmers will simply throw extra close-parentheses at the end of their programs to ensure that they do not have too few. The last two lines of the poem refer to the plentiful parentheses in Lisp. The image at the bottom of the panel shows a close-parenthesis at the end of the Universe looking like a shock wave.

A segmentation fault, also commonly called a segfault, is an error that occurs when a computer program attempts to access computer memory to which it should not have access.

This comic might possibly be alluding back to #[[224: Lisp]], in which one of "the gods" claims that although the Universe may appear to have been written in Lisp, it was actually written mostly using Perl.

The poem itself and the title text are a parody of "[http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fire-and-ice/ Fire and Ice]," written by Robert Frost and first published in 1920. In this poem, the speaker discusses his stance in the debate on whether the world will be destroyed in fire or in ice. "A God's Lament" has a rhyme scheme that is nearly identical to that of Frost's poem. However, it differs in that "Lisp" does not rhyme with "men," "again," and "paren," while the corresponding four lines in Frost's poem do rhyme.

==Transcript==
:A God's Lament
:Some said the world should be in Perl;
:Some said in Lisp.
:Now, having given both a whirl,
:I held with those who favored Perl.
:But I fear we passed to men
:A disappointing founding myth,
:And should we write it all again,
:I'd end it with
:A close-paren.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:1291: Shoot for the Moon

2013-11-15T20:05:24Z

199.27.128.149:

Danish, not Megan, right?!
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.56|108.162.216.56]] 06:33, 15 November 2013 (UTC)
:The woman in this comic looks more similar to Megan than Danish. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.45|108.162.216.45]] 07:39, 15 November 2013 (UTC)

Three meanings of shoot are used: 1. Have high plans 2. Fire a weapon 3. Aim for navigation. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.122|173.245.53.122]] 07:01, 15 November 2013 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure this is Megan, Danish have longer hair [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.172|108.162.208.172]] 12:18, 15 November 2013 (UTC)

The so far uncommented-about title text seems to be (almost What-If-ishly) literal in a completely different way. Except that I'm pretty sure you'll not stay within sight of the Earth, for ''most'' trajecectories. But you'd maybe find yourself in a complexly resonant orbit, maybe Cruithne-like. Just putting that out there. Resident orbital mechanics experts please feel free to evaluate accordingly. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.210|141.101.99.210]] 17:05, 15 November 2013 (UTC)

Title text of course only applies to prograde approach. Retrograde would put you on a free return trajectory if you miss. (This is why Apollo used a retrograde approach, in case something went wrong on the far side, they wouldn't be stranded in a solar orbit.) --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.149|199.27.128.149]] 20:05, 15 November 2013 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

312: With Apologies to Robert Frost

Talk:1291: Shoot for the Moon