https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.245.50&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T02:29:15ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1313:_Regex_Golf&diff=1317941313: Regex Golf2016-11-30T22:49:34Z<p>108.162.245.50: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1313<br />
| date = January 6, 2014<br />
| title = Regex Golf<br />
| image = regex_golf.png<br />
| titletext = <nowiki>/bu|[rn]t|[coy]e|[mtg]a|j|iso|n[hl]|[ae]d|lev|sh|[lnd]i|[po]o|ls/ matches the last names of elected US presidents but not their opponents.</nowiki><br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The comic talks about {{w|regular expressions}}, which are a way to specify textual patterns. Given a regular expression, one can search for the pattern it specifies inside a text string. If the pattern is found, it's said that the pattern "matches" the string; if it's not found, it's said it doesn't match.<br />
<br />
The title of the comic and the first panel is based on "[http://regex.alf.nu/ regex golf]", which is a discipline of "{{w|code golf}}", a game in which programmers attempt to solve a given programming problem using as few characters as possible, analogous to the number of {{w|golf}} shots it takes to reach the goal. In regex golfing, the programmer is given two sets of text fragments, and (s)he tries to write the shortest possible regular expression which would match all elements of one set, while at the same time not matching any element from the other set.<br />
<br />
The regex golf challenge Megan faces consists of matching all subtitles of (then extant) ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' films, while not matching any subtitle of ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' movies. {{w|Subtitle (titling)|Subtitles}} are the secondary titles of the movies, after the ''"Star Trek: "'' or ''"Star Wars Episode N: "''. For example, in ''Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace'', the subtitle is ''The Phantom Menace''. In the first panel, she created a 12-character regex solving the challenge.<br />
<br />
Then she moved on to building a tool which would automatically build such a regex for arbitrary lists of text, which could be described as {{w|meta}}- regex golfing. But as she has lost this tool, she needs to search through her files and chooses a tool called "{{w|grep}}" to find it. This implies that she needs a regular expression that would find any code that appears to be a regex golf generator, which leads to another "meta-" layer of abstraction. At the end, Megan notes this sequence of meta-meta-... might go to infinity and Cueball quips that she now has "infinite problems" as a result of her efforts; Megan retorts that she already had "infinite problems" because she's geeky enough to run meta-versions of programs on themselves, and stubborn enough to continue on until she fails, to the exclusion of all else. This also seems to be a reference to a famous quote (see also ''[[1171: Perl Problems]]''):<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.''</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Regular expressions===<br />
The first regex Megan uses is <code>/m | [tn]|b/</code>, said to match ''Star Wars'' subtitles but not ''Star Trek''.<br />
<br />
The forward slashes <code>/</code> just mark the start and end of the regex. The <code>|</code> character means "or", so the regex matches any string that contains the patterns "<code>m </code>", "<code> [tn]</code>" or "<code>b</code>" (including the s). The square brackets match one of the enclosed characters, meaning that "<code> [tn]</code>" matches either "<code> t</code>" or "<code> n</code>". The regex is apparently case-insensitive, because it wouldn't work otherwise.<br />
<br />
The Star Wars subtitles match the parts of the regex in the following way:<br />
*"The Phanto<u>m </u>Menace" is matched by "<code>m </code>".<br />
*"Attack of<u> t</u>he Clones" is matched by "<code> [tn]</code>".<br />
*"Revenge of<u> t</u>he Sith" is matched by "<code> [tn]</code>".<br />
*"A<u> N</u>ew Hope" is matched by "<code> [tn]</code>".<br />
*"The Empire Strikes <u>B</u>ack" is matched by "<code>b</code>".<br />
*"Return of<u> t</u>he Jedi" is matched by "<code> [tn]</code>".<br />
Note that if one included the animated film "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" it would not be matched by "<code> [tn]</code>" because the T is the start of the subtitle and is not preceded by a . (The string also will likely fail to match some or all of the upcoming post-Disney-acquisition Star Wars films, which the comic predates; it definitely does not match the first such film, 2015's "The Awakens".)<br />
<br />
On the other hand, none of the Star Trek subtitles contains an M followed by a , a T or an N preceded by a , or any B, so the regex does not match any of them. Note that in the original series all subtitles start with a "T" but it's the first character so it's not preceded by a .<br />
<br />
Here is the list that Megan probably used:<br />
*Original series:<br />
**The Motion Picture<br />
**The Wrath of Khan<br />
**The Search For Spock<br />
**The Voyage Home<br />
**The Final Frontier<br />
**The Undiscovered Country<br />
*The Next Generation:<br />
**Generations<br />
**First Contact<br />
**Insurrection<br />
**Nemesis<br />
*Reboot series:<br />
**''the one without a subtitle''<br />
**Into Darkness<br />
**''Beyond''<br />
<br />
Note that ''Star Trek: Beyond'' was released after this comic and matches the regex, so the pattern doesn't work any more.<br />
<br />
In the last panel "and beyond" Megan uses the regular expression <code>/(meta-)*regex golf/</code> to describe her problem. <code>*</code> means "zero or more" of the preceding character/group (parentheses <code>()</code> group characters). So this regex matches "regex golf", "meta-regex golf", "meta-meta-regex golf", etc. In a way this is regex golf in itself, matching all levels of meta-regex golf while not matching anything else.<br />
<br />
In the title text, there is a long regex that is the solution of another regex golf challenge: matching the last names of all elected US presidents but not their opponents. Note that the list of opponents include some people who were previously or later became presidents, so taken literally this is impossible. To make this work the list of opponents must exclude anyone who was also president. The regular expression itself works in a very similar way to the Star Wars/Trek one, including several different patterns separated by <code>|</code>. Each elected president matches one pattern while each opponent matches none.<br />
<br />
Here is a list of elected president and the patterns they match:<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Number<br />
!President<br />
!Matched expression<br />
|-<br />
|1<br />
|{{w|George Washington|George Wa<u>sh</u>ington}}<br />
|<code>sh</code><br />
|-<br />
|2<br />
|{{w|John Adams|John <u>Ad</u>ams}}<br />
|<code>[ae]d</code><br />
|-<br />
|3<br />
|{{w|Thomas Jefferson|Thomas <u>J</u>efferson}}<br />
|<code>j</code><br />
|-<br />
|4<br />
|{{w|James Madison|James <u>Ma</u>dison}}<br />
|<code>[mtg]a</code><br />
|-<br />
|5<br />
|{{w|James Monroe|James Monr<u>oe</u>}}<br />
|<code>[coy]e</code><br />
|-<br />
|6<br />
|{{w|John Quincy Adams|John Quincy <u>Ad</u>ams}}<br />
|<code>[ae]d</code><br />
|-<br />
|7<br />
|{{w|Andrew Jackson|Andrew <u>J</u>ackson}}<br />
|<code>j</code><br />
|-<br />
|8<br />
|{{w|Martin Van Buren|Martin Van <u>Bu</u>ren}}<br />
|<code>bu</code><br />
|-<br />
|9<br />
|{{w|William Henry Harrison|William Henry Harr<u>iso</u>n}}<br />
|<code>iso</code><br />
|-<br />
|11<br />
|{{w|James K. Polk|James K. <u>Po</u>lk}}<br />
|<code>[po]o</code><br />
|-<br />
|12<br />
|{{w|Zachary Taylor|Zachary <u>Ta</u>ylor}}<br />
|<code>[mtg]a</code><br />
|-<br />
|14<br />
|{{w|Franklin Pierce|Franklin Pier<u>ce</u>}}<br />
|<code>[coy]e</code><br />
|-<br />
|15<br />
|{{w|James Buchanan|James <u>Bu</u>chanan}}<br />
|<code>bu</code><br />
|-<br />
|16<br />
|{{w|Abraham Lincoln|Abraham <u>Li</u>ncoln}}<br />
|<code>[lnd]i</code><br />
|-<br />
|17<br />
|{{w|Andrew Johnson|Andrew <u>J</u>ohnson}}<br />
|<code>j</code><br />
|-<br />
|18<br />
|{{w|Ulysses S. Grant|Ulysses S. Gra<u>nt</u>}}<br />
|<code>[rn]t</code><br />
|-<br />
|19<br />
|{{w|Rutherford B. Hayes|Rutherford B. Ha<u>ye</u>s}}<br />
|<code>[coy]e</code><br />
|-<br />
|20<br />
|{{w|James A. Garfield|James A. <u>Ga</u>rfield}}<br />
|<code>[mtg]a</code><br />
|-<br />
|22<br />
|{{w|Grover Cleveland|Grover C<u>lev</u>eland}}<br />
|<code>lev</code><br />
|-<br />
|23<br />
|{{w|Benjamin Harrison|Benjamin Harr<u>iso</u>n}}<br />
|<code>iso</code><br />
|-<br />
|24<br />
|{{w|Grover Cleveland|Grover C<u>lev</u>eland}}<br />
|<code>lev</code><br />
|-<br />
|25<br />
|{{w|William McKinley|William McKi<u>nl</u>ey}}<br />
|<code>n[hl]</code><br />
|-<br />
|26<br />
|{{w|Theodore Roosevelt|Theodore R<u>oo</u>sevelt}}<br />
|<code>[po]o</code><br />
|-<br />
|27<br />
|{{w|William Howard Taft|William Howard <u>Ta</u>ft}}<br />
|<code>[mtg]a</code><br />
|-<br />
|28<br />
|{{w|Woodrow Wilson|Woodrow Wi<u>ls</u>on}}<br />
|<code>ls</code><br />
|-<br />
|29<br />
|{{w|Warren G. Harding|Warren G. Har<u>di</u>ng}}<br />
|<code>[lnd]i</code><br />
|-<br />
|30<br />
|{{w|Calvin Coolidge|Calvin Coo<u>li</u>dge}}<br />
|<code>[lnd]i</code><br />
|-<br />
|31<br />
|{{w|Herbert Hoover|Herbert H<u>oo</u>ver}}<br />
|<code>[po]o</code><br />
|-<br />
|32<br />
|{{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin D. R<u>oo</u>sevelt}}<br />
|<code>[po]o</code><br />
|-<br />
|33<br />
|{{w|Harry S. Truman|Harry S. Tru<u>ma</u>n}}<br />
|<code>[mtg]a</code><br />
|-<br />
|34<br />
|{{w|Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight D. Eise<u>nh</u>ower}}<br />
|<code>n[hl]</code><br />
|-<br />
|35<br />
|{{w|John F. Kennedy|John F. Kenn<u>ed</u>y}}<br />
|<code>[ae]d</code><br />
|-<br />
|36<br />
|{{w|Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon B. <u>J</u>ohnson}}<br />
|<code>j</code><br />
|-<br />
|37<br />
|{{w|Richard Nixon|Richard <u>Ni</u>xon}}<br />
|<code>[lnd]i</code><br />
|-<br />
|39<br />
|{{w|Jimmy Carter|Jimmy Ca<u>rt</u>er}}<br />
|<code>[rn]t</code><br />
|-<br />
|40<br />
|{{w|Ronald Reagan|Ronald Rea<u>ga</u>n}}<br />
|<code>[mtg]a</code><br />
|-<br />
|41<br />
|{{w|George H. W. Bush|George H. W. <u>Bu</u>sh}}<br />
|<code>bu</code><br />
|-<br />
|42<br />
|{{w|Bill Clinton|Bill Cli<u>nt</u>on}}<br />
|<code>[rn]t</code><br />
|-<br />
|43<br />
|{{w|George W. Bush|George W. <u>Bu</u>sh}}<br />
|<code>bu</code><br />
|-<br />
|44<br />
|{{w|Barack Obama|Barack Oba<u>ma</u>}}<br />
|<code>[mtg]a</code><br />
|}<br />
<br />
Some presidents are missing because they weren't elected but became presidents after the resignation/death of their formers.<br />
<br />
After Donald Trump won over Hillary Clinton, this regex would not be possible to update since it would need to match (Bill) and not match (Hillary) Clinton at the same time.<br />
<br />
Note also that Randall's regular expression must be modified slightly, because it also matches {{w|John C. Fremont|John C. Fremo<u>nt</u>}}, the runner-up to James Buchanan in 1856, as discussed by {{w|Peter Norvig}} at [http://nbviewer.ipython.org/url/norvig.com/ipython/xkcd1313.ipynb xkcd 1313: Regex Golf]. Note that Norvig provides a small amount of Python code which actually plays regex golf with arbitrary lists, and found a shorter solution than Randall's for the ''Star Wars'' vs ''Star Trek'' game.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Regex golf:<br />
:[Megan is sitting at a laptop. Cueball is standing behind her.]<br />
:Megan: You try to match one group but not the other.<br />
:Megan: /m | [tn]|b/ matches ''Star Wars'' subtitles but not ''Star Trek''.<br />
:Cueball: Cool.<br />
<br />
:Meta-regex golf:<br />
:[A close-up of Megan at her laptop.]<br />
:Megan: So I wrote a program that plays regex golf with arbitrary lists...<br />
:Cueball (offscreen): Uh oh...<br />
<br />
:Meta-meta-regex golf:<br />
:[Megan typing at her laptop.]<br />
:Megan: ...But I lost my code, so I'm grepping for files that look like regex golf solvers.<br />
:[Cueball facepalming.]<br />
<br />
:...And beyond:<br />
:[Another closeup of Megan at her laptop.]<br />
:Megan: Really, this is all /(meta-)*regex golf/.<br />
:Cueball: Now you have ''infinite'' problems.<br />
:Megan: No, I had those already.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*There are now at least four comics that reference regular expressions. The other three are: [[208: Regular Expressions]], [[224: Lisp]], and [[1171: Perl Problems]].<br />
*Additionally, regular expressions are mentioned in the title text of [[1277: Ayn Random]].<br />
*A regular expression is used in the [http://what-if.xkcd.com/75/ 75th] post of [[what if?]] to calculate the answer to that week's question.<br />
*Also, Randall mentions [http://regex.alf.nu/ a website with a regexp golf game] he got distracted by while researching for the [http://what-if.xkcd.com/78/ 78th] post of [[what if?]] (which was published one day after this comic).<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Regex]]<br />
[[Category:Star Trek]]</div>108.162.245.50https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=181:_Interblag&diff=131784181: Interblag2016-11-30T18:25:53Z<p>108.162.245.50: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 181<br />
| date = November 8, 2006<br />
| title = Interblag<br />
| image = interblag.png<br />
| titletext = Sometimes I hate the internet. Sometimes it makes me happy that 'The Tubes' has become slang for the internet so quickly.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The comic parodies the habit of word coining on the internet, as well as the enthusiasm for modern sounding terms in the IT world in general. Common examples include the shortening of "weblog" to "{{w|blog}}", while the entirety of blogs is referred to as the "{{w|blogosphere}}". The internet itself is sometimes called "The Tubes", a term derived from Senator {{w|Ted Stevens}} infamous statement "{{w|Series of Tubes}}". The suffixes "-net" and "-web" are often used to denote a certain interconnection of information on the internet, as well as to make products and brands sound fit for the 21st century.<br />
<br />
The matrix shown in the comic spoofs the internet jargon by combining common pre- and suffixes to new and impressive but meaningless words. The culmination of nonsense is, as indicated in the transcript, the term "blagoblag". This is also a sideswipe at comic [[148]], where "blag" was introduced as a substitute for the usage of "blog". The [http://blag.xkcd.com official weblog] of the xkcd webcomic is also called "blag". The prefix "blogo-", meanwhile, was used again in comic [[239: Blagofaire]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Terms I have used or heard used to make fun of the internet:<br />
:[Below: A matrix whose entries may contain crosses to indicate that a term has been used. The rows (prefixes) are labelled WORLD WIDE, INTER-, BLOGO-, BLAGO- and WEB-; the columns are labelled NET, WEB, SPHERE, TUBES and BLAG. In the interests of properly propagating the term "blagoblag", the full list of used terms follows:]<br />
:World Wide Web<br />
:Internet<br />
:Interweb<br />
:Intersphere<br />
:Intertubes<br />
:Interblag<br />
:Blogosphere<br />
:Blagonet<br />
:Blagosphere<br />
:Blagoblag<br />
:Webnet<br />
:Webweb<br />
:[Cueball and Megan stand facing; Cueball raises his hands in the air while Megan is nonplussed.]<br />
:Cueball: I heard about it on the interblag!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Internet]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]</div>108.162.245.50https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=80:_My_Other_Car&diff=13140580: My Other Car2016-11-22T18:58:05Z<p>108.162.245.50: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 80<br />
| date = March 24, 2006<br />
| title = My Other Car<br />
| image = other_car.jpg<br />
| titletext = It's much better than the other one.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic refers to a popular form of {{w|bumper sticker}} which follow the template "my other is a ____". Sometimes the blank is a fancy vehicle like a {{w|Porsche}} or a {{w|Ferrari}}; sometimes it's an even more expensive transportation like "{{w|yacht}}" or "{{w|private jet}}", or even something in fiction (like a "{{w|Tardis}}".<br />
<br />
The premise was to jokingly imply that someone driving in a less fancy vehicle was wealthier than they looked, as they could afford a fancy (they simply chose to drive the clunker that day). The designer of the first stickers might even have intended them for serious use by wealthy drivers. The form of sticker ultimately became so well known that the phrase entered the pop-culture lexicon.<br />
<br />
Due to their popularity, these stickers also have been parodied in various ways, like the one [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] has invented here. Randall's sticker is a more "honest" sticker which admits "this IS my other "; in other words, this is the nicer of the two s.<br />
<br />
This sticker could probably be used on an expensive to mirror the traditional sticker's use on a cheaper . However, the in the strip is a Mitsubishi, which is not a particularly expensive brand. Thus it appears Randall is using the sticker for contrasting purposes: while others would drive a modest but joke that they have a really nice at home, Randall's is modest and, as he noted in the title text, his other is ''much'' worse than this one.<br />
<br />
It's also possible that this is a play on meta-levels; by definition, the that you're driving can't be your other , as it's this .<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The back of a blue Mitsubishi with a spoiler is shown.]<br />
:Bumper sticker: This IS my other car.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>108.162.245.50https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1748:_Future_Archaeology&diff=1309151748: Future Archaeology2016-11-14T21:17:28Z<p>108.162.245.50: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1748<br />
| date = October 19, 2016<br />
| title = Future Archaeology<br />
| image = future_archaeology.png<br />
| titletext = "The only link we've found between the two documents is that a fragment of the Noah one mentions Aaron's brother Moses parting an ocean. Is that right?" "... yes. Yes, exactly."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This Wednesday comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] from Monday about a {{w|time travel|time-traveler}} (the black floating energy Sphere) who has come back from far in to the future to see {{w|spiders}} (only known from {{w|fossils}} in their time). See [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] for a more complete explanation of this part of the joke. This series ended with this comic. Both comic in this series have titles of a noun followed by a field of research. It was a so far unused release schedule and it was the first time in six two related comics were released in the same week. See more under the [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere|Time traveling Sphere]] series.<br />
<br />
Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future they ask if it knows who will win the . This is a reference to the {{w|United States s, 2016}} where the ''very'' controversial {{w|Donald Trump}} was up against former United States first lady {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, who also had several {{w|Hillary_Clinton#Email_controversy|controversies}} going on. This comic was released about three weeks before day. It is likely one of the most discussed s ever, especially in the rest of the world outside the US, where especially Europe leaders have made it clear that they are against Trump. That was mainly earlier on, before they realized he might actually stand a chance. Of course anyone interested in any would be interested to hear from the future how it went, but this particular may interest a larger proportion of the world population than any prior . (The was the subject three weeks later the day before the where [[Randall]] endorsed Hillary directly in [[1756: I'm With Her]].) (Also, Trump won :'( )<br />
<br />
Sadly for Megan and Cueball, the sphere has come back from so far in to the future, that even spiders have gone extinct. (Whether humans also have is unclear, see discussion about this in [[1747: Spider Paleontology]]). The Sphere makes this clear by stating that its civilization hardly know anything about our era and they know little about our history and culture. (And by the way it only came back for the spiders, anyway). <br />
<br />
The idea is that history is filtered in similar fashion to fossils. What is contemporaneously important, like a {{w|spider web|spider's web}}, {{w|Feathered dinosaur|dinosaur feathers}} (see previous comic), or the United States presidential may not survive. The Sphere tells them that only two written accounts have been reconstructed (note that they are not found in their entirety). And they do not know if they even represents real events or myths. One of the two is indeed a myth, as it is about a man building a boat to survive a great flood. Megan recognizes this as being about {{w|Noah}} and his famous {{w|Noah's Ark|Ark}} from the {{w|Genesis flood narrative}}, as Cueball refers to. The other is a reference to a popular pop song.<br />
<br />
The joke is that, in the future, the 2000 {{w|Aaron Carter}} hip hop song "{{w|That's How I Beat Shaq}}" ([http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/aaroncarter/thatshowibeatshaq.html lyrics] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfhhWA9GF0M video]) is considered as valuable a historical document when researching humans as parts of the {{w|Bible}}.<br />
<br />
While secular historians consider the story of the Flood to be mythical, they still use it to infer facts about the early history of the Middle East, simply because there are a fairly small number of texts surviving from that era. "That's How I Beat Shaq" is, likewise, a fictional story including some true elements; it's just that as long as there are abundant sources documenting life in the year 2000, there's no reason to consult the song in any historical context. Yet it is the latter story that the time traveler assumes to be a clearly religious one, while seeing the former as a relatively straightforward survival story. A further layer of humor is that "That's How I Beat Shaq" is an archetypal {{w|David and Goliath}} story&mdash;the story of David and Goliath of course being a Biblical one as well. <br />
<br />
In fact the Spheres civilization believes Shaq ({{w|Shaquille O'Neal}} a professional basketball player 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) tall) to refer to a God, which was then defeated by Aaron, a 14 year old (and rather small kid) at the time of the release of his single in 2001. He beats Shaq on the basketball court one on one, so although this is a David vs. Goliath story it is not a fight till death. But to Aaron and his basketball fan friends, Shaq is probably seen as kind of God. Megan comments that the pop song may have been mangled by the {{w|Aeon|eons}}.<br />
<br />
The title text on the joke by letting the Sphere explain that the only connection they have found between their two historical documents is via the biblical story of {{w|Moses}}. As Moses is also one of God's chosen prophets and leaders, like Noah and {{w|Abraham}} before him, these two stories appear close together in the Bible, though not close together chronologically, and it would be likely that their document with the Flood story also has some parts about Moses. Moses had an older biological brother named {{w|Aaron}} and the Sphere's civilization has hastily concluded that Moses' brother and Aaron Carter are one and the same. According to the Bible, God {{w|parting of the Red Sea|parted the Red Sea}} for Moses and the {{w|Israelites}}. This is often referred to, either erroneously or out of simplification, as Moses having parted the Red Sea. Along with Noah's Flood, this is one of the two major times in the Bible that God effects grand change on a body or bodies of water. <br />
<br />
The Sphere asks Megan and Cueball if it is true that Aaron (Carter's) brother Moses did part an ocean. Megan decides to refrain from trying to explain this, having already in the previous comic realized how hard it is to explain spiders to someone who is a fan, but has never heard of spider web, and thus just states yes, yes exactly. Of course according to the bible she can say yes to the question about Moses parting the water, as long as she do not say anything about the connection with Aaron Carter.<br />
<br />
There appears to be a major flaw in the comic on the fact that the Sphere speaks perfect English, and understands Megan and Cueball. If they only have two written accounts from our time, why do they then speak English? Especially since they seem to come from another planet and are thus likely not humans (see discussion of the sphere in the previous comic). Of course if they are humans and have come from Earth (maybe traveled away), they may just have retained the English language. But given the fact that more young people today probably would not understand their own grandparents grandparents, and that the Sphere is from so long into the future that Megan calls it eons, spiders are extinct, and only two text have survived, it should be impossible for the language to have stayed the same. Alternatively they have also recovered some video clips, but then it would be strange the Sphere did not mention this. A final solution is that the Sphere's civilization is so advanced that it can learn the language instantly by just being in the room with other beings, simply reading it from their mind. Given the fact that it seems the Sphere has come to Earth from another planet, and has the ability to travel in time, this last option may not even be so far fetched.<br />
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This comic was published the day after the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}'', thus referring indirectly to a new possible flood history. It was the first what if? post in almost three months, the longest break between two post during 2016 (and third longest of all time at the time of its release), and it thus seems realistic that there should be some kind of connection between that and this comic. A later comic ([[1750: Life Goals]]) also referenced this what if? post more or less directly.<br />
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In this comic Randall manages to combine no less than four of his favorite recurring subjects with [[:Category:Time travel|time travel]], [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]], [[:Category:Politics|politics]] and [[:Category:Religion|religion]].<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[The Sphere, a time-traveler depicted as a solid floating black energy sphere surrounded by six outwardly-curved segments (first seen in the previous comic), is floating in front of Megan and Cueball who is walking after it towards the right part of the panel. The Sphere looks like this in all panels, but in the zoom in from panel two more details can be seen. A voice emanates from the Sphere.]<br />
:Megan: Since you're from the future, do you know who wins the ?<br />
:Sphere: Haven't the faintest idea. Hardly any text has been recovered from your era, so we know little about your history and culture.<br />
:Sphere: <small>We're mostly here for the spiders, anyway. </small><br />
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:[A close-up of the Sphere, still depicted as a black sphere, but not perfectly round at this zoom level and also clearly with some white dots in the dark area. It is still surrounded by six narrow rays with irregular dots between the rays.]<br />
:Sphere: There are only two written accounts we've reconstructed.<br />
:Sphere: We don't know whether they describe real events or myths.<br />
<br />
:[The Sphere is now on the left side of Megan and Cueball who has stopped walking and has turned to look at the Sphere.]<br />
:Sphere: One is a story about a man who built a boat to survive a great flood.<br />
:Megan: Oh yeah. Noah.<br />
:Cueball: We do like our flood narratives.<br />
<br />
:[The Sphere has drifted further away from Megan and Cueball.]<br />
:Sphere: The other is an account of how a man named Aaron Carter defeated a god named Shaq.<br />
:Megan: That one may have been mangled a bit by the eons.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Time traveling Sphere]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- Arron and Shaq --><br />
[[Category:Time travel]]<br />
[[Category:Spiders]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]<br />
[[Category:Basketball]] <!-- Shaq --><br />
[[Category:Songs]] <!-- Arron --></div>108.162.245.50https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1695:_Code_Quality_2&diff=130909Talk:1695: Code Quality 22016-11-14T20:36:21Z<p>108.162.245.50: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Edward Estin Cummings was a poet (pseudonym e e cummings) who used capitalization, punctuation, and line breaks in unconventional ways. When a new user creates an account that duplicates an existing user name, many websites will suggest a user name with the user's first name followed by a string of digits. [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 14:42, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I really love these ones :) I hope there will be a part 3. Can we please make a contest for these?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.246|162.158.83.246]] 15:22, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Yes please! How about:<br />
<nowiki>"It's as if you used a kaleidoscope while following a style-guide written in Rongorongo & applied a pseudo-random number generator to the Unicode table for all your regular expressions. Also, you're not supposed to use line-breaks to draw letters using pipe symbols when defining your variables."</nowiki><br />
(A nice [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon#Reverse_boustrophedon example of the Reverse Boustrophedon format used in Rongorongo])<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.137|162.158.68.137]] 22:05, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I know Ponytail is female but I keep reading her voice as TJ Miller's character from the movie Deadpool.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:45, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Are you also a fan of Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, from Venture Bros? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.137|162.158.68.137]] 22:05, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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"This is further compounded by Ponytail's suggestion that Cueball made rampant use of JavaScript reserved words in his declarations, which is strictly forbidden by the language." I don't think Ponytail made any such suggestion. I think all Ponytail is suggesting is that reserved words occur more often than they would in an ordinary scrabble game. A "house rule" giving triple points for using particular words would explain their high frequency.<br />
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Of course in pretty much any program reserved words do occur with high frequency, it's hard to write without them. There is also heavy overlap in the list of reserved words in different languages, so that the program might not be in javascript. A typical C program uses lots of javascript reserved words.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.59|108.162.218.59]] 16:12, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I agree, and as "the program runs fine for now" it appears to be at the very least a syntactically correct program. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.76|141.101.104.76]] 21:17, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I also agree that it's highly speculative to assume that Cueball's use of reserved words is necessarily erroneous; However, that may be the funnier interpretation, as it indicates an even higher level of improper usage. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.137|162.158.68.137]] 22:05, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I interpreted it quite differently: that he uses variable names very similar to reserved words. For example, "stririg" or "strlng" for a string. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.70|173.245.52.70]] 11:12, 19 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Do we really need the "funny bus crash" photos in the transcript?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.123|141.101.98.123]] 20:01, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:"Funny" bus crash is redundant, in my antisocial opinion. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.137|162.158.68.137]] 22:05, 17 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
::No we do not need them. Feel free to delete them. They are though not in the transcript (where they would for sure not belong). The transcript shoudl genreally have no links. They are in the explanation above the transcript as is also the case with the crash photos. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:43, 18 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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"It works fine for now" is the reason we still have such a hard time figuring out genetics.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.83|172.68.35.83]] 05:57, 18 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Somehow the "OCR on the photo of a ''Scrabble'' board" line reminded me of [[1685: Patch]]. [[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 22:43, 18 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Much shorter insult, courtesy StackOverflow: "The garbage collector is broken".<br />
"What? Impossible!" "Surely. Your program is still there." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.84|162.158.201.84]] 08:37, 20 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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;"Navy weather forecast"<br />
The link given in the explanation to a navy weather forecast is to a graphical weather forecast product. This doesn't make sense, since Randall was clearly referring to a textual weather forecast product. I believe the type of weather forecast Randall intended to reference is an aviation weather forecast, which is textual, not graphical, and is indecipherable to a lay person (pilots must learn how to read them during their training). An example of such a forecast is the blue text on [https://www.aviationweather.gov/static/help/taf-decode.php this page explaining how to decode them] —[[User:SaxTeacher|SaxTeacher]] [[User talk:SaxTeacher|<small>(talk)</small>]] 14:14, 21 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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In the 1st panel her hands are on desk but others are on the drawer underneath :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.50|108.162.245.50]] 20:36, 14 November 2016 (UTC)</div>108.162.245.50https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:81:_Attention,_shopper&diff=129762Talk:81: Attention, shopper2016-11-01T19:50:27Z<p>108.162.245.50: </p>
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<div>I always assumed he'd smashed the windshield ''because'' the lights were on, rather than the other way around. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.90|108.162.215.90]] 17:14, 16 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:I think most people just assume that Black Hat smashed the windshield and turned on the lights because the license plate was bragging so obviously about the owners money.[[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 14:32, 3 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::I assumed that he had<br />
::# noticed the car because its lights were on,<br />
::#seen the licence plate,<br />
::#found (or stolen) a golf club,<br />
::#smashed the windshield, and<br />
::#made the announcement.<br />
::[[User:Cheese Lord Eggplant|Cheese Lord Eggplant]] ([[User talk:Cheese Lord Eggplant|talk]]) 21:15, 14 December 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I think that the car outside Randall's window is "dad's mini", which is a type of car right?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.50|108.162.245.50]] 19:50, 1 November 2016 (UTC)</div>108.162.245.50