https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.75.58&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T18:33:20ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2167:_Motivated_Reasoning_Olympics&diff=175682Talk:2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics2019-06-24T18:38:44Z<p>162.158.75.58: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Reminds me of the Monty Python Argument Clinic :) [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 16:50, 24 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
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It certainly DOESN'T remind you of the Monty Python Argument Clinic, you gormless git! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.28|162.158.214.28]] 17:46, 24 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Yes it DOES![[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.192|141.101.105.192]] 17:57, 24 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
::No it doesn’t.<br />
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== Better quality images? ==<br />
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This probably isn't the right place but I figured this would get the most visibility. I noticed that the image here made it really hard for me to see the "2" engraved on the trophy, but the image on xkcd.com was much clearer. Yada yada yada, turns out there's much higher quality images on xkcd.com for all comics starting with [[1084]], for example for this comic:<br />
<br />
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics.png is the normal image,<br />
<br />
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics_2x.png is the higher resolution image.<br />
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Shouldn't the wiki start using the higher quality images?<br />
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--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 17:53, 24 June 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.75.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2161:_An_Apple_a_Day&diff=1752492161: An Apple a Day2019-06-13T00:51:15Z<p>162.158.75.58: Antibiotics themselves are not Gram-positive or Gram-negative, but rather are effective against bacteria with these properties. Apples, as the stand-in for antibiotics here, would not be Gran-positive.</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2161<br />
| date = June 10, 2019<br />
| title = An Apple a Day<br />
| image = an_apple_a_day.png<br />
| titletext = Even the powerful, tart Granny Smith cultivar is proving ineffective against new Gran-negative doctors.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a GRAN-NEGATIVE APPLE-RESISTANT DOCTOR. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
"{{w|An apple a day keeps the doctor away}}" is a common English {{w|proverb}} and {{w|rhyme}}. The suggestion is that eating one apple daily will keep you healthy, and therefore reduce your necessity to go to the doctor or, more literally, to {{w|house_call|have the doctor come to you}} as was likely the case when this proverb was first used.<br />
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[[Megan]] is giving a talk, starting with the common proverb, before continuing with "At least, used to." In a normal scenario, this may be to imply that eating apples is no longer enough to stay healthy (or that apples is not enough by itself). However, in this comic, this expression is reinterpreted to mean that apples repel doctors. It also suggests that keeping doctors away is of great importance, presumably because doctors in this scenario are undesirable. The method of action of Apples is not specified, they could act as repellents, analogous to {{w|insect repellent}}, or possibly as lethal agents, as {{w|antibiotics}} are to {{w|bacteria}}, or {{w|fungicide|fungicides}} are to {{w|fungus|fungi}}. <br />
<br />
Megan continues with her reinterpretation, mentioning that doctors have become resistant to apples so two or even three may be needed. As control agents become more widely used, organisms which are less sensitive to the control may become more common, as is happening with mosquitoes becoming insensitive to repllents[https://www.nature.com/news/2010/100503/full/news.2010.216.html], or {{w|antimicrobial resistance}}, and {{w|pesticide resistance}}. Such resistant organisms may require higher doses, or use of multiple control agents. <br />
<br />
In the worst cases, doctors have become completely immune to apples (i.e., {{w|superbugs}}). A poster behind Megan shows [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]] with three apples above her. Megan advocates using the 'finest' apples only in these cases (a reference to {{w|Multiple drug resistance|multidrug-resistant}} {{w|pathogens}}, where some antibiotics are only used as a last-resort to reduce the development of resistance to them).<br />
<br />
This comic is a clear reference to the {{w|Antibiotic misuse|overuse of antibiotics}} in modern society, leading to an increase in {{w|antimicrobial resistance}} ("Superbugs"), which has seen increasing awareness in the last few years. The {{w|World Health Organization}} had the first [https://antibioticawareness.ca Antibiotic Awareness Week] in 2015, where a talk similar to the one in the comic would seem appropriate. Similar problems occur in growing plants, where various pests (whether insect, fungi, microbes, or plants) adapt to control measures, making control less effective.<br />
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In the title text, this is taken further: Gran-negative is a pun on {{w|Gram-negative}}, a category of bacteria. A well-known technique called {{w|Gram staining}} distinguishes two classes of bacteria (Gram positive versus Gram negative) on the basis of properties of their cell walls. In this case, Granny Smith apples are supposedly effective against Gran-positive doctors (since the name begins with "Gran"), making them ineffective against new Gran-negative doctors.<br />
<br />
{{w|Honeycrisp}} and {{w|Granny Smith}} are two different cultivars of apples. Granny Smith apples are a refreshingly tart green apple, which have mixed reviews among apple eaters. Conversely, Honeycrisp are a very sweet apple, considered by some to be "an ideal apple for eating raw", and is the state fruit of Minnesota.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan is facing straight out of a slim panel as she stands behind a lectern addressing the reader.]<br />
:Megan: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.<br />
:Megan: Or at least, it used to.<br />
<br />
:[The comic zooms out revealing that Megan and the lectern are standing on a podium. Megan is pointing behind her, with a stick, to at a poster prominently featuring Doctor Ponytail with three apples over her head.]<br />
:Megan: Over time, some doctors have developed a resistance to apples. Keeping them away takes two or three apples instead of one.<br />
:Megan: And there are worrying signs that a few doctors may have become completely immune.<br />
<br />
:[The comic zooms in again on Megan behind the lectern.]<br />
:Megan: So we must stockpile our finest apples in reserve, using them to fend off only the very worst doctors.<br />
:Megan: Honeycrisps still work on most of them, but we don't know for how long.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] <!-- poster --><br />
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Biology]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>162.158.75.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:923:_Strunk_and_White&diff=174314Talk:923: Strunk and White2019-05-20T04:50:04Z<p>162.158.75.58: Are there any examples of Strunk/White fanfiction that ''pre''date this comic (there are plenty that postdate it!)</p>
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<div>EB White was also a Cornell professor. [[Special:Contributions/75.103.23.206|75.103.23.206]] 17:49, 13 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
:Well he got his BA there. That's almost the same, right? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 06:57, 21 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
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Are there any examples of Strunk/White fanfiction that ''pre''date this comic (there are plenty that postdate it!)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.58|162.158.75.58]] 04:50, 20 May 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.75.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2142:_Dangerous_Fields&diff=173264Talk:2142: Dangerous Fields2019-04-27T22:12:20Z<p>162.158.75.58: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Many more chemists have job related deaths than gets recorded. It sometimes takes years for the effects of on the job actions to show up. For example, washing your hands in benzene was common practice in the 1960's in Chemistry departments across the US. The result decades later was bone barrow cancer.<br />
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"In most modern societies, age-related diseases are by far the most common cause of death for both gerontologists and other people."<br />
^ Can someone change this? In most modern societies, smoking kills significantly more people than old age.<br />
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Oncology, the study of cancer, should probably be in the diagram, probably not far behind gerontology. What's the name for the study of traffic accidents? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:08, 26 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
:I don't know, but what about cardiology (heart disease)? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.144|172.68.59.144]] 19:58, 26 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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:Technically, noone dies by old age itself. Most people die because of infection, injury or organ failure. Those deaths are often attributed to age because with age, immune system gets worse in fighting infection, regeneration gets slower and organs get weariness issues. I would argue that the profession most likely being related to your death is medical profession in general. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:11, 26 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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:: You could say the either Medicine, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics kill 100% of people. <br />
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Reminds me of this comic: [[1895: Worrying Scientist Interviews]]. And also [[1904: Research Risks]]. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 23:06, 26 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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There’s an important distinction between being killed ‘while’ studying something and being ‘killed by’ what you’re studying, and the current explanation has many examples of the former that do not belong here. Absentmindedly walking in front of a bus while thinking about mathematics does not constitute being killed by mathematics. A marine biologist killed by something biological in the water (such as bacteria, snails, or sharks) was killed by what he was studying, but one who was killed by drowning due to currents or by non-biological pollution was not. Someone who studies the aging process will eventually succumb to the aging process (regardless what the immediate cause of death is), unless he dies of something else first, like a doctor in his thirties catching something fatal from a geriatric patient, thereby not being killed by what he was studying. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.240|172.68.143.240]] 03:09, 27 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Mathematics absolutely killed Galois. Without the distraction of Galois theory, he could have focused on how to duel effectively, or at least gotten a good night's sleep beforehand. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.23|108.162.242.23]] 09:29, 27 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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This might seem like a poor reason to avoid gerontology but actually it's hard to study it for long before you end up with creeping existential dread [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.58|162.158.75.58]] 22:12, 27 April 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.75.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2140:_Reinvent_the_Wheel&diff=172959Talk:2140: Reinvent the Wheel2019-04-22T18:36:45Z<p>162.158.75.58: comments from an automotive engineering perspective</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
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I took a screenshot of google image search at 2:24 PM ET on 4/22/2019, and a bicycle wheel is indeed the first result. I'm trying to figure out how to get my image into the wiki ;p [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.82|162.158.78.82]] 18:25, 22 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
: (same user) Man! I found an old account I made and logged in with it to upload a file, but it says I need special permission to do so! [[User:Baffo32|Baffo32]] ([[User talk:Baffo32|talk]]) 18:33, 22 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Looks like beret guy is working for an automotive startup, possibly one of the many software companies that are developing AI for self-driving cars? It is true that tires are made by outside suppliers (not by the auto companies) so in terms of software development tires could be called "external dependencies". However, tires are far from a semi-random selection as intimated here. A large amount of time and effort is spent developing special tires for each vehicle model to give the best possible compromise between many conflicting requirements such as: dry/wet/snow traction, noise, ride, wear, high speed durability (for high performance cars) and so on, the complete list has many more items. <br />
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If Randall is looking for new tires for his vehicle, I offer my standard recommendation: If you were fairly happy with the tires that came with the car, try and replace them with the closest possible equivalent to take advantage of the original development effort. This is not always possible, and of course if you are using the vehicle for a special purpose (mostly drive on dirt roads, use your car in weekend autocross competition, etc.), you may do better with something different.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.58|162.158.75.58]] 18:36, 22 April 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.75.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F&diff=1728362138: Wanna See the Code?2019-04-17T23:33:46Z<p>162.158.75.58: Added title text</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2138<br />
| date = April 17, 2019<br />
| title = Wanna See the Code?<br />
| image = wanna_see_the_code.png<br />
| titletext = And because if you just leave it there, it's going to start contaminating things downstream even if no one touches it directly.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a DEAD BODY. Brief explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is a continuation of the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series. Cueball declares that he has written a script to automate some (presumably time-consuming or tedious) task, which pleases Ponytail at first... until she remembers how messy Cueball's code tends to be, and gets worried.<br />
<br />
Cueball offers to show her the code, but Ponytail (who often makes snarky quips about Cueball's code quality) remarks that it sounds like he's creepily inviting her to see a dead body. Magnanimously, Cueball accepts the comparison, noting that his code ''does'' have at least one similarity to a deceased corpse: although unpleasant, if Ponytail allows it to go unchecked, it causes problems which will get increasingly worse over time.<br />
<br />
Ponytail then makes a near threatening comment where she says that he is lucky that people understand both that his code causes more problems than it solves and that dead bodies create more problems than they solve. Most likely this means that they understand that killing him would cause more problems than it solves (the problem solved would no doubt be his code).<br />
<br />
This may be a reference to the concept of {{w|technical debt}} in software development: the idea that an initially poor implementation accrues a sort of "compound interest" over time, becoming increasingly difficult to repair the longer it is left unfixed. This happens because any future development might have to take unorthodox or unrecommended measures to work around the problems that are already there, making the system increasingly complex and fragile the more that is added to it.<br />
<br />
In the "dead body" analogy, a recently-deceased corpse is relatively easier to deal with than one that has been left for a few weeks, which will be decayed, unpleasantly smelly, and will likely have attracted disease-spreading vermin.<br />
<br />
In the title text, "downstream" has a double meaning, as it is a term that applies to a situation where a dead body would decompose in or near some river, and as well to a software engineering concept: In the river situation, the dead body will contaminate the water or groundwater that it feeds from and have consequences for organisms that come in contact with that water. In the software engineering analogue, "downstream" refers to software derived from, or depending on, "upstream" software like the cadaver that Cueball devised. The causality with flowing water and software is reasonably comparable: both can be seen as a stream of atoms that are (almost) endlessly divisible and recombinable.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Cueball is walking, talking to a voice offscreen]<br />
:Cueball: I wrote a script to automate that thing.<br />
:Voice offscreen: Oh cool! <br />
:Voice offscreen: ...Wait, '''''you''''' wrote it? <br />
:Voice offscreen: Oh no.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing next to each other]<br />
:Cueball: Wanna see the code?<br />
:Ponytail: I would, if you hadn't said that in the tone of voice of "Wanna see a dead body?"<br />
<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing next to each other]<br />
:Cueball: My code ''is'' sort of similar to a dead body, in that you can either come look at it now, or wait a few weeks until it becomes a problem.<br />
:Ponytail: And because you're lucky that the people around you understand that they create more problems than they solve.<br />
<br />
:Title text: And because if you just leave it there, it will start contaminating things downstream, even if no one touches it directly.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Code Quality]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]<br />
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]</div>162.158.75.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=950:_Mystery_Solved&diff=143287950: Mystery Solved2017-07-28T14:09:29Z<p>162.158.75.58: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 950<br />
| date = September 12, 2011<br />
| title = Mystery Solved<br />
| image = mystery_solved.png<br />
| titletext = The Roanoke Lost Colonists founded Roanoke, the Franklin Expedition reached the Pacific in 2009 when the Northwest Passage opened, and Jimmy Hoffa currently heads the Teamsters Union--he just started going by 'James'.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The aviation pioneer {{w|Amelia Earhart|Amelia Earhart's}} plane comes back to land after it went missing in 1937. Earhart was presumed dead and that her plane went down sometime during her journey. But, this comic supposes that it just took her 74 years to fly around the Earth without really aging a day. This means that her average speed was under one mile a day; although she says it's a long flight, her plane was not designed for air-to-air refueling and did not carry enough fuel to complete the trip without landing to refuel.<br />
<br />
Another possibility is that she did not just fly around the earth, but flew very fast (near {{w|light speed}}) for 74 years to return {{w|Twin paradox|without having aged much}}. This would of course not explain why she thinks it is a long trip around the earth, or how she would accomplish this feat in a {{w|Lockheed Model 10 Electra|twin-engine monoplane}}.<br />
The disappearence gave birth to many conspiracy theories. One of those were explored upon in the TV series [http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Voyager Star Trek: Voyager] involves [http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_37%27s_(episode) her being abducted] to another [http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Delta_Quadrant part of the galaxy], where she was left in cryogenic stasis until found by the Voyager crew. Something similar could be the case here, having Earheart frozen by aliens until 2011.<br />
<br />
The title text proposed a few more solutions to mysteries including the lost colonists of {{w|Roanoke Colony|Roanoke}}, who were one of the first groups to come to North America, suddenly disappeared, and leaving their colony untouched. The {{w|Franklin's lost expedition|Franklin Expedition}} was a British voyage in 1845 to study the {{w|Northwest Passage}} that also disappeared somewhere in northern Canada. {{w|Jimmy Hoffa}} was the famous {{w|International Brotherhood of Teamsters|Teamsters Union}} (currently headed by Jimmy's son, James Phillip Hoffa) leader who went missing in 1975 and declared dead in 1982 (possibly murdered). The comic is implying that Jimmy's "son" is actually Jimmy himself (whose actual name was James Riddle Hoffa).<br />
<br />
Amelia Earhart, the Roanoke colony and Jimmy Hoffa are all referenced in [[1501: Mysteries]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A twin prop airplane flies high overhead.]<br />
:Off-screen person: What's that airplane?<br />
<br />
:[The plane has landed, and the pilot is walking towards the crowd waving.]<br />
:Off-screen person: Holy crap— Is that Amelia Earhart?<br />
<br />
:[A close up of Amelia Earhart waving.]<br />
:Amelia: Hey everyone! My flight was a success!<br />
:Off-screen person: But... Where were you!?<br />
<br />
:[A wide view of Amelia, she stops waving.]<br />
:Amelia: I flew around the world!<br />
:Off-screen person: But you disappeared in 1937!<br />
<br />
:[A close up of Amelia Earhart.]<br />
:Amelia: Right, to fly around the world.<br />
:Off-screen person: It's 2011!<br />
:Amelia: The world is big. It's a long flight.<br />
<br />
:[A wide view of Amelia]<br />
:Off-screen person: <br />
::But you... <br />
::It's not... <br />
::I -<br />
:Amelia: Can I talk to someone smarter?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>162.158.75.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1833:_Code_Quality_3&diff=1396091833: Code Quality 32017-05-05T20:04:58Z<p>162.158.75.58: Claridfied notes on example code</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1833<br />
| date = May 5, 2017<br />
| title = Code Quality 3<br />
| image = code_quality_3.png<br />
| titletext = It's like a half-solved cryptogram where the solution is a piece of FORTH code written by someone who doesn't know FORTH.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Still needs to explain what example code is.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a direct continuation of [[1513: Code Quality]] and [[1695: Code Quality 2]] in the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series, in which Ponytail continually insults Cueball's code style. In this comic, as in the previous, Cueball does not directly appear, only speaking off-panel; however, as it is a continuation of the series, it is clear that this is Cueball's code.<br />
<br />
In the first panel, Ponytail references {{w|query string|query strings}}, which store information, such as search queries or page numbers, relevant to the URL. Query strings are not meant to be especially human-readable, so a song based on one would likely not be a good one{{Citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
A tactical light is a light that can be mounted on a gun for use in low-light scenarios. They tend to be very durable and very bright. Different models have different features and capabilities, so they are given cool-sounding model numbers. A JSON table of these model numbers would look like random data.<br />
<br />
{{w|Alan Turing}} was a British theoretical computer scientist, often considered the father of the field. His 1936 paper outlined Turing machines, a theoretical model for computing, as well as computability and the halting problem. Theoretical computer science is very different from practical coding; understanding the contents of the paper would not at all help a coder to understand today's algorithms, design patterns, and best practices. This is only slightly helped by a page of Javascript example code. Javascript is a popular programming language, and example code is used to explain a concept in programming or demonstrate how a program works. Because it will only help with this one concept or program, it is impossible to learn everything necessary to make high-quality programs with just one piece of example code. <br />
<br />
In the final panel, Ponytail references {{w|leet|leet-speak}}, in which symbols are replaced with similar-looking symbols, and a {{w|manifesto}}, a statement of a person or group's beliefs and intentions. A manifesto from a survivalist cult leader might be nonsensical, even before being translated to leet-speak. Memory allocation is a low-level computer programming concept; most modern languages have features that take care of memory allocation for the programmer, possibly implying that Cueball does not know how to use these features.<br />
<br />
At this point Cueball, quickly becoming impatient with Ponytail's sass, retorts that if she can't start giving him the constructive criticism that he's looking for, he can always find someone else to replace her. Ponytail smugly responds that nobody else would be able to stomach his code for more than one sitting, and that she's the only one he's got.<br />
<br />
{{w|Forth_(programming_language)#Programmer.27s_perspective|Forth}} is an old programming language that tends to be difficult to read. A {{w|cryptogram}} is a cipher puzzle, generally one easy enough to be solved manually. The title text implies that the code is so bad that it looks like unreadable FORTH code that is missing random characters.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail sitting in front of a computer screen typing. Cueball speaks only off-panel, but since this is a direct continuation of comic 1513 and 1695: Code Quality and Code Quality 2 where Cueball is shown, there can be no doubt it is him.]<br />
:Ponytail: Your code looks like song lyrics written using only the stuff that comes after the question mark in a URL.<br />
:Cueball (off-panel): Sorry.<br />
:[Zoom in on Ponytail's upper body.]<br />
:Ponytail: It's like a JSON table of model numbers for flashlights with "tactical" in their names.<br />
:[Zoom back out again. Ponytail has lifted her hands off the table.]<br />
:Ponytail: Like you read Turing's 1936 paper on computing and a page of JavaScript example code and guessed at everything in between.<br />
:[Zoom in again on Ponytail's face.]<br />
:Ponytail: It's like a leet-speak translation of a manifesto by a survivalist cult leader who's for some reason obsessed with memory allocation.<br />
:Cueball (off-panel): I can get someone else to review my code.<br />
:Ponytail: Not more than once, I bet.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Code Quality]]</div>162.158.75.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1833:_Code_Quality_3&diff=1396081833: Code Quality 32017-05-05T20:01:06Z<p>162.158.75.58: Added description of example code.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1833<br />
| date = May 5, 2017<br />
| title = Code Quality 3<br />
| image = code_quality_3.png<br />
| titletext = It's like a half-solved cryptogram where the solution is a piece of FORTH code written by someone who doesn't know FORTH.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Still needs to explain what example code is.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a direct continuation of [[1513: Code Quality]] and [[1695: Code Quality 2]] in the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series, in which Ponytail continually insults Cueball's code style. In this comic, as in the previous, Cueball does not directly appear, only speaking off-panel; however, as it is a continuation of the series, it is clear that this is Cueball's code.<br />
<br />
In the first panel, Ponytail references {{w|query string|query strings}}, which store information, such as search queries or page numbers, relevant to the URL. Query strings are not meant to be especially human-readable, so a song based on one would likely not be a good one{{Citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
A tactical light is a light that can be mounted on a gun for use in low-light scenarios. They tend to be very durable and very bright. Different models have different features and capabilities, so they are given cool-sounding model numbers. A JSON table of these model numbers would look like random data.<br />
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{{w|Alan Turing}} was a British theoretical computer scientist, often considered the father of the field. His 1936 paper outlined Turing machines, a theoretical model for computing, as well as computability and the halting problem. Theoretical computer science is very different from practical coding; understanding the contents of the paper would not at all help a coder to understand today's algorithms, design patterns, and best practices. This is only slightly helped by a page of Javascript example code. Javascript is a popular programming language, and example code is used to explain a concept in programming or demonstrate how a program works as an example. Because it will only help with this one concept or program, it is impossible to learn everything in a language's syntax and execution to be able to make high-quality programs. <br />
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In the final panel, Ponytail references {{w|leet|leet-speak}}, in which symbols are replaced with similar-looking symbols, and a {{w|manifesto}}, a statement of a person or group's beliefs and intentions. A manifesto from a survivalist cult leader might be nonsensical, even before being translated to leet-speak. Memory allocation is a low-level computer programming concept; most modern languages have features that take care of memory allocation for the programmer, possibly implying that Cueball does not know how to use these features.<br />
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At this point Cueball, quickly becoming impatient with Ponytail's sass, retorts that if she can't start giving him the constructive criticism that he's looking for, he can always find someone else to replace her. Ponytail smugly responds that nobody else would be able to stomach his code for more than one sitting, and that she's the only one he's got.<br />
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{{w|Forth_(programming_language)#Programmer.27s_perspective|Forth}} is an old programming language that tends to be difficult to read. A {{w|cryptogram}} is a cipher puzzle, generally one easy enough to be solved manually. The title text implies that the code is so bad that it looks like unreadable FORTH code that is missing random characters.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail sitting in front of a computer screen typing. Cueball speaks only off-panel, but since this is a direct continuation of comic 1513 and 1695: Code Quality and Code Quality 2 where Cueball is shown, there can be no doubt it is him.]<br />
:Ponytail: Your code looks like song lyrics written using only the stuff that comes after the question mark in a URL.<br />
:Cueball (off-panel): Sorry.<br />
:[Zoom in on Ponytail's upper body.]<br />
:Ponytail: It's like a JSON table of model numbers for flashlights with "tactical" in their names.<br />
:[Zoom back out again. Ponytail has lifted her hands off the table.]<br />
:Ponytail: Like you read Turing's 1936 paper on computing and a page of JavaScript example code and guessed at everything in between.<br />
:[Zoom in again on Ponytail's face.]<br />
:Ponytail: It's like a leet-speak translation of a manifesto by a survivalist cult leader who's for some reason obsessed with memory allocation.<br />
:Cueball (off-panel): I can get someone else to review my code.<br />
:Ponytail: Not more than once, I bet.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Code Quality]]</div>162.158.75.58