| Latest revision |
Your text |
| Line 6: |
Line 6: |
| | | titletext = Happy little turtles | | | titletext = Happy little turtles |
| | }} | | }} |
| − | {{TOC}}
| |
| − | *To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|2601|original comic}}.
| |
| | | | |
| | ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
| − | This is the 12th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous April fools' comic was [[2445: Checkbox]], which was released on Thursday, April 1st, 2021. The next became [[2765: Escape Speed]] released on Friday April 19th, 2023 (a regular release day, but 18 days late). | + | {{incomplete|Created by a HAPPY LITTLE TURTLE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
| | + | This is the 7th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released. It appears to be coding instructions, probably to draw a turtle, such as the image hidden on the page. This has not been confirmed. |
| | | | |
| − | The comic displays just a small {{w|radio button}} (or option button). Usually, there would be more than one to give the user options. Once it has been selected it cannot be deselected. Once pressed the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/20/2601_Instructions_Radio_on.png button turns blue] and this starts the real part of this April fool's comic. | + | The main object on the picture is a turtle. |
| | + | The turtle is a key concept in {{w|Logo_(programming_language)|LOGO}}, a programming language especially designed to teach programming to children in an easy way. Of course, listening to hours of instructions, including speech-synthesized reading of source code, is not an easy way (citation needed). The code read out in the audio file might be LOGO because it includes commands such as "PEN UP" and "PEN DOWN" which come from LOGO. |
| | | | |
| − | The comic consists of an [https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=0 audio file]. The speech is a mix of [[#Index of facts|facts about turtles]] and coding instructions in {{w|Logo_(programming_language)|LOGO}}. When executed, the instructions draw an xkcd comic. The audio file is 9 hours and 7 minutes long. | + | The alt-text alludes to Bob Ross's catchphrase "happy little trees" in The Joy of Painting. |
| | | | |
| − | [[File:xkcd 2601 finished comic animation.gif|thumb|200px|200px|Click to view the animation of the code running to create the picture, sourced from the GitHub.]]
| + | At the end of the audio, at 9:06:56, the voice says: |
| − | *See the [[#The resulting image|resulting comic]] below.
| |
| − | **And see how it is [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/05/xkcd_2601_finished_comic_animation.gif animated here].
| |
| − | **This has been compiled by [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601#transcription-complete theinternetftw on Github].
| |
| − | *The transcript of the quotes (the non-code) can be found here [[2601: Instructions/Audio Transcript]].
| |
| − | *Images of the dynamic changes and other pictures relating to this comic can be found here [[2601: Instructions/Images]].
| |
| − | | |
| − | Once the voice begins to describe the instructions (hence the title) it is possible to mute the audio by pressing a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/20/2601_Instructions_Radio_on.png muted button] at the bottom right of the screen. This fades into view when the radio button is pushed. Pressing it will change the button to a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/78/2601_Instructions_Radio_on_muted.png non muted loudspeaker]. These were the same buttons that were in the previous April fool's comic [[2445: Checkbox]]. That was the first xkcd [[:Category:Comics with audio|comic with audio]], and thus these were two April fools' comics with audio in a row, and these are the only comics with audio. In the Checkbox comic, the mute buttons meaning are reversed, so the sound is on when the loudspeaker is shown and muted when the mute button is shown. It could be another layer to the April fool's joke or just an error by Randall.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/e/e3/20220402201427%21instructions.png image originally displayed] on this page was of a small turtle crawling in the center where the radio button is in the real comic. That was the image that would be downloaded by web crawlers like explain xkcd's bot, as it is what was placed here on xkcd: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/instructions_2x.png. This is of course not the real comic, which cannot be downloaded in that manner.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The "turtle" is a key concept in Logo, a programming language especially designed to teach programming to children in an easy way. The turtle in the logo is the cursor. Programming commands move the turtle, drawing a line as it goes. Of course, listening to hours of instructions, including the speech-synthesized reading of source code, is not an easy way to code or draw a picture.{{cn}}
| |
| − | | |
| − | In addition, at [https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=32817 the end of the audio] the voice says:
| |
| | <blockquote> | | <blockquote> |
| − | "I even talk to turtles at times, but you need to understand LOGO to appreciate the great, great things that have been created. We spend so much of our life typing, looking, but never ever seeing."
| + | I even talk to turtles at times, but you need to understand LOGO to appreciate the great, great things that have been created. We spend so much of our life typing, looking, but never ever seeing. |
| | </blockquote> | | </blockquote> |
| | | | |
| − | The title text alludes to {{w|Bob Ross}}'s catchphrase "happy little trees" in ''{{w|The Joy of Painting}}'', a PBS TV show in which Ross leads the viewer through the painting of a nature scene. The audio file itself is also presented in the style of ''The Joy of Painting''; it begins with greeting the viewer and introducing the color palette to be used (just one color, in this case, as Logo and all computer monitors of the time were monochrome). The speaker then reads out some helper functions to be used in programming the scene, which is more analogous to Ross's palette of paints (titanium white, carmine red, etc.) along with words of encouragement as each is completed. The functions are DIST, to calculate the {{w|Euclidean distance}} between two points, LERP, to perform {{w|linear interpolation}}, MIX to average two numbers (with LERP), and CUBIC to draw {{w|cubic Hermite spline}}s. From there, the speaker alternates between sketching parts of the scene and offering more words of encouragement, mixed in with turtle facts.
| + | ==Transcript== |
| − | | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
| − | Transcribing the audio into text was organized as a [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601 project on github].
| |
| − | | |
| − | This is not the first time that Randall made an interactive comic where turtles played a big part, see [[1416: Pixels]]. In this, he jokes with the idea of turtles all the way down, which is [https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=10403 also mentioned] in the audio file. He also made a comic simply called [[889: Turtles]].
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===Unique header text=== | |
| − | This comic has a [[Header text#Comic-specific header text|unique header text]], see [[Header text#Instructions|the details here]]. The header is:
| |
| − | :"Today's comic was created with [https://twitter.com/fadinginterest Patrick], [https://twitter.com/Aiiane Amber], [https://twitter.com/chromakode @chromakode], [https://twitter.com/dyfrgi Michael], [https://twitter.com/wirehead2501 Kat], [https://twitter.com/xDirtyPunkx Conor], [https://twitter.com/zigdon @zigdon], and [https://twitter.com/bstaffin Benjamin Staffin]."
| |
| − | The header had not changed [[Header text#2022-01-31_-_What_if.3F_2|since the promotion]] of the new ''what if? 2'' book.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ==The resulting image==
| |
| − | [[File:xkcd 2601 finished picture.png|750px|center]]
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===Explanation of the image===
| |
| − | | |
| − | The image drawn by the Logo program is a depiction of {{w|Bob Ross}} standing in front of a canvas, on which he has painted "a happy little tree, holding up a happy little world". However, unlike his usual "happy little trees", the tree depicted is not a small pine, but rather a gargantuan {{w|World Tree}} growing from the back of a giant {{w|World Turtle}}, on which a {{w|Flat Earth}} rests. (The "happy little world" does bear several small pines more typical of his style.) Several ornaments hang from the World Tree, referencing the common practice of hanging ornaments on {{w|Christmas trees}}.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Near the middle of the world, a Cueball sits while listening to the radio, perhaps tuning in to the same transmission that generated the image. Closer to the reader, a turtle is shown walking around, leaving dotted-line tracks behind it, suggestive of the Logo turtle. The dotted-line tracks spell out "TY", shorthand for "thank you" (presumably directed to the readers).
| |
| − | | |
| − | At the far top right, a dotted line is shown past which the words "vacuum decay" are written. This is a hypothetical effect in which the universe, being in a {{w|metastable}} state, decays to a true vacuum, and the resulting annihilation of everything expands at the speed of light. As such, humans would have no idea if there were an approaching false vacuum until it arrived at Earth.
| |
| − | | |
| − | At the far left of the image, a robot and human are drawn next to a turtle which has flipped onto its back. The robot declares, "Poor thing!" while the human says "I'll help". This is a reference to the "empathy tests" employed to distinguish humans from androids in ''{{w|Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?}}'' and its film adaptation ''{{w|Blade Runner}}''. As part of the test, the listener is asked to imagine being in the desert, flipping a tortoise onto its back, and refusing to turn it back over, while their eyes are monitored for signs of emotional response (or lack thereof). In this case, the robot expresses sympathy for the turtle and the human declares that he will turn it back over. (In this case, however, the robot is very clearly distinguishable from a human being.)
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===Transcript of the image===
| |
| − | :[A man with large hair and a beard, meant to resemble Bob Ross, is holding an artist's palette with five patches of paint in one hand and a paintbrush in the other. He looks upon his canvas, where he has painted a large painting.]
| |
| − | :Painter: A happy little tree
| |
| − | :Painter: Holding up a happy little world.
| |
| − | | |
| − | :[The painting contains lots of stuff. Most notably, an enormous tree with a large, flat top grows on the back of a similarly large turtle at the bottom of the painting, the top of whose shell has been replaced with soil. On the tree is a robot that sees Cueball bending down to lift a turtle that is on its back. They talk:]
| |
| − | :Robot: Poor thing!
| |
| − | :Cueball: I'll help
| |
| − | | |
| − | :[In the top right corner, there is a dotted line forming a semi-circle around the corner. Inside this are the words:]
| |
| − | :Vacuum decay
| |
| − | | |
| − | :[There are no other words in the image. The image includes:]
| |
| − | In the sky:
| |
| − | * Mars, including:
| |
| − | ** A Mars rover (appears to be Curiosity or Perseverance), which is examining a turtle
| |
| − | ** A small rover (appears to be Sojourner)
| |
| − | * The JWST (James Webb Space Telescope)
| |
| − | * The ISS and what appears to be a TIE fighter transiting the sun
| |
| − | * Saturn
| |
| − | * A small planet with a man and a flower (''Le Petit Prince'' by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
| |
| − | * A moon of Saturn, with both Cueball and a tiny turtle
| |
| − | * A constellation in the shape of a turtle
| |
| − | * A constellation in the shape of a kite (or a tetrahedron)
| |
| − | * A constellation that appears to be the little dipper (Ursa Minor) stacked inside the big dipper (Ursa Major), resembling a [[:wikipedia:lemon squeezer|lemon squeezer]], next to an object that appears to be half a lemon.
| |
| − | * Cueball playing tennis with incoming meteors
| |
| − | * A rocket
| |
| − | * Three birds
| |
| − | * Two galaxies
| |
| − | * A star which appears to have teleported
| |
| − | | |
| − | On top of the tree:
| |
| − | * Cueball listening to a radio
| |
| − | * Ponytail holding a balloon
| |
| − | * Megan looking over the edge
| |
| − | * A turtle who may have walked a path in the shape of the letters "T" and "Y"
| |
| − | * A squirrel
| |
| − | * A rabbit
| |
| − | * Two happy little trees
| |
| − | * Eight scattered tufts of grass and five scattered rocks
| |
| − | * Mountains in the background, one of which seems to have a gigantic Egg on its top and stairs leading to it, which is likely a reference to the video game {{w|The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening}}.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Under the tree:
| |
| − | * Beret guy looking out of a window in the tree
| |
| − | * Blondie standing at the base of the tree
| |
| − | * One happy little tree on top of the turtle
| |
| − | * Ponytail in a balloon, throwing out an anchor towards the turtle
| |
| − | * A helicopter with a stegosaurus tail (thagomizer)
| |
| − | * Three glass ball ornaments hanging from the tree
| |
| | | | |
| − | ==Transcript==
| + | The screen displays a checkbox that when pressed plays a 9-hour long audio file of coding instructions. |
| − | :[The comic consists of one radio button, a small circle in the center of a large white panel. It is interactive. When pressing the radio button (selecting it), it turns blue. The second the radio button is pressed a more than 9-hour long audio file of coding instructions begins to play, and a mute button appears in the bottom right corner. It fades slowly into full opacity. Pressing this button will change it to a loudspeaker. It toggles whether there is sound playing or not. It is not possible to shut down the audio by pressing the radio button. Once selected it cannot be deselected as there is only this one option.]
| |
| | | | |
| − | :[Covered by the radio button is an image of a turtle crawling from left to right, with a dotted line trailing behind it, indicating its movement. This image can only be seen by looking in the place where images for xkcd are usually placed on xkcd.]
| + | Behind it, is an image of a turtle |
| | | | |
| − | :''[To read a transcript of the audio file go here: [[2601: Instructions/Audio Transcript]].]''
| + | [Instructions] |
| | | | |
| − | ==Trivia==
| + | And here we want to show you that you can program a picture right along with us. We’ll use a single color, some unorthodox functions, and each line we’ll put a bit of nature’s masterpieces right here on our canvas. Today we’ll have them run all the functions across the stream, right now, that you need to program along with us. Starting with a simple one: |
| − | *If you have scripts disabled, you will just see a picture of a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/e/e3/20220402201427%21instructions.png little turtle] which is not interactive.
| |
| | | | |
| − | *The Tree being atop a turtle in the finished comic (as well as the general turtle theme) could be a reference to the programming phrase "it's [[1416: Pixels|turtles all the way down]]", which is used to describe infinite recursion. A world atop a turtle (albeit with elephants between) is also a Discworld reference, derived by [[1498: Terry Pratchett|Terry Pratchett]] from the same mythic roots, and something Randall is known to have [[1052: Every Major's Terrible|occasionally]] [[625: Collections|referenced]].
| + | TO DIST :X0 :Y0 :X1 :Y1 |
| | + | LOCAL MAKE "RX DIFFERENCE :X1 :X0 |
| | + | LOCAL MAKE "RY DIFFERENCE :Y1 :Y0 |
| | + | OUTPUT SQRT SUM PRODUCT :RX :RY PRODUCT :RX :RY |
| | + | END |
| | | | |
| − | ==Index of facts==
| + | {| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible" |
| − | {| class="wikitable" | + | !'''Computer-generated transcript''' |
| − | |Merriam-Webster defines a turtle as a noun.
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=569
| |
| | |- | | |- |
| − | |Here are some interesting notes from interesting facts about turtles.
| + | |And here |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=962
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |Over a great many years, I have taken a great interest in the land turtle.
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=973
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |One of the interesting points about turtles is their great variety of foods.
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=1415
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |in the pen and in five minutes it is surrounded by the turtles,
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=1976
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |when I found one of the large turtles had caught and disemboweled, the very large toad,
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=2648
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |I have seen turtles eating at 11:00 at night
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=2655
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |the youngest of turtles I have ever had seems to take to the same food as the adults
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=3506
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |I made friends with a turtle yesterday and he gave me his phone number.
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=4283
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |Running away is slow as compared to this turtle propulsion.
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=4522
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |Occasionally one can see a turtle dragging another one along
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=5370
| |
| − | |-
| |
| − | |I have never known a land turtle to bite
| |
| − | |https://xkcd.com/2601/
| |
| | |} | | |} |
| | | | |
| | {{comic discussion}} | | {{comic discussion}} |
| | | | |
| − | [[Category:April fools' comics]] | + | |
| − | [[Category:Interactive comics]] | + | [[Category: April fools' comics]] |
| − | [[Category:Dynamic comics]]
| + | [[Category: Interactive comics]] |
| − | [[Category:Comics with animation]] <!-- the mute button fading in -->
| |
| − | [[Category:Comics with color]] <!-- pushing the radio button -->
| |
| − | [[Category:Comics with audio]]
| |
| − | [[Category:Animals]]
| |
