Editing 1349: Shouldn't Be Hard

{{comic
| number    = 1349
| date      = March 31, 2014
| title     = Shouldn't Be Hard
| image     = shouldnt_be_hard.png
| titletext = (six hours later) ARGH. How are these stupid microchips so durable?! All I want is to undo a massive industrial process with household tools!
}}

==Explanation==

This comic refers to a sentiment sometimes expressed by computer users that "what I'm trying to do is really simple — it shouldn't be hard."  The statement demonstrates an assumption that because the desired action is conceptually simple, it must therefore be simple to implement. There is a logic to this line of thinking, but in reality, as the off-screen character notes, a computer is a very complicated set of components which effectively can't do ''anything'' (simple or complex) until someone has programmed the functionality into it. Even more abstractly, a random silicon crystal can't do anything at all until someone has applied a complex industrial process to it that allows it to read and execute computer code in the first place.

In terms of a user-interface, the "simplicity" of executing a given task may be more a function of the perceived utility and frequency-of-use of that function, and less a function of its conceptual "simplicity". For example, changing the color of the font in a word processor is often simpler than changing the color of the background/page, even though changing colors of two parts of the document would appear equally "simple" in concept. The different implementation is a design choice by the programmer most likely on the basis that the intended user is considered more likely to want to change the font color than to change the page color.

This sentiment equally applies to computer programmers: most commonly when they are just beginning to learn a new computer language. Sometimes because of difficulties with the syntax rules of the language or similar problems, a programmer may spend a long time trying to get the computer to do a simple action, such as display a message on the screen, or ask the user for a number. This is also true when a programmer is working in a language which doesn't have an easy way to do something that might be simple in another language. And in computer science, it may often be [[1425:_Tasks|very hard to differentiate the almost impossible from the easy]], especially when compared to what humans can and can't do easily.

The off-screen character points out that computers were "just carefully organized sand". Modern computer chips are made largely of {{w|silicon}} crystals, chemically a part of {{w|silicon dioxide}} crystals that compose the majority of sand. The character puts Cueball's goal in perspective by pointing out the large amount of complexity required to make, what is essentially sand, do even the simplest of computational tasks.

The punchline of the comic is that, after considering these words of wisdom for a panel, instead of the anticipated response of Cueball coming to the realization that the off-screen character is right, and working even harder to solve his problem, Cueball instead succumbs to his annoyance and sets out to destroy his computer (which he characterizes as turning it "''back'' into sand"). The off-screen character helpfully offers to get a blowtorch so that Cueball can melt the computer down into simple compounds and elements.

The title text sees Cueball again frustrated with a task he considers "simple" (destroying the computer). Cueball appears to be oblivious to the irony in his statement that he is having trouble destroying something with household tools that required very large machines and an industrial process to create. This might be compared to trying to undo a steel weld by lighting a wooden match and trying to melt the weld with it. This points out the irony that destroying the processor is even harder to do than the task from the first picture.

The melting point of silicon is 1,414&nbsp;°C. Although a typical butane blowtorch that might be found in a kitchen has a maximum temperature of 1,430&nbsp;°C, that temperature is at a very small point and rapidly cools. Hence it is unlikely that you could focus sufficient heat with a kitchen appliance blowtorch to actually melt silicon.

The apparently simple task Cueball is trying to complete may express Randall's frustration in the creation of the crowd-sourced comic [[1350: Lorenz]], which was launched the next day and initially contained a large number of bugs. But also contained a girl who burned her laptop to cinder with a blowtorch!

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is typing on a laptop.]
:Cueball: What I'm trying to do is really simple. 
:Cueball: It shouldn't be hard. 

:Offscreen: All computers are just carefully organized sand. '''''Everything''''' is hard until someone makes it easy. 

:[Cueball sits back and pauses.]

:[Cueball picks up and examines the laptop.]
:Cueball: Maybe I should turn this one '''''back''''' into sand.
:Offscreen: I'll find a blowtorch.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]