Talk:3064: Lungfish

Huh, first time I've seen a comic the literal minute it was posted. Weird seeing a completely empty explainxkcd page. Beanie ^talk 16:10, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

Got the basics of a transcript going. --DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 16:21, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

People often talk about DNA being the program that builds life, but it seems to me more as if its the static-data used by the program that builds life 172.70.90.236 16:24, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

Agreed. I'd say RNA sequences seem more like the program that builds life, to me?

ProphetZarquon (talk) 15:02, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

Von Neumann architecture makes clear distinction between program and data. Biological organism don't. Sure, by 3056: RNA it would seem DNA being mostly static data makes more sense, but the distinction is just not clear. -- Hkmaly (talk) 02:47, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

Anyone know how to add categories? If so, I can handle those. --DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 16:25, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

I was thinking of creating the category Genetics as a subcategory to biology, if it hasn't already been done. --DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 16:29, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

Hi chat, we got a new undiscovered xkcd page to talk about: Dot. Any info would be helpful. Caliban (talk) 16:52, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

"a common issue when coding" or it could be just editing a doc, a picture, a video, etc.172.71.151.21 17:09, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CODE, OKAY??? -- DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 17:10, 17 March 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Somewhat related, is is quite common for someone to have filenames like "Thesis (final)", "Thesis (really final)", "Thesis (really really final)" (instead of "Thesis" it might be "Presentation"). I have just checked the RCS log of my MSc Thesis: the 2.16 version was the final, but then there were the 3.1 and 3.2, which were the correction of two typos. Rps (talk) 18:48, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

Using words like "Final" is optimism. So is "Newest". Version numbers and dates are the correct way to name things. -- Hkmaly (talk) 02:47, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

Anybody else notice that the science in this one is completely incorrect? I added a note, but I'm curious why the comic doesn't instead mention something like Trichomonas or rice/cotton/bread wheat, which actually *do* feature widespread gene duplication User:tofudragon7

I think the incorrectness of the science is the basis of the joke 172.70.206.39 14:10, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

"append "Copy of" to the start of the filename" Append comes after. I think the word we want is "prepend". Not as familliar as append, but Google reports wide and serious usage. A further note: MS's hack ruins the idea of alphabetized filenames, all the "Copy of" in one place. --PRR (talk) 21:24, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

I think the word we actually want is 'add', since 'prepend to the start' would be tautological.141.101.99.4 10:30, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

The older and still probably more common meaning of "append" is just "attach", with no particular implication of where (e.g. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/append#English). The narrower sense of "add at the end", and the back-formation "prepend" for "add at the beginning", are relatively recent, and mostly computing jargon. Apparently, there's also occasional use of "postpend" as the complement of "prepend", but I don't think I've ever come across it in the wild.

So, either "append to the start" or "prepend" is fine, I think.

Or go for maximum redundancy: "prepend a prefix to the start before the existing text" :P - IMSoP (talk) 15:29, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

'add to the start' is still better from a Plain English/Thing Explainer perspective, though.172.71.241.51 16:17, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

Anecdotes: I've got both "5etools (3).json (16)" & "5etools (9).json" on my phone right now. ProphetZarquon (talk) 15:07, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

April fool's comic is coming soon and I simply can't wait. DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 19:16, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

It may be a coincidence, but just recently genetically modified wolly mice were born, and now Randal writes a comic about genetic manipulation. Is there a connection between these two? F beer (talk) 07:51, 19 March 2025 (UTC)