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)

But remember, then, that you're only freely allowed to fork off new branches when you get to certain version numbers and can properly justify changing the version digits. 172.69.195.179 11:16, 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)