WTF Bites
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Thou shalt have eight characters in thy PIN, no more, no less. Eight shall be the number of characters in thy PIN, and the number of characters in thy PIN shall be eight. Nine shalt thou not put in, neither put thou in seven, excepting that thou proceedeth to add one more. Sixteen is right out. And don't ask us why we call it a "PIN", we have no fucking clue.
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@laoc Why do I have to lease one character and one number? I hoped to use the characters and numbers that came with my keyboard.
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@laoc Why do I have to lease one character and one number? I hoped to use the characters and numbers that came with my keyboard.
In Royal Thailand, number lease you.
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@dkf might know, if it's a smart trick, the .net guys can't be the only ones doing it.
Nullability is one of the things that low-level compilers (e.g., JIT compilers) take very seriously, as once the compiler has proved that a reference can't be null, it can completely exclude all branches that would be taken if it was. (The converse is also equally true, but less commonly an issue as if-null branches are often a lot shorter and lead to error conditions anyway.) Strictly, dereferenceability is a separate property but it is closely related in practice on most system architectures (i.e., not embedded).
At the low level, all exceptions are generated because they are explicitly thrown; there's never anything on modern systems that just traps null accesses and converts those magically to exceptions (because tinkering with that sort of stuff is truly horrible voodoo). The runtime can optimise a lot of those checks out, since it's working at a level where it has precise tracking of where a value came from and whether it has already passed a null-check gate. These are well-understood problems that have verifiably-correct solutions, and are how we get code that is both safe and fast. I've argued for ages that modern compilers are pretty much the ultimate triumph of theoretical CS; they use really complex stuff to do amazing correct transforms to your code that make it do what you want and do it fast. Sure you don't see the clever stuff under the hood; you're not supposed to. ;)
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A static analyzer that insists on null checks all over the place for impossible cases where the runtime would just throw a perfectly fine exception otherwise is Broken. Because adding code like
if (arg == null) throw new ArgumentException("arg")does not really improve quality of anything, just takes time. And if those null checks are impossible, you can't do anything else than throwing another exception anyway, can you?It's no big deal. They get optimised out. Really.
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@dkf They are not a big deal for runtime. But they still take time to write, take time to review, and take time to mentally skip over every time the code needs to be looked at if there is many of them.
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At the low level, all exceptions are generated because they are explicitly thrown; there's never anything on modern systems that just traps null accesses and converts those magically to exceptions (because tinkering with that sort of stuff is truly horrible voodoo).
Except that's exactly what .Net does according to @djls45's first link about
cmp [ecx], ecx: The null access causes an exception from the MMU, which the OS turns into anEXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATIONSEH exception on the offending thread, which the .Net runtime traps and converts into a .Net managed exception (itself be built upon SEH, with the value0xE0434F4D) which is then thrown.
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@medinoc Really? (Reading all links posted? “Work!”
) That's not the way I'd do it precisely because I'd be looking much more to being able to entirely exclude the checks where possible.OTOH, it would explain why the
NullReferenceExceptionis without much useful information.
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thine PIN
Thine can be used as an attributive adjective only before a vowel sound.
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@coldandtired Should it be thy PIN instead?
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@jaloopa Yes. Thine eyes, thine honour, but thy book, thy will, etc.
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@coldandtired said in WTF Bites:
thine PIN
Thine can be used as an attributive adjective only before a vowel sound.
Fix0r'd for posterity :)
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WTF of my day: (and it's even IT related, bonus)
So, yesterday I learned that I was expected to appear at an advanced education course today's afternoon. This was a bit of news to me since noone had told me anything about this beforehand. I only learned about because I religiously read our weekly newsletter which summarizes all the upcoming week's important appointments...
... anyway, this afternoon was miraculously free and so I said that, yes, even if it's on short notice I could do this. I wasn't the only one surprised by this course, by the way. From what my superior told me, it was supposed to go like this:
Our school administration was asked by the superordinate institution who of their teachers would be responsible for the course's topics. They were supposed to tell them some names and then the course's organizators would contact us. Since the end of the school year is near, my superiors forgot to tell me. The course's organizators obviously did as well.
Strike one.
Anyway, this course was supposed to be about LMS (Learning Management System), specifically using our grand customized SharePoint installation. This particular SP has been featured in my stories before and, frankly, I don't like it much.
So I went in with already low expectations. And they promptly strove to undercut even those.
First of all, they told us: "We won't show you much of specific implementations! This shall be a higher-order presentation!"
At least every second slide consisted of a screenshot. They also clicked around on a live version of the Sharepoint site.Then they told us that the digitalization would require a changing of the way we teach. :you-don't-say-meme:
They also once again spoke about how teaching requires a mixture of styles and doing lectures only is a bad thing. While lecturing us for two hours straight.
They also used Powerpoint in a way I would have failed my pupils for instantly. Whole sentences which they then proceeded to read loudly (as if we weren't able to read those ourselves), too much information density, too many images and so on and so forth. Or they used Prezi for which I haven't yet found a proper reason. The only difference between PP and Prezi here was: It was a different transition animation.
Next up: No clear goal. I still haven't got the faintest of clues on what this course was actually supposed to achieve. After all, they told us that the presented implementations were not turnkey solutions. So, great, there's a chat! And a multiple choice questionaire! And a document repository!
All of which I myself developed 20 years ago already.Oh, and you would've loved it when some guy stated that we should implement "Agile Management" in schools. So, yes, this particular brainworm has finally reached the masses.
The point after which I snapped was when they jokingly said that teachers were wont to talk too much and that they had thus taken too much time (after two hours of hearing these guys waffling on it's not a joke!). So they would be forced to shorten the coffee break in order to have more time for the open discussion.
That's when I said: "Fuck this!" and left. I wasn't the only one with that opinion, though I may have been the only one to state: "What a load of unconstructive bullshit!" in hearing range of the speakers.
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implement "Agile Management" in schools.
WTF does that even mean? The curriculum is revised and upturned every two weeks?
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@tsaukpaetra said in WTF Bites:
implement "Agile Management" in schools.
WTF does that even mean? The curriculum is revised and upturned every two weeks?
It means that the decision makers went to a conference and heard (badly-mangled) buzzwords being thrown around. Change for the sake of seeming trendy is the thing in education (at least it is where I teach). "Active Learning Environments," (let the kids move around instead of sitting in rows), "Inquiry-based learning" (which isn't so bad in principle but is horribly over-applied and misconstrued to mean "let the kids do whatever"), "Project-based learning" (the teacher doesn't actually want to grade anything)...the buzzwords are endless. You'd think that we would have figured out a good way to teach since we've been doing it for a very long time at this point...
Sometimes I think these fads are created to keep education professors in business. Have to do "original research" for that E.D. (anti-
) degree after all. This may just be my cynicism speaking, though.
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Oh, and you would've loved it when some guy stated that we should implement "Agile Management" in schools. So, yes, this particular brainworm has finally reached the masses.
Last Friday, I met a primary school teacher at a friend's birthday party who told me the very same thing. I think I facepalmed so hard that I killed the brain cells that were supposed to remind me to post it here.
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@benjamin-hall Yes, buzzword bingo could've been played there as well.
And to think that I could have spent the afternoon with my girlfriend and her daughter at the zoo...
Gah.
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@benjamin-hall Yes, buzzword bingo could've been played there as well.
And to think that I could have spent the afternoon with my girlfriend and her daughter at the zoo...
Gah.
I feel your pain. I spent half a week at a national (US) science teachers convention. Almost drowned in the flowing bull**** sea of buzzwords and fads.
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@benjamin-hall said in WTF Bites:
@benjamin-hall Yes, buzzword bingo could've been played there as well.
And to think that I could have spent the afternoon with my girlfriend and her daughter at the zoo...
Gah.
I feel your pain. I spent half a week at a national (US) science teachers convention. Almost drowned in the flowing bull**** sea of buzzwords and fads.
Our science conventions actually tend to be more productive - they're usually more one the level of: "Here's a cool experimental technique you can use in your lessons!"
Examples include:
- AR (Augmented Reality) in science lessons.
- Redox reactions using algae powder (i.e. those bubble tea balls)
- How you can easily create tutorial videos and use them in/before/after your lessons
- Interactive chemistry lessons using a RaspberryPi.
Stuff like that. Really usable, unlike that shit from today.
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I still haven't got the faintest of clues on what this course was actually supposed to achieve.
It's meant to justify the LMS trainers' salaries. You thought there was more to it than that?
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This post is deleted!
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AR (Augmented Reality) in science lessons.
I wonder, do you have any real-world experience with that? I feel like there's so much that could go wrong: huge upfront equipment cost, difficulty developing software that would actually be useful in a class while allowing pupils to do unpredictable stuff, pupils claiming they feel nauseous (whether they actually are or because they're, well, pupils), ...
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@benjamin-hall Oh, and I forgot: Even the lectures are more interesting. This year we had a mathematician explain to us why soccer needs to be unfair. Last year we had a guest speaker from the Sendung Mit Der Maus (something akin to Sesame Street (and equally well-liked in Germany!) for slightly older children and more scientifically / technically inclined.).
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AR (Augmented Reality) in science lessons.
I wonder, do you have any real-world experience with that? I feel like there's so much that could go wrong: huge upfront equipment cost, difficulty developing software that would actually be useful in a class while allowing pupils to do unpredictable stuff, pupils claiming they feel nauseous (whether they actually are or because they're, well, pupils), ...
Naw, that's a low-cost approach using the camera on a puipil's mobile.
Not all AR needs to involve a headset ;)
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@rhywden Alright, you got me there. Still, that eliminates the "huge upfront cost" problem, but introduces another one - what do you do if not all pupils have a smartphone? What if one of them has an old one with an incompatible Android version? Or Meego or something? Or just a dumbphone - or not even that? Do you keep spare phones or tablets to lend to them?
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@rhywden what do you do if not all pupils have a smartphone?
That simply does not happen where I teach. Seriously.
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@rhywden Good for you, and it would probably be unlikely where I live either, but still, there has to be some kind of contingency plan, right? Otherwise you either exclude the one guy using the Nokia 3310 his grandmom gave to him (or nothing at all), and that just invites bullying because kids are assholes, or you cancel the whole lesson and go back to books, which, again, invites bullying, or you give him a spare device you keep in the classroom for such occasions, which might still invite bullying but I feel like that's the best case scenario if done well.
I asked my original question because I was seriosuly interested in seeing how using VR/AR in a school worked, since you implied you used it before, and I promise I didn't ask you in bad faith.
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@blek Nah, no worries. My lesson plans for stuff like this are not contingent on everyone having a working mobile. It usually suffices if half the class gets it working.
After all, when we do experiments they usually have to do them in groups of three or four. I simply use the same setup.
That's also where the "Not headgear" part actually helps - because it's perfectly doable to have two persons watch a mobile's screen instead of merely one.
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@benjamin-hall Yes, buzzword bingo could've been played there as well.
And to think that I could have spent the afternoon with my girlfriend and her daughter at the zoo...
Gah.
You have a zoo?! Oops, I meant: you have a girlfriend?! Oops, I meant: your girlfriend has a daughter?! Oops, I meant: only god knows what the fuck I meant!
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@benjamin-hall Oh, and I forgot: Even the lectures are more interesting. This year we had a mathematician explain to us why soccer needs to be unfair.
E_WORD_NOT_FOUND. But please do tell. :)
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@rhywden Good for you, and it would probably be unlikely where I live either, but still, there has to be some kind of contingency plan, right? Otherwise you either exclude the one guy using the Nokia 3310 his grandmom gave to him (or nothing at all), and that just invites bullying
Are you insane?! Kid with 3310 is such a nonconformist he's gonna get all the babes!
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@benjamin-hall Yes, buzzword bingo could've been played there as well.
And to think that I could have spent the afternoon with my girlfriend and her daughter at the zoo...
Gah.
You have a zoo?! Oops, I meant: you have a girlfriend?! Oops, I meant: your girlfriend has a daughter?! Oops, I meant: god know what the fuck I meant!
Put down the Nescafe, @kt_ , your... whatever too much Nescafe does.
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@boomzilla said in WTF Bites:
@benjamin-hall Yes, buzzword bingo could've been played there as well.
And to think that I could have spent the afternoon with my girlfriend and her daughter at the zoo...
Gah.
You have a zoo?! Oops, I meant: you have a girlfriend?! Oops, I meant: your girlfriend has a daughter?! Oops, I meant: god know what the fuck I meant!
Put down the Nescafe, @kt_ , your... whatever too much Nescafe does.
Nescafé is the b--!
Ah, come on @boomzilla, it stopped being funny a long time ago. And it's me saying this, your fucking sock puppet.
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@boomzilla is that what you call beer in... wait, aren't you supposed to be launching fireworks with enough firepower to wipe out a small town or something?
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come on @boomzilla, it stopped being funny a long time ago. And it's me saying this, your fucking sock puppet
I'm patient enough to wait until it's funny again.
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@boomzilla said in WTF Bites:
come on @boomzilla, it stopped being funny a long time ago. And it's me saying this, your fucking sock puppet
I'm patient enough to wait until it's funny again.
You're old school.
Filed under: like, literally
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@kt_ that's also an old joke, though
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@kt_ that's also an old joke, though
Is it? I though I just came up with it. No more beer for me?
Filed under: i don't dance 2tekno any mo'
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@kt_ That's right, no more beer for you, ever! You wanna go again, muthafucka?! (pls don't actually)
I feel like we're ruining the thread, though.
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@kt_ That's right, no more beer for you, ever! You wanna go again, muthafucka?! (pls don't actually)
I feel like we're ruining the thread, though.
Oh fuck, I was afraid you meant '68 and already called my lawyer!
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@tsaukpaetra said in WTF Bites:
Hey! I want my Aero effect on the entire app! Where can I get this???
You better be
:ing...
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@tsaukpaetra said in WTF Bites:
Hey! I want my Aero effect on the entire app! Where can I get this???
You better be
:ing...Only slightly. I once made an App that was literally a OK button in the center surrounded by Aero for the rest of the window.
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@benjamin-hall Oh, and I forgot: Even the lectures are more interesting. This year we had a mathematician explain to us why soccer needs to be unfair.
E_WORD_NOT_FOUND. But please do tell. :)
He first apologized for not talking about the banana kick even though it's his favourite topic (wouldn't have been nearly as interesting, though, as I already knew about the Magnus Effect).
But basically, it boils down to chance. A game could be called fair when skill is rewarded by success in a reliable way.
He then compared different types of sports and demonstrated that the more goals (points / whatever you do to keep score) a single sports game has, the more likely it is for the game to be dominated by the skilled teams (e.g. handball where the number of goals usually run up to the mid double-digits).
However, a game where you are quite sure about the outcome usually isn't such an exciting game.
Which is why soccer needs to have few goals per game - that way the underdogs can win from time to time, we get to rant about how this victory or that loss was undeserved, it keeps the blood flowing and the emotions high.
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Which is why soccer needs to have few goals per game - that way the underdogs can win from time to time, we get to rant about how this victory or that loss was undeserved, it keeps the blood flowing and the emotions high.
In handball, you rant about the referees instead, because with all those little, innocent-looking decisions they can easily decide who wins the game without anyone noticing.
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Remember that front page thing?
What's with the 7s in the article details?
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@jaloopa font rendering is hard? Let's go shopping?
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Job candidate gave us read access to his current employer's codebase (so we can see example of his code). Good to know if we hire him and our competitors want to see what we are up to, this guy is there for them.
On the upside, we can clearly see his contributions vs those of his soon to be ex colleagues. I sent Boss one representative screenshot of his commit, hoping I'll avoid having to mettle this guy.
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@cartman82 said in WTF Bites:
Job candidate gave us read access to his current employer's codebase
Unless that's some form of open-source code, I'd say that's an instant reason to not waste any more time on that one.
