The Whiteboard

There's also the "its cheaper to pay 5 guys who do construction to fix it over the course of two weeks than to take 2 months off for an amateur to do it himself"

Robert Harvey

@MichaelT Heh. Brownfield development. [snicker]

Shahar

But this isn't really a 2-week construction job

user55340

(I also need new windows, new siding on the house... and I'd really like a new garage)

Jimmy Hoffa

10:03 PM

@RobertHarvey again; computer sitting in a portapotty.

Shahar

Just get a new house then

Robert Harvey

You wish.

Jimmy Hoffa

That's just the picture I get everytime I hear "BrownField"

user55340

My house, on a double lot cost $63k. I'd challenge you to find anything anywhere else thats comparable.

user55340

Yes, I need to put maybe $10k or so into it this summer... but thats MUCH lower than $100k for a new house.

Robert Harvey

10:04 PM

Maybe in Singapore.

Shahar

Well, depends where you want to live

I hear South Dakota is cheap

user55340

I've got a job here, it pays well for the cost of living here... I've got a house, on a double lot...

Shahar

Sounds good

Robert Harvey

I see a new pattern developing. New user comes in with faux PHP problem, milks it for awhile, and then spends the rest of the day sucking work productivity out of the regulars with idle chit chat.

Shahar

but don't come to NY

user55340

10:05 PM

Having been through most of the US on various trips, SD and ND wouldn't be high up on my list of places to live.

Shahar

@RobertHarvey lol

Jimmy Hoffa

@RobertHarvey You think the regulars have work productivity?

Shahar

NY is the worst place to live in

user55340

Btw, I will so buy these if they ever get made:

Shahar

the taxes here are mad high

user55340

10:06 PM

Feb 16 at 21:08, by MichaelT

Robert Harvey

@JimmyHoffa After 3, in California.

Jimmy Hoffa

We're well-honed experienced industry engineers. We do a fantastic job of destroying our own productivity.

Robert Harvey

If it's worth engineering, it's worth over-engineering.

@MichaelT That's a picture of something that doesn't exist?

Jimmy Hoffa

@RobertHarvey and with that I'll head back to the thin air I'm floating around in trying to prototype generic service hosting facilities...

user55340

@RobertHarvey rendering of a romex splice melni.org/product-offeringdevelopment/all-products/romex-splice

Robert Harvey

10:07 PM

You architecture astronaut you.

user55340

You screw the things on the appropriate ends, and then you just jam them into that dumbell thing and you've got your romex spliced.

user55340

Rather than wirenuts.

Robert Harvey

I like it.

The only time I've seen an SE chat room move this fast is when they did the Town Hall for the election I ran in. Holy crap, my head was spinning.

user55340

Yea... this is what the company normally does:

Shahar

yo how do I order by relevance for SQL "LIKE" clause

user55340

10:09 PM

►

gnat

^^^ I want this! now

25

Q: Daily vote limit reached; vote again just now

Even though this is a very very minor issue, I still think it is an issue. (And I don't think this is a duplicate as the possible duplicate is status-completed while this issue is obviously not status-completed as it happened "just now"). If you have the correct timing when there's a new day on ...

Robert Harvey

@Shahar The answer is in "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About SQL, but Were Afraid To Ask," page 492.

user55340

►

Robert Harvey

Ack, that "just now" thing. ESL users must have a field day with that phrase.

Shahar

@RobertHarvey can't find it

Robert Harvey

10:13 PM

lol

Jimmy Hoffa

@RobertHarvey I suspect SO uses moment.js just like me. It has nice datetime math with english phrasing for stuff so if it comes up with a math difference of 2 minutes it'll say "A couple minutes ago" or 3-59 seconds is "A few seconds ago" etc

If it's 0 seconds it probably says "Just now"

Robert Harvey

The "just now" thing was something the devs specifically coded.

Jimmy Hoffa

@RobertHarvey oh

Thomas Owens

I'm digging into Java code for performance issues. Sup?

Jimmy Hoffa

I've seen some other stuff around SO that made me think they used moment.js; some of the wording is too similar, but maybe it's just coincidence

@ThomasOwens Hah. HA HA. Poor poor sod.

Thomas Owens

10:16 PM

@JimmyHoffa To make it worse, it uses JNI.

gnat

@ThomasOwens never add to String in the loop

Robert Harvey

@JimmyHoffa They've never gotten it completely right. There are still anomalies, like elections that will say "1 hour remaining" for an hour, and then when the hour passes it will say "59 minutes" remaining and count down the minutes. ARGH!

ratchet freak

@ThomasOwens ouch

Thomas Owens

I'm starting with dead code removal and removing variables that are set and never used. Including a native call every loop iteration that stores a value in a variable that's never used.

Jimmy Hoffa

If it was .NET I would lend a hand but I can't in java, so I'll just point and laugh because having to determine perf behaviours is like being on the wheel of fortune only to find out your dyslexic

user55340

10:17 PM

Since @Ampt isn't here... @ThomasOwens get Idea IntelliJ.

Thomas Owens

Once I'm in a more reasonable code state, I'll bring in a profiler.

Jimmy Hoffa

@ThomasOwens That sort of thing is traditionally micro-optimization. If you have some kind of performance problem, start by looking elsewhere. The minutia is usually not the source of performance problems

Thomas Owens

@JimmyHoffa Normally, I'd agree.

ratchet freak

eliminating dead code and its not yet dead setup is a decent way to start improving

Thomas Owens

However, I want to take a pass so that way I profile something reasonable.

Robert Harvey

10:18 PM

Sheesh. Is there a real question anywhere in our future?

0

Q: Using past participle for non-altering functions

I often have naming problems when I write classes and functions. Generally speaking, I try to follow the following set of rules if I have to deal with a function whose name is a verb: If the function alters the parameters, use an infinitive. Otherwise, use a present participle. If the function ...

naming functions

gnat

@ThomasOwens YourKit! Expensive, but worth every penny

Jimmy Hoffa

@ThomasOwens You're procrastinating

gnat

yourkit.com/overview

user55340

@RobertHarvey Could migrate it to Stack Overflow...

Robert Harvey

Good luck with that.

Jimmy Hoffa

10:19 PM

if the code is barely readable then I'd say it's wise to take a pass at organizing it first because the resultant analysis will go easier then

user55340

I wonder if we could persuade the community managers to add ELU or ELL as migration paths for the "name thing thing" questions.

Jimmy Hoffa

but if it's semi-readable, just start profiling. Start isolating bits of the code and focus on resource usage points

Thomas Owens

It's barely readable.

Or else I would start with a profilier.

Jimmy Hoffa

alright, fair enough heh

(java barely readable? nooo... surely they used design patterns, increasing the readability.)

ratchet freak

java can be readable

if you know what you are trying to read

Thomas Owens

10:21 PM

I would love to take a crack at rewriting this application. But it's some stupid trying-to-be-real-time piece of crap.

ratchet freak

real time using JNI?

Thomas Owens

Yes.

I want to throw it all away and put it on a board.

Shahar

I think I saw you somewhere @ThomasOwens

Jimmy Hoffa

@ThomasOwens ugh. Let me guess: It's brimming with nested if/then/elses nested inside of switches nested inside of if/then/elses nested inside of switches? That's how people always attempt to do real-time stuff when they don't understand how to reverse the flow of their control-logic to be data driven rather than data inspecting

Thomas Owens

@Shahar Possibly?

@JimmyHoffa Not quite that bad. But close.

Shahar

10:23 PM

Do you have an SO account?

Thomas Owens

It's a Java app written by a C programmer.

@Shahar I was one of the first few hundred SO users.

ratchet freak

those are the worst

Shahar

@ThomasOwens That's why your name is so familiar then.

Jimmy Hoffa

@ThomasOwens minimal object dispatch used? Or did the C programmer think "Whoa java has objects! I'll use those...for everything!" and has a billion objects with a gonzo inheritance tree?

Thomas Owens

@JimmyHoffa Minimal objects. Plus UI objects with logic in them.

Jimmy Hoffa

10:24 PM

ah, very procedural

ratchet freak

or the java is barely a wrapper for all the real meat in JNI

Thomas Owens

@ratchetfreak That may be preferable.

Jimmy Hoffa

fun. you enjoy that...

user55340

"... with native bindings that aren't a pain"

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT like I said earlier, the language that guy was describing is I want a pony...

Robert Harvey

10:26 PM

In other words, the infinitive form of the verb is always used? — Robert Harvey 3 mins ago

user55340

Oh, I so know what mod power I'm going to abuse if I ever become a mod...

Robert Harvey

I just don't understand it. Seems like people have been talking past each other all day on the main site.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT you'll add @RobertHarvey's email to a bunch of spam lists?

Robert Harvey

That's exactly what he'll do.

Or ban me from chat. He'll probably be doing me a favor.

user55340

Nope. I'll edit every old mention of I want a pony to "I want a pony"

ratchet freak

10:28 PM

which is why you never use your personal email for sites

Robert Harvey

Oh, wait. I'm a mod.

Thomas Owens

o_o A method returns a double. It's casted to a short. Then stored into an array that's an array of ints.

What the hell?

Robert Harvey

@ThomasOwens Sounds like the Ariane 5 software.

Jimmy Hoffa

I wonder how pale @ThomasOwens' face is right now

Thomas Owens

I just looked up the history. One guy who touched this file is still here.

There. Will. Be. Words.

ratchet freak

10:29 PM

maybe he wanted to limit the values from -32k to 32k

user55340

32 bit words? or 4 letter words?

Jimmy Hoffa

@ThomasOwens in C, everything's one word afterall, the type just tells you how to parse the bits in your word.. :)

Thomas Owens

Oh. No. I read the wrong line. It is an array of shorts.

But still. Casting a double to a short? That's...suspicious.

user55340

Still, using short in Java is suspious enough.

ratchet freak

that's why code completion, so you know what the type is

Jimmy Hoffa

10:30 PM

@ThomasOwens not to mention the rounding error that I'm sure isn't happening there...

user55340

Hmm.

user55340

> short: The short data type is a 16-bit signed two's complement integer. It has a minimum value of -32,768 and a maximum value of 32,767 (inclusive). As with byte, the same guidelines apply: you can use a short to save memory in large arrays, in situations where the memory savings actually matters.

Thomas Owens

Oh my god. "covertDoubleToShort

It returns...a short array.

Jimmy Hoffa

@ThomasOwens haha like I said, in C everything's just a word anyway, right? :D

Thomas Owens

And that's exactly what they are doing here.

Robert Harvey

10:31 PM

@ThomasOwens There are use cases for that.

Thomas Owens

Yeah. I need to look up the MIL 1553 spec now.

Jimmy Hoffa

@ThomasOwens sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/allocation-styles -> "Buffer-oriented programming"

Robert Harvey

IIRC, the .NET framework has a similar function in the BitConverter class.

It's always the infinitive. I've never seen a participle form, except maybe for the is and has forms, although that would start to sound very LOLCATS. — Robert Harvey 1 min ago

Thomas Owens

OK. Although it looks stupid, it has to do with how messages are formatted in the MIL STD.

Jimmy Hoffa

@RobertHarvey BitConverter...I know her well... it does all fashion of things for .NET's memory

Robert Harvey

10:32 PM

@ThomasOwens Makes sense. Big Endian may be involved.

Jimmy Hoffa

> Buffer-oriented style is common in C, C++, and Java written by C/C++ programmers

Thomas Owens

Everything's a two byte block.

ratchet freak

chars are easier to manipulate that way

they act as a 16 bit unsigned

Robert Harvey

Buffer oriented programming... BOP.

bop bop du wop.

user55340

@RobertHarvey Buffer Driven Design Oriented Programming

Thomas Owens

10:34 PM

Now. If Java had real unsigned types...that would be helpful.

ratchet freak

@ThomasOwens true that

but at least overflow is well defined

user55340

Yep... though, Java doesn't let you shoot yourself in the foot that way... by putting mittens on you.

Robert Harvey

thomas owens thought
he could haz the overflows
but buffer not full

Thomas Owens

OK. I'm out. mic drop

user55340

@RobertHarvey My limerick flag on SO got handled quickly... my haiku one is still active.

Robert Harvey

10:37 PM

@MichaelT Fixed that for you.

user55340

@RobertHarvey I just like the "limericks get acted on fast"

user55340

You probably get too many haiku flags as it is.

user55340

(and there's not enough space for a sonnet)

Robert Harvey

limerics handled fast
haikus are less humorous
speedy not so much

user55340

hippopotamus
anti hippopotamus
annihilation

Jimmy Hoffa

10:40 PM

If I knew a limerick or rhyme
my flags would be handled on time
but lacking such class
my flags get kind of crass
and I wonder why people say I'm a pain in the ass...

user55340

@JimmyHoffa I blame it on Robert Harvey.

user55340

And its clear now why you don't like OO... public crass AbstractFactory doesn't compile.

Mike

66

A: Trolling the troll

Haskell Check this manual page, removeDirectoryRecursive deletes a directory with all of its contents! import System.Directory main = return (removeDirectoryRecursive "/")

user55340

I still think this is the more impressive haskell answer in another question:

user55340

62

A: Is it dark outside? Draw a sun map!

Haskell - low quality code I was extremely tired when I wrote this. I might have gone too far with projections idea, anyway, here's the projection the program uses. Basically like projecting earth onto a cube and then unfolding it. Besides, in this projection, the shadow is made of straight l...

Jimmy Hoffa

10:46 PM

@Mike It only looks like it does something to someone who doesn't know Haskell at all. A basic understanding of the syntax and it's clear that doesn't apply the function

@MichaelT haha, now that is some Haskell written like LISP...

user55340

@JimmyHoffa Did you glance at the other haskell answer in that question?

user55340

49

A: Is it dark outside? Draw a sun map!

Haskell, in the 'because it's there' category I was curious so I wrote one. The formulas are reasonably accurate[1], but then I go and use some ascii art instead of a proper Plate Carrée map, because it looked nicer (the way I convert pixels to lat/long only works correctly for Plate Carrée) i...

Jimmy Hoffa

haha ascii-art drawing. Awesome.

@MichaelT do note he uses tau

user55340

Its greater than pi.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT though his main is an atrocious rendition of what it should be

main = do {t<-getCurrentTime; showMap t} -- do not do this
main = getCurrentTime >>= showMap -- do this.

user55340

10:53 PM

@ThomasOwens While likely a bit more overhead for a real time app - docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/math/…

user55340

> public short shortValueExact()
Converts this BigDecimal to a short, checking for lost information. If this BigDecimal has a nonzero fractional part or is out of the possible range for a short result then an ArithmeticException is thrown.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT holy crap did you see the bash answer in that thread? I am aghast that someone would write such...

user55340

Sending a double -> BigDecimal -> short might be a bit excessive though.

user55340

@JimmyHoffa o_O

user55340

@JimmyHoffa heh... how about this program:

user55340

11:05 PM

177

A: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42

Java I decided to add another entry since this is completely different from my first one (which was more like an example). This program calculates the average of an array entered by the user... import java.util.Scanner; public class Numbers { public static double getSum(int[] nums) { ...

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT I assume you appreciate the perl entrant there...

user55340

@JimmyHoffa Its neat, but not as impressive as others.

user55340

Its the Java one that is the creative approach.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT didn't read it, too much code, aka it's Java

user55340

@JimmyHoffa read the output.

user55340

11:09 PM

java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 4
    at Numbers.getSum(Numbers.java:8)
    at Numbers.getAverage(Numbers.java:15)
    at Numbers.roundAverage(Numbers.java:16)
    at Numbers.beginLoop(Numbers.java:23)
    at Numbers.main(Numbers.java:42)
java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 4
    at Numbers.getSum(Numbers.java:8)
    at Numbers.getAverage(Numbers.java:15)
    at Numbers.roundAverage(Numbers.java:16)
    at Numbers.beginLoop(Numbers.java:23)
    at Numbers.main(Numbers.java:42)
java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 4

Shahar

11:28 PM

oh I saw that at Codegolf ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ

ノ( ゜-゜ノ)

(ง •̀_•́)ง How do I avoid these annoying ascii faces on my website

user58869

11:47 PM

@Shahar there must be a way

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