English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room - 2012-04-03 (page 1 of 6)

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Timothy Mueller-Harder

12:06 AM

@Gigili There don't seem to be a way. I'll edit my answer.

Okay, thanks.

@TimothyMuellerHarder I have upvoted your answer, in recognition of the research effort behind it.

Timothy Mueller-Harder

@DavidWallace Thanks. :)

1

A: How can I change notification sounds?

Open Settings. To change the system's notifications, navigate to General > Sounds: Currently there is no way to set apps' notifications unless there is a setting within the app. I recommend you thoroughly look through the apps' settings if you want to do this. Edit: In regards to our convers...

12:46 AM

Hey, I'm writing about the meaningless of code coverage percentages for unit tests. Can anyone tell me whether this sentence makes good sense?

If there is a requirement that you have forgotten to implement and also forgotten to test, you will most likely have tests that cover a high percentage of the code that you have actually written, even though the truth is that there is a gaping hole in what your tests have actually covered.

Timothy Mueller-Harder

@DavidWallace Mostly, though I'm a bit confused by the "you will most likely have tests that cover a high percentage of the code" bit.

Especially in conjunction with "even though the truth is that there is a gaping hole… ."

"Even though the truth is" implies that it comes after a falsehood.

And a falsehood which pertains to the truth.

Right, I'll go back to the drawing board with this bit. Thanks for the feedback.

Umm, what about with some context though? A paragraph or so earlier, I wrote

There are various tools available that will help you measure what percentage of your code has been executed by your tests; but this measure is of dubious value.

Maybe I need to make it clearer that I am trying to support this proposition, by giving a case in which test coverage is bad, but the test coverage percentage reported by a tool would be high.

How about this -

Suppose that there is a requirement that you have neglected to implement and also neglected to test. There is a gaping hole in what your tests have covered, but a tool that measures the coverage percentage of your tests can’t tell you that.

1:21 AM

Sounds better to me.

Thanks, @Mahnax.

@DavidWallace No problem.

OK, I think I've finished that particular section now. On to whatever comes next.

Alright, have fun!

2 hours later…

3:21 AM

@Cerb Wikipedia says that a sleep cycle is about 90-110 minutes; this puts 6 hours in a prime zone, because both of those numbers go in fairly well. 6/1.5 = 4 cycles and 6/2 = 3 cycles.

I round the 110 to 120 for ease.

@Mahnax Hi!

@Cerberus Oh, hello!

I was not expecting so speedy a response.

Right, so you may be sleeping 3/4 cycles instead of 4/5.

I'm quick as a laser.

In fact I just woke up.

How long did you sleep?

Almost 8 hours!

3:23 AM

Wow, that's fantastic! How do you feel?

I didn't sleep very well, but it was acceptable. I feel so-so.

Well, that's better than bad.

A fairly good result for a forwarded cycle.

Certainly.

Now if I can just stick with this...

3:24 AM

Haha, I was going to ask if you plan to carry on with this normalcy.

I gather it's almost bed time for you?

@Mahnax I always plan to.

@Cerberus Oh good.

@Cerberus Eh, few hours yet.

Oh wait, I misthought.

I have been considering going for 8 hours tonight.

A thoughto.

Oh!

Exciting.

3:25 AM

But I'll save eight for the weekend and stick with my usual six, I think.

Hmm.

Wait, I'll do eight tomorrow.

Oh!

I have work, so I should be able to fall asleep right after I get home.

I'll go from 23:00 to 07:00.

What time do you get home?

3:26 AM

Around 22:30.

Ah OK.

Sounds like a good plan.

I have decided that 24 hour clock is the way to go, as well.

Ahah!

Equally exciting.

I like the European style of most things more than the American.

Aww.

3:27 AM

For example, the imperial system.

Blah.

Yeah that sucks.

Well, we don't technically use it here in Canada.

But we do.

We use 24 hours often in writing, when there is any possible doubt.

Really? What do the signs say: miles or km?

If I tell people that I am 178cm tall, they ask for feet/inches.

@Cerberus Kilometres.

Ah.

So a mixture.

3:28 AM

Yeah.

But technically, we are supposed to be a metric place.

I'm having terrible chat lag ("wait 6 seconds" etc.), by the way. So is it trending towards more or less metric?

More.

Ah good.

People are becoming annoyed with imperial, I think.

Hehe.

3:29 AM

It's not a massive movement or anything, though.

I imagine science uses metric.

Oh, yes.

I believe scientists everywhere use metric.

Even in the good ol' US of A.

That is usually a prediction of the future.

I wish Napoleon had also changed hours/minutes/seconds.

BRB

Darn, just spilled water on the carpet.

At least not on your puter!

3:34 AM

Yes, thankfully.

And water is easy enough to clean.

Yup.

I'm already done.

Good.

It's a bit damp, but it'll air dry.

Are you on a laptop (the Macbook)?

3:35 AM

Yes.

Hi @sim!

Hi @Mahnax

Does it have spill protection?

Hi!

Hi Cerb

@Cerberus Oh, I don't know.

@simchona How is your animal life?

3:36 AM

It's made of solid aluminum, worst place to spill is the keyboard or the USB port area.

@Mahnax You know these ehm plastic thingies that you can put on top of your keyboard?

@Cerberus Blah!

I like my devices pure.

I did cave and put Ghost Armor on my iPod, though.

@Mahnax I know, not very attractive. But I believe the newest latops have those things built in, presumably under the keys.

@Cerberus Going well. Dog is sitting here with me

@simchona Oh! barks

Or should I say wildlife...

3:38 AM

@Cerberus I'm not sure about mine.

I don't think Macs have them yet.

@Cerberus Well you know...

At least I didn't find it when I browsed Macs.

@simchona nods

@simchona Does he know about us?

@Cerberus Well, the pretty design of the keyboard would make such a thing impractical.

@Mahnax He knows I'm on SO at least

3:40 AM

@simchona Ah, okay.

@Mahnax Well, the plastic would go under the keys.

You wouldn't see it much.

@Cerberus Yeah, but it could ruin the backlit effect.

But it really doesn't matter to me.

Why?

Transparent.

Maybe it is there then. Who knows?

I don't think so.

But I think all laptops should implement this asap.

There is still the risk of the ventilation slits, of course.

But I wouldn't be surprised if most laptops died from keyboard spill.

3:44 AM

Eh. I am careful with it.

So say most people.

I've never killed one of my devices, or even scratched a screen.

Nice.

I once put my phone on the window sill to test the GPS.

Oh dear…

Did it fall?

Right where the window frame pivots.

3:48 AM

Uh, does that mean yes, it did fall?

Then I closed the window hard, and the corner of the window crashed at maximum speed into my screen.

Of course it was screen up.

So my phone was not happy.

Heh.

Why would you do that?

Then I ordered a new screen + touch layer on Ebay, € 40.

@Mahnax I forgot that I put it there.

@Cerberus Haha, nice.

It took me a few hours, but then I was able to replace the screen.

I had to take apart every single part of my phone.

I had a long row of bits and pieces spread out in the right order.

The screen was the very last thing.

3:52 AM

Oi.

But it worked. Still works.

Saved me good money.

With a YT video, technical stuff becomes easy.

Hello

I followed a video instruction.

Hi!

Good good.

Hi Anon!

BRB getting food.

I have some questions about my English class. I learned spoken English for two months. One the first two weeks she taught me with many topics but then she just taught and reviewed previous session with me.

Is it good to study this way or it's better to learn new topic in every class?

4:00 AM

@Anonymous Usually a combination of old and new is best.

For faster progress.

But reviewing older subjects that you haven't mastered yet is always useful.

@Anonymous It varies. Every student has a different learning style. Part of a teacher's job is to find a good compromise between the learning styles of all of their students.

Unless you feel that you're really not learning much.

Hello Dave.

You didn't know the League of Gentlemen, did you?

I feel I still have some problem and I also feel that I really not learning much.

In that case, ask her to bring up some new things too.

But keep in mind that you may not realize that you're improving.

Anyone want to speculate on what this means?

"I just wanted to juggling by words a little - I like 3-or-more negations in English (but may overlook errors chasing the elegant paradoxality)"

4:03 AM

For example, if she keeps rehearsing the pronunciation of th with you, it may be because she thinks you're still pronouncing it incorrectly, while you think you've mastered it.

@DavidWallace User wants to experiment with sentences having three or more negations (for some reason unbeknownst to me)?

Yes, but they managed to completely butcher my language in the process, and finish up with something that couldn't reasonably be understood.

Back! With popcorn and oranges.

@Anonymous but my experiences of learning a foreign language are that it's always best to go back and revise the basics.

I learned about vocabulary that use in job such as customer service, decision making, flow of information. Example words: assists, facilitates, figures out, fulfills, greets, listens, markets, meets,
provides, responds, troubleshoots

analyzes, assesses, chooses, considers, consults, decides on, determines,
evaluates, identifies, negotiates, plans, reflects, resolves, selects

answers phones, delivers, makes copies, operates, orders supplies,
performs, runs errands, takes messages, types

archives, circulates, collects, communicates, compiles, confirms, files,

She told me to use these word in my sentences.

I just learned about verb patterns such as (verb) + to do and (verb) + (-ing verb, a gerund)

I learned these for about a month. :)

@DavidWallace Agreed.

4:18 AM

@Cerberus Did you find the previous comment that they were describing?

I don't know why I care; the question has been closed.

I am not sure did I learn too slow or not.

She told me she wants to make sure I speak proper English, both pronunciation and grammar.

@DavidWallace Ehh I didn't find anything, just commented on your line.

@Anonymous There are lots of different ways to arrive at a decent result, so it's hard to tell. But improving your knowledge about existing topics can be just as useful as learning new topics. It also depends on your ultimate goal with these lessons. What level do you aim at achieving?

I'd like to speak like native speakers, pronunciation, accent and grammar.

It's very hard but I will try. :)

Okay, well, then perfecting your pronunciation sounds like a good idea.

I'm sure you will get there eventually!

I have one more question. I hire a copy editor to help me edit my English article but I have no idea after they edited my work. They use correct grammar or not. Is this help me at all?

4:27 AM

-3

Q: Reasons to Use Version Control

Possible Duplicate: I'm a Subversion geek, why I should consider or not consider Mercurial or Git or any other DVCS? What is the value of using version control? I am a relative noob to programming, and am not going to be developing super-good software or even programming professi...

version-control git svn

@Anonymous That really depends on what the purpose of the article is. If it's an assignment for class, then it's better not to let a copy editor change it. If you're a journalist, or something similar, then I would definitely recommend that you keep using the copy editor.

I write articles about Thailand such as food, travel place, culture or my daily diary. The purpose of this is to improve my writing skill.

So do you feel that you learn something from the changes that the copy editor makes? If you don't, then I would struggle to see the value of using them.

I learn something such as how to use some word or how to call things.

But sometime I don't agree with their correction and I am not sure I am right or wrong.

I would recommend, that whenever you disagree with one of their corrections, you discuss it with them and ask them to explain why they made the correction. It is very likely that you'll learn even more by doing so.

Also, if you wish to correct your pronunciation, I would recommend talking to a native speaker of English if possible.

Yes, I learned with native certified teacher. :)

4:40 AM

What does that mean?

They are native speaker and they have certified such as TESL, TOESL and CELTA.

Fantastic! It sounds like you're in good hands then.

@Anonymous So is this copy editor the same guy?

How do you know whether his English is good?

If you're in doubt, you can show us some of his work.

No. I hire a person who claim they are professional copy editor. I will post his work here. :)

Yes, do that. Cerberus and I enjoy poking holes in other people's work.

4:53 AM

Yes we do!

@Anonymous Be sure to tell us whether this work is entirely his own, or an edited version of your work.

Hey, tri-cephalic mutt, have you slept yet?

Terminal 21 is a new airport-themed shopping mall in Bangkok. It opened in October 2011. It has a perfect location; you can go there both by sky train and subway. Terminal 21 has six floors, each decorated with a different theme.

This is edit version of my work!

@DavidWallace Yup, and nearly 8 hours!

@Anonymous Looks OK.

@Anonymous That looks fine to me. I think I could make a case for using "get" instead of "go" in the third sentence, but that's probably just a personal preference.

I have one question is this edit too. It has a perfect location.

4:56 AM

and I would swap "by" and "both" in the third sentence; but I'm not sure that that's anything more than personal taste.

I think it can say "I is in a perfect location".

@DavidWallace Right. I would not be surprised if I saw this on a respectable website.

I seldom respect web sites.

has a perfect location vs is in a perfect location - are both of them correct?

@DavidWallace I noticed that too; but we are already upping the level way past the average travel website.

4:57 AM

@Anonymous yes.

@Anonymous I'd say yes, but I'd prefer "has".

I too prefer "has".

Cerberus and I speak with one voice.

Not much difference anyway.

Woohoo!

I got my N64 emulator working, woohoo!

Even though I speak with three.

@Mahnax Congrats!!

Donkey Kong!

4:58 AM

@Cerberus Danke!

@Cerberus I am playing through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Ohh yes.

There's seriously a game called that?

Never played Zelda since the B&W Game Boy and the SNES.

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