Skip today unless you want to hear about computer programming later. For now, take a look at Pudding, resting on one of the more expensive cat beds in this town – one of my Yamaha PA speakers. She has been pondering for six months how to get through that window. Like so many females, once the food and shelter get lined up, time to get pregnant. Her biological destiny says things cannot simply be left as they are. Things aren’t complicated enough, you see.
I found the pinch flat on my bicycle. What? A pinch flat is when you hit a curb, for instance, with an underinflated tube. The tube can’t bounce enough, so it pinches two parallel holes in a sideways pattern. That’s what I’ve got. I need my wheels. (It seems somebody earlier hit on the same idea as I: run an extra wrap of rubber around the spoke projections. Except they didn’t do it right and I had to remove it.)Later, the tube could not be repaired. I’ll pick up a new one on the way to the Thrift. While waiting for the glue to dry, I ran through Cowboy Mike’s song list. Like every other band I’ve met in Florida, it is going to be a challenge staying awake through those lyrics such as, “I’m gonna drink me wine in bed until noon.”
I think I at least understand the process of an interactive Web database. As predicted, it is one of the most complicated things you can do with a computer. Each technology seems to have been developed in isolation even where it was certainly known it would eventually be part of the combination. No wonder it takes years to learn this stuff.
As I thought, since PHP asks Apache which in turn asks MySQL, there is no “test mode”. Apache is server software, so this means you must set up and operate an entire web server with Apache installed (and configured) before you can even run a test. I believe I have just enough equipment to accomplish this, but there are other completely alien processes involved, such as downloading binaries off the Internet and rules about which components must co-exist in the same directory. Expect the usual number of critical points to be left out of the index and glossary or named something so weird you’d never guess it.
Binaries are misunderstood. I can clear that up. Binary files mean if you were to look at the code, you would only see strings of zeros and ones. This is because the code has been “compiled”. It was written in another language with English-like commands, then translated by a compiler into binary code. This compiler produces different code for each brand of operating system, such as Linux, Win XP or the Apples. Thus, binaries are just compiled code and you only have to make sure you choose the right one.
Always willing to convert new people to computers, here is a “snippet” of PHP code. If you can figure out what it does, you have great potential.
php
for ($table=1; $table<13; $table++) {print”The “.$table.” Times Table\n”; for ($counter=1; counter<13; $counter++) {$answer=$table*$counter; print “ $counter x $table = $answer”\n; } }
[Author's note 2016-06-02: I was trying to list the above code as an example, but the blog kept "running the code" instead of just displaying it. Remind me to take another look at that. It could come in handy.]
This is a trivial case, but it gives the correct impression of how convoluted programming has become. Code like this does not, in my opinion, represent any kind of improvement or advance over what preceded it. I have often heard this “C++” [another poorly designed language] coding style described as “elegant”, but it is nothing of the kind. It is hard to read, much less to understand, and the punctuation serves the exact opposite purpose it was designed for. (Punctuation was meant to clarify the written word, speech does not use it.)
The code produces a list of multiplication tables from one to twelve. How did you do? The same code in BASIC would look something like this:
100 #A=1, #B=1
110 Print “The ”+ #A + “ Times Table”
120 For #A from 1 to 12
130 For #B from 1 to 12
140 Product = #A * #B
150 Print #A “ x “ #B “ = “ Product
160 Next #B
170 Next #A\
180 Stop
Both codes produce the same result, which is why I claim the new code contributes nothing worthwhile. Of course, somebody is one day going to come along and write some code that amalgamates and simplifies all that went before. His logical destiny says things cannot simply be left as they are. Things aren’t simple enough, you see.
I reloaded Dicken’s computer and ran some diagnostics. The hard drive will have to be reformatted, but in the process, I may have discovered how to get rid of that “Spylocked” symbol that sticks on your system tray even after you’ve removed the virus (I use adware and virus interchangeably). We rearranged a ton of Damian’s merchandise to clear up the area behind the counter. I will have to see if I’ll open on Mondays.
The gig tonight, how did it go? Mixed reply on that one. Let’s see how well you read between the lines. Yes, the crowd had a great time, but the crowd was never larger than six people at once. I made $27 in tips, but that is ten times what I used to make playing along with the so-called professionals in this town. I don’t have enough material, but the gig is only 2-1/2 hours long. Thus, I rate this gig as a “successful practice” because I played live, I covered expenses, two women hit on me and I met a potential guitar player.
If only I could figure out a way to gracefully take people’s money who want to buy me a drink, I would have doubled my income. I am very aware that the strongest feature of my act is that most people have never seen it before, and it could wear thin. The positive side of things is that this is just my fourth single gig. It is far harder to put a single act together than to join a group with a singer so I figure I’m way ahead of schedule based on the time that has passed since I decided to try what I’m now doing.
A week or two back, I showed a picture of a mystery machine. It looked like a piano keyboard attached to a sewing machine. For those who have patiently awaited the answer, it is a telegraph machine. The keys were for sending Morse Code. Your trivia for today is that Sam Morse did not invent Morse Code. He merely perfected a method of using it. by inventing the telegraph. (His original system had to be modified yet again due to certain unavoidable pattern errors. The result, called International Morse Code, is not perfect either. For example, never say anyone is “bad” because the code for “b” can easily be mistaken for “de”.
I have a challenge for anyone who claims to have systematically used the fraction number system I wrote just now, where 2 ½ becomes 2-1/2. I have the earliest record, I think, where I wrote a number this way. It was no accident, I figured out this method on my own and am unaware if anyone else has any claim. It was the result of a slippery person successfully arguing that I had typed 13/16ths when I had typed 1 3/16ths. I deliberately sat down and figured out an unambiguous method for writing compound numbers and that was it. I’m keeping the year a secret just in case. Any takers? (Remember, you must prove you have systematically used it.)
Talk about an idiot, the Runt is bent out of shape because we posted a rule that poems must rhyme. He tried to make like the rule was impinging on his “freedom of speech”. The roar of laughter was so loud I had to walk up front to see what the commotion was. He later posted a “sonnet” with six lines. I am not making this up.
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