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October 29

Keyboard short cut?

Is there a keyboard short cut that will allow me to "save page" when editing Misplaced Pages without using the mouse (and for "show preview"?--Mark Miller (talk) 05:21, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Keyboard shortcuts are usually dependent on what OS and browser you're using. Maybe Misplaced Pages:Keyboard shortcuts will help you out. Dismas| 05:36, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you. That should be a great help. Only waited about 7 years to ask....--Mark Miller (talk) 05:41, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Star Wars Uncut

I asked this at the Entertainment Desk and was said to ask here. Where can I download Star Wars Uncut onto my hard drive so I could watch it from there without needing to stream it from the Internet? JIP | Talk 05:59, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

The video is available on YouTube. There are a plethora of ways to download videos from YouTube. Just Google "Download YouTube videos" and you'll get enough results. I have no recommendations on any of the software or services. Dismas| 06:28, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Firefox + VideoDownloadHelper. --.Yellow1996. 03:32, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Basic Website Format

I wonder if anyone here can offer any advice, I am trying to get a new website set up for a project I am working on, all I need is the standard layout of a few pages of text and images, and a bar along the top with links to each page. However, this is outside my previous website experience, and so I am wondering, with this being such a simple looking standard layout, is there anywhere I can quickly and easily download a ready-made template for it, so I can just fill in the rest?

213.104.128.16 (talk) 12:33, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

You might consider looking into using a Wordpress template 217.158.236.14 (talk) 16:09, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Just what I was about to suggest earlier when I realized I had to get to class. WP would give you the ability to have static pages as well as having a blog page if you need it for updates or news. Dismas| 16:10, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Many website design packages have templates like what you are looking for; you build the site on your own machine, then upload your efforts to your hosting company. Site hosting companies (including Wordpress) often have a few basic templates to get you started. Personally, I've used Wikispaces before and been reasonably pleased with the results and ease of use. Astronaut (talk) 20:39, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Like what Socialmoth used to be, what are some good, current sites to post our thoughts anonymously?

Socialmoth didn't even require us to have a screenname. (If it did, it didn't show a screenname on our posts.)

Then it closed down. I still want to get dark secrets off my chest without a screenname.

Where else online is a popular venue to get thoughts and confessions off of our chests and expect replies? I have so much to share, but would prefer it the way I used to on Socialmoth. Thanks. --2602:30A:2EE6:8600:8C7C:EEA:2355:AC38 (talk) 15:01, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

You didn't actually explain what Socialmoth was like, but 4chan has anonymous posting, with users only being identified by thread-specific ID numbers uniquely generated on each thread. 81.147.166.89 (talk) 23:23, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

As 81.147.166.89 pointed out, it would be easier to find a suitable site if you explained how things worked at Socialmoth (I tried searching and couldn't find anything); but 4chan could possibly do what you want. --.Yellow1996. 00:11, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Lines in Word 2010 drawing canvass

I'm trying to create a drawing in Word2010, using the canvass. It's a fairly simple schematic, but at one point I need a line conecting two boxes, and meeting the second box at slightly above the centre height. Unfortunately, Word 2010 seems to treat all lines as what was called connectors in older versions, so the line keeps snapping to the centre of the side of the box. A bit of fiddling shows that it's doable by holding shift to force the line horizontal, and keeping the cursor well above the snap point of the second box, but this is fiddly, and doesn't work if both ends of the line need to be close to a snap point. Is there any way forcing word to draw a line, rather than a connector? (turning off snap to grid/objects doesn't work). This is a fairly como thing for me to have to do (I work as a patent attorney, and sometimes it's easier to quickly put together a flowchart or a schematic for a specification than to ask the inventor to provide one), so the easier the solution, the better! MChesterMC (talk) 16:13, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

In Word2007, you can use the freeform line tool to draw a straight line between any two arbitrary points. Look for "Draw or delete a line, connector, or freeform shape" in the Help tool. Rojomoke (talk) 13:12, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Ah, thanks, that works! MChesterMC (talk) 16:50, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Headphones

A friend of mine has a cellphone and suddenly the little icon of the headphones is on appeared at the top of the screen, he has restored the default config, turned off the cell, but nothing... he can't hear when he is being phoned or when he gets SMSs. What can it be? Miss Bono 17:16, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

A little more information on the cellphone model and OS may help answerers. Does it have bluetooth? Has it ever been paired with a bluetooth device that happens to be nearby, such as a headset (some of which may be functional while being charged). If it does have bluetooth, first thing to do of course is to turn bluetooth off. Second possibility: could the headphone-like icon represent silent mode? You wrote "he can't hear when he is being phoned...". What can't he hear - the ringtone or the voice of the caller, if you arrange to call him at a time when he's ready to receive the call? --NorwegianBlue 20:55, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Does it have a speakerphone option ? If so, try turning that on, to see if it disables headphone mode. StuRat (talk) 02:34, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Also, make sure the volume isn't turned down. StuRat (talk) 02:43, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Check that the headphone jack is clean - maybe something accidentally got jammed in there (like a bit of a gum wrapper that was in his pocket with it), and it's tricking the phone into thinking headphones are plugged in. It's not likely, but it's easy to check. Katie R (talk) 13:33, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

He cannot hear the voice or the ringtone. The volume is on, I will check for the bluetooth. Miss Bono 14:06, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Did he try the speakerphone, or does this model not have that option ? StuRat (talk) 14:49, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Honestly, I cannot see the model or brand of the cellphone, it's pretty heavy and the back is silver, it has a harp there. It has radio and TV functions but doesn't have a tactile screen and I cannot find the speakerphone option. Miss Bono 14:59, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

With all those options, it's sure to have a speakerphone setting. When you first turn on the phone, what does it say on the splash screen ? StuRat (talk) 15:19, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

It shows the silhouette of a --in my opinion-- Indian chief or something. My friend has the phone with him and I am at work, so I cannot see it right now. Miss Bono 15:30, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

The headphone icon probably indicates that it thinks a headphone is connected, either physically, or by Bluetooth.

It could indicate that the headphone jack is either broken or has something jammed in it. APL (talk) 01:37, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

October 31

YouTube

Hello, how to upload a song in Youtube ? 198.105.111.86 (talk) 00:27, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

If you have a YouTube account, there is an upload button to the right of the search bar on YouTube's home page. Dismas| 00:58, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

How to make a video file ? 198.105.111.86 (talk) 01:13, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

First get written permission from the copyright owner. Bubba73 01:15, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

If you're using a recent version of Windows, you can use Windows Movie Maker to create a video with a slide show (or single image) as background and an arbitrary audio track -- lots of Youtube videos are created that way. Looie496 (talk) 15:28, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

How to change the key of music and upload in Youtube ? 198.105.111.86 (talk) 21:45, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

You can change the musical key of an audio file using Audacity. --benlisquare_T•C•E 20:53, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

editing a pdf?

I've sent an application for an online service I'm interested in, and they've emailed me a form to fill in with my details and send back to them. Trouble is, it's in this strange .pdf format that doesn't let me write anything on it or open it in any other program. The only thing it's let me do is export it as a .txt which is even more useless. So, how do I go about filling this form in?

thank you,

213.104.128.16 (talk) 11:16, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Could you print it, fill the form in, scan it, and then send them the resulting file? Dismas| 11:46, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

If they didn't screw it, they sent you a fillable pdf file, that can be filled and saved with the Adobe Reader (free to use). OsmanRF34 (talk) 14:20, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I think the default setting must be non-editable, because I frequently get a PDF form that I can't edit. StuRat (talk) 14:26, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader. Not all PDF readers allow you to fill in a PDF form.--Shantavira| 14:30, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Otherwise, the only easy solution is to print, fill and send per post or scan. Otherwise you'll need to edit the file with the commercial version of Adobe, or contact the company and ask for an editable pdf. OsmanRF34 (talk) 14:33, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

There are programs that support some PDF editing beyond simple form filling, e.g. Apple's Preview, and, IIRC, Skim, also on the Mac. Skim is Open Source, but I suspect it heavily depends on the Mac system libraries. List of PDF software#Editors has several likely candidates for all major platforms, but I have not tried any for this purpose. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 15:45, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

What causes "about:blank"?

All I am doing is clicking on the back button trying to get back to the results list (washingtonpost.com in this case), in order to go to the next one. On this computer one of the first things I saw was "Set up Internet Explorer 9". I think it's Windows 7.

At home I have Internet Explorer 9 with Windows Vista. This happens when I try to go back sometimes.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 13:55, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

about:blank is just that - blank page constructed by your browser. I've never seen it appear spontaneously, but you can set it to be your home page (with the advantage that it doesn't use network traffic, or hang like other home pages can do if you are disconnected from the network). Internet Options is the place to go to see if it is the home page or the page that is first shown on a new tab. Astronaut (talk) 20:01, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

I have had this happen too. It seems to occur when there is an interruption to down-loading either from stopping it manually, or my modem battery has gone flat. This is only my personal experience (WP:OR!). I am using a tablet, but it doesn't seem to matter whether I am editing 'mobile' or 'desktop' Misplaced Pages. 220 of 07:33, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Script needs to be stopped

Again, I am on a Windows 7/Internet Explorer 9 computer, on citizen-times.com. I clicked on links to individual articles, but when I tried to shorten the URL to go to the newspaer's main page, nothing happened. When I tried to type in a new URL, the circle to the left of the description of where I was (to the right of the URL, there are a bunch of blue rectangles)just kept turning and turning. Finally, in one of the cases, I was told citizen-times.com is not responding due to a long-running script. I stopped the script and didn't have any of the problems. But when I didn't get that message in the other situations, all I could do was click on the x to the right of the description of where I was. How do I stop the script if it won't tell me to?— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 13:58, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure if the Task Manager would allow you to stop an individual IE script, but stopping IE and restarting ought to get the job done. StuRat (talk) 14:23, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

No, can't do that. I have stuff I'm trying to save.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 14:33, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Can't you save it first, then restart IE ? StuRat (talk) 15:58, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

I should mention this happens on Firefox too, at another library. The computer is really slow sometimes, though I used to see a message about updated virus protection when it would do that. Only occasionally am I told of a script problem I can stop.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 14:41, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Turning off javascript (in Firefox, Options->Content->Enable Javascript) will stop any scripts. You can turn it on again when you've finished with the troublesome site.  Card Zero  (talk) 22:39, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

I'm looking for a simple solution. Restarting IE is too big a step when all I have to do is click on the red X in the upper right corner and, if it's the right version, tell it JUST the current tab. Being told I can close just the current tab is a big step toward making tabs acceptable to me, but I still need windows. If I'm at a library, I can't turn off javascript. Besides, the problem web site is one in which I get one page of an article and have to click on the page number to get the other pages. If I copy and paste, I get the whole article, not just that page, with the software in use at that library where I was. If I click on "back" from the seond page, it's as if I was on the first page and I get sent to where I was before. I think I was told all that was javascript. In other words, to read articles on that site requires javascript.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:22, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Spreadsheet functions

In a spreadsheet, I want to be able to combine text fields to only show characters common to both fields. Eg, If A1 = "adfghi" and A2 = "aeiou", the function would result in "ai",the letters common to both. In terms of sets, I want the intersection of the two sets of characters.

I can do this using the built-in functions that come with the spreadsheet but it would make the spreadsheet very cumbersome to work with.

If I can achieve what I need using a bunch of nested built-in functions, is there a way to "define" a function that accomplishes the same thing but is simple in format? Eg, the defined function is, say, Intersect(A1;A2).

Alternatively, are there sources for pre-written functions, not supplied with the spreadsheet, but that can be added in?

Thank you. CBHA (talk) 18:40, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

It depends what spreadsheet you're using

If you're using Microsoft Excel then check out - I think the language it uses is Visual Basic for Applications which I've never used, but I think its very similar to VBScript and if it is then something like the following would do the job (albeit inefficiently). Hopefully someone who knows VBA will come along and verify or fix

Function Intersect (strFirst,strSecond)
    intLenShortest=min(len(strFirst),len(strSecond))
    for i = 0 to intLenShortest
        if left(strFirst,i)=left(strSecond,i) then
            Intersect = left(strFirst,i)
        end if
    next
End Function

davidprior /_c 23:45, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you. I'm currently using LibreOffice Calc. CBHA (talk) 23:52, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

In that case, see for how to define functions. Below is something that seems to work in LibreOffice Calc (the 2nd line is optional, and the if/else/endif is because I can't find a min() function in that language. I'm sure there is one so it could be tidied up

Function Intersect (strFirst,strSecond)
    dim intLenShortest,i
    if len(strFirst) < len(strSecond) then
    	intLenShortest=len(strFirst)
    else
    	intLenShortest=len(strSecond)
    end if
    for i = 0 to intLenShortest
        if left(strFirst,i)=left(strSecond,i) then
            Intersect = left(strFirst,i)
        end if
    next
End Function

davidprior /_c 00:07, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Quantum software testing

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/making-more-stuff.html#making-stuff-colder

Is the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II notable for being the first aircraft to have its software tested by a quantum computer? Hcobb (talk) 20:36, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with this particular story, but there are no useful quantum computers right now (where useful means you couldn't do the same thing much more easily and cheaply with an ordinary computer). Also, I'm not sure how any of the known quantum algorithms would help in testing airplanes. -- BenRG (talk) 21:51, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

More details on the computer being used: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/features/2013/quantum.html Hcobb (talk) 22:40, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

That press release doesn't say what they're doing with the D-Wave machine. Presumably this is a research project of some sort, possibly related to the NASA/Google/USRA collaboration mentioned at the top of the D-Wave article. D-Wave is a controversial company in the quantum computing world, as the article mentions. D-Wave's machines don't run quantum algorithms and some researchers have expressed doubts that they're using coherent quantum states at all, but they do solve optimization problems by simulated annealing (albeit no more quickly than other techniques), and I'm sure there are problems in aircraft design that can be solved by simulated annealing. -- BenRG (talk) 07:00, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

talk host?

Every time I shut down my computer, the shut down is delayed a few minutes, waiting for background programs to close. The only title for the still-running background program is "Talk Host". I'm not sure what Talk host is, if I need to ignore it or get rid of it.2600:100E:B11D:E528:C5B0:9E15:C149:B245 (talk) 21:51, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

It actually says "task host", not "talk host". See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975777/en-us for more information and a possible fix. Looie496 (talk) 22:09, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Laptablet

I would like to add a new word. Laptablet -- a tablet of 15 inches or larger. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.196.101.223 (talk) 22:42, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

A better place for this would be Wiktionary. They're all about words over there. --.Yellow1996. 00:07, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

The appropriate place to add a word you have made up is wikt:Appendix:List_of_protologisms.  Card Zero  (talk) 00:18, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Yes, if you want to add it as a main entry, you need to provide three cites (durably archived) according to Wiktionary standards. (You might just manage that if you are careful.) Is the fifteen-inch size a consistent limit? Dbfirs 16:52, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

November 1

ESSIV encryption mode and LRW/XEX/XTS

I understand ESSIV and LRW, and I vaguely understand the variations in XEX and XTS, but I'm curious if someone could help me track down in more basic terms the advantage of the tweakable approach over ESSIV. As part of that, are there any public attacks against ESSIV based on the hash algorithm itself? Is using an essiv encrypted block as a brute-force test faster than using a crypto based one (I realize that's an intricate question but I want to know if anyone's published/written on it)? Anything kind of close to these topics would be appreciated. Shadowjams (talk) 04:13, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

The advantage (where there is one) is just in performance. ESSIV-CBC uses the underlying block cipher with two different keys while LRW and XEX only use one, and CBC encryption can't be parallelized while LRW and XEX can. These can both cause problems for hardware implementations but probably not for software. Also, ESSIV and XEX have to encrypt one extra block per disk sector, which is a significant extra expense; the flip side is that LRW uses whitening in different sectors that's related in a simple way known to the attacker, which apparently reduces the security somewhat.

I think there are no known attacks on ESSIV-CBC because the Misplaced Pages article doesn't mention any and I didn't find anything on Google Scholar.

I'm not sure I understand your last question, but to frustrate brute force attacks you just need a large key (128+ bits) and an expensive key derivation function. You don't need to make sector encryption expensive. -- BenRG (talk) 08:02, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Youtube not working with chrome.

A little while ago I was informed of an update to google chrome and it installed with out my permission but thats fine because I just set the settings back to the way they were. after I did that youtube would not work anymore it would play about 33% of the video then the whole video would freeze and this happens every time. I can watch youtube videos outside of the youtube website like an embedded video on another site. How can I fix this so I can watch videos on youtube again? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.124.224.51 (talk) 14:42, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

MP3 to WAV and WAV to MP3

I have been told that once a song looses quality by either lowering its bit-rate or by changing the file extension from wav to mp3, that the audio quality can’t be regained again. Well, a few days ago I downloaded a song with an mp3 extension at the end of its name and then I decided to change the file extension to .wav just by renaming the song. I noticed that it actually sounded better than the original mp3 extension. Then I changed it back to .mp3 and it sounded like what an mp3 would sound. How can just changing the file extension of a song by just renaming a song actually improve the quality of the song if the data and quality that was lost can’t be regained back? At least that was my experience....I didn’t use a software to convert a song from one file extension to another. I just left clicked on the song mouse, clicked the Rename option, and renamed the file extension. Willminator (talk) 16:17, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

If you're using Windows, it's possible that you caused the file to be played by a different program -- the way that a file is handled is determined by its extension. Otherwise this doesn't make any sense as far as I can tell. Do you know what program is playing the file in each case? Looie496 (talk) 16:36, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

I agree that this doesn't make sense unless you have the default player set differently for the two extensions. Media players often ignore the extension (especially if it is wrong) and just recognise the coding, using their inbuilt or added codecs to decode the file. Changing the extension doesn't actually change the file at all, or how it is handled by any one given media player. Dbfirs 16:43, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

I know it doesn't make sense. That's why I ask. I right clicked on the song and clicked the Open With option and then clicked Windows. Willminator (talk) 16:48, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

When you renamed whatever.mp3 to whatever.wav, you still had the same MP3 file, but with a misleading name. It still worked because whatever software you're using ignores the name and looks at the file contents to figure out the format. The difference in sound was almost certainly in your imagination; see the green marker story for a similar case. If it wasn't in your imagination, it had nothing to do with the WAVE file format. It could have been cosmic rays or differences in air currents or some subtle background noise from another source. You'll probably never know, unless you repeat this experiment and get consistent results, in which case it's your imagination. :-) -- BenRG (talk) 16:55, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

It is possible that, by changing the extension, this caused a different program to play the file (that is, different players were registered for the .wav and .mp3 extensions). Some players, particularly those that they sometimes package with consumer-grade Windows PCs, can by default "improve" the sound by adding processing like EQ, loudness, and stereo-separation. Forcing the two files to play in the same player (by opening it in the player, rather than double-clicking the file) should, naturally, yield identical results, regardless of the extension. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 18:04, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Here is an update about an experiment I did now to check out to see if you were right about this being my imagination or not. I have a music editting software called Sony Acid Pro. I dragged the .mp3 one to one track and the .wav one on the second track below it, not to edit them of course, but to look at their wavelengths to determine if one had a higher quality than the other. I zoomed in very closely to different sections of the song to check them out and it turns out that their wavelengths equally match in terms of detail and size, meaning that Sony Acid Pro interpreted both files as having the same quality. That would support your "imagination theory" as I call it, that I'm imagining a difference when there really isn't. To my ears, the wav file clearly seems to have a higher quality. Then, I decided to burn the .wav changed song to a CD and rip it as an mp3 to see whether it would sound the same as the orignial mp3 song and whether the wavelengths would be different according to Sony Acid Pro. I put the original mp3 and the ripped mp3 to Sony Acid Pro to check out their wavelengths. The wavelengths of the ripped mp3 had less details than the orignal mp3, the one I download in other words, and the orignal mp3 sounded a little bit better than the ripped mp3 (Hopefully that is not due to my imagination either, :) but the wavelengths show that this time its not my imagination). Again, that would support your "imagination theory." However, even though the original mp3 and the converted wav have the same wavelength details, it just still seems that the converted wav sounds better. Based on my experiments that seems to show that you might be right about it being my imagination, this makes even less sense. Do you say that its my imagination or could there be another explanation? Willminator (talk) 18:09, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

P.S: I don't know if this will help with my question, but for mp3 songs, Windows Media Player is the default program used, but for .wav files, iTunes is the default program. Willminator (talk) 22:41, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

There are different levels of MP3 compression, so you will certainly get an inferior sound if you rip at a lower quality (higher compression). Try opening both the original (renamed, not re-ripped) files (.wav and .mp3) in Windows Media Player. They should sound identical, because they are identical files (even though you've changed the filename). Opening them both in iTunes should also produce identical sounds, but they could be different from the sounds produced by Media Player. This is rather like playing the same CD track on the same CD player and same speakers, but using different amplifiers. They start with the same waveform, but distort it in different ways as they amplify. Dbfirs 09:17, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

How copyright and patent holders know that their code is being stolen?

If someone compiles stolen code into his program, includes code that is supposed to be non-commercial or open-source into his commercial product, or breaks a software patent: how can the legit copyright holders know their code was compiled into another product? The most trivial cases like offering the original program with a crack through eMule or breaking an obvious patent, which shouldn't be protected anyway, are clear. But how is it technically possible to analyze code of others and guess what's inside? OsmanRF34 (talk) 18:38, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Sometimes the easiest way is not technical at all: it is possible to subpoena a series of expert witnesses from the alleged infringer, who must disclose whether they have infringed to a court, under penalty of perjury. More commonly, witnesses provide factual statements about undisputed actions they have taken; and those statements of fact allow a judge to decide whether any of those actions constituted infringement. Nimur (talk) 19:33, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Disclosure and the usual rules of evidence are the typical means. Nimur's slightly misusing the term subpoena, but for practical purposes it's a meaninless one, you have to prove someone wronged you in any system that cares about actuality. Shadowjams (talk) 10:14, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

test driven development question

how come test driven development is possible? isn't it just as hard (or harder) to write test code as it is to make that functionality work that way?

What I mean is that why not take the same effort and just make the code 'actually work', rather than start writing and debugging test code? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.96.61.236 (talk) 19:45, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Of course writing tests takes time, but you have to do something to check whether the code you have written actually works, and there is nothing you can do that doesn't take time. Have you looked at our article on test driven development, by the way? Looie496 (talk) 23:11, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

But test driven development is about writing tests ahead of writing code. So, "there is nothing you can do that doesn't take time" - yes, you can simply NOT write a test and just start writing the code. When you're done writing the code you can see if it works (manually, by trying to compile and run it). On the other hand, automating testing before you have something to test means that you're solving a problem that doesn't have to exist. Also, it's impossible to automate something that you can do in a split second: take a look to see if the interface looks "OK" or is horrendous, for example. 212.96.61.236 (talk) 01:09, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

That's the method I've used. It has several advantages:

1) It quickly allows you to demo something. Management is much happier if you can demo some portion of the code than if you say that nothing works yet. (A risk is that they think you are making too much progress and push up the deadline.)

2) Works better if you have to hand off development to somebody else.

3) Works better with incomplete specs. You can demo how the part in question works now, and get the customer to approve it or say what needs to be changed.

4) Just from a morale POV, seeing something work makes you feel a lot happier, and seeing a bit more work each day is encouraging.

5) It there's a portion which may not work at all, you can try that first, before committing to the full project.

6) I find it quicker to start with some similar program, then change it a bit at a time, until it meets the new specs, rather than start from scratch. This approach works well with test-driven development.

7) If your program needs to interface with somebody else's, you can write the interface first, so they can work on their part while you finish yours.

8) Makes debugging easier, since you only change a bit each run, so you know what caused it to break. There are exceptions though, when you add an intermittent bug, for example. StuRat (talk) 23:25, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Stu, I have no idea what you're talking about! What can you "quickly demo" -- all these tests you've written failing? Because if you are talking about functionality, how does writing tests first in any way give you a 'quick demo' faster than just writing some code first? Likewise I hvae no idea what any of your sentences have to do with testing... maybe my understanding of TDD is only partial...could you be a lot more explicit? 212.96.61.236 (talk) 01:12, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

OK, let's say I am to write a "people search" program where you enter the person's vital info and it searches multiple databases and returns the matches it finds. I could start by getting it working so it searches one of the databases and returns that info. I would then demo to management, so they could comment on the info it requires, how long it takes, how it presents the results, etc., even though I haven't written the rest of the code yet. StuRat (talk) 01:21, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

I'm with you so far - and it's exactly how I would do it. Were you meaning to get around to mentioning TDD at all? So far the process you've described exactly matches what I would have done - and does not involve writing test code either before coding functionality or afterward. You don't even mention the word test. 212.96.61.236 (talk) 01:50, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

At each point I would do a test. First I would have a test to see that the the target's name is entered correctly, then I'd add a test to verify that their birth data was entered correctly, then I'd add a test to see if it is able to get an exact match from one of the databases using that data, then I'd add a test to see if I'm able to retrieve the record correctly for that match, then I'd add a test to see that I'm able to display that data correctly. Next I might experiment with inexact matches like "J Brown" finding "James Brown". Once I had that working, I'd feel good. StuRat (talk) 01:56, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Stu, everything you've described could apply to all styles of iterative development, but this question was specifically about writing the unit-tests that make TDD unique. APL (talk) 01:33, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

How can you do iterative development without testing at each iteration ? StuRat (talk) 04:50, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Well, there's "I tested it and it looked good." and then there's the more formal unit testing associated with TDD.

These can be miles apart. APL (talk) 20:12, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Like a lot of software engineering buzz-words, there's a good deal of fluff surrounding "test driven development." But at its core, the phrase "test-driven development" is simply summarizing the very good organizational strategy of being careful to test important features: old features and new features. As anyone with product experience can tell you, feature lists can be enormous; and they can be totally dissimilar between different types of engineered products; so if we dive into specific strategies for testing and quality-assurance, there are lots of ideas for dealing with each type of complexity. In software, for example, we use the concept of unit-testing and encapsulation.

There is also an element of social engineering at play. In certain (dysfunctional) organizations, "QA" is a bad word, denoting the least-qualified engineers who didn't make the cut for developing new projects. This stigma infests many organizations: it stems from an organizational failure to recognize the immense value of quality-assurance and testing. This rotten idea infects management-strategies for hiring and compensation. It skews estimates about budget and time scheduling in project management. Contrast this with properly operating engineering organizations, which have procedures in place to make sure that testing gets the attention, and the resources, it needs, enabling a better product. The buzz-word, "test-driven development," can serve as a de-stigmatizing reminder to managers, engineers, and testers: it is very important to test the product. The functionality of the product is the only relevant factor, irrespective of any other project benchmarks. Nimur (talk) 17:12, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

But isn't the essential difference in TDD that you test each feature as it is added, as opposed to waiting until the code is completed ? StuRat (talk) 19:07, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

November 2

Apple equivalent to XUmouse ?

This little program clicks the mouse or moves it periodically, in Windows. All I need is the "click the mouse" behaviour. Is there an equivalent program that runs on Mac OS X 10.7.5 ? StuRat (talk) 01:45, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Look at Automator. RudolfRed (talk) 03:48, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Installing Ubuntu on MacBook Pro: wireless connection

I have a MacBook Pro Early 2011 model (8,1) and I want to install Ubuntu on it. The wireless (Wi-Fi) drivers required do not come with Ubuntu, and I have to install `linux-firmware-nonfree`. However, I do not have an ethernet connection, and now I'm stuck with crApple Mac O'SuX and Microshaft Windoze. How to get Wi-Fi to work? I want to download the drivers on another OS and install them on Ubuntu. Czech is Cyrillized (talk) 04:48, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

I don't have the time to go in depth, but I would say you could download the .deb file to your OSX partition, install Ubuntu in a different partition, and then mount the OSX partition and sudo dpkg -i (if my memory serves) the .deb file to install it. →Σσς. (Sigma) 07:06, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Obviously, in the absence of a linux WiFi device driver, you must write your own, which should be no problem. WiFi is a very simple technology and its standardization consortium provides excellent documentation and engineering support at a low low price. If you're unhappy with the overall performance of the Apple implementation provided in OS X Mavericks, (which is available for no charge), then I'm sure you can find an alternate implementation of the device driver, written by a competitor, designed for Apple hardware products, available at no charge, and available for the operating system of your choice, and preferably released under a free software license. Ideally, you'll also want to get source-code so that you can re-compile the driver yourself whenever you like. Major engineering corporations spend lots of time finding smart people and paying them to do the sort of hard work involved in writing a device driver for competitors' products; and there is a vibrant community of elite hackers who work independently to implement such glamorous parts of the system as the WiFi driver international radio spectrum regulatory compliance, and the WiFi driver power management. So, there are boatloads of alternative options for you to peruse. Many variants are hosted on Canonical's servers, but without networking, your machine cannot reach those servers. No worries! I imagine, because you are a linux enthusiast, that you know how to operate a local package manager repository server - this is a uniqueness of Debian-flavored Linux distributions; so once you have linux-firmware-nonfree, you just need to install it from a local server. The fact that you are installing non-free software in binary form, just for the sake of "running Linux", should present no ethical quagmires whatsoever.

Alternately, you can run Ubuntu in a virtualized computer hosted on OS X. Virtual Box, VMWare Fusion, and several others are available; Virtual Box is free software, and works on OS X. In full-screen mode, your user experience will have the look and feel of a native Linux desktop interface, but the hardware is still operated by a system that you have chosen to denigrate as "crap," and yet it will work, which is more than can be said of your present situation. Nimur (talk) 15:59, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

For the enthusiast hackers in the audience: here is IONetworkingFamily for OS X 10.9, available from http://opensource.apple.com - the parent class for all networking device drivers on OS X. So, we are now comparing an operating system that is available at no cost, constituted largely by open-source software, against Ubuntu, an operating system that is available at no cost, and constituted largely by open-source software, except Ubuntu does not function. So, get cracking on the linux driver ports! Even Windows mustered a device driver that works on the Mac Book Pro! Nimur (talk) 16:12, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

That is a lot of anger towards someone asking how to manually download a .deb file on the non-target platform. (and then copy it to the target machine on a usb drive presumably.)

Perhaps the refdesk is not a place for going on tirades at people who don’t share your opinion about a certain brand of computer software. APL (talk) 20:46, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Link to all free apps for Apple iPad 2

Any link to all apps for Apple iPad 2 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.175.255.68 (talk) 13:33, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

You can select free apps only when you open the App Store. There are absolutely vast quantities of free applications - hundreds of thousands of them. By the time you read the list from start to end, dozens or hundreds of new free apps would need to be added. It makes a lot more sense to search for applications by category, or by name, or by developer; or by apps that are popular, or apps tha are common in your locale. You can do all of those app searches in the App Store. Nimur (talk) 17:17, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

volume

Hello, is there someone can turn up the volume of this clip please ? 198.105.121.83 (talk) 20:22, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Your computer has its own audio control. If it's actually turned up to maximum and it's still too quiet then you probably need to get some external speakers. On my computer when I turn up the volume of that clip I can make it extremely loud because I have excellent speakers. If I was on a macmini, for example, without external speakers plugged in, I couldn't because its internal speakers are pathetic. Do you know that your computer has a volume control and how to access it? If not, tell us what kind of computer you are on.--108.46.110.208 (talk) 00:26, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

You could adjust a sound file's volume pretty easily with a (free) program like Audacity (audio editor).

There's a limit to how far you can do that without ruining the quality of the sound, of course, but it's handy be able to do this if you have one or two files that are a lot softer than the rest of the files in the same playlist. APL (talk) 01:25, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

• It won't help. It's meaningless at any volume. Looie496 (talk) 17:20, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

• Hello, Fête, you've posted many such requests in the past, and I doubt there is someone here who is prepared to optimize all the sound files you need fixing. You really need to learn to do this yourself! Download Audacity, and try it out. There are tutorials on YouTube. In the present case, there is little to gain by normalization, because the file is almost fully normalized. You'll need to use compression and/or hard limiting, followed by normalization. That will achieve the effect you want. Also, the file is a stereo recording with one silent track. Copying the contents of the track with sound to the silent track, will also help. --NorwegianBlue 19:44, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

November 3

Make a video of my computer being used?

Is there any way to take a video internally of my computer's (Imac) display of what I'm doing? I could set up a video camera and record my screen but it would be much easier If i could just hit "record" somehow, and have my computer itself save what was on its screen for some set time period. I'm not sure if I'm being clear, so let me try again. You know how you can take a screenshot of what your computer is displaying? I want to take a "screenvideo" of my computer's display for a period of time so that I can, for example, make a video of me surfing the web.--108.46.110.208 (talk) 00:20, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

On mac, you can use the Quicktime player that shipped with your computer to do this. Click on "File/New Screen Recording". (Or right-click on its dock icon and select "New Screen Recording".

I don't believe this will capture audio, though. So you may need to capture that separately. APL (talk) 01:28, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Hypercam is free and captures audio. If it still works the same way it used to, you'll get a little "Hypercam 2" logo in the corner of your recording. 81.147.166.89 (talk) 09:23, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Problem installing Ubuntu on MacBook Pro 8,1

The installation hangs at "Detecting file systems", logging " Operation not permitted". Czech is Cyrillized (talk) 02:39, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Free dark brown noise generator?

I have been searching for a noise generator that gives a deeper, more mechanical noise than brown noise. (I am away from home and the almost total silence with occasional loud stomping is driving me batshit.) Something like an inefficient fan, an empty but running clothes dryer (probably the ideal), twenty barrels of apples rolling down hill, or a 50 year-old central-air fan would be great. I have been using the brown noise from simply noise.com and playnoise.com--but the sound is still too high pitched. Is there a way I can get a slightly rougher and deeper noise from a free site or app? (I am running Windows 7 and don't seem to be able to run the sound from my various browsers through an equalizer--which would also seem to be an ideal solution if I could figure out how to do it.) Thanks. μηδείς (talk) 02:49, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Computer components

I appreciate that this may not be precisely the right place to pose this question; but it is directly related: what is the main elemental component in computing? I was talking to iDangerMouse; who though it was hafnium, whereas I thought it was carbon. Thank you in advance for any answers. Matty.007 12:43, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Are you including the plastics that make up most of a circuit board? Or just the circuits, diodes, etc. themselves? Dismas| 13:20, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

I think we were talking about the entire things as a whole; including the plastics on the keyboard, screen; etc.. Thanks, Matty.007 13:23, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

I think Hafnium is used the most, because of the circuits, etc.. more than Carbon, it's interesting know which element is used the most. Danger^Mouse (talk) 17:08, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Hafnium??? WTF??? Looie496 (talk) 17:18, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

There's no single most important element. Silicon can be said to have utmost importance as it powers the CPU (which is the computer's brain), but there are other elements too. Physical contacts where you plug something in may often be made of gold, solder may be made of lead, LEDs may contain arsenic or other semiconductors, etc.--Jasper Deng (talk) 18:00, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Jasper Deng, we weren't talking about the most important; rather, the most used. Thanks for the answers, Matty.007 18:21, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

I'd say it depends whether you're asking about what are the most important (serve the most important purposes) or which are the most by weight. The processor, memory, and GPU are probably the most important components, and are mostly silicon (hafnium is used in a few processors, but just in a thin insulating layer - ) with some sort of plastic/ceramic housing and metal pins that connect to the socket, but by weight they represent only a small fraction. Hard drive platters are made of a ceramic or glass substrate coated with a cobalt alloy that provides the magnetic layer. The case and other structural components are probably the largest by mass, and is either plastic or metal (aluminum or steel), but it's also probably the least important part in that you could make a fully functional computer without a case at all. Mr.Z-man 18:43, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

OK, so mainly common metals? Thank you to everyone for their help. Matty.007 18:53, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Vimeo loop function

Right clicking on the Vimeo player used to give a 'LOOP ON' function, and the video would then loop endlessly. I did it all the time. Now, right clicking on player doesn't give a loop function, and I can't figure out what changed. Something in my computer, or did Vimeo change something and remove the loop function? I have googled and tried endlessly to find the LOOP ON function, but no luck. Thanks if you can help me figure it out. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.208.75.76 (talk) 13:49, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Xbox 360 vs One

It says on List of Xbox 360 games, that non-exclusive Xbox 360 can be used on other Xboxes. Does that mean that that a 360 disc can be used on the One for example, or there is an Xbox One or Xbox version? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.208.75.76 (talk) 17:29, 3 November 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.45.130.114 (talk)

No. You've misunderstood.

The non-exclusive titles can also be purchased for systems the are not Xbox. For example the Sony PS3, the Nintendo Wii, or home computer.

I'm pretty sure that Microsoft has said that the XBOne will not play any 360 disks. Sadly.

APL (talk) 20:20, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

More specifically, the non-exclusive titles have versions available for other systems, like GTA V or Assassin's Creed which can be bought for the PS3 or PCs, in some cases. It doesn't mean that the 360 version is playable on Wii or PS3. Exclusives are things like Halo, which only exist for Microsoft platforms. Mingmingla (talk) 00:08, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Excel question: horizontal line

In Excel (2010), is there any way to get a solid horizontal line directly in the middle of a cell, going from left to right (in other words, cutting the cell in half horizontally)? I don't want to use a series of dashes or minus signs or equal signs, because they have a little blank space between each character (leaving little gaps). Rather, I want a solid, unbroken horizontal line (with no gaps). I looked in the "borders" format function, under "more borders". And there is indeed exactly the type of border that I am looking for. However, that specific border format is "grayed out", so that I am not able to click on it. Why is it even there, if it cannot be clicked on or selected? Or am I doing something wrong, and I should indeed be able to click on it? Any ideas? Thanks! Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 21:17, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Can't help you with splitting a cell, but the function in the borders option is for if you've selected a group of cells. The outer borders will only apply to the outermost cells, while the inner borders will apply to all the cells inside the selectio area. 81.147.166.89 (talk) 23:34, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

OK, I see. I have to actually select the cells to format first, before applying the border formatting. That seems to work. Thanks. Does anyone else know any way to divide a cell in half with a solid horizontal line? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 00:27, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

If anyone is interested, I just figured out a work-around solution to the above problem. I entered some text in the cell; I used a series of dashes. As stated above, these dashes print out with small gaps between each and every dash. Then, I formatted the cell with the strike-through format (like this). And that strike-through format runs horizontally across the cell. It also prints over all the small gaps between each and every dash, making it appear as one long, solid, horizontal line. Still, if anyone knows the correct and direct way to do this, please let me know. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 00:38, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

November 4

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