explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

312: With Apologies to Robert Frost

2012-08-25T02:14:11Z

Roguespider13: Changing comic display to match more recent layout

{{comic
| number = 312
| date = September 5, 2007
| title = With Apologies to Robert Frost
| image = with apologies to robert frost.png
| titletext = Some say the world will end in fire; some say in segfaults.
| imagesize =
}}

== Explanation ==
This comic presents a poem about a god's dilemma of whether to create the world using Perl or Lisp, two popular computer programming languages. The god has chosen to write it in Perl but since then appears to lament the choice, apparently expressing that if given the chance to write the world's code again, he or she or it would use Lisp instead.

The grammar of Lisp as a language requires the programmer to use a multitude of parentheses, and in many cases it can be difficult to determine whether all of the parentheses have been properly matched up to one another. In fact, Lisp programs will often run, possibly incorrectly, even if there are mismatched parentheses or parentheses missing where they should be present, and so, many Lisp programmers will simply throw extra close-parentheses at the end of their programs to ensure that they do not have too few. The last two lines of the poem refer to the plentiful parentheses in Lisp. The image at the bottom of the panel shows a close-parenthesis at the end of the Universe.

A segmentation fault, also commonly called a segfault, is an error that occurs when a computer program attempts to access computer memory to which it should not have access.

This comic might possibly be alluding back to #[[224]], in which one of "the gods" claims that although the Universe may appear to have been written in Lisp, it was actually written mostly using Perl.

The poem itself and the title text are a parody of "[http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fire-and-ice/ Fire and Ice]," written by Robert Frost and first published in 1920. In this poem, the speaker discusses his stance in the debate on whether the world will be destroyed in fire or in ice. "A God's Lament" has a rhyme scheme that is nearly identical to that of Frost's poem. However, it differs in that "Lisp" does not rhyme with "men," "again," and "paren," while the corresponding four lines in Frost's poem do rhyme.

{{Comic discussion}}

601: Game Theory

2012-08-23T06:53:02Z

Roguespider13:

{{comic
| number = 601
| date = June 24, 2009
| title = Game Theory
| image = game_theory.png
| titletext = Wait, no, that one also loses. How about a nice game of chess?
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
The comic and title text is a direct reference to the movie WarGames. In the climax of the movie, a rogue AI is asked to play a nuclear attack scenario against itself rather than a human opponent. In the end it realizes that no strategy will work and reports "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?" In this comic, the AI which is asked to analyze love comes to the same conclusion. The title text indicates that also not playing means you fail at love.

742: Campfire

2012-08-23T06:52:11Z

Roguespider13: Created page with "{{comic | number = 742 | date = May 19, 2010 | title = Campfire | image = campfire.png | titletext = 100 years later, this story remains terrifying--not becaus..."

{{comic
| number = 742
| date = May 19, 2010
| title = Campfire
| image = campfire.png
| titletext = 100 years later, this story remains terrifying--not because its the local network block, but because the killer is on IPv4.
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
A man is telling a scary story to kids by the campfire about a killer. It seems as if the main character was able to trace the killer's computer to a local address (most likely one in her own house). 192.168/16 refers to the subnet the computer is on. Most home networks that are behind a router usually use have addresses such as 192.168.0.xx or 192.168.1.xx.

The title text claims that this is scary as the killer is on IPv4. Currently the number of available IPv4 addresses are dwindling. There are plans to replace the addresses with IPv6, which will largely increase the number of available addresses.

601: Game Theory

2012-08-23T06:32:55Z

Roguespider13: Created page with "{{comic | number = 601 | date = | title = Game Theory | image = game_theory.png | titletext = Wait, no, that one also loses. How about a nice game of chess? |..."

{{comic
| number = 601
| date =
| title = Game Theory
| image = game_theory.png
| titletext = Wait, no, that one also loses. How about a nice game of chess?
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
The comic and title text is a direct reference to the movie WarGames. In the climax of the movie, a rogue AI is asked to play a nuclear attack scenario against itself rather than a human opponent. In the end it realizes that no strategy will work and reports "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?" In this comic, the AI which is asked to analyze love comes to the same conclusion. The title text indicates that also not playing means you fail at love.

276: Fixed Width

2012-08-23T06:22:51Z

Roguespider13:

{{comic
| number = 276
| date = June 13, 2007
| title = Fixed Width
| image = fixed_width.png
| titletext = I wish I knew how to quit this so I wouldn't have to quit you.
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
The title is a direct reference to that fact that, starting with the third line, Rob and Emily's IM conversation is the exact same length. While this may be by chance, Rob is forced to change what he wants to type to continue the pattern, which
Emily immediately breaks because she's hurt at what he's said. Rob then attempts to justify what he said which, possibly by design, is the normal text alignment for making text being even on both the left and right sides of a page. The title-text is a reference to the line "I wish I knew how to quit you" from the movie Brokeback Mountain.

==Transcript==
[A man, Rob, is sitting at a computer. The text is an IRC-style transcript of a conversation, in a fixed-width font. He is text-messaging a girl he slept with named Emily; their messages read as follows:]
<pre>
<rob> hi
<emily> hey you
<rob> last night was nice
<emily> the best i've had
<rob> yeah it was AMAZING
<emily> ok, i have to ask
<emily> is this for real?
<emily> or is it just sex
<rob> definitely just sex
<emily> holy shit
<emily> are you serious?
<emily> you don't know how much that made
my stomach hurt
<emily> i want to cry
<rob> i'm sorry
<rob> i wanted to type 'i love you'
<rob> but our line lengths were syncing up
<emily> ...
<rob> and it would have broken the pattern
* emily has disconnected
</pre>

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Rob]]

276: Fixed Width

2012-08-22T17:22:40Z

Roguespider13:

{{comic
| number = 276
| date =
| title = Fixed Width
| image = fixed_width.png
| titletext = I wish I knew how to quit this so I didn't have to quit you.
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
The title is a direct reference to that fact that, starting with the third line, Rob and Emily's IM conversation is the exact same length. While this may be by chance, Rob is forced to change what he wants to type to continue the pattern, which
Emily immediately breaks because she's hurt at what he's said. Rob then attempts to justify what he said which, possibly by design, is the normal text alignment for making text being even on both the left and right sides of a page.

276: Fixed Width

2012-08-22T17:22:00Z

Roguespider13:

{{comic
| number = 276
| date =
| title = Fixed Width
| image = fixed_width.png
| titletext = I wish I knew how to quit this so I didn't have to quit you.
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
The title is a direct reference to that fact tha,t starting with the third line, Rob and Emily's IM conversation is the exact same length. While this may be by chance, Rob is forced to change what he wants to type to continue the pattern, which
Emily immediately breaks because she's hurt at what he's said. Rob then attempts to justify what he said which, possibly by design, is the normal text alignment for making text being even on both the left and right sides of a page.

276: Fixed Width

2012-08-22T17:21:07Z

Roguespider13: Created page with "{{comic | number = 276 | date = | title = Fixed Width | image = Fixed Width.png | titletext = I wish I knew how to quit this so I didn't have to quit you. | i..."

{{comic
| number = 276
| date =
| title = Fixed Width
| image = Fixed Width.png
| titletext = I wish I knew how to quit this so I didn't have to quit you.
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
The title is a direct reference to that fact tha,t starting with the third line, Rob and Emily's IM conversation is the exact same length. While this may be by chance, Rob is forced to change what he wants to type to continue the pattern, which
Emily immediately breaks because she's hurt at what he's said. Rob then attempts to justify what he said which, possibly by design, is the normal text alignment for making text being even on both the left and right sides of a page.