1790: Sad

2017-01-26T16:19:31Z

Thumbtackthief: /* Trivia */ deleted useless, misspelled comment. Here's a source if needed http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/11/13593608/suicide-hotlines-lgbtq-calls-election-depression-anxiety-trump. This is my first edit!

{{comic
| number = 1790
| date = January 25, 2017
| title = Sad
| image = sad.png
| titletext = With the right 90-degree rotation, any effect is a side effect.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is about [[Cueball]] confronting [[Ponytail]] about her recent behavior and emotional state, which has lasted a few months. It seems possible she (and [[Randall]]) is venting anger following the {{w|United States presidential election, 2016}}{{Citation needed}}. Although it is not mentioned directly there are good reason to suspect this is the case because it was the first comic released after {{w|Donald Trump}} really took office the Monday before this Wednesday comic. Trumps {{w|Inauguration of Donald Trump|inauguration}} took place the Friday before this comic, but he did not start to sign decrees (that would make it even worse for those already sad) until after the Monday comic was out. See more abut sad comics under [[#Trivia|trivia]].

Ponytail seems unwilling to acknowledge that anything she is doing is wrong, offering absurd justifications for her behavior.

Ponytail has retreated to video games for solace and to the point that her real life projects are suffering.
''{{w|Stardew Valley}}'' is a video game in which a player creates and manages a virtual farm. And when Cueball mentions that her projects have stagnated, she retorts that her farm in the game does great.

Cueball's comment about not being able to hide from everything is a common one to give to insecure people or to those trying to run away from their problems. Ponytail's reply is in the form of a {{w|PolitiFact.com|PolitiFact}} reply, claiming (possibly quite truly) that such assertions are ''mostly false'', one of the six options, but it is far from being the worst, thus acknowledging that you can't hide from everything, just mostly. See more about Politifact.com in the comic [[1712: Politifact]].

{{w|Comment (computer programming)|Comments}} are something a programmer adds to their code such to make a note for themselves or others, typically to explain a complicated piece of logic or explaining external dependencies of a piece of code. Instead, Ponytail has been writing unrelated notes filled with obscenities. Ponytail's reply is one of typical advice given to amateur fiction and non-fiction writers, that to "write what you know.", implying that all Ponytail knows right now is obscenities.

{{w|Subroutine|Functions}} are pieces of code which developers create to avoid repetition and make the code clearer (such as "calculate distance between points" or "process values"). A function which does nothing is almost useless (although sometimes programmers leave functions empty, when they create the skeleton of a program, but then they usually intends to fill them out later). It is expected that a function ''does'' something with a given parameter, but Ponytail’s function does nothing with the parameters except returning the parameter but with the comment ''No, '''you''' deal with this''. Thus she wishes that somebody/something else ''deals'' with any problem, probably what she would also wish for right now, where she is so sad that she even neglects her projects.

Ponytail replies that she writes them like this in order to try to avoid {{w|Side effect (computer science)|side effects}} (i.e. unexpected, unintended, and typically unwanted effects upon calling a piece of code), in line with a {{w|functional programming}} paradigm. When Cueball points out that she avoids all effects, Ponytail [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/quotes?item=qt2959706 quotes] part of a famous quote from Ripley in {{w|Aliens (film)|Aliens}}: ''I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the '''only''' way to be sure'''. By replying that it's the "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCbfMkh940Q only way to be sure]" she is thus indirectly saying better safe than sorry, but in reality she just don't care about her programming anymore because of her sad state of mind.

The title text is a pun, interpreting the phrase "side effect" literally. If you turn an object 90 degrees along the right axis you will place it on its side, so thus making it a effect of putting something on its side, or a "side effect." You can also turn 90 degrees (along another axis), facing what was previously your side.

The title "Sad" is a common interjection in Trump's tweets. The time-frame of "the past few months" from the first panel is consistent with this, as the election was on November 8, 2016, and the comic was posted on January 25, 2017 four days after Donald Trump's inauguration as 45th president of the United States on January 20, 2017. The reference to fact-checking in the second panel is also reminiscent of the election and post-election coverage. This is not the first sad comic since Trump was elected, see more under [[#Trivia|trivia]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is walking up to Ponytail who sits at her desk in an office chair typing on her computer.]
:Cueball: How are you doing?
:Ponytail: Hah.
:Cueball: You seem distant lately. For the past few months.
:Ponytail: Can't '''''imagine''''' why.

:[Cueball talks to Ponytail at her desk from off-panel.]
:Cueball (off-panel): Your projects have stagnated.
:Ponytail: But my Stardew Valley farm is doing '''''great'''''.
:Cueball (off-panel): You can't just hide from everything.
:Ponytail: '''''Fact check''''': Mostly false.

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball is seen standing behind Ponytail at her desk.]
:Cueball: I'm glad you're including more comments in your code, but it would be nice if they were comments '''''about''''' your code.
:Cueball: Or at least a bit less obscenity-filled.
:Ponytail: Look, they say to write what you know.

:[Cueball leans forward towards Ponytail at her desk (who has looked on the screen in the same position through the entire comic).]
:Cueball: All the functions you've written take everything passed to them and return it unchanged with the comment "No, '''''you''''' deal with this."
:Ponytail: It's a functional programming thing. Avoiding side effects.
:Cueball: You avoid '''''all''''' effects.
:Ponytail: Only way to be sure.

==Trivia==
*Not since [[Randall|Randall's]] wife's [[:Category:Cancer|cancer diagnosis]] has there been so many sad/negative or depressing comics.
**This is the fourth such comic since the election.
**Even [[1779: 2017]] "celebrating" New Year was depressive, and it was a first that a [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] had such a depressive mood.
**But earlier two other sad comics show that this comic and the New Year comic just followed the trend of negative comics released after Trump's victory.
**The first being [[1761: Blame]] and the second being [[1773: Negativity]], which both refer to the negativity on the internet spawned by Trump's election (among other things).
***In the first of these sad comics Cueball actually begins by stating that: ''I feel sad!''
***The two comics could be seen as a small series as Cueball blames his friends on Facebook in the first comic, and then goes outside to avoid all the negativity online in the second.
**Hopefully Randall is not spiraling into a depression as many others have due to Trump's election.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Sarcasm]]

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1790: Sad