explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1854: Refresh Types

2017-06-23T18:19:06Z

Xkcdear: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1854
| date = June 23, 2017
| title = Refresh Types
| image = refresh_types.png
| titletext = The hardest refresh requires both a Mac keyboard and a Windows keyboard as a security measure, like how missile launch systems require two keys to be turned at once.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is chaos - multiple explanations should be merged and condensed. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This Comic lists five different levels of refresh operations for web applications. The first three (soft, normal, and hard refresh) are different operations done in the browser to request that information be retrieved from the server. The other two (harder and hardest refresh) are further, imaginary operations that perform "refresh" operations on remote resources.

Soft refresh refers to an operation in a web page that requests new information without reloading the page. The given example, Gmail, includes a feature that allows users to pull down new emails without reloading the inbox interface. It is a command given to the web page, rather than to the browser.

A "normal refresh" is a browser operation that reloads portions of a web page that have changed since the original load. It is the refresh operation triggered by refresh buttons in browsers, and will generally accomplish the same thing as a soft refresh, with the additional cost of reloading the web page.

Hard refresh is a less common browser operation that clears any cached files associated with the page before requesting a new copy. Browser caching is a way to store webpage resources locally in order to decrease load time and data transmitted. Hard refreshes are usually used when a webapp has changed in such a way that the cached data is interfering with the proper display of the page. A hard refresh is slower because it forces the browser to download the entire page, but it ensures that the page is displayed as it is currently being served.

"Harder refresh" is a joke that extends the existing naming scheme. The joke is that if a "hard refresh" resets the browser display and cache, a harder refresh should reset the source of the data by cycling power in the data center. Assuming no damage was done, this would reset the memory on the server, erasing any information that had not been written to disk, and setting the server to the state it was in at launch. This would cause considerable downtime, and would be unlikely to help the user at all.

The fifth option, "hardest refresh", moves beyond resetting the source of the data and resets the entire internet back to ARPANET, an early military network which was a forerunner to the modern internet. The implications of this are not made clear, but it should be noted that it wouldn't help to fix any problems a user is experiencing in-browser, as HTTP, the protocol by which web pages are sent, was not developed until late 1990, the year ARPANET was decommissioned.

The Keyboard shortcuts listed for the three real actions are, in fact, standard shortcuts. shortcuts tend to be longer and more complicated for less common operations, and the fake shortcuts play to this idea. The "harder refresh" uses six keys, including the non-standard '[https://askubuntu.com/questions/19558/what-are-the-meta-super-and-hyper-keys HYPER]' key, a feature of the {{w|Space cadet keyboard}}.
The "hardest refresh" shortcut uses fifteen keys, including non-standard ones such as Ø and ⏏. The shortcut makes amusing comparisons about the similarity of F-5 and F5, as well as the similarity in appearance between O, 0, and Ø.

The title text suggests that the inclusion of both the windows key and command key in the "Hardest refresh" shortcut is a security measure akin to the {{w|Two-man rule}}, as it would require two keyboards to enter. This may be something of a joke in-and-of-iteslf, as the two keys are actually problematically identical.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon. No table is the preferred version, just describe what's in the picture including the special keys.}}
:{| class=wikitable
! Refresh Type
! Example Shortcuts
! Effect
|-
| Soft Refresh
| Gmail REFRESH Button
| Requests update within Javascript
|-
| Normal Refresh
| F5, CTRL-R, ⌘-R
|Refreshes page
|-
|Hard Refresh
| CTRL-F5, CTRL-⇧, ⌘-⇧-R
| Refreshes page including cached files
|-
|Harder Refresh
| CTRL-⇧-HYPER-ESC-R-F5
| Remotely cycles power to datacenter
|-
|Hardest Refresh
|CTRL- ⌘⊞⇧#-R-F5-F-5-ESC-O-0-Ø-⏏-SCROLL LOCK
|Internet starts over from Arpanet
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]

1854: Refresh Types

2017-06-23T18:18:26Z

Xkcdear: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1854
| date = June 23, 2017
| title = Refresh Types
| image = refresh_types.png
| titletext = The hardest refresh requires both a Mac keyboard and a Windows keyboard as a security measure, like how missile launch systems require two keys to be turned at once.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is chaos - multiple explanations should be merged and condensed. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is chaos - multiple explanations should be merged and condensed. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This Comic lists five different levels of refresh operations for web applications. The first three (soft, normal, and hard refresh) are different operations done in the browser to request that information be retrieved from the server. The other two (harder and hardest refresh) are further, imaginary operations that perform "refresh" operations on remote resources.

Soft refresh refers to an operation in a web page that requests new information without reloading the page. The given example, Gmail, includes a feature that allows users to pull down new emails without reloading the inbox interface. It is a command given to the web page, rather than to the browser.

A "normal refresh" is a browser operation that reloads portions of a web page that have changed since the original load. It is the refresh operation triggered by refresh buttons in browsers, and will generally accomplish the same thing as a soft refresh, with the additional cost of reloading the web page.

Hard refresh is a less common browser operation that clears any cached files associated with the page before requesting a new copy. Browser caching is a way to store webpage resources locally in order to decrease load time and data transmitted. Hard refreshes are usually used when a webapp has changed in such a way that the cached data is interfering with the proper display of the page. A hard refresh is slower because it forces the browser to download the entire page, but it ensures that the page is displayed as it is currently being served.

"Harder refresh" is a joke that extends the existing naming scheme. The joke is that if a "hard refresh" resets the browser display and cache, a harder refresh should reset the source of the data by cycling power in the data center. Assuming no damage was done, this would reset the memory on the server, erasing any information that had not been written to disk, and setting the server to the state it was in at launch. This would cause considerable downtime, and would be unlikely to help the user at all.

The fifth option, "hardest refresh", moves beyond resetting the source of the data and resets the entire internet back to ARPANET, an early military network which was a forerunner to the modern internet. The implications of this are not made clear, but it should be noted that it wouldn't help to fix any problems a user is experiencing in-browser, as HTTP, the protocol by which web pages are sent, was not developed until late 1990, the year ARPANET was decommissioned.

The Keyboard shortcuts listed for the three real actions are, in fact, standard shortcuts. shortcuts tend to be longer and more complicated for less common operations, and the fake shortcuts play to this idea. The "harder refresh" uses six keys, including the non-standard '[https://askubuntu.com/questions/19558/what-are-the-meta-super-and-hyper-keys HYPER]' key, a feature of the {{w|Space cadet keyboard}}.
The "hardest refresh" shortcut uses fifteen keys, including non-standard ones such as Ø and ⏏. The shortcut makes amusing comparisons about the similarity of F-5 and F5, as well as the similarity in appearance between O, 0, and Ø.

The title text suggests that the inclusion of both the windows key and command key in the "Hardest refresh" shortcut is a security measure akin to the {{w|Two-man rule}}, as it would require two keyboards to enter. This may be something of a joke in-and-of-iteslf, as the two keys are actually problematically identical.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon. No table is the preferred version, just describe what's in the picture including the special keys.}}
:{| class=wikitable
! Refresh Type
! Example Shortcuts
! Effect
|-
| Soft Refresh
| Gmail REFRESH Button
| Requests update within Javascript
|-
| Normal Refresh
| F5, CTRL-R, ⌘-R
|Refreshes page
|-
|Hard Refresh
| CTRL-F5, CTRL-⇧, ⌘-⇧-R
| Refreshes page including cached files
|-
|Harder Refresh
| CTRL-⇧-HYPER-ESC-R-F5
| Remotely cycles power to datacenter
|-
|Hardest Refresh
|CTRL- ⌘⊞⇧#-R-F5-F-5-ESC-O-0-Ø-⏏-SCROLL LOCK
|Internet starts over from Arpanet
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]

1809: xkcd Phone 5

2017-03-10T13:55:47Z

Xkcdear: /* Table of features */

{{comic
| number = 1809
| date = March 10, 2017
| title = xkcd Phone 5
| image = xkcd_phone_5.png
| titletext = The phone will be collected by the toll operators and mailed back to you within 4-6 weeks.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Needs a lot more}}
Today's cartoon is the fifth [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone]] with many questionably-useful features:

===Table of features===
{| class="wikitable"
!Feature
!Explanation
|-
|'''Bluetooth speaker'''
| This is the only potentially useful feature of this phone as while a bluetooth speaker built in to the device would be no more useful for playing music from it than any other speaker it would enable other devices to play through your phone.
|-
|'''Stained-glass display'''
| Prevents seeing certain colors. This would also make the phone considerably heavier due to the weight of the glass.
|-
|'''Gallium chassis'''
| It has a melting point of 85°F (or 29.7°C), making it impossible to be carried on the bare skin.
|-
|'''Soundproof'''
| Presumably this means that speakers and microphone may not work.
|-
|'''Can feel pain'''
| This would presumably become apparent when the chassis melts on contact with exposed skin and the phone is left with open wounds.
|-
|'''E-Z Pass partnership'''
|E-Z Pass is an account you put money into and you put a transmitter in your windshield so when you go through a toll booth you don't have to stop and pay by hand.
|-
|'''Foldable (once)'''
|Presumably you can "fold" it by snapping it in half but you can only do his once because the phone wont work otherwise. It may refer to the fact that a later version of iPhone had a weak spot that lead it to easily folding and breaking. The "(once)" part may refer to a joke by Jeff Dunham on his Meet Melvin act, where he asks the puppet if it can stop a speeding bullet, to which the puppet says "Once".
|-
|'''Screen transfers images to skin'''
| This could either mean the image displayed on the screen or potentially whatever the stained glass image itself is.
|-
|'''Retina storage'''
| This is a play on the name of apple's prized "Retina Display". The joke may be in reference to apple's possession of a trademark for the word "retina" in regards to computer equipment, which is made to seem absurd by the unusual use. It is not made clear whose retinas are meant to be stored.
|-
|'''Background task automatically catches and eats Pokemon'''
|
|-
|'''Supercuts partnership'''
|
|-
|'''Squelch knob'''
|Squlech is a feature of CB radios which quiets background noise when no signal is present. For a smartphone, perhaps this knob could control the "signal-to-noise" ratio of your Facebook feed or other social media platforms.
|-
|'''IBM buckling-spring Home button'''
|IBM buckling-spring keyboards are favorites of geeks for the feeling of quality and auditory feedback (keys click loudly) they provide. The iPhone's Home button provides little to no such satisfaction when pressed.
|-
|'''Cot-caught merger switch'''
| This is a reference to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger cot-caught merger], a linguistic change happening among English speakers, particularly in some parts of North America and the British Isles, which causes caught (previously pronounced "kawt") to be pronounced the same as cot (pronounced "kot").
|-
|'''60x optical zoom camera'''
|
|-
|'''Loran navigation'''
| Once developed for sea shipping, it enables navigation by land-based radio transmitters and is accurate to about 300 meters.
|-
|'''28-factor authentication'''
| An authentication factor is a way of proving ones identity. It can be a password, a fingerprint, a physical key, etc.... Secure applications may include two or more factors, a common example is the "PIN and chip" system used with credit cards, where you need both the card and secret code to authorize a transaction. Many online services now provide two-factor authentication to protect against password-based attacks. A 28-factor authentication would be very secure in theory but so impractical that it would be unusable.
|-
|'''Hook shot'''
| Either a reference to the basketball shot or the Legend of Zelda weapon/tool, used to bring items to Link or bring Link closer to a goal.
|-
|}

==Transcript==

:[An image of a smartphone featuring large camera lens is shown. Clockwise from the top the labels read:]

:Bluetooth speaker

:Stained-glass display

:Gallium chassis remains solid up to 85°F

:Soundproof

:Can feel pain

:E-Z Pass partnership: phone can be dropped into coin basket to pay tolls

:Foldable (once)

:Screen transfers images to skin

:Retina storage

:Background task automatically catches and eats Pokemon

:Supercuts partnership: trims hair fed into charging port

:Squeltch knob

:IBM buckling-spring Home button

:Cot-caught merger switch

:60x optical zoom camera

:Loran navigation

:28-factor authentication

:Hook shot

:[Below the phone:]
:Introducing
:<big><big>The XKCD Phone 5</big></big>
:We're trying to catch up to Apple but refuse to skip numbers®™
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:xkcd Phones]]