https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=141.101.104.141&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T15:45:03ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2221:_Emulation&diff=1907752221: Emulation2020-04-17T11:26:53Z<p>141.101.104.141: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2221<br />
| date = October 28, 2019<br />
| title = Emulation<br />
| image = emulation.png<br />
| titletext = I laugh at the software as if I'm 100% confident that it's 2019.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Here [[Cueball]] is speaking with a fictitious example of artificially intelligent software similar to the type popularized in the 1980's when {{w|personal computers}} had just become mainstream. Although modern computing platforms might still be backwards-compatible with {{w|8-bit era}} software, it is more likely that the old applications will need to be run within an {{w|emulator}} that can simulate the necessary hardware components required by the application. <br />
<br />
In this case the "8-bit AI" is having a conversation with Cueball as it carries out tasks common to the era, specifically asking the user to insert a {{w|floppy disk}} into drive "A:" (A: traditionally being the first floppy drive on IBM-compatible PCs). At the time internal storage like a {{w|hard disk}} was an expensive luxury item and most applications were stored on removable media. An application that could not fit on a single floppy disk would be programmed to prompt the user to insert successive floppies which held the required data. However, the speed at which data could be loaded from such devices was {{w|List_of_interface_bit_rates#Storage|very slow}}, requiring anywhere from ten seconds to ten minutes to load a level or an advanced dialog box. Sometimes the software would even incorporate feedback mechanisms like loading screens to let the user know the program was proceeding as intended and had not crashed. <br />
<br />
When software operating under an emulator such as {{w|DOSBox}} makes a request to access disc storage, the emulator will often map the command to a file or file system on the enveloping computing environment which can now contain hundreds or thousands of gigabytes of storage. Depending on the configuration, this may require a user action to complete the virtual operation (Cueball's click). The speed of modern hardware allows the data to be transferred at speeds several orders of magnitude higher than what was possible in the past. The 8-bit AI notices this and makes a comment about the transfer speed.<br />
<br />
Here we begin to see the consequences of emulation upon the anthropomorphized software application. Because the emulator is constructing the application's entire reality, the 8-bit AI has no reason to believe it is anywhere other than a 1980's computing platform for which it was designed. While the application does notice the abnormally fast load time, Cueball decides to not [https://knowyourphrase.com/burst-your-bubble burst his anthropomorphized program's bubble] and responds that the file loaded quickly because of a new floppy disk from {{w|Memorex}}, which was a well-known manufacturer of premium magnetic recording media in the 1980s. Memorex was also known for a famous [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhfugTnXJV4 series] of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZyFcJcZiaU commercials] with the tagline, "Is it live? Or is it Memorex?"—tying into the comic's theme of a lack of unawareness that something is being digitally duplicated. <br />
<br />
To compound the problem, computers of the era often lacked a {{w|real-time clock}} or would have an inability to {{w|Year 2000 problem|process dates beyond 1999}}, and therefore the software application in this comic still believes that it is running at the time of its creation - the 1980's. To this end the program casually asks how President Reagan is doing, as {{w|Ronald Reagan}} was the President of the United States from 1981-1989 when early PCs were on the rise. He died in 2004, 15 years before the publication of the comic. This is why Cueball seems slightly uncomfortable with [[222: Small Talk|noncommittally]] telling the software Reagan is "fine."<br />
<br />
In the title text, Cueball references the {{w|Simulation hypothesis|living in a simulation}} trope, mentioning that it is not fully clear that he is actually living in 2019. This has been a theme in science fiction such as {{w|The Matrix}}, which has been [[:Category:The Matrix|referenced several times]] in xkcd. That we are living in a simulation was also the subject of the comic [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball sits in an office chair at a desk typing on a laptop computer. The computers response to his typing is shown emanating from a starburst on the screen with zigzag lines between different sentences.]<br />
:Laptop: Loading... please insert disk into drive A:<br />
:Cueball: *click* There you go.<br />
:Laptop: Thank you. Wow, this disk is incredibly fast!<br />
:Cueball: Yeah, uh, it's the new model from Memorex.<br />
:Laptop: Amazing. And how is President Reagan?<br />
:Cueball: He's... He's fine.<br />
<br />
:[Caption under the panel]<br />
:I feel weird using old software that doesn't know it's being emulated.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>141.101.104.141https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2169:_Predictive_Models&diff=1759012169: Predictive Models2019-06-28T16:47:08Z<p>141.101.104.141: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2169<br />
| date = June 28, 2019<br />
| title = Predictive Models<br />
| image = predictive_models.png<br />
| titletext = WE WILL ARREST THE REVOLUTION MEMBERS<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a PREDICTIVE MODEL. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{w|Predictive_text}} is a feature on many systems where as you type the system automatically suggests likely words or phrases to follow what you have written to that point. For instance, if you type "I'm heading" the system may suggest "home" or "back" as likely words to follow. Predictive systems usually use prior input to generate their predictions, so if you frequently type "Totally amazing!" the system will suggest "amazing!" every time you type "totally" even if you actually want to type "totally true" sometimes.<br />
<br />
In the comic, Cueball is using predictive text to uncover a plot against him, or his organization/government. By typing in an obscure phrase related to revolution and a meeting, he gets the predictive text algorithm to display where and when the next, supposedly secret, meeting will be held. This works because it is unlikely that anyone else other than revolutionaries would be typing this phrase, thus the only data the algorithm has to match to it is the actual message from the revolutionaries on their next meeting.<br />
<br />
Although the comic title is "Predictive Models", the term {{w|Predictive_modelling}} usually refers to computer programs that try to predict outcomes from data aggregation, such as reviewing health records to identify people most at risk from certain diseases based on weight, prior injuries, etc., before testing directly for the diseases themselves.<br />
<br />
Predictive text has been parodied on xkcd before in<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>141.101.104.141https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1692:_Man_Page&diff=121679Talk:1692: Man Page2016-06-10T08:20:39Z<p>141.101.104.141: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
<br />
I do not entirely understand how wikis work; however, I have attempted to add a transcript. I apologize if anything breaks. I also apologize if this is not how I should be apologizing.<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.135|108.162.241.135]] 04:27, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The Pope flag is referencing the time of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Papacy Avignon Papacy] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.243|108.162.237.243]] 04:56, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Would have frickin' loved Randall if he inserted a reference to Pope of Dope here. :D [[User:Todor|Todor]] ([[User talk:Todor|talk]]) 08:17, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The horrible thing about this comic is that somebody is sure to have implemented this program by the end of the day... {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.140}}<br />
<br />
:Found one on Github: https://github.com/iKevinY/blerp . It has a man page file, but the program itself just outputs "bleep blerp" and doesn't implement any of the flags (yet?). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.141|141.101.104.141]] 08:05, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Behavior Not Defined" might be a reference to undefined behavior, where a program is allowed to do anything including make demons fly out your nose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undefined_behavior [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 06:48, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.135.36|162.158.135.36]] 06:58, 10 June 2016 (UTC) Søren Mors<br />
<br />
I thought Ansel was a deliberate misspelling of ANSI, the most common 8 bit codepage. {{unsigned ip|162.158.135.36}}<br />
<br />
The commit "Revision as of 07:08, 10 June 2016" reverted an IMO good explanation for the debug option with a bad one. Consider changing it back. [[User:Todor|Todor]] ([[User talk:Todor|talk]]) 07:20, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I agree. The bad explanation also mixed up {{w|Pipeline (Unix)|piping}} with {{w|Redirection (computing)|redirection}} --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.76|141.101.104.76]] 07:41, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't think `blerp -a -d -t -p "AVIGNON"` is a valid call to blerp, because the syntax line syntax is utterly off. For example, the first line has an unclosed open [, whereas the second line – in addition to having the corresponding unmatched ] – plays with the fact that even though {} is usually used to list a set of required items, {} is also how `find` (which might do something similar to blerp, and is in fact mentioned in -v) denotes its results when passed to an exec. {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.30}}<br />
<br />
Command line options do not normally use n-dashes; they use hyphens. Another problem with this option is that n-dashes and m-dashes cannot usually be displayed properly in the fixed-width fonts commonly used for command line terminals. The usual custom is to use two hyphens to represent a dash (which for proportional font display will often be converted to either an n-dash or m-dash).<br />
<br />
While "check whether input halts" clearly alludes to the halting problem, it may not actually be impossible, depending on what blerp actually does and what sort of input it accepts. (It says nothing about actually ''reporting'' the result, and it makes no guarantees that it will itself halt.)<br />
<br />
—[[User:PhantomLimbic|PhantomLimbic]] ([[User talk:PhantomLimbic|talk]]) 07:30, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Indeed. Turing's proof for the halting theorem says that there is no algorithm that allows a Turing machine to determine whether any possible program/input combination will halt. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that it's impossible to develop an algorithm that determines whether a particular, fixed program will halt on an arbitrary input. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.141|141.101.104.141]] 08:14, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Currently, there is no mention of the unmatched square brackets in the synopsis, or unmatched parenthesis in the title text. Presumably a reference to XKCD comic 859. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.77|141.101.98.77]] 07:51, 10 June 2016 (UTC)</div>141.101.104.141https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1692:_Man_Page&diff=121677Talk:1692: Man Page2016-06-10T08:14:49Z<p>141.101.104.141: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
<br />
I do not entirely understand how wikis work; however, I have attempted to add a transcript. I apologize if anything breaks. I also apologize if this is not how I should be apologizing.<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.135|108.162.241.135]] 04:27, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The Pope flag is referencing the time of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Papacy Avignon Papacy] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.243|108.162.237.243]] 04:56, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The horrible thing about this comic is that somebody is sure to have implemented this program by the end of the day... {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.140}}<br />
<br />
:Found one on Github: https://github.com/iKevinY/blerp . It has a man page file, but the program itself just outputs "bleep blerp" and doesn't implement any of the flags (yet?). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.141|141.101.104.141]] 08:05, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Behavior Not Defined" might be a reference to undefined behavior, where a program is allowed to do anything including make demons fly out your nose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undefined_behavior [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 06:48, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.135.36|162.158.135.36]] 06:58, 10 June 2016 (UTC) Søren Mors<br />
<br />
I thought Ansel was a deliberate misspelling of ANSI, the most common 8 bit codepage. {{unsigned ip|162.158.135.36}}<br />
<br />
The commit "Revision as of 07:08, 10 June 2016" reverted an IMO good explanation for the debug option with a bad one. Consider changing it back. [[User:Todor|Todor]] ([[User talk:Todor|talk]]) 07:20, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I agree. The bad explanation also mixed up {{w|Pipeline (Unix)|piping}} with {{w|Redirection (computing)|redirection}} --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.76|141.101.104.76]] 07:41, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't think `blerp -a -d -t -p "AVIGNON"` is a valid call to blerp, because the syntax line syntax is utterly off. For example, the first line has an unclosed open [, whereas the second line – in addition to having the corresponding unmatched ] – plays with the fact that even though {} is usually used to list a set of required items, {} is also how `find` (which might do something similar to blerp, and is in fact mentioned in -v) denotes its results when passed to an exec. {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.30}}<br />
<br />
Command line options do not normally use n-dashes; they use hyphens. Another problem with this option is that n-dashes and m-dashes cannot usually be displayed properly in the fixed-width fonts commonly used for command line terminals. The usual custom is to use two hyphens to represent a dash (which for proportional font display will often be converted to either an n-dash or m-dash).<br />
<br />
While "check whether input halts" clearly alludes to the halting problem, it may not actually be impossible, depending on what blerp actually does and what sort of input it accepts. (It says nothing about actually ''reporting'' the result, and it makes no guarantees that it will itself halt.)<br />
<br />
—[[User:PhantomLimbic|PhantomLimbic]] ([[User talk:PhantomLimbic|talk]]) 07:30, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Indeed. Turing's proof for the halting theorem says that there is no algorithm that can determine whether any possible program/input combination will halt. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that it's impossible to develop an algorithm that determines whether a particular, fixed program will halt on an arbitrary input. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.141|141.101.104.141]] 08:14, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Currently, there is no mention of the unmatched square brackets in the synopsis, or unmatched parenthesis in the title text. Presumably a reference to XKCD comic 859. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.77|141.101.98.77]] 07:51, 10 June 2016 (UTC)</div>141.101.104.141https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1692:_Man_Page&diff=1216761692: Man Page2016-06-10T08:09:28Z<p>141.101.104.141: /* Explanation */ Remove backslashes in pope option</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1692<br />
| date = June 10, 2016<br />
| title = Man Page<br />
| image = man_page.png<br />
| titletext = For even more info, see blarbl(2)(3) and birb(3ahhaha I'm kidding, just Google it like a normal person.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|As one of those comics, needs an explanation for each part. Also needs fact-checking.}}<br />
This comic shows a Unix man page for a fictional program called "blerp". It details the command line options for this program, many of which are strange, annoying, or even impossible. These options are mostly in alphabetical order.<br />
<br />
Unix manpages are meant to provide a brief reference on the usage of a command, not verbose and well-written explanations as you may find in manuals which is another common type of documentation. This fictional manpage seems to exaggerate its crypticness, thus making fun of a common trait that many manpages have.<br />
<br />
[[wikipedia:Command-line_interface#Command-line_option|Command-line options]], also known as flags, are typed following a program name to change how the program runs. The following is an example usage.<br />
<br />
<code>blerp -a -d -t -p "AVIGNON"</code><br />
<br />
This would run blerp in attack mode, outputting to DEBUG.EXE, with tumble dry, and with POPE set to AVIGNON. In most cases, any number of flags can be used in any order, and applicable flags can be followed by arguments (such as "AVIGNON" in this example).<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Flag!!Description!!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| -a||ATTACK MODE||This sounds like a command for a robot or something similar. Strange for a command line program. Possibly this is designed to break something?<br />
|-<br />
| -b||SUPPRESS BEES||Nonsensical option. This is a word play, meaning either to suppress [[wikipedia:Bee|Bee]]s (the insects) or the letter '''B'''. This is also a possible Discworld reference, as the long-term storage of the only recurring computer in the series is composed of bees<br />
|-<br />
| -—||FLAGS USE EM DASHES||Command line options (flags) typically use [[wikipedia:Hyphen|hyphens]] (short horizontal lines largely used within words). [[wikipedia:Dash#Em_dash|Em dashes]] (longer, with the same length as the letter "m") can't easily be typed into a command line interface, so switching flags from hyphens to em dashes is excessively difficult and nonsensical.<br />
Also implies a paradox where if flags were to use em dashes, this flag itself would be invalid.<br />
|-<br />
| -c||COUNT NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS||Most likely not useful.<br />
|-<br />
| -d||PIPES OUTPUT TO DEBUG.EXE||[[wikipedia:DEBUG.EXE|DEBUG.EXE]] is the old 16-bit debugger that came with MS-DOS. On a Unix system it is much more likely that one would use the [[wikipedia:GNU debugger|GNU debugger]] (GDB). A debugger is usually called by calling the debugger with the program (or script) to be debugged as parameter.<br />
[[wikipedia:Pipeline (Unix)|Piping]] in Unix means that the output of one program serves as input for another program.<br />
|-<br />
| -D||DEPRECATED||Many programs contain legacy options to avoid breaking scripts that use them. While the option should still work, the documentation is changed to say "deprecated" to discourage further use. Eventually such options usually get removed.<br />
|-<br />
| -e||EXECUTE SOMETHING||Vague.<br />
|-<br />
| -f||FUN MODE||Strange and slightly ominous, given some of the other options. See under -O.<br />
|-<br />
| -g||USE GOOGLE||As an actual program flag, a bit hackjob-ish, but it is possible it is telling the user to use Google to find out what this tag does.<br />
|-<br />
| -h||CHECK WHETHER INPUT HALTS||Completely impossible, by the Halting Theorem. [Wikipedia link, short explanation of why needed]<br />
|-<br />
| -i||IGNORE CASE (LOWER)||Usually, ignoring case means that a program will run without differentiating between upper- and lowercase. This flag suggests that blerp will run ignoring all the lowercase characters completely, or ignoring all the uppercase characters with -I.<br />
|-<br />
| -I||IGNORE CASE (UPPER)||See above. Also possible that all text is converted to upper case, or that upper-case requirements only are ignored<br />
|-<br />
| -jk||KIDDING||A common acronym, not a program flag. Also note that standard behavior of Unix command line options is that a single "-" can be followed by multiple one-letter options, making -jk equivalent to -j -k.<br />
|-<br />
| -n||BEHAVIOR NOT DEFINED||Possibly mathematically ominous? Otherwise useless.(Possible debug/unstable feature flag)<br />
|-<br />
| -o||OVERWRITE||Standard program flag, usually meaning that the program will overwrite a file rather than make a new one when data is output.May work strangely with -d.<br />
|-<br />
| -O||OPPOSITE DAY||Strange flag, possibly means that all other flags (or maybe even including this one!) have the opposite effects - if so, a lot of strange things would happen. (Especially with -b, -e, -f, -jk, -O...)<br />
|-<br />
| -p||SET TRUE POPE; ACCEPTS "ROME" OR "AVIGNON"||This refers to a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism historical schism in the Catholic Church.] In the 14th century, the Pope briefly ruled from Avignon, France, instead of Rome. After the Papacy was returned to Rome in 1377, the Church split (the so-called Western Schism) as not everyone accepted the move and the Pople who ordered it. This flag apparently allows the user to select a preferred Pope. There is actually a possible feature request here, as "PISA", a third Pope, should also be an option. <br />
|-<br />
| -q||QUIET MODE; OUTPUT IS PRINTED TO STDOUT INSTEAD OF BEING SPOKEN ALOUD||In most cases, a program will output basic information to the console, and running it in quiet mode will make it run without outputting anything. Blerp, on the other hand, outputs information through audio, and the quiet flag causes it to run like a normal program. "STDOUT" is short for "standard output".<br />
|-<br />
| -r||RANDOMIZE ARGUMENTS||Pointless and possibly damaging.<br />
|-<br />
| -R||RUN RECURSIVELY ON <nowiki>http://*</nowiki>||The star (*) symbol is often used as a wildcard to match any string of characters. "<nowiki>http://*</nowiki>" suggests that blerp will be run on every webpage on the internet, or on each page recursively. Whaat it might do in order to make this valid is also ominous.<br />
|-<br />
| -s||FOLLOW SYMBOLIC LINKS SYMBOLICALLY||[Needs explanation of symbolic links]<br />
|-<br />
| -S||STEALTH MODE||Similar to -a, in that it sounds more like an option for some kind of robot.<br />
|-<br />
| -t||TUMBLE DRY||Perhaps useful for a program that runs on a clothes dryer. Refers to [https://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/5254504/il_570xN.184726893.jpg directions like these]. Many clothing items are marked "do not tumble dry" in the care instructions, but this would be extremely difficult to make relevant to a program. Given the other flags, this may be less nonsensical than it would first appear..<br />
|-<br />
| -u||UTF-8 MODE; OTHERWISE DEFAULTS TO ANSEL||[[wikipedia:ANSEL|ANSEL]] is an old and obscure character encoding that predates ASCII. Using ANSEL as a default would be strange and largely incompatible with most modern systems. On the other hand, UTF-8 is rather standard. Similar in this regard to -q, blerp does something non-standard by default.<br />
|-<br />
| -U||UPDATE (DEFAULT: FACEBOOK)||Update usually refers to replacing an old software with a newer version. The default here suggests posting a status update to Facebook, sourcing an update form Facebook, or updating Facebook itself.<br />
|-<br />
| -v||VERBOSE; ALIAS TO find / -exec cat {}||Almost standard flag, in ordinary programs the opposite of -q - instead of silencing output, it makes it more specific, usually to help with debugging. Instead, this flag gets replaced with a command that prints the contents of all files in the filesystem tree. However, it will never complete, as certain device files never end (/dev/urandom contains random bytes). Note that the "find" command is missing <code>\;</code> and will not run, instead complaining <code>find: missing argument to `-exec'</code> .<br />
|-<br />
| -V||SET VERSION NUMBER||Many programs will have a flag to view the version number. This flag changes the version number instead.<br />
|-<br />
| -y||YIKES||[[wiktionary:yikes|yikes]] is an interjection which can express fear or empathy with unpleasant or undesirable circumstances. It is unclear how this would influence the program.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The bug report site, http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/46644-Hemiptera, isn't a currently active webpage. inaturalist.org is a site working to extend biological research, and http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47744-Hemiptera does work and points to the same page as http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/Hemiptera. [[wikipedia:Hemiptera]] is the order classifying True Bugs.<br />
<br />
blorp(501)(c)(3) is not a valid chapter reference for a manpage, it is however a slightly covert reference to 501(c)(3) which is an organization that is tax-exempt.<br />
<br />
[Copyright is a mishmash, "or best offer" is humourous, needs better explanation of individual parts.]<br />
<br />
The "copyright" line references several variously open-source content licenses; GPL 2, GPL 3, creative commons, and BSD licenses are mentioned. "LIKE GECKO" is a reference to a web browser user-agent string; modern user-agent strings include a lot of text designed to let the browser pretend to be several different browsers/renderers, and "(like Gecko)" is the standard text for a browser that wants to be treated as if it were Gecko while admitting, if you look closely, that it isn't really Gecko. This copyright line, which includes a lot of mashed-together text that might appear to match any of several different licenses, resembles a user-agent string.<br />
<br />
"OR BEST OFFER" is a reference to an auction where the person who bids the highest gets to buy the item. In context, it suggest the person who has the highest offer for blerp will be sold the rights to the program. Since the other licenses mentioned would allow for free usage without paying royalties, it would usually be pointless to buy the rights to the program.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A terminal screen; the background is black and the text is white.]<br />
:{| class="wikitable"<br />
|style="background-color:black;"|<font color="white"><br />
;NAME<br />
:blerp<br />
<br />
;SYNOPSIS<br />
:blerp {[ OPTION | ARGS ]...[ ARGS ... -f [FLAGS] ...}<br />
:blerp {... DIRECTORY ... URL | BLERP} OPTIONS ] -{}<br />
<br />
;DESCRIPTION<br />
:blerp FILTERS LOCAL OR REMOTE FILES OR RESOURCES USING PATTERNS DEFINED BY ARGUMENTS AND ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES. THIS BEHAVIOR CAN BE ALTERED BY VARIOUS FLAGS.<br />
<br />
;OPTIONS<br />
:{|<br />
! scope="row" | -a<br />
| ATTACK MODE<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -b<br />
| SUPPRESS BEES<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -—<br />
| FLAGS USE EM DASHES<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -c<br />
| COUNT NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -d<br />
| PIPES OUTPUT TO DEBUG.EXE<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -D<br />
| DEPRECATED<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -e<br />
| EXECUTE SOMETHING<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -f<br />
| FUN MODE<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -g<br />
| USE GOOGLE<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -h<br />
| CHECK WHETHER INPUT HALTS<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -i<br />
| IGNORE CASE (LOWER)<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -I<br />
| IGNORE CASE (UPPER)<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -jk<br />
| KIDDING<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -n<br />
| BEHAVIOR NOT DEFINED<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -o<br />
| OVERWRITE<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -O<br />
| OPPOSITE DAY<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -p<br />
| SET TRUE POPE; ACCEPTS "ROME" OR "AVIGNON"<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -q<br />
| QUIET MODE; OUTPUT IS PRINTED TO STDOUT INSTEAD OF BEING SPOKEN ALOUD<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -r<br />
| RANDOMIZE ARGUMENTS<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -R<br />
| RUN RECURSIVELY ON <nowiki>http://*</nowiki><br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -s<br />
| FOLLOW SYMBOLIC LINKS SYMBOLICALLY<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -S<br />
| STEALTH MODE<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -t<br />
| TUMBLE DRY<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -u<br />
| UTF-8 MODE; OTHERWISE DEFAULTS TO ANSEL<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -U<br />
| UPDATE (DEFAULT: FACEBOOK)<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -v<br />
| VERBOSE; ALIAS TO find / -exec cat {}<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -V<br />
| SET VERSION NUMBER<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row" | -y<br />
| YIKES<br />
|}<br />
<br />
;SEE ALSO<br />
:blerp(1), blerp(3), blirb(8), blarb(51) blorp(501)(c)(3)<br />
<br />
;BUG REPORTS<br />
:<nowiki>http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47744-Hemiptera</nowiki><br />
<br />
;COPYRIGHT<br />
:GPL(2)(3+) CC-BY/5.0 RV 41.0 LIKE GECKO/BSD 4(2) OR BEST OFFER<br />
</font><br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Programming]]</div>141.101.104.141https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1692:_Man_Page&diff=121675Talk:1692: Man Page2016-06-10T08:05:16Z<p>141.101.104.141: </p>
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I do not entirely understand how wikis work; however, I have attempted to add a transcript. I apologize if anything breaks. I also apologize if this is not how I should be apologizing.<br />
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[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.135|108.162.241.135]] 04:27, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The Pope flag is referencing the time of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Papacy Avignon Papacy] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.243|108.162.237.243]] 04:56, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The horrible thing about this comic is that somebody is sure to have implemented this program by the end of the day... {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.140}}<br />
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:Found one on Github: https://github.com/iKevinY/blerp . It has a man page file, but the program itself just outputs "bleep blerp" and doesn't implement any of the flags (yet?). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.141|141.101.104.141]] 08:05, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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"Behavior Not Defined" might be a reference to undefined behavior, where a program is allowed to do anything including make demons fly out your nose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undefined_behavior [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 06:48, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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[[Special:Contributions/162.158.135.36|162.158.135.36]] 06:58, 10 June 2016 (UTC) Søren Mors<br />
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I thought Ansel was a deliberate misspelling of ANSI, the most common 8 bit codepage. {{unsigned ip|162.158.135.36}}<br />
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The commit "Revision as of 07:08, 10 June 2016" reverted an IMO good explanation for the debug option with a bad one. Consider changing it back. [[User:Todor|Todor]] ([[User talk:Todor|talk]]) 07:20, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I agree. The bad explanation also mixed up {{w|Pipeline (Unix)|piping}} with {{w|Redirection (computing)|redirection}} --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.76|141.101.104.76]] 07:41, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think `blerp -a -d -t -p "AVIGNON"` is a valid call to blerp, because the syntax line syntax is utterly off. For example, the first line has an unclosed open [, whereas the second line – in addition to having the corresponding unmatched ] – plays with the fact that even though {} is usually used to list a set of required items, {} is also how `find` (which might do something similar to blerp, and is in fact mentioned in -v) denotes its results when passed to an exec. {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.30}}<br />
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Command line options do not normally use n-dashes; they use hyphens. Another problem with this option is that n-dashes and m-dashes cannot usually be displayed properly in the fixed-width fonts commonly used for command line terminals. The usual custom is to use two hyphens to represent a dash (which for proportional font display will often be converted to either an n-dash or m-dash).<br />
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While "check whether input halts" clearly alludes to the halting problem, it may not actually be impossible, depending on what blerp actually does and what sort of input it accepts. (It says nothing about actually ''reporting'' the result, and it makes no guarantees that it will itself halt.)<br />
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—[[User:PhantomLimbic|PhantomLimbic]] ([[User talk:PhantomLimbic|talk]]) 07:30, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Currently, there is no mention of the unmatched square brackets in the synopsis, or unmatched parenthesis in the title text. Presumably a reference to XKCD comic 859. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.77|141.101.98.77]] 07:51, 10 June 2016 (UTC)</div>141.101.104.141