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		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=801%3A_Golden_Hammer</id>
		<title>801: Golden Hammer - Revision history</title>
		<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=801%3A_Golden_Hammer"/>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;action=history"/>
		<updated>2026-05-23T17:04:19Z</updated>
		<subtitle>Revision history for this page on the wiki</subtitle>
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	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=365006&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Firestar233 at 09:17, 10 February 2025</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=365006&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2025-02-10T09:17:16Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 09:17, 10 February 2025&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l8&quot; &gt;Line 8:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 8:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{w|Java (programming language)|Java}} is a programming language touted for its Portability™ (the ability for software to run on many different systems &amp;quot;write once, run everywhere&amp;quot;), which sometimes leads to it being used in systems where it really just shouldn't be used. [[Cueball]] laments that the hardware he's tinkering with, despite being used for a single purpose, has its firmware written in Java; since the microprocessor is unknown, it's quite possible the {{w|Java Virtual Machine}} (JVM) had to be ported over to the processor before the hardware designers could write firmware for it. Presumably, they considered this worthwhile to be able to write the control code in a language they're comfortable with, even though it probably would have been much more effective to just write the control code in whatever language they used to port the JVM in the first place, or maybe even take the effort to design an {{w|ASIC}} that can drive the peripheral instead.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{w|Java (programming language)|Java}} is a programming language touted for its Portability™ (the ability for software to run on many different systems&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;; &lt;/ins&gt;&amp;quot;write once, run everywhere&amp;quot;), which sometimes leads to it being used in systems where it really just shouldn't be used. [[Cueball]] laments that the hardware he's tinkering with, despite being used for a single purpose, has its firmware written in Java; since the microprocessor is unknown, it's quite possible the {{w|Java Virtual Machine}} (JVM) had to be ported over to the processor before the hardware designers could write firmware for it. Presumably, they considered this worthwhile to be able to write the control code in a language they're comfortable with, even though it probably would have been much more effective to just write the control code in whatever language they used to port the JVM in the first place, or maybe even take the effort to design an {{w|ASIC}} that can drive the peripheral instead.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Firestar233</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=365004&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>CalibansCreations: /* Explanation */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=365004&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2025-02-10T09:11:08Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 09:11, 10 February 2025&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l12&quot; &gt;Line 12:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 12:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Of course, instead of a hammer and a nail, Black Hat's analogy is about using bolt-cutters and vodka to get through the lock on {{w|Wolf Blitzer}}'s boathouse. Not-so-coincidentally, Black Hat is actually holding a pair of bolt-cutters and a mostly empty vodka bottle; the implication is that Black Hat ''did'', in fact, drunkenly break into Blitzer's boathouse the previous night, which is why he has just now entered the door at the start of the strip. The changes he makes to the adage implies that he believes vodka and boltcutters are designed specifically to be used on Blitzer's boathouse, an interpretation that fits Black Hat's warped and anarchic disposition. Most normal people would react with shock at what Black Hat has (allegedly) done, but Cueball, being either extremely jaded by the (mis)use of Java or simply desensitized to Black Hat's behaviour, can only bring himself to say that he's glad Black Hat's been having more fun than him.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Of course, instead of a hammer and a nail, Black Hat's analogy is about using bolt-cutters and vodka to get through the lock on &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;{{w|CNN}} journalist &lt;/ins&gt;{{w|Wolf Blitzer}}'s boathouse. Not-so-coincidentally, Black Hat is actually holding a pair of bolt-cutters and a mostly empty vodka bottle; the implication is that Black Hat ''did'', in fact, drunkenly break into Blitzer's boathouse the previous night, which is why he has just now entered the door at the start of the strip. The changes he makes to the adage implies that he believes vodka and boltcutters are designed specifically to be used on Blitzer's boathouse, an interpretation that fits Black Hat's warped and anarchic disposition. Most normal people would react with shock at what Black Hat has (allegedly) done, but Cueball, being either extremely jaded by the (mis)use of Java or simply desensitized to Black Hat's behaviour, can only bring himself to say that he's glad Black Hat's been having more fun than him.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The title text implies that Black Hat had to break into a number of boathouses before he found Blitzer's, and that his boat did not survive the evening. The use of the phrase 'our night' allows us to infer that Black Hat was not alone when he broke into the boathouse ([[Danish]] would probably be his most likely partner in crime).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The title text implies that Black Hat had to break into a number of boathouses before he found Blitzer's, and that his boat did not survive the evening. The use of the phrase 'our night' allows us to infer that Black Hat was not alone when he broke into the boathouse ([[Danish]] would probably be his most likely partner in crime).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>CalibansCreations</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=330197&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>172.69.194.125: /* Explanation */ To avoid repetition/tautology</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=330197&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2023-12-05T05:19:43Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation: &lt;/span&gt; To avoid repetition/tautology&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 05:19, 5 December 2023&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l8&quot; &gt;Line 8:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 8:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{w|Java (programming language)}} is a programming language touted for its Portability™ (the ability for software to run on many different systems &amp;quot;write once, run everywhere&amp;quot;), which sometimes leads to it being used in systems where it really just shouldn't be used. [[Cueball]] laments that the hardware he's tinkering with, despite being used for a single purpose, has its firmware written in Java; since the microprocessor is unknown, it's quite possible the {{w|Java Virtual Machine}} (JVM) had to be ported over to the processor before the hardware designers could write firmware for it. Presumably, they considered this worthwhile to be able to write the control code in a language they're comfortable with, even though it probably would have been much more effective to just write the control code in whatever language they used to port the JVM in the first place, or maybe even take the effort to design an {{w|ASIC}} that can drive the peripheral instead.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{w|Java (programming language)&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;|Java&lt;/ins&gt;}} is a programming language touted for its Portability™ (the ability for software to run on many different systems &amp;quot;write once, run everywhere&amp;quot;), which sometimes leads to it being used in systems where it really just shouldn't be used. [[Cueball]] laments that the hardware he's tinkering with, despite being used for a single purpose, has its firmware written in Java; since the microprocessor is unknown, it's quite possible the {{w|Java Virtual Machine}} (JVM) had to be ported over to the processor before the hardware designers could write firmware for it. Presumably, they considered this worthwhile to be able to write the control code in a language they're comfortable with, even though it probably would have been much more effective to just write the control code in whatever language they used to port the JVM in the first place, or maybe even take the effort to design an {{w|ASIC}} that can drive the peripheral instead.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>172.69.194.125</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=330149&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>172.71.255.14: link used to lead to the indonesian island</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=330149&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2023-12-04T21:36:36Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;link used to lead to the indonesian island&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 21:36, 4 December 2023&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l8&quot; &gt;Line 8:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 8:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{w|Java}} is a programming language touted for its Portability™ (the ability for software to run on many different systems &amp;quot;write once, run everywhere&amp;quot;), which sometimes leads to it being used in systems where it really just shouldn't be used. [[Cueball]] laments that the hardware he's tinkering with, despite being used for a single purpose, has its firmware written in Java; since the microprocessor is unknown, it's quite possible the {{w|Java Virtual Machine}} (JVM) had to be ported over to the processor before the hardware designers could write firmware for it. Presumably, they considered this worthwhile to be able to write the control code in a language they're comfortable with, even though it probably would have been much more effective to just write the control code in whatever language they used to port the JVM in the first place, or maybe even take the effort to design an {{w|ASIC}} that can drive the peripheral instead.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{w|Java &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;(programming language)&lt;/ins&gt;}} is a programming language touted for its Portability™ (the ability for software to run on many different systems &amp;quot;write once, run everywhere&amp;quot;), which sometimes leads to it being used in systems where it really just shouldn't be used. [[Cueball]] laments that the hardware he's tinkering with, despite being used for a single purpose, has its firmware written in Java; since the microprocessor is unknown, it's quite possible the {{w|Java Virtual Machine}} (JVM) had to be ported over to the processor before the hardware designers could write firmware for it. Presumably, they considered this worthwhile to be able to write the control code in a language they're comfortable with, even though it probably would have been much more effective to just write the control code in whatever language they used to port the JVM in the first place, or maybe even take the effort to design an {{w|ASIC}} that can drive the peripheral instead.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>172.71.255.14</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=300720&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>172.68.146.44: /* Explanation */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=300720&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2022-12-07T14:31:06Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 14:31, 7 December 2022&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l12&quot; &gt;Line 12:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 12:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Of course, instead of a hammer and a nail, Black Hat's analogy is about using bolt-cutters and vodka to get through the lock on {{w|Wolf Blitzer}}'s boathouse. Not-so-coincidentally, Black Hat is actually holding a pair of bolt-cutters and a bottle &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;of vodka&lt;/del&gt;; the implication is that Black Hat ''did'', in fact, break into Blitzer's boathouse the previous night, which is why he has just now entered the door at the start of the strip. The changes he makes to the adage implies that he believes vodka and boltcutters are designed specifically to be used on Blitzer's boathouse, an interpretation that fits Black Hat's warped and anarchic disposition. Most normal people would react with shock at what Black Hat has (allegedly) done, but Cueball, being either extremely jaded by the (mis)use of Java or simply desensitized to Black Hat's behaviour, can only bring himself to say that he's glad Black Hat's been having more fun than him.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Of course, instead of a hammer and a nail, Black Hat's analogy is about using bolt-cutters and vodka to get through the lock on {{w|Wolf Blitzer}}'s boathouse. Not-so-coincidentally, Black Hat is actually holding a pair of bolt-cutters and a &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;mostly empty vodka &lt;/ins&gt;bottle; the implication is that Black Hat ''did'', in fact, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;drunkenly &lt;/ins&gt;break into Blitzer's boathouse the previous night, which is why he has just now entered the door at the start of the strip. The changes he makes to the adage implies that he believes vodka and boltcutters are designed specifically to be used on Blitzer's boathouse, an interpretation that fits Black Hat's warped and anarchic disposition. Most normal people would react with shock at what Black Hat has (allegedly) done, but Cueball, being either extremely jaded by the (mis)use of Java or simply desensitized to Black Hat's behaviour, can only bring himself to say that he's glad Black Hat's been having more fun than him.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The title text implies that Black Hat had to break into a number of boathouses before he found Blitzer's, and that his boat did not survive the evening. The use of the phrase 'our night' allows us to infer that Black Hat was not alone when he broke into the boathouse ([[Danish]] would probably be his most likely partner in crime).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The title text implies that Black Hat had to break into a number of boathouses before he found Blitzer's, and that his boat did not survive the evening. The use of the phrase 'our night' allows us to infer that Black Hat was not alone when he broke into the boathouse ([[Danish]] would probably be his most likely partner in crime).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>172.68.146.44</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=300715&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>172.68.66.115: /* Explanation */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=300715&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2022-12-07T13:27:10Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 13:27, 7 December 2022&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l8&quot; &gt;Line 8:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 8:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{w|Java}} is a programming language touted for its Portability™ (the ability for software to run on many different systems &amp;quot;write once, run everywhere&amp;quot;), which sometimes leads to it being used in systems where it really just shouldn't be used. [[Cueball]] laments that the hardware he's tinkering with, despite being used for a single purpose, has its firmware written in Java; since the microprocessor is unknown, it's quite possible the {{w|Java Virtual Machine}} (JVM) had to be ported over to the processor before the hardware designers could write firmware for it. Presumably, they considered this worthwhile to be able to write the control code in a language they're comfortable with, even though it probably would have been much &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;simpler &lt;/del&gt;to just write the control code in whatever language they used to port the JVM in the first place.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{w|Java}} is a programming language touted for its Portability™ (the ability for software to run on many different systems &amp;quot;write once, run everywhere&amp;quot;), which sometimes leads to it being used in systems where it really just shouldn't be used. [[Cueball]] laments that the hardware he's tinkering with, despite being used for a single purpose, has its firmware written in Java; since the microprocessor is unknown, it's quite possible the {{w|Java Virtual Machine}} (JVM) had to be ported over to the processor before the hardware designers could write firmware for it. Presumably, they considered this worthwhile to be able to write the control code in a language they're comfortable with, even though it probably would have been much &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;more effective &lt;/ins&gt;to just write the control code in whatever language they used to port the JVM in the first place&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, or maybe even take the effort to design an {{w|ASIC}} that can drive the peripheral instead&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Black Hat]] explains that this is really an example of an age-old adage: &amp;quot;When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail&amp;quot;, also referred to as the &amp;quot;{{w|law of the instrument}}&amp;quot; or, as in the title, the &amp;quot;golden hammer&amp;quot;. The hardware developers probably only knew Java, and when they thought about how to write firmware for their new device, &amp;quot;Java&amp;quot; was the only solution that occurred to them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Of course, instead of a hammer and a nail, Black Hat's analogy is about using bolt-cutters and vodka to get through the lock on {{w|Wolf Blitzer}}'s boathouse. Not-so-coincidentally, Black Hat is holding a pair of bolt-cutters and a bottle of vodka&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;. The &lt;/del&gt;implication is that Black Hat ''did'', in fact, break into Blitzer's boathouse the previous night, which is why he has just now entered the door at the start of the strip. The changes he makes to the adage implies that he believes vodka and boltcutters are designed specifically to be used on Blitzer's boathouse, an interpretation that fits Black Hat's warped and anarchic disposition. &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;As he is carrying both of these items&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;it also implies that he has just used those instruments for exactly that purpose. &lt;/del&gt;Cueball &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;however&lt;/del&gt;, being extremely jaded by the (mis)use of Java &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;(&lt;/del&gt;or &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;possibly unfazed as he knows &lt;/del&gt;Black Hat &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;well)&lt;/del&gt;, can only bring himself to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;tell &lt;/del&gt;that he's glad &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;that &lt;/del&gt;Black Hat &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;had a nice night&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Of course, instead of a hammer and a nail, Black Hat's analogy is about using bolt-cutters and vodka to get through the lock on {{w|Wolf Blitzer}}'s boathouse. Not-so-coincidentally, Black Hat is &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;actually &lt;/ins&gt;holding a pair of bolt-cutters and a bottle of vodka&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;; the &lt;/ins&gt;implication is that Black Hat ''did'', in fact, break into Blitzer's boathouse the previous night, which is why he has just now entered the door at the start of the strip. The changes he makes to the adage implies that he believes vodka and boltcutters are designed specifically to be used on Blitzer's boathouse, an interpretation that fits Black Hat's warped and anarchic disposition. &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Most normal people would react with shock at what Black Hat has (allegedly) done&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;but &lt;/ins&gt;Cueball, being &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;either &lt;/ins&gt;extremely jaded by the (mis)use of Java or &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;simply desensitized to &lt;/ins&gt;Black Hat&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;'s behaviour&lt;/ins&gt;, can only bring himself to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;say &lt;/ins&gt;that he's glad Black Hat&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;'s been having more fun than him&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The title text implies that Black Hat had to break into a number of boathouses before he found Blitzer's, and that his boat did not survive the evening. &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt; &lt;/del&gt;The use of the phrase 'our night' allows us to infer that Black Hat &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;may have been with &lt;/del&gt;[[Danish]]&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, &lt;/del&gt;his partner in crime.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The title text implies that Black Hat had to break into a number of boathouses before he found Blitzer's, and that his boat did not survive the evening. The use of the phrase 'our night' allows us to infer that Black Hat &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;was not alone when he broke into the boathouse (&lt;/ins&gt;[[Danish]] &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;would probably be &lt;/ins&gt;his &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;most likely &lt;/ins&gt;partner in crime&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;)&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Transcript==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Transcript==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>172.68.66.115</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=283650&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Theusaf: Reverted edits by Donald Trump (talk) to last revision by CRLF</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=283650&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2022-05-26T20:00:15Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Reverted edits by &lt;a href=&quot;/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Donald_Trump&quot; title=&quot;Special:Contributions/Donald Trump&quot;&gt;Donald Trump&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href=&quot;/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Donald_Trump&amp;amp;action=edit&amp;amp;redlink=1&quot; class=&quot;new&quot; title=&quot;User talk:Donald Trump (page does not exist)&quot;&gt;talk&lt;/a&gt;) to last revision by &lt;a href=&quot;/wiki/index.php/User:CRLF&quot; title=&quot;User:CRLF&quot;&gt;CRLF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;amp;diff=283650&amp;amp;oldid=281709&quot;&gt;Show changes&lt;/a&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Theusaf</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=281709&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Donald Trump: Reverted edit by anti-crap user</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=281709&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2022-05-26T19:02:58Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Reverted edit by anti-crap user&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;amp;diff=281709&amp;amp;oldid=280546&quot;&gt;Show changes&lt;/a&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Donald Trump</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=280546&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=280546&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2022-05-26T18:02:41Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Reverted vandalism with &lt;a href=&quot;/wiki/index.php/User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js&quot; title=&quot;User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js&quot;&gt;User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;amp;diff=280546&amp;amp;oldid=277841&quot;&gt;Show changes&lt;/a&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>CRLF</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=277841&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Donald Trump: Reverted edit by anti-crap user</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;diff=277841&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2022-05-26T17:05:07Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Reverted edit by anti-crap user&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=801:_Golden_Hammer&amp;amp;diff=277841&amp;amp;oldid=276124&quot;&gt;Show changes&lt;/a&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Donald Trump</name></author>	</entry>

	</feed>