Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 December 5

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

December 5

Answers.com

Hello. Why does Internet Explorer display "false" when I go to answers.com? How can I fix that? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 03:39, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

What, exactly, displays "false" when you go to that site? Dismas|^(talk) 03:46, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

A white webpage with false in Times New Roman at the upper left corner --Mayfare (talk) 04:07, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm guessing that you are a using are old browser ( Chrome 9 didn't play up), so go to Firefox, a newer IE version or Chrome. General Rommel (talk) 10:13, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Very messy, ambiguous naming

Hi, I cant seem to find out the name of my HTC smartphone. the network sold it as a HTC Snap (no further qualification). another network in the same country (canada) sells an identical phone as HTC Maple (no further qualification) and a third network sells a clearly different HTC Snap, so i think the one i bought it from are calling the Maple a Snap. the back of the phone under the battery also says MAPL100 which i beleive is a model number indicating which HTC Maple it is, not Snap! when i plug it in the computer, i get the name HTC Maple S520

googleing all those names just made me more confused because there is a host of other names american and european networks have tacked onto this device. so how the hell do i figure it out... can i find it from looking up the IMEI number?

current candidates i beleive it might be are HTC Maple 100, HTC Maple S520 or HTC Snap S520.

why does HTC make so many very similar but different devices anyway? and why do networks like to call them by their own stupid names?

Roberto75780 (talk) 05:12, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

The HTC Maple (code name), HTC Snap (release name), HTC S520, HTC S521, HTC S522, HTC S523 AND the T-Mobile Dash 3G are all exactly the same phone. The only differences will be any customisations the operators make (this might be a physical change to the colour of casing/logos or software branding/applications), hardware wise they're identical. As for why they all call them by their own names... this I can't really answer I'm afraid. All HTC Devices have a codename whilst it's in development and a different name for actual release (often the code name still shows up in the software of the phone), but this isn't new and has been standard practice for as long as I can remember.  ZX81  ^talk 05:45, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

okay, so maple would be like Longhorn is to Windows Vista, and the other names are just netwok assigned nicknames?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Roberto75780 (talk • contribs) 22:19, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Apostrophes in Inkscape

Hi. In, say, Microsoft Word and Photoshop, apostrophes and quotation marks are automatically converted into the appropriate ‘ “ ” ’ direction, from ' and "
Does anyone know if there's any way one can achieve this in other programmes such as Notepad and/or Inkscape without just copy-pasting the correct glyph in? Thanks! ╟─TreasuryTag►Regent─╢ 09:24, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Universal ways that can work in all applications, no. But you can paste these “smart quotes“ quickly from the Character Map. Or you can write your documents in "straight quotes" then post-process the documents with some kind of script. 118.96.165.219 (talk) 14:00, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

One of my least favorite aspects about Inkscape — and one of the reasons that as a part-time designer I can't quite call it a professional application — is that is has exceptionally underdeveloped text support. (Bug reports filed on this and many other related usability issues usually get put under low priority, in preference to very odd and specific technical things that the programmers think a designer should care about.) Anyway, the only way to do this in Inkscape that I know of is either pasting in the glyphs or memorizing how they can be entered in manually with your operating system. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:01, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Or you can use a "keyboard remapper" or "keyboard macro" application to program two least used keys (or key combinations) to enter the quotes. 118.96.165.219 (talk) 16:26, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

I would not recommend copying and pasting from Word or other Office products because you may end up with something like this: "This isn?t right!". Use the character map and make sure that the encoding is set correctly (as a general rule, use UTF-8 everywhere unless there's good reason to use something else). As for Notepad, you may want to use WordPad instead (it's "smarter" in many areas, including encoding). --NYKevin @213, i.e. 04:07, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Term for an easy computer to hack

What term do hackers use to refer to an easy target? 169.231.15.25 (talk) 09:58, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

A honeypot? 118.96.165.219 (talk) 14:00, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

A honeypot is something else entirely. --Mr.98 (talk) 18:05, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Vulnerable, exploitable 82.44.55.25 (talk) 15:19, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Windows, Apple. ¦ Reisio (talk) 15:42, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Simply hilarious. Thanks for that. — Waterfox ^~talk~ 18:28, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

I would say a vulnerable target. — Waterfox ^~talk~ 18:28, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

It is rare that hackers hack anymore. The "easy target" is called a "user". Just promise something like an image of boobs and the user will install anything you ask. -- kainaw™ 17:43, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Does that mean female computer users never install viruses? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.134.16.73 (talk) 17:50, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

No, for female users, you promise software that will help them _show_ boobs. ¦ Reisio (talk) 07:36, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Kainaw's brusque post was meant to illustrate the importance of social engineering in surreptitiously deploying malware. Different methods of social-engineering are effective against different kinds of targets. See also, scareware, ransomware, "moralityware", and so on. I think it's a fair and accurate statement to say that at present, the overwhelming majority of trojan software uses pornography as the bait; in second place is malware that uses promises to aid or provide access to pirated music or videos as bait. Nimur (talk) 19:16, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Scope of CSE subjects in the present world

Pls tell me the scope of each branches(networking, programming etc.) under computer science engineering? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.207.162.21 (talk) 10:22, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Vast. --Sean 18:26, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Consider reading out outline of computer science and the articles linked from there. Nimur (talk) 19:17, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Excel graph... help?!

I'm struggling with one of my graphs. I'll post an image below so you know what I'm talking about.

Picture

I have two data series, one called 'prior to addition' of a substance and one after. I am trying to link this to my X-axis which is time in minutes (in decimal form i.e. 1, 1.16, 1.32 etc). The prior to addition should start at time zero and the after should start at time=1 on the X-axis.

When I add these data series to my graph and select the time frame as my horizontal axis, for some reason, both start from time=0. This is very frustrating as I need the two lines separate on the graph.

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong here? Thanks! Regards, --—Cyclonenim | Chat  14:07, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

If I understand correctly, you have graphed the column headed "Serum A absorba" in two data series. The first series covers the timeperiod 0-1 (ie. Excel cells C4:C10), and is coloured blue. The second series covers the remaining time intervals, 1-4.16 minutes (ie. Excel cells C10:C29), and is coloured red. Unfortunately, while it seems obvious to us that they are time series and therefore one should follow the other, Excel doesn't know that the two data series should start from different places. The x-axis labels are just that... labels only and Excel make no assumption that they are anything to do with time.

An easy solution is to create empty cells in both data series to represent the full time range. Copy the results to another column, relabel the original column as "Prior to addition" and label the copied column as "After addition". Blank out the parts of each column which does not apply to the situation and then graph both complete columns against the time labels. See this image for an example of what I mean). Astronaut (talk) 00:55, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

You, sir, are a life saver! Thank you. 146.87.0.73 (talk) 11:09, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

An alternative would be to try a Scatter Chart as the type of graph being used.--86.133.83.252 (talk) 15:40, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Why isnt the browser the boss?

When a browser connects with a website, as far as I am aware the browser sends the website some information about what software etc is installed on the user's computer (eg Java, Flash etc). The website then picks and chooses what content to provide the browser with.

Why isnt this done the other way around - the website sends the browser details of what the website can provide, and then the browser picks and chooses what it will take.

Wouldnt doing it this way provide greater privacy for the user? Thanks 92.15.1.139 (talk) 14:53, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

CTRL+SHIFT+P ¦ Reisio (talk) 15:45, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

I think websites still use your plugins in privacy mode, so that won't make a difference for this question.

Web pages contain tags (<embed> and <object>) which mark where the flash, java, images (with <img>) should go. The browser makes the choice of whether to fetch the flash content. Normally it does so automatically, although installing an extension like Flashblock or NoScript to Firefox will make it ask you first.

If flash isn't installed, the web page may provide an alternative version, eg: a text description. Web sites which follow the WAI guidelines will do this, but most don't provide a fallback.

I've noticed that Internet Explorer sends extra information about what's installed (eg: the Windows Media Center version). This is included in a HTTP header. But if you're worried about privacy, you won't be using that anyway. --h2g2bob (talk) 17:15, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Browsers send information about themselves for convenience -- there's no point in a website sending information that the browser can't handle. Regarding the website sending the browser details of what the website can provide, that's actually what often happens, except that the information is used by the user rather than the browser itself -- it's what happens when you are on a navigation page. As the previous answer says, though, there are instances where the browser makes the decision -- for example, if you have images disable in your browser, it will choose to display a text description rather than download images. Looie496 (talk) 17:42, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

It's worth asking whether things like whether you have Java, Flash, etc. really impinge on a notion of "privacy." How does a website knowing whether you have Flash installed or not affect your privacy? It is not personally identifiable information. The only personally identifiable information sent is generally an IP address, which is required if the site in question is going to know how to "reply" to the browser's request for information (it is the return address, to use a physical metaphor). --Mr.98 (talk) 18:00, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Actually, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the amount of information a browser sends about itself, in totality, is normally enough to uniquely identify an individual installation, and thus the user (but not by name). The EFF have a test site at https://panopticlick.eff.org/. CS Miller (talk) 18:31, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes but that much information is generally sent in the form of the IP anyway. If you are concerned enough to hide your IP (e.g. via tor) presumably you are concerned enough to use a privacy mode or something similar, no? --Mr.98 (talk) 19:23, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Using privacy mode does not stop the above working; and I like to record my history. 92.15.31.223 (talk) 19:28, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Even if you don't feel the need to use TOR, panoptclick shows a browser can be tracked through open wifi points, forcing a DHCP IP number change, etc. CS Miller (talk) 19:34, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

A functionally correct answer might also be that the internet, the web, and HTTP, etc. were not designed with privacy in mind. (Or security, or spam, or a million other things that plague us.) --Mr.98 (talk) 19:25, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

The browser is the boss: every single piece of content that is downloaded is the result of a browser-initiated HTTP GET. It is not possible for a server to send content that the browser did not ask for. Whether the user is in control of the browser is a whole other story: how technically proficient is the user? Does the user understand the details of using client-side scripts, browser-plugins, and other web features? (These delegate decision-making about transactions and server-requests to scripts and programs that are not typically under the direct control of the user). If the user wants to guarantee that there is no web-traffic that is not the direct consequence of a user-action, then they must disable client-side scriping (JavaScript, usually), and disable all browser plugins (Adobe Flash, Java, and so forth). They should also consider disabling any browser-enhancing add-ons; turn off any automatic content requests (like RSS feed readers); and really, consider using a different environment (such as wget, lynx, or operating a tightly-controlled proxy-server to control all HTTP transactions. WGET will never talk to a server, or receive content from it, unless the user specifically asks for it; once a page is downloaded, a user could render it with a standard browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox that is configured to work "offline" (with no network connection). Nimur (talk) 19:23, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

As I understand it, that's sort of misleading. Every transaction starts with a request from the client, true, but after that in principle the server can send any sort of stream of data to the browser that it wants to. Looie496 (talk) 00:54, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

The server may send exactly one stream of arbitrary data of arbitrary length in response to one HTTP GET request. If your browser chooses to interpret that stream (for example, by processing an HTML <image> or <embed> tag), the browser makes another HTTP GET request for each image/link it chooses to load. If the server sends HTML that offers a JavaScript script, the browser may also choose to execute that script (and the script may initiate additional server-transactions). Similarly, if the server sends binary data for a plugin, the plugin may make have the option to execute further transactions (or run arbitrary code, depending on the plugin). But if you use wget, and do not specify to download links, there will be exactly one server-to-client transaction. In any case, the server can not send data unless the client opens a socket first (typically by performing an HTTP GET request; but also by running JavaScript or binary plugin code that opens a socket). Again, the confusion comes because the OP asked if the browser or the server is in control of the transaction: in fact, it's always the browser; even if the user may not be directly controlling the browser's actions. Nimur (talk) 02:14, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

how do I start a billion-dollar company with an unemployed bay area programmer?

Hi,

I would like to start a billion-dollar company with an unemployed but engenius bay area programmer. My idea is that perhaps I could find one who has no real personal project portfolio (just stuff he worked on for companies, nothing tied closely to his name), then he would do the work as long as he is convinced that it will look good on his portfolio and land him a really golden job when he's done*. I don't expect him, or anyone, to agree with me that it is a bilion-dollar idea. In fact, I expect people to disagree with me even when the market valuates the resulting company at a billion dollars -- I expect them to say the market is being delusional. So be it. My question is how I get the cooperation in the first place. I've had a programmer say "yes, yes!" and then completely disappear out of contact. I'm based in Europe, so how do I do what I'm trying to do? I am looking for someone really engenius who would be highly motivated by equity, not someone I can just rent for anywhere between 8 and 80 dollars per hour, depending on what I'm looking for. Again, the idea is that the person is out of work and doesn't happen to have a great project portfolio, sees that putting the work into the project in question (even if it is worthless), because it is interesting and will be highly visible, is by far the best investment he can make of his time for the next couple of weeks (because of his name in it), he will not have direct costs on the project (he will just be sitting at his computer at home, doing this instead of surfing reddit and slashdot), and, due to being out of work, very low opportunity cost. Can I do it? How? Thank you very much for any help you have on this question! 82.98.48.252 (talk) 20:35, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

'* little will he realize at that point that he will not want to work as a for-hire programmer when he's finished, since he will be worth so much he won't have to! He will realize this later, of course... 82.98.48.252 (talk) 20:41, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

You need to think big if you're going to succeed. Aim at starting a zillion dollar business.--Aspro (talk) 21:05, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Why not just pay him/her some money, and impress them by spelling ingenious correctly. 92.15.8.71 (talk) 22:50, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Searching for an ingenuous programmer makes more sense here. Trustinchaos (talk) 23:39, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Please check out this related discussion. 84.93.178.188 (talk) 23:18, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

If you're so certain you can make a fortune, why not pay the guy? Take out a loan. Mortgage your house, heck even get an advance on your credit card!

Sure, taking on debt to start a business is a risk, but so what? Asking the programmer to take a risk that you're not willing to take yourself will not inspire confidence or attract volunteers! APL (talk) 00:58, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Indeed it's not entirely certain what the OP is providing the programmer out of this deal Nil Einne (talk) 05:02, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Something else programmers like is recognition. So put his name right on top of the credits, maybe even make him VP of the company. StuRat (talk) 04:03, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Unemployment among programmers, especially good programmers, is not very high. The same absurd profitability of the software business that makes get-rich-in-a-couple-weeks ideas like the above seem plausible (even though it doesn't really work like that) is the reason that many software companies are perpetually interviewing people. Paul (Stansifer) 15:28, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

This post ("I Just Need a Programmer" by CS professor Eugene Wallingford is both timely and apt. Apt! -- 16:06, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Avoid saying anything like "Here's $50. Now program something that will make me billions". You have to have a good idea of what you want. Why not study computing and write it yourself? 92.29.120.120 (talk) 18:40, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Do you understand how much a qualified programmer can earn in the Bay Area? More than most doctors and lawyers' starting salaries. You will really have to entice a qualified programmer to give up their career prospects by offering them a little bit more than "an idea that might be worth billions." If you're seeking an unqualified programmer, you might want to re-think your business idea. Nimur (talk) 19:31, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Though, I would note, if you're just trying to get something together that will look like it can work, you need not necessarily have a genius programmer. Facebook in its full form needs some very bright people involved to take care of the strains that come with scaling up to crazy degrees, but Facebook in its first incarnation really did not need more than a couple fairly competent programmers. Depending on the software in question, that may or may not be an option (obviously if your software involves doing something brilliant — like having exceptionally clever visual analysis algorithms — you can't do a "dumb" version). But anyway, I agree with the general sentiment that if the OP is confident that the idea is worth a billion dollars, he or she should be able to find a way to just pay the damn programmer. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:43, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

op here. geez' you guys want me to be a capitalist exploiter so bad!

My skills are as a manager. What you guys want me to do, is use the fact that I was born into better means than the Californian programmer, learned French starting at a young age, live in Paris, and so on, in short, the things that allowed me to come by some not insubstantial amount of capital, and use it to buy the product of the programmer. See, the programmer produces something, under my direction, that will be worth considerable money. We both provide labor: I, the management labor (did Napolean personally conquer North Africa), he the programming labor. The end result is worth whatever it is worth. Let's say it is worth 0.05% of what I think it will be worth. That's $500,000. You want me to be a capitalist exploiter, and take nearly all of the $500,000 produced by our joint labor, giving the poor programmer only $50,000 for his 1000 hours of time, keeping $450,000 for my time, however little it may have been? Do you think that's really fair??? I'm trying to see your point of view here, but since I don't believe in capitalist exploitation, I really can't. This is why I would like an equity-based solution, where I can contribute my management skills and the programmer can contribute his coding skills on a percentage-of-the-project basis. Is it really that hard to see? Do you really just want me to exploit someone? 82.234.207.120 (talk) 22:12, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

If you are looking for a single programer that programer is not looking for a manager. You don't need, or even want, a manager in a two man team. The "capitalist exploiter" usually provides venture capital. Taemyr (talk) 22:25, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

India is well-known by their outsourcing oriented IT industry. And believe me, if you pay these guys $1,000/month they won't be feeling exploited. I don't know that living in Paris and speaking French has to do in this discussion. Mr.K. (talk) 23:26, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

You can create a privately-held company and offer a compensation package, in the form of stock, equity, or so forth. It doesn't really matter, though. You're trying to undercut the market-value of a quality programmer by under-compensating him/her. Programmers can receive stock (equity in the company) at any small, medium, or large enterprise, on top of a salary. Nimur (talk) 00:38, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Let me also suggest, as someone who does not have a lot of money at the moment, that belief in the future success of a company does not pay the bills of today. Your scheme is actually very exploitive — you're asking for labor which is unpaid except on the condition that the company is a success, and there can be plenty of reasons that it might not be a success even if the idea is indeed a good one. You could, for example, be hit by a bus when 75% of the work is done, and then what would the poor programmer be able to do without your management skills there to guide him? --Mr.98 (talk) 01:01, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, It is very exploitative to say "Make me rich, and if and when it works I'll give you part of it." (You might as well ask the programmer to buy you lotto tickets.)

If you want to be non-exploitative about it, start a company and give the guy salary and stock. You may very well be able to find people who will take a somewhat below-market salary in exchange for stock, but you will have a very difficult time finding someone who will wager their entire salary. APL (talk) 02:04, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Indeed it's not clear whether the OP planned to give the programmer equal shares, which is seemed deserved at a minimum (given that it's still not really clear what the OP brings to the table some would question whether the OP really deserves equal shares) in this partnership. Even if the OP planned to give equal shares the OP doesn't seem to appreciate that because of their advantages, they can perhaps afford to take a risk on this project since it sounds like even if it goes south, they'll still have something or someone who they can turn to support them. Many people don't really have this luxury, quite a few won't even be able to survive that well during the time you're taking the risk and so you can't expect them to be willing to take the same risks and indeed it's likely to be offensive if you act like you are on equal footing. (Some people even have dependents and others they support so it's not even just themselves that will be in major strife.) Nil Einne (talk) 16:42, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

This letter is relevant. (Not safe for some workplaces due to occasional vulgar language and one illustration.) "If the deal goes ahead there will be some good money in it for you." Comet Tuttle (talk) 01:37, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

No, we want you to have a realistic understanding of what you bring to the table. Most programmers already have a number of ideas that they believe "could" become the Next Big Thing. If a programmer has a couple of months off to work on a project, why would they buy an idea from you? So they will place next to no value on your idea.

Next you bring "managment" to the table. That's great, but it's not really applicable in the early stages of this sort of endeavor. The programmer could hire managers if and when they become necessary. "Management" is no less a commodity than "Programming".

(Many programmers have started The Next Big Website on their own without a manager, how many managers have done so without a programmer?)

To recap: To start a zillion dollar, Next Big Thing, website you will need a programmer most, a graphic artist second, a marketing expert third, a manager/businessman fourth, and an "Idea Person" least of all. (And of course, a lot of luck.) APL (talk) 02:04, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

(P.S. If I was a soldier for Napoleon, I would expect to get paid regardless of whether or not Napoleon conquered the known world.) APL (talk) 02:06, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Java Out of Memory Error

How can I have Java use more memory for handling large ArrayLists of ArrayLists so that it doesn't give me an Out of Memory Error? --70.134.49.69 (talk) 21:08, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

If you're using the Sun/Oracle Java runtime, the -Xmx option lets you set the maximum heap size. This is a nonstandard option, so other Java runtimes may use different options. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 23:26, 5 December 2010 (UTC)