Comics I Don’t Understand

#

Cidu Bill on Jun 21st 2010

Filed in 5th Wave, Bill Bickel, CIDU, Rich Tennant, comic strips, comics, humor | 30 responses so far

30 Responses to “#”

Kit Jun 21st 2010 at 12:07 am 1

It’s a pun on programming in C sharp. It won’t run on a server in another key, e.g. B flat. There has been a progression of programming languages called “C’, C+, C++, C+++, now C# /shrug
Marshal Jun 21st 2010 at 12:14 am 2

Kit has it.

I believe C# is a variation of C used to program .net applications.
George Jun 21st 2010 at 12:24 am 3

C# (C Sharp) is a programming language started by Microsoft in an attempt to dominate C programming through their “embrace and extend” philosophy.

The obvious joke is that C Sharp won’t run on a server of a different key.

On another level, it’s funny because it’s rare to see C# on anything other than a Microsoft server. It doesn’t work on Linux or MacOS unless it is paired with Mono, another Microsoft environment attempting to spread their .Net framework.
Eric Jun 21st 2010 at 01:04 am 4

This might be vaguely funny if there was a type of server with a name remotely like a musical key — let alone a Bb. As it is — fail. Not epic. Just fail.
furrykef Jun 21st 2010 at 01:22 am 5

Kit — there aren’t C+ and C+++ languages, just C, C++, and C#. There might be obscure languages with those names but if you bring up C+ or C+++, most programmers will have no idea what you’re talking about and think you mean C++.
Kit Jun 21st 2010 at 02:55 am 6

@furrykef - So I get a D- in programming knowledge?
Detcord Jun 21st 2010 at 03:54 am 7

This “joke” seems to be aimed at a certain cognoscenti which, if I understand Eric (4) correctly, is only half relevant for it’s intended (narrow) audience. I had a much better chuckle reading furrykef’s comment and Kit’s reply.
chuckers Jun 21st 2010 at 05:13 am 8

There is (was) a programming language called B (predecessor of C, naturally) and now a scripting language called D-script.

Back to the comic.

This can be see as a sys admin trying to get out of helping the mundanes.

“The laser printer isn’t working due to sun spots. You’ll have to wait until the electromagnetic interference goes away. Or you put your own d*mn paper in it!”
Ana Jun 21st 2010 at 06:26 am 9

People here are assuming others are familiar with both music notation and the alphabet-letter way of doing it*.

C# is the name of an object-oriented programming language, like others have ponted out.

Bb (read B-flat) is a musical note. Musical notes range from A to G, and can have modifiers like ‘#’ (’sharp’, or ’sustenido’ in portuguese) and ‘b’ (’flat’, or ‘bemol’), which respectively raise or lower the sound one half-tone. C#, in music notation, is actually a musical note.

This is a pun intended at people understand both music notation and programming. If you are not familiar with one of them it’s only natural you won’t find it funny (it’s the “don’t explain the joke” effect in action), but that does not make it a bad joke. It is a pretty good one for its intended audience.

*For those who are familiar with the biblical notation form used at least in many southern Europe countries, here is a translation:
C - Dó, D - Ré, E - Mi, F - Fá, G - Sol, A - Lá, B - Si.
Oliver Jun 21st 2010 at 07:03 am 10

It relies on you knowing C# (C Sharp) is a programming language, and the premise is silly.

The origins of the name of C# is a bit complicated.

There’s a very popular programming language called C, which the successor to an obscure language called B, which was a simplified version of BCPL. A later popular language which built on C was called C++, which is a pun, since “C++” means “add one to C” in C. C# is designed to be a successor to C++, hence C++++, which is transformed to C#. Curiously, in folklore C++++ was the original name for Java, which C# shares a lot in common with.
Catlover Jun 21st 2010 at 07:04 am 11

Chuckers - I think if he was really trying to get out of work, he would claim that you can’t run C# apps on a D-flat server. You know it is D-flat because it is droopling (running Drupal?).
Powers Jun 21st 2010 at 07:26 am 12

Catlover, but C# and D-flat are the same note, at least when using equal-temperament tunings. =)
Ellen C. Jun 21st 2010 at 07:51 am 13

Powers (#12) — I thought that was the joke… C-sharp and D-flat are the same note, at least to my admittedly limited knowledge of music. When something goes wrong with the software, it is blamed on an “upgrade” of an operating system that really wasn’t an upgrade at all — just a change in names. Now that I know that C# is an actual programming language, the joke is a little funnier.
Tristara Jun 21st 2010 at 08:19 am 14

While not as funny, I think non-tech types would still get it, on the same level as the meme running around “What if Microsoft made toasters……. you’d have to buy buy only from one place and it would crash on every 6th slice” etc.

http://www.avdf.com/aug96/hum_toaster.html
Morris Keesan Jun 21st 2010 at 08:20 am 15

When Bjarne Stroustrup invented C++, I was not the only one to observe publicly that he should have named it “P”.
Around the same time, there was a rumor circulating to the effect that there was going to be an object-oriented version of COBOL, and that it would be called “ADD ONE TO COBOL”.
GP Jun 21st 2010 at 08:43 am 16

As a programmer, I found the comic mildly amusing. But Morris Keesan’s comment made me lol.
Bill Jun 21st 2010 at 09:49 am 17

Reminds me of the ancient musical street crossing joke… If you don’t C-Sharp, you’ll B-Flat…
Jeff Jun 21st 2010 at 10:04 am 18

I am a computer programmer who uses the C# programming language on a daily basis; I got the “joke”, but it wasn’t funny.
James Schend Jun 21st 2010 at 10:31 am 19

George: did you get bored of Slashdot and decide to come here?

Oliver: C# isn’t actually a successor to C++, that honor goes to D. D, however, is extraordinarily unpopular. Apple uses Objective-C, which is basically C++ but without all the confusing crap nobody ever uses anyway.

C#’s just named that because its syntax is borrowed from C, and it’s a clever name. It’s actually closer to Java than anything. (Java also borrows heavily from C/C++.)

Then again, most modern languages borrow at least some of their syntax from C– JavaScript/ECMAScript could probably have been named CScript, for example.
Kevin A Jun 21st 2010 at 10:55 am 20

See, “++” in C and Java increments a variable. If a=1, and you write a++, then a becomes 2.

So, “C++” was an indication that it was greater than C (substantially greater in capability and ability to go very wrong).

Now, as said, Java also uses C syntax, and improved greatly on C++ in some ways.

So, C# was more the next step from Java, and so a large leap from C++, a sort of (C++)++. Do a little rearrangement of the two “++” operators and, voila!, geek cartoon fodder.
Morris Keesan Jun 21st 2010 at 11:24 am 21

Kevin A #20:
Of course, if you know too much about C, or if you look too closely at the metaphor, it all starts to fall apart,
because the value of the expression “C++” is exactly the same as the value of the expression “C”.
It’s just that “C” is greater after you evaluate it.

And (C++)++ is not a valid expression, because (C++) is not an lvalue.

Further discussion at this level of neepery should probably move to comp.lang.c .
Kevin A Jun 21st 2010 at 11:48 am 22

Morris Keesan - Nicely done.
I’m thankful for the 6 years I could hold the image. I’ll mourn, but I’ll know I’m better off. (I’d never written it down like that before.)

(I’m used to using ++a to save the extra register instructions. So while I knew, I forgot. If I get old and start calling the language “sharpsie”, I may refer the puzzled to you.)
Winter Wallaby Jun 21st 2010 at 12:31 pm 23

I’m used to using ++a to save the extra register instructions.

Assuming this is a standalone expression, your compiler should optimize that out.
Dyfsunctional Jun 21st 2010 at 01:59 pm 24

FWIW, C sharp and D flat are not the same note; they’re termed “enharmonic equivalents” of each other. In equal temperament (the modern, Western system) they sound at the same frequency, and are indistinguishable from one another in terms of their sound. From the musician’s perspective, however, they serve different purposes depending on the key signature, the chord, and the prevailing melodic/harmonic motion. Sometimes the choice of note name is arbitrary (indeed, often the correct name, or “spelling,” is eschewed for the less confusing alternative), but most of the time a C sharp is a C sharp and a D flat is a D flat.
John Bledsoe Jun 21st 2010 at 06:50 pm 25

Very LOL for me! Obviously C# (C Sharp) is a computer language, but the joke is that they’re trying to use it on a B Flat (Be Flat) server. Got the joke instantly.

BTW - I haven’t seen a new Fifth Wave comic for a few weeks now. Anyone know why? Something happen to Rich Tennant or did he just decide to quit publishing the comic?
Kevin A Jun 21st 2010 at 08:10 pm 26

While programmers are often dressed casually, I’m amused that the speaker, the guy on the left, has a musician kind of look. (If the beard doesn’t do it, note that he’s wearing sunglasses.)

Also, I’m fairly sure that’s the bank of computers his right hand is on ( photo of a similar looking server: http://o6z.com/dedicated/ )

(At first I thought the speaker/techie was the hunched over guy looking at the computer screen, since that’s a common portrayal.)

WW: Maybe so, but I ain’t trustin’ no opteemizer to fix what I shouldn’t-a been doin’ in the first place.
Mark in Boston Jun 22nd 2010 at 12:23 am 27

These cartoons appear in the “for Dummies” books. Was this from “C# for Dummies”?
Powers Jun 22nd 2010 at 06:30 am 28

Dysfunctional @24 - Yes, I thought I allowed for that caveat while not going into excessive detail. But I guess it doesn’t matter what I do; either I leave out a critical caveat and get corrected by someone even more pedantic than I, or I’m forced into overly long phrases in a futile attempt at precision.
Morris Keesan Jun 22nd 2010 at 01:08 pm 29

Dyfsunctional #24 (just noticed the spelling of your handle, by the way), those of us who play non-fixed-pitch instruments (e.g. woodwinds, brass, strings, almost anything that’s not a keyboard or percussion instrument) are often very aware [but not very conscious] of the harmonic/melodic function of a given note, and will tend to shade/bend a note up or down slightly without changing the actual fingering (e.g. the third of a major triad is properly played very slightly lower than its well-tempered equivalent).

But this only applies in tonal music. In pure 12-tone atonal music, C# and Db really are the same note.
+++++++++++++++++++
Kevin A (#26), the guy certainly looks like a programmer to me. And I also write ++i in preference to i++ when I’m not using the value of the expression, but this is a habit I developed when I was using a compiler that would actually generate an extra instruction or two to save the previous value of i, even when it wasn’t being used. Any modern compiler will generate exactly the same code for the two operations, even without an optimization step.
John Small Berries Jun 24th 2010 at 04:12 pm 30

“It doesn’t work on Linux or MacOS unless it is paired with Mono, another Microsoft environment attempting to spread their .Net framework.”

Actually, Mono is an open-source project, sponsored by Novell, which attempts to provide platform-independence from the Microsoft stranglehold by letting .NET applications run on other operating systems without recompiling them. But close enough.