314

Html
Posted on November 18, 2014 by David M Willis

314 thoughts on “Html”

  1. Jen Aside

    program a whole game, still not impressed

    1. thebombzen

      That’s actually much more impressive. Programming a game in a single programming language is easy; using a web browser to do low-level communications with a printer, without using the browser’s built-in print function, is extremely difficult.

      1. rhelmot

        Web developer here with the need to be a giant buzzkill: That’s literally not possible.

        You could fake it with a couple of tricks though, like printing it on a time delay and being really good at timing things, or just hacking the printer to run a web server to trigger a print job.

        1. Jake

          Not hacking the printer. Hack the print server. Spin up your own server somewhere to receive an AJAX hit from the webpage, and then fire off a print job on the hacked print server. For bonus points, clear the queue of any current jobs to prioritize your grandstanding.

        2. Kelly

          I am pretty sure that running a print job from the web server is about the only way to do this on modern setups, unless Amber knows some unpatched privilege escalation bugs.

          And even that is only if the classroom printer is accessible from whatever network the server is on.

        3. Andrusi

          It would require some lucky coincidences, but it’s not implausible. Actually I think it would have been doable in the College of Engineering at UNCC a few years ago, back when we had our own public_html folders separate from ITS’s.

        4. WaytoomanyUIDs

          I recall reading an article a couple of years back about how most Postscript printers have patched privilege escalation bugs that allow you to execute random code on them. Dunno if the situation has changed.

        5. WaytoomanyUIDs

          oops, meant unpatched

        6. Lord Geovanni

          ^^ like your gravatar who is it supposed to be

        7. TPman

          That is the Cookie Monster. From Gunnerkrigg Court. She has an actual name but I can’t remember it.

        8. Kyle

          That’s actually how I solved this problem in production at a small company which moved all of their internal operations to a company intranet. Make an AJAX call to the correct server, specifying what to print and what printer to use, spit out a label or a document anywhere in the company.

          If she was prepared, it could actually get a little scarier than that. University networks are notoriously insecure (at least, they were back when I was in school) so it shouldn’t be too hard to stand up a server somewhere that has access to every printer in the university. Map these printer IPs to latitude/longitude pairs then request geolocation data from the browser when making the request, to create a service that will print to the printer physically closest to the user making the request. That’s a few hours work, but it’d be supremely handy for a CS student of surprising mobility who prepares for every conceivable scenario. It’s not an unreasonable task for Amazi-Girl to have accomplished in the background.

        9. Alan Hardman

          Two words: Java Applet. Of course that would never work on a mobile device and these days the security warnings would prevent it from ever printing, but 10 years ago, that’d do it.

        10. tinfoil theory

          <?!DOCTYPE html>
          <html><head>O’Malley’s Assignement</title></head>
          <body><p align=”center”>
          <form><input type=”button” value=”Print this page” onClick=”window.print()”></form>
          <button value=”javascript:window.print();”/>
          </p></body></html>

        11. Kelly

          As mentioned below, window.print() only opens a print dialog, while this clearly started printing immediately with no further input.

        12. slicedtoad

          @kelly
          What? we can’t see her phone’s screen, how do you know she didn’t submit the print dialog?

        13. tinfoil theory

          On second thought, it should probably print out the source rather than the page.

        14. Hoodiecrow

          You can do it, but you need to use AML* instead of HTML/Javascript. There has to be server support and sufficient privileges, of course, but luckily every server supports AML and AML code always has the right privileges.

          *) Amazi-Markup Language

        15. Les

          You young whippersnappers with your HTML & AML… back when I was in grad school I was running SAS & SPSS on punch cards with a dot matrix printer. So given how much IT technology has improved in the last 30 years I could totally buy her being able to pull something like this off.

        16. Oberon

          Try an Altos with an 8088 CPU running SCO Zenix on 4MB of RAM. Also with a dot-matrix printer. Printing using ed…

          Uphill in the snow, both ways. And we liked it!

        17. Kryss LaBryn

          My first computer was a Tandy Laser XT with an 8086 CPU. And we had a monochrome monitor because Mum refused to pay an extra three hundred bucks just for a colour one.

          Didn’t even have an internal hard drive. Booted up from two 4 1/2″ floppies. Took half an hour.

          I still have some dot matrix printer paper somewhere around here, with the holes up the sides…

        18. atd_

          I’m thinking, maybe it could be done with CUPS. You know it exposes a web server on localhost:631, right? If it had the appropriate CORS headers…

        19. Dibullba

          I would not say it is impossible though I am not exactly adept when it comes to scripting. However, I assume if an execution command to print is attached to a quicklink (or is it hyperlink been a long time) that follows a set of commands to bypass moderator privileges and place the appropriate value within the print command prompt to allow a print of the webpage would be the general idea. It does require hacking in a sense and this is just merely a theory.

        20. xray-whiskey-yankee

          Senior dev here: senior devs are paid to kill buzz. Stops the plebs writing stuff that spins out of control.

          And yes, junior dev, you have to use SVN.

        21. Kelly

          SVN? What, is this the Stone Age? Ok, Bronze Age…Stone Age would be CVS. Come on, GIT with with the program!

        22. The_Master

          It can be set up to tell the browser to print. Google sites I believe will just tell your browser to print and you’ll get the usual dialogue box.

      2. Thomas Wrobel

        For all we know she pre-hacked his tablet, made a clone of the webbrowser and can basically do whatever she wants.
        If you don’t believe wifi hacking of a tablet is possible,maybe a certain vigilante snuck in at night and did it physically with a usb cable.

        1. PoweredBySucrose

          Hacking (in the comptuer-intrusion sense) is a great way to get acquainted with your university’s disciplinary procedures and honor code.

          And by great, I mean, monumentally stupid.

          Amazi-Girl might could get away with that, but Amber would be ill advised to take credit for it.

      3. Marisa Mockery

        It must have been a very boring lecture then.

  2. Camachri

    Why would you deserve an A for what clearly warrants a C++?

    1. Hoboturtle

      This guy

      1. Hoboturtle

        XD

        1. thebombzen

          if 0xD is 13, then what’s xD?

        2. Seth

          An identifier, of course. And a syntax error if it wasn’t declared properly.

        3. indignostudios

          He’s not D#-est tool in the shed.

        4. Seth

          Thank you. I was trying to work that joke in myself, and sadly failed.

        5. auo> mous

          If 0xD=13, then xD=13/0 is indeterminate form.

        6. thebombzen

          It’s not really an indeterminate form. It just isn’t well-defined. 0 has no multiplicative inverse, and cannot or will not ever.

        7. Plasma Mongoose

          Off topic but nice Dalek-Grace gravatar you got there.

    2. Kodra

      YEAAAAAAAAAAH!

    3. liahansen

      that was one BASIC-ass programming joke

      1. Seth

        It wasn’t even visual.

      2. Doctor_Who

        I found it to contain a Perl of wisdom.

        1. Seth

          Possibly so, but Camachri’s clearly no Oracle.

        2. Seth

          I felt that it lacked a sense of Clojure.

        3. Seth

          You know what else it lacked? Class. It was too derived.

          Someone stop me.

        4. Camachri

          Why? This is GLORIOUS~

        5. OnyxIdol

          I see #puns.

        6. Seth

          A huge, overflowing stack of them.

        7. Kelly

          This is quite a list of puns to process

        8. Seth

          I just don’t know what to do foreach.

        9. TachyonCode

          I suggest taking an objective approach.

        10. Seth

          Good idea. This was getting too abstract.

        11. thebombzen

          Functions could a method for abstraction

        12. Seth

          Error: expected verb near ‘could’ at line 0

        13. jeffepp

          I feel you are in Error.

        14. Seth

          I take exception to that.

        15. slicedtoad

          Time to throw you out.

        16. Jen Aside

          Rolling like a Ruby on Rails

    4. Dreadhawk177

      #include

      1. Dreadhawk177

        #include “scolding.h”

    5. Dreadhawk177

      Or perhaps a D…

      1. Kelly

        I think Rust will beat out D

        1. CrystalGamma

          You’re going to have to take ownership of that joke.

    6. Agera

      his python don’t want none

    7. Marc in MN

      That line, coupled with the sunglasses on your gravatar, makes me expect the “CSI: Miami” “YEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!” to suddenly pour forth from my speakers. =P

      1. lightsabermario

        You (Pas)called?

    8. Deathstalker

      I C what you did there.

    9. LazerWulf

      I consider myself FORTRANate that I understand that reference.

      1. Seth

        In other words… you were able to dereference it?

        1. thebombzen

          Shh… stop giving him pointers

        2. Marianne

          This entire thread is turning into a real brainfuck.

        3. Seth

          I think it’s time to switch context.

        4. Deanatay

          I got this reference.

        5. Seth

          It’s all right. He’ll return them.

    10. Opus the Poet

      That, sir or madam, was a truly horrible pun and you should be secretly proud, but publicly ashamed.

  3. Arcian

    That smile in panel 3 tho

  4. Doctor_Who

    No you don’t understand, this is real, CS teachers actually do hate it when you pull shit like this!

    1. Yotomoe

      I underachieved in that class and I’m pretty sure I passed it.

      1. Dreadhawk177

        I overachieved and pissed of 90% of my classmates. . .

        1. Kamino Neko

          I Walkied through elementary and high school, resulting in 90% of my classmates attempting to prove I was actually an idiot.

        2. Inlaa

          I Walkied through High School, sort of. The difference is I wore glasses and stereotypical nerd shirts so everyone believed I was actually a dedicated, hard-studying student. They’d come asking me for study advice only to learn I never studied.

          Then I got to college and realized that studying was actually a thing I should do for some classes.

        3. Kamino Neko

          Hah, yeah, I had the same experience with university.

          Be interesting to see if Walky hits the same wall we did…

        4. Robin

          I spent half the course being an unofficial TA, so I didn’t piss off anyone.

    2. quix

      I can see that:

      “Yeah, I know you don’t need to take this class. I don’t really need to be teaching this class. I don’t make the policy that makes you take this class. So how about you settle down, stop with the attitude about how you’re too good to be here, and we’ll both just get through this.”

      1. Doctor_Who

        I wonder if art classes have this problem.

        Teacher: Today we will learn how to use the magic wand tool in Photosho-why are my powerpoint slides now warped to resemble Van Gogh’s Starry Night?!

        Student: Extra Credit?

      2. Viktoria

        The teacher gets paid to pass on basic, caveman-level information. The student is paying a large amount of money for a useless-but-required course. The teacher shouldn’t complain when students aren’t happy to be there.

        1. Rutee

          Eh, if quix’s read on the situation is accurate, Alex isn’t mad at her for being bored. He’s mad at the passive aggressive shit. And he has cause to be.

        2. Jon P

          Also the shit-eating grin.
          That said, it’s not like he’s been the best teacher, given the last time he showed up.

        3. Viktoria

          He doesn’t make the policy that is wasting her time and money, but he’s the face of the company, so he catches the customers’ complaints. Her reaction is rather subdued given that this class is costing her a couple grand and a hundred or so hours of her life.

        4. Rutee

          I figured we’d get to the core of it. No, he isn’t customer service Even if he were, he still has cause to be, because again, he isn’t necessarily angry at her reaction, but very well may be on her taking it out on him. If you know someone didn’t put the policy into play, you’re kind of being a jackass by treating them like they’re responsible for it. They aren’t. And you know this.

          And let me hammer something home here: She isn’t a ‘customer’. She’s a student. Yes, she paid money. No, that doesn’t matter. She’s going to a state school, so she has no cause to behave like one; they’re civil servants carrying out their duty. Amber footed a small portion of the bill.

          That said, Meriken have bullshit expectations of customer service in general that shouldn’t apply to ANYONE. Even within that bullshit framework, they *don’t* apply here at all, but even if they did, what you’d be saying would be dickish at best.

        5. Rutee

          This isn’t to say you should treat students as customers in a private school, or that students should behave like it, but the whole ‘customer servility’ bullshit absolutely shouldn’t apply here from the start.

        6. Kelly

          She’s not being passive aggressive, she’s bored. He has no reason to be annoyed with her.

        7. Jen Aside

          Passive aggressive is being hostile by what you DON’T do–such as just testing out of the class instead of showing off. For what reason Amber did not or was not able to skip the course for something more her speed, she still has no standing to be pulling this if she genuinely thinks it’s below her and is NOT out to grandstand.

          To be fair.

          Maybe it doesn’t OCCUR to Amber to just ask for a workaround that will let her study on her own level and let him teach in peace (win/win vs. lose/lose), but what is the name of this comic again?

        8. Kelly

          Pretty sure she and Danny discussed not being able to test out of this class…

        9. Kelly

          My reading of it is that Amber did do it the last 5 minutes, so she is just stating that fact. If I said that, it wouldn’t particularly be to brag or be passive aggressive. Though Amber doesn’t really show signs of being aspie, so I dunno how much that changes things.

          And being able to print from the page with no prompt is a neat trick however she pulled it off, so I at least would want to show it off. Not to boost myself necessarily but for the coolness of the thing itself.

        10. APersonAmI

          …This is how I read it, too. Once again, Kelly, you have said what I could not quite put into words! Thanks c:

        11. Jim

          Yes, because college instructors frequently allow special curriculum for individual students in huge lecture halls. And their departments are totally ok with this. What a plan.

        12. Jen Aside

          Alternate Universe, Accommodating Alex: “I can’t give special credit above and beyond the parameters of the assignment, especially since some of the other students might perceive your showmanship as offputting. Is there something else you would like to do?”

          Amber: [insert preferences here]

          AUAA: “Sure, we can arrange that/Sorry, I can’t let you do that because ___.”

          Despite what Foxtrot would have you believe, educators in general can’t really give A+++++-es, so I’m not really sure what Amber expects. Maybe Alex is being a jerk about it, but how many soul-draining classes can you teach before being unable to do anything for enthusiastic overachievers? I mean, even the Dorothy types realize that extra credit can just be extra work for the profs.

          [not saying I don’t sympathize with Amber, but I also currently work at a job where legally we can get in trouble for accepting “above and beyond” the requirements outlined, because it can be perceived as we demanded those things instead of them being voluntarily given]

        13. Kryss LaBryn

          Of course, at a very basic level, part of his issue may be that she was told to come up with a page’s worth of HTML coding, in print, and yeah it’s awesome that she did that too, but what they are working on right now is HTML, and if she’s pissing around in class with whatever she used to do the automatic print job to that particular printer, that’s time she’s not spending learning/doing HTML. Which is problematic when that is the entire reason she’s there just now and, in fact, the reason the class itself exists just then.

          It can be very annoying to have someone flying off in all directions, however well they’re doing it, instead of knuckling down and paying attention to what they’re supposed to be doing, however boring they might find it or however good they may think they already are at it.

        14. John Cabot

          Your version sounds really boring.

        15. Oberon

          Some classes can be tested out of. If Amber is really so far beyond this class she should have tried to take that option.

        16. Dorje Sylas

          She groused about this early on. The answers was no. Which just means she’s now taking out her technological frustration in possibly inadvisably creative ways.

    3. SunshineDuk

      It’s true, I got marked down on a test in Intro CS for adding too many interesting functions to what was supposed to be a simple program…

      I then said fuck it and found an excuse to turn half our assignments into Interactive Fiction and kept our TAs distracted playing my games in just about every single lab session. My professors both loved and hated me in equal measure.

      1. roguebfl

        My intro to VB Basic course assumed it was your first programing language, it wasn’t my first so while I didn’t know the syntax so the course wasn’t a waste of my time it also meant the lessons taught along side the syntax wasn’t new to me. We were required to write a a “hangman game” as a major course assessment where were a lot of required function the the assessment also called four 2 custom functions to the game. So instead of making a nuance of my self in class I changed the slack time to fine tuning the program that instead of geting the the program to draw lines on the screen it loaded tylied gif that build up the picture of “infamous” fiction character that when hun would then animat the pict to swing. I also things like implements a vertial keyboard [which most of the class did it was the excepted input method] as well as keyboard captured with really streamed code. at the end of the class the teacher asked if he could use the program ans sample code in his future classes [i was happy to do so]

        There is a point of getting the self taught to do the basic courses… the self taught often have big holes in there foundation knowledge they often not aware of [where the hole is will of depend on ther indvual person]

      2. Jim

        Part of good programming is being efficient. You should lose points for adding unnecessary functions and fancy code just to feel cool. It’s about how fast it works in the real world.

        1. Jen Aside

          hmm, that’s a better [and more efficient] point than what I was making… no wonder I had to transfer out of CS =p

    4. Shadow12000

      Yep. Was forced to take some basic level computer shit first year in college. Someone tried to show off, teach didn’t care. I didn’t care enough to show off, I just did the work before he finished the lesson and left early everyday, we had an e-mail system so I just asked him what the homework was when I got home.

    5. Kyle

      That might be why most of the CS graduates I interview are completely hopeless…

    6. Airyu

      why though?

  5. Nono

    ‘You’re not allowed to make me feel inadequate! Only I’m allowed to make me feel inadequate!’

    1. newllend

      Only me and my wife with her better paying and successful job.

  6. Yotomoe

    Grandstanding is just like Super Sitting or TURBO walking.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Just wait til you see my Ultimate Slouching. I can slouch so hard my spine is shaped like an &.

  7. MrSirk

    “In fact I ounish people for it TRIPLE F MINUS!”

    1. MrSirk

      “punish”…touch screens are crimes against typing.

    2. Adam Black

      I thought just “ounish” was some orogramming Joke

    3. Deanatay

      Plus a U for good measure! That’s spells ‘FFFU-‘

  8. pumacatrun2

    Me in my I.T. classes.

  9. Kodra

    Turn it in, like a boss.

    1. Kodra

      I tried to post a blank HTML page, but I think wordpress thought I was trying na injection attack 🙁

      1. Vincent

        Modern security just takes the fun out of everything.

        Especially when it fails.

  10. HMRC4EVR

    I feel so old as I have no idea how to do any current coding.

    I leaned BASIC on an Apple IIe and all I remember is ‘open apple’ ‘closed apple’ and ‘reset’ was the ‘control/alt/delete’ for them.

    Well, that and Robotron 2084 was pretty awesome at the time.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      I learnt how to do Turtle graphics back in one of my job skills classes back in the mid 80s on a Microbee PC.

      1. thebombzen

        20 years later, they were still doing it. I learned turtle graphics in MSW Logo as a way to learn programming in 2005. I wonder if they’ve moved on in the last 10 years.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          It might be one of those fundamental programming languages like BASIC and FORTRAN, hence why it still shows up in classes.

        2. Seth

          It still shows up, but I’d be surprised if it were still commonly used to teach introductory programming classes when C, Java, and VB.NET could be used instead. I’ve got a BS in software, and I only know what you’re talking about because a variant of Logo was used in my compilers class (this was circa 2009). The instructor used it because he could make the final project for the class be a fully functional Logo compiler and the project scope would be reasonable. I’ve never used BASIC or FORTRAN at all, by the way.

    2. Oberon

      I also learned Basic on an Apple IIe. And then C on Zenix. My first computer class in college was a required class called Introduction to Microcomputers, and seriously spent days teaching the class how to use a mouse and keyboard before slowly and painfully moving on to Windows shell commands of such staggering complexity as CD and DIR. It was the dullest class I have ever taken.

    3. Kryss LaBryn

      I learned BASIC on an Apple IIe back in Grade 8 too! Great little computers.

  11. Plasma Mongoose

    He’s probably upset cos he was waiting untl next lesson to teach the class “How to do an email”.

    1. newllend

      You haft to go to college to learn that? Hell what’s the next lesson opening up web site accounts?

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        The last time I did a computer course where I truly knew less about computers than the teacher was back in the mid 80s when my only experience with computing at the time was dealing with punch-cards.

        1. Kirby

          I imagine he knows quite a bit more than Amber about coding, but he’s required to teach the basic level course, so he does. Like someone said above, I doubt he enjoys teaching the class, but he does, and tries to get through it as best he can. Amber is going the extra mile, but it’s not what he asked for. Sometimes the extra mile is a mile too far.

        2. Kelly

          >I imagine he knows quite a bit more than Amber about coding,

          Possible, but I have doubts. In my experience the more teachers know the less likely they are to get annoyed if you go beyond what the class covers. And Amber said the teacher didn’t know what a BBS was, so likely he doesn’t enjoy what he does. Anyone seriously into computers personally would have learned about them, even if they where too young to have used them back in the day (of course there are still a few around if you really want). And if he doesn’t enjoy it, there is probably an awful lot he doesn’t know.

        3. Rutee

          Amber hadn’t even met the dude when she said that. IT was day one, before he showed up. IME, these basic courses are often given to people who really can do much more. That doesn’t mean they’ll like you being a wiseass.

      2. Jen Aside

        There are some grown-ass adults out there who don’t do the e-mails and intertrons. That’s the target market audience.

        Sadly, everyone is punishedhas to take the course to prove they can clickify the webweb.

        1. Rachel Roth

          Oooh, if only I had the software to respond how I want to respond. But sadly, I don’t have the patience to take the time to record clicky noises, nor can I record more than one window on my computer at a time.

      3. Rachel Roth

        Actually, I think that one comes before it, you need an account to have an email address to send from. My best guess for the next lesson would be …
        Hmm, screenshots are a little advanced. Maybe simple hotkeys?

        1. Kryss LaBryn

          I do IT tech support, and I have literally had people try to create an email address by putting the one they wanted it to be into Outlook (without actually creating it anywhere). I talk to people ALL THE TIME for whom going to the url mail.[provider].com and entering in their email address and password is too complicated. Most of them can’t even find the damned address bar.

          A depressingly large percentage of the general public thinks that the way to get to an url is to type it into Google. And great whacks of those that know to use the address bar have Bing or Ask installed (usually accidentally) so even if they do find the damned address bar it does a search instead of opening the page anyways. And a surprisingly large number of those people are not elderly folks who have never used a computer before.

  12. Salmo

    So are we wantonly speculating on the new Slipshine yet? I’d heard rumors of Jason and Sal, but that’s hardly set in stone. The preview images on Tumblr are only hands. I’m doubting Billie and Ruth, and Walky, Joyce, and Becky seems like probably a long shot.

    1. Nono

      Alex and Faz.

      1. Salmo

        In my dreams.

        1. Rachel Roth

          No…. Ruth is in your dreams. Unfortunatly, I’m stuck with Ethan. Why could none of my Dina-spamming have worked? I wanted a Dina so I wouldn’t have anything that creepy.

        2. Rachel Roth

          DARNIT!

        3. Rachel Roth

          Oops, this was supposed to be in a reply… Ignore this.

    2. Cthulhu's Intern

      Galasso and Blaine.

    3. Black Drazon

      He’s said something about Jason and Sal being unlikely as the NEXT Slipshine (though he said he’d get back to it), but that was before he was working on one. Since this Slipshine came up on us so suddenly, maybe it is Sal and Jason?

      1. Twilightomens

        I would subscribe to slipshine just for Sal and Jason. It needs to happen.

    4. Kamino Neko

      Danethan, I’d wager. Hasn’t he teased about doing one of them?

      1. Salmo

        But all Slipshines are in canon, unless that rule has changed. I don’t see any movement on that front in the next two weeks.

        1. Kamino Neko

          Danny wakes up after the dream. ‘Huh.’

        2. Salmo

          That would be an elegant solution. Ooh, maybe a series of short vignettes, showing the characters’ fantasies. One with Danny/Ethan, one with Joyce/Ethan, one with Sarah/Jacob, one with Daisy/Every female cast member…

        3. Em

          He has said that he’s not doing any with Joyce.

    5. thebombzen

      Uh… Leslie and Robin? Kinda a big relationship going on right there

      1. timemonkey

        He already did one for the Walkyverse and Dumbiverse versions aren’t a couple.

    6. Em

      Billie/Ruth?

      1. Salmo

        He mentioned on Tumblr that he probably wouldn’t do any with drunkenness, and that seems a dead certainly for them right now.

    7. artemi

      Why wasn’t there one for Roz/Joe? It’s the only canon one where EVERYONE could see it; it wouldn’t be breaking the fourth wall in the least for the reader to ‘find’ the youtube link!

      …Also I really want Roz hotness…

      1. Salmo

        Honestly, the only reason I’m not predicting that is because Joe is huge and Roz is tiny and the hands in the preview image are about the same size. Also, they don’t seem like to sort of people whose bawdy adventures involve close ups of hands.

  13. Black Drazon

    I remember in my HTML class, the final project had a checklist of features, so I played along and pretended to make a legitimate website for all the features. Except one was “nested tables.” The fuck. It’s years later and I still say “the fuck.” Nested tables. This was during the era when tables were dead as a part of layout, but clearly not on instructors’ checklists.

    I took my website, added a link marked “Nested tables,” and made a fifty-deep catastrophe. I got my check.

    1. Just A. Thinker

      I’m still in high school, but this year I’m taking a course in Java. For one of the assignments, we were specifically instructed to use far loops, so I wrote a method to write an unlimited number of nested for loops, and turned in an assignment where for loops were nested 20 deep. We’ve since moved on to more… interesting stuff.

      Another time, we had a graphics contest using “gpdraw”, and I turned in a colored fractal variation of the mandelbrot. It was drawn using about a million individual rectangles, each 1px by 1 px.

      Anyway, cheers to those who overdo things!

      Link to the wikipedia page for the fractal I drew:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhabrot

      1. Kelly

        Nice

    2. Vincent

      Oh hey, nested tables. Those were neat.

      Way back in… 95, when I made my first webpages. On ol’ Geocities.

  14. Pie

    Great, now I’m going to waste several hours figuring out how to actually code this.

    DAMN YOU WILLIS!

  15. addude

    No, it’s not good when they know your name

    1. Inlaa

      Oh, it varies. It varies. It also depends on how you hear your name.

      Good: “? Oh, there you are. Here’s your paper. *Smile*”

      Bad: “Mr. … Step outside into the hall, please.”

  16. Lyvia

    Maybe you should change the assignment to a full web app, because one page of html is um, not a very believable assignment.

    1. Kelly

      Yeah, it is actually, for this kind of class. They suck, but some people are down at that level, and sometimes colleges don’t realize that not everyone is and don’t allow testing out.

    2. Thomas Wrobel

      Kellys right, this is very plausible.

    3. J

      Can confirm. I’m in an arts graduate program. One of our assignments for web class was to edit an HTML resume. Not write, edit. As in fill in your own name, jobs, and picture.

  17. t00lishness

    Oh coding, you are truly evil. I took CS courses in college, but I haven’t used Java coding in so long, I’m sure it would look like gibberish to me. This does bring back memories of my grandpa’s old Tandy though, and using MS-DOS commands to make the name of the C:> drive “Kevin Sucks” (my brother’s name. I was terrible.)

    1. thebombzen

      My computer warfare involved changing the autocorrect on Word on my brother’s computer so it would autocorrect “isn’t” to “ain’t.” It irritated the hell out of him. I was a mean 7-year-old.

  18. Tommy Bologna

    Yo this guy’s a dick. And his ponytail ain’t even that good.

  19. winter

    I’m kind of with Alex here.

    Needing a hard copy instead of accepting the email is a bit strange/picky, but saying you completed the homework on your phone in the last five minutes of class is some passive aggressive shit.

    Alex likely knows the class is a waste of his time and an unnecessary formality with regards to quite a few of the students, and it’s probably not something he has any say in either.

    And part of college is being aware of what a situation requires and providing accordingly. You might be smart enough to write five pages at college reading level, but does that help a magazine that needs a two page spread for a general audience?

    1. Barf Ninjason

      That analogy kinda falls apart, cuz a magazine spread has an external purpose. If she wants to show off, there’s no harm in it because he doesn’t actually need her assignment for anything. Except to prove she can do it. She proved solhe can do it, and handily and moreso. What’s the problem?

      1. winter

        You’re right. The analogy is not perfect. I was originally going to say that college is meant to be preparation for these real situations, but fuck if college has anything to do with real paid jobs.

        I guess it’s not really that big of a deal here. As you’ve said, this assignment does not have external (although some other assignments, presentations for instance, do). But, for some reason, what Amber is doing here still reminds me of those students who turn in papers way past the upper limit of the page count, which is both insensitive to the teachers grading said papers, and indicative of an inability to be clear and concise.

        1. Kelli

          In the real world, you may not be in a position to understand the larger workings of the organization, and you may have a job that seems tedious and arbitrary but you will still be expected to perform your function within the parameters of your job description.

          Many managers will take such types of going above and beyond as a lack of productivity: “If you had time to add this much functionality to the project, you could have done just the required level of work on four or five such projects instead.”

        2. Barf Ninjason

          I get what you guys are saying, but… well, it’s dumb. The situation, not what you’re saying. It shouldn’t be that way, it’s not efficient. People should be allowed to use their talents where they’re most effective. And yeah, you can say it doesn’t work like that in the “real world,” but not for the first nor last time I say this: the Capitalist marketplace is not the “real world.” There’s only one world. We can do virtually whatever the fuck we want with it, really.

        3. winter

          Well, yeah. The situation is pretty dumb. I can’t stand being expected to preform a job without understanding it, for one. And people should be able to have some say in where their energy and talents are spent.

          But the Capitalist Marketplace is not the only application of this skill. Having a handle on what others expect of you (and what you expect from yourself) is a pretty important thing for personal relationships as well. It’s not that people should cater what they do to others’ expectations, but being aware of them certainly helps keep you from spending energy on things that neither of you really care about.

        4. Barf Ninjason

          True. What she’s doing is kinda unnecessary, if not insufferable.

    2. Eolirin

      Required hard copies of the source code is fairly common from CS professors, or at least it was when I was in school. It makes it a lot easier to go over the source code, and especially to comment on it.

      And letting the students all email you the source code means you then have to print out possibly as many as a hundred copies in a big lecture class like that. It’s extra effort that the Professor doesn’t really need to go through, seeing how they have to grade all those assignments too, let alone deal with their *other* classes.

      1. Kelly

        >It makes it a lot easier to go over the source code, and especially to comment on it.

        Uh. No, it really doesn’t. Every teacher I have seen require hard copies did it out of inertia and being old.

        1. samlh

          You speak like being old is a problem. My best teachers were the oldest, as they had a lot of knowledge, were able to explain things well, and had interesting stories. And yes, the comments they put on our printouts were insightful, readable, and helpful… unlike the other professors that just typed a line or two and gave a grade.

        2. Nightsbridge

          My worst teachers were the oldest. They refused to make use of online sources to keep students informed, had a scant paper syllabus that they expected students to keep track of if they wanted anything and had the most distant and impersonal lecture styles I’ve ever had to listen to.

      2. winter

        You are absolutely right. Short-sightedness on my part. My professors were always okay with emailed assignments, but I haven’t had any classes with more than 30~ people since Freshman year.

      3. What If I Don't Have A Name?

        There are other, easy ways to give feedback to large numbers of students besides paper copies and emails. Digital means of collecting assignments and providing feedback are much cheaper than requiring students to print everything out to turn in. (Though, generally digital turn-ins don’t work well for math-heavy courses like Physics or Calculus, unless you want to teach everyone LaTeX.)

        I’m in university studying Computer Engineering, and we do a lot of programming in our lower-division sequence. We turn in our programs using SVN (a version control system which we were all taught how to set up and use in the first semester), and they can pass back feedback that way, too.

        Additionally, our university has an online course resource website where teachers can upload files, make announcements, and generally communicate with students, both individually and en masse. The website allows teachers to create assignments that allow students to upload their completed work directly to the website, and the teacher can provide direct feedback. I’ve turned in assignments this way in the past.

        So yeah, paper turn-ins are fairly obsolete for programming courses.

  20. Psyme

    The Hugs Bosom, proving the existence of this particle will solve science. Forever.

    1. t00lishness

      I would be glad to help assist with finding the proof of this particle any way I can. FOR SCIENCE!

  21. That One Weirdo

    Hate teachers like this. You’re there to learn. Not to coast along. If you’re clearly better than the average curve, there should be a way to prove “Hey. Guys. I know this. All of it. I’m not trying to be a douche. I want to move along as quietly and unobtrusively as possible. Can I just move along to the next class in the syllabus?”

    Yes, I know there are ways. But those ways are so tied up in red tape you could tape the whole process, upload the video to a porn site, and have it count as a BDSM film.

    1. Viktoria

      But if you can skip a class, that’s one credit you aren’t paying the college for. The college is there to make money. Passing on information to you, while pleasant, is merely a side benefit.

      1. That One Weirdo

        Dammit. Moneybags McMoney strikes once more.

        In all seriousness, am I the only one who thinks that’s more than a little messed up? The college doesn’t have your interests at heart, it’s a business now. The place where knowledge is supposedly imparted is now a money-making machine, and whether or not you have the skill for that career is important only if you have the money to pay the tuition.

        Kind of like that case with the cops and the serial killer a few weeks back (serial killer was loose, got on the subway train that the cops were waiting for him in. He attacked a random guy, who managed to fight him off. THEN the cops burst in to take him prisoner. But during the ensuing trial [the guy sued the PD for taking credit while doing nothing] it turns out that NOPE. The cops don’t HAVE to protect you from a madman. Even if they were posted in that place SPECIFICALLY to protect you from a madman).

        1. Jen Aside

          You’re hardly the only one: That’s how #Occupy got started. Remember (old farts out there) when people could work at a summer job, and that easily paid for the year’s tuition? HA, try to pull that off NOW without living at home with rich parents!

      2. Rutee

        Do you have any earthly idea how much more it costs to run a course at a state college than the students pay back into that?

        1. Thomas Wrobel

          In the US actually a very large amount of money is made from students via the extortionate loan interest rates.
          Many colleges are in on the scam.
          It isnt like the UK/Europe where most countries pay, like 90% of the fee from taxes. Statefunding in the US is there, but much more comes from the students.

        2. Rutee

          I’m pretty sure the difference between in/out of state tuition is in fact primarily the difference made up for by state funding. It tends to more than triple the price.

          Yes, money is made off the students, but I’d want to see some evidence that they’re colluding with the banks.

        3. StClair

          My impression was that it comes from donations by rich alumni to the athletics program(s), to which the actual academic side of the university is an increasingly irrelevant appendage/sideshow. :p

    2. winter

      Yeah, but is any of that Alex’s fault? I was under the impression that he was a grad student being forced to teach a lower level class, not a professor, so it’s not like he’s any less caught up in the red tape than Amber.

      And she might not be trying to be a douche here, but she’s coming off as more than a little smug.

      1. That One Weirdo

        I’ve taught courses. Nothing major, but certainly not kindergarten stuff. And I know it’s not pleasant, and it can even be downright irritating to have one student move ahead of the others, especially because of the smugness you mention. But that kid moving ahead of the curve? That just means they have a talent for it, or an interest in it. YOUR job as a teacher is to encourage that interest and get them to explore it even further, NOT tell them to put a cork in it.

        You are right, though. Amber could stand to tone down her smugness. In this situation all she needs to do is say “Oh, sure. I’ll print it out for you,” problem solved. Alex walks away knowing she completed the work really fast, Amber walks away knowing she’s got the next couple days slightly less occupied with mindless tasks.

        1. winter

          When you put it like that, I agree with you 100%. Amber might not be behaving the best here, but Alex should be pointing that out to her more gently, and absolutely encouraging her to explore more advanced work rather than shutting her down.

        2. Eolirin

          If Alex behaved like that, he wouldn’t be Alex.

    3. Barf Ninjason

      Yeah, this really should just get her a free pass out of the class. Promote the poor girl to Re’lar already.

      1. That One Weirdo

        I wish to high five you for that reference alone.

        1. Barf Ninjason

          Ha ha, awesome. Oh man does he have to do so much stuff in the 3rd book; kill a king, meet Bast, acquire PTSD and catatonic depression or whatever he’s got…

        2. That One Weirdo

          Don’t forget to kill a king, find out who the hell is the girl’s “sponsor”, and figure out what’s up with the Chandrian.

    4. Nono

      The problem is that until the later years in a course, lesson plans aren’t individualized – there are usually close to a hundred students if not more in many first-year courses, and lecturers can’t cater their curriculum to each and every one of them.

      And even if you intend to be quiet, grandstanding can get around. And the guy who’s already struggling with the course is not going to appreciate his classmate acing it and asking if they can just skip it.

      So the easiest things for most lecturers to do in the first couple years is to cater to the average student. Those who are better can just do the necessary work, those who need help can ask for it post-class. When people start getting split up in smaller courses later on, then they can start adjusting.

      1. That One Weirdo

        …….

        Damn you and your logic. I concede defeat.

      2. Vincent

        Ability grouping at best doesn’t work, at worst screws over all students (low performers the worst).

        But being able to test out of a class shouldn’t be all that difficult to arrange, honestly.

  22. Dr. Zeus

    Hmmm, I need to tell her to keep within the parameters of assignments. Shall I tell her that while the course lags behind her skill level that she still went outside the bounds of the assignment? Nah I’ll just be a massive dick about it.

  23. Kisai

    Oh geez.

    In College I challenged the introduction to computers course we were forced to take. The textbook may as well been the manual to Office 97.

    The HTML and the Java courses were horrible.

    You might be in the wrong program if the students ask you for help instead of the professor.

  24. Random832

    What is going on with her mouth in the last panel?

    1. Kelly

      She is worried. That is something mouths do when you are worried in this universe

    2. Tenn

      It’s probably supposed to look like she’s grinning while stretching her lower lip backwards to one side, showing her gums, in a way that should barely be possible.

      What I see, though, is her mimicking a massive overbite.

  25. Miyto

    Uh…
    There is html for printing the current page:
    window . print () ;
    (Without the spaces of course)
    All she needed to do was have that in a button that was on a page with her code showing.
    It’s actually harder to have the code showing with some compilers than it is to make a print button.

    1. Eolirin

      That won’t automatically cause the printer to start printing, it’ll open a print dialog. There clearly was no print dialog.

      1. Kelly

        Yeah, I am wondering how she did it. Was it all in JS? If like most of these classes it was supposed to be hosted on a college server she wouldn’t be able to have anything server side. But if he wants it printed out, maybe not, and she is hosting it herself.

        1. Kelly

          I see there are some hacks/workarounds where you can get around the dialog, but most are IE/Windows, and only with low enough security settings.

          So that isn’t it. If she is hosting it, she may have written backend code so it prints from her server to that printer, assuming she has access to that printer…. I dunno what the chances are that even the dorm network would allow printing to classroom printers (never lived in a dorm, so not even one point of reference)

          Another option would be if she found (or wrote! but that would take serious skills… though she did talk about writing an OS in a way that wasn’t totally joking) something like an IPP stack entirely in javascript (the ones I see are for Node.js, not the browser)… if JS on the page would be allowed to open port 631. Obviously JS can open network connections to web resources, but that’s all http… seems like being able to open random ports would be a big security issue.

        2. tinfoil theory

          An IPP print server will respond to https://server:631/ so it is not impossible.

          More interesting is that the code is a quine.

      2. 1076

        I disagree. I see what clearly looks like a window on the tablet screen. It can either be assumed that it is a windowed app that is the browser, OR that it’s a print dialog screen.

    2. Kelli

      s/HTML/JavaScript/

  26. MrSirk

    Alex- “I only get one cameo every three friggin books! I could of spent the last three panels making out with a super model, but Noooo! You had to show off.”

  27. Black Bumblebee

    I might have to bookmark this comic…

  28. Jacob Newburn

    Hey guys, I am a Com-pu-tor nerd, and com-pu-tor-nerds can do amazing stuff like that with com-pu-tor’s right? I know Code, like C– and Jaba and Preal! See guys, I know my Com-pu-tors!

    1. Kamino Neko

      I sell computers.

  29. Sporky

    Yesterday’s Shortpacked! comic: Someone hands Amber a smartphone. Today’s Dumbing of Age comic: Amber hands someone else a smartphone.

    But what does it ~mean~

    1. John

      Alex is looking at a picture of a shirtless dude from another universe?

  30. Tunasammich

    Normally I do not identify with Amber. Here, I do

  31. Historyman68

    Someone else loves grandstanding, and that someone else is Amazi-Girl.

  32. FuryOfFirestorm

    Dude, either give her an A+ for the whole semester, or let her teach the class while you catch up with grading papers and writing lesson plans.

    1. John

      That was basically what my Intro to Computers instructor did with me. Both options.

      1. APersonAmI

        I hope you had a good time. Did you have a good time?

  33. XMinusOne

    Academia is always short on practicality and the latest technology. That’s what tech schools are for. U’s and colleges try to be ‘hip’ and offer courses like Computers 101, but they’re usually a mile behind technologically. They oughta stick to Art, Philosophy, Literature, Women’s Studies and the like. Y’know, those degrees that get you a job at the local fast food unless you go to grad school, then get your Ph.D and then become a tenured prof.

  34. Cholma

    I feel like I’ve seen this comic before. Was it a Kickstarter sneak-peak comic?

    1. XMinusOne

      Actually, it was on one side of a bookmark included in the latest DoA strip collection Kickstarter.

      1. Cholma

        Ah! Thank you! It was driving me nuts trying to recall how I’d already seen this. 🙂

    2. David M Willis

      Check your bookmarks.

      1. Kelly

        I thought you meant browser bookmarks at first and was very confused…

    3. Bill

      So, in a manner of speaking, it was a Kickstarter sneak-peek.

      On the subject of bookmarks, Willis, are you going to make them available in the store at sometime in the future?  I got a bookmark when I ordered some “Here’s Walky” books with this strip on it and would willingly pay to have two or three more of them just so I never have to worry about losing or misplacing it.

      1. David M Willis

        That particular bookmark is no more. I print new ones with new strips as the previous ones run out. I just throw one in with every order. That or seeing me in person is the only way to get one.

  35. Just A. Thinker

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
    print(10);
    }
    public static void print(int num)
    {
    if(num<0) return;
    System.out.println("For Science!");
    print(num-1);
    print(num-1);
    }

    1. Seth

      Oh gods, why is it not indented?! We need tab characters here, stat!

      Wait… what language is that supposed to be?

      1. Seth

        Just answered my own question: it’s Java.

      2. gwalla

        HTML eats whitespace.

    2. 4th Dimension

      Wait, what? Why did you write this recursive monstrosity?!?!?

      1. Seth

        A for loop would be more efficient, but it’s hardly a monstrosity – or, rather, that’s not why it’s a monstrosity.

      2. ewx

        That’s not a recursive monstrosity. This is a recursive monstrosity.

        1. Seth

          Indeed, it is. So’s this.

      3. gwalla

        No, a reciprocal monstrosity is the maze solving function I wrote in C++ that threw an exception on successfully finding the goal.

  36. brumagem

    So why is this Book 5 comic on the Book 3 bookmark?

  37. Danno

    Woah, a professor asking for a printout? Dude, do you need a technical advisor for your comic or something? Pretty sure that’s a 90’s college thing.

    If it’s not a blackboard based submission, it’d be a link to a git repository.

    1. Seth

      Has not the great and damnable Willis already stated that this comic doesn’t take place in any specific year, much less real time?

      1. Heavensrun

        it is meant to be “contemporary”. So danno would have a point, except professors ask for printouts all the time, depending on where you go and what their style is.

    2. vonnegut

      I’m currently in school, and yeah, at least half of profs want hard copies. A lot are okay with emailed/Blackboard-submitted assignments but definitely not all.

  38. Heavensrun

    Speaking both as an educator and as a former student, the fact that panel 4 Alex looks annoyed rather than impressed makes me pretty much dispise him.

    1. Hoodiecrow

      Hear, hear. The fsck, dude? Do you want your students to get into the subject or don’t you?

      (For non-Unixy people: the command fsck (file system check) was sometimes used as a stand-in for a more common English word. The following are some assorted Unix commands, btw:

      $ unzip; strip; touch; finger; grep; mount; fsck; more; yes; fsck; fsck; umount; sleep

      )

      1. ninja_jesus

        Note: explaining a joke makes the joke automatically not funny.

        1. Seth

          I hardly think partial censoring using ‘fsck’ qualifies as a joke anyway.

        2. Kelly

          it isn’t “partial censoring”, it is word substitution. It isn’t really meant to be a joke, it is just something that very common in unix culture

        3. Hoodiecrow

          AFAICT there is no joke in my post.

    2. beege

      Seconded. If you discourage students from showing effort and ability you are a total failure as a teacher.

    3. fireindaarcade

      Look, as cool as it is that she is really into the subject, she doesn’t get to be a show off about it. There just simply are situations where the student knows they already know the material and the teacher knows they already know the material but there’s no way to get out of the class. The teacher isn’t teaching this stuff they already know to be mean to them personally, they are teaching it because there are others in the class that don’t get it. If you walk up to your teacher afterclass and tell them “I already knew all of that” and walk away, they are not simply going to be impressed with your knowledge.

      It’s a fairly funny comic, but in all honesty Amber is the one in the wrong about how she’s handling this.

      1. APersonAmI

        “Show off about it”? Look at Amber. I do not see a smug Amber. I see a happy Amber, doing something she likes doing. She was told to do a thing, this is one way she had of doing that thing.

        Point 1: I personally do not see that Amber antagonized her teacher in any way.

        Point 2: Teachers should be happy when their students are happy doing their assignments. Teachers should be happy when their students like their subjects.

        1. ninja_jesus

          The point is that she isn’t taking the class seriously, which is a total disrespect to the teacher and her fellow classmates. She may know way more about the subject, but acting like it’s so incredibly easy is insulting to those who don’t know as much as she does.

        2. APersonAmI

          That took her 5 minutes. If it takes you 5 minutes, you are not grandstanding or showing off, you are just doing it.

          On the insult: How? There is no fault in ignorance: to live is to not know everything there is to know yet. She knows, because she has learnt, but not knowing just means you will learn. Again, it took her 5 minutes, she is not acting like it is easy, to her, it is easy.

          I do not know everything yet, but I always yearn to learn more. I would not be insulted because someone else did not purposefully hide that they knew more than me, but I am a bit frustrated with the opinion that someone should do that, apparently in order to spare my self-confidence. If my self-confidence is so weak that I cannot accept that other people are good at things I am not good at yet, that is an emotional problem I should (and will) fix.

        3. beege

          She handed in the work almost instantly and did voluntary extra credit. How is that disrespectful? She’s not being rude to the teacher, she’s not skipping class, she’s not boasting about her abilities to other students or showing them up – she’s chosen to have this conversation after everyone has left – and she’s not complaining about being stuck in a class she doesn’t need (other than private conversations with Danny, who has the same problem).

          If you feel that someone is being disrespectful to you simply be being naturally better at something than you are the problem is entirely with you.

        4. Kelly

          That’s absurd.

      2. Rutee

        In her defense, she did not show up everyone else in the class. She had this chat in the lecture room, but everyone seems to have left.

        1. Jen Aside

          She also talked openly with Danny about how the class was beneath her when they first met.

      3. Heavensrun

        You and I are enemies now.

    4. Bagge

      There are always those in every class who are way beyond the subject matter, just like there are those who are way behind. As a teacher you often have to struggle to engage both of those groups. If one of them come to you full of enthusiasm over doing more than required and you shoot her down… then you’re not a very good teacher.

      “Wow, O’Malley, that’s way beyond what I have been teaching. So this is boring for you, am I right? How about an extra assignment? What would you be interested in?”

      1. Jen Aside

        Alex: “Since when am I obligated to be a good professor? Clearly you can just hack your grade to what you want.”

        // or whatever idk

  39. Intie

    I wish I wasn’t a sour fuck and could laugh at this instead of cringing with the power of a million suns. The ~Amber is nerdy~ strips are killing me.

    1. ninja_jesus

      What’s wrong with her being intelligent?

      1. Intie

        jesus

    2. Rutee

      …why?

      1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

        I’m guessing this person is either a real life Malaya-esque person, or is attracted to nerdy girls and is made extremely uncomfortably aroused by this. Possibly Probably both.

        1. Intie

          jesus

      2. Intie

        Because it’s been annoying to me since the very first time. It just feels terribly forced and cringeworthy.

    3. Kelly

      what?

  40. avstron

    it’s not grandstanding if you’re bored out of your mind.

  41. Rutee

    Huh, I can’t vote in the poll. I don’t think Becky’s a great character. I mean, she’s amusing, but ‘great’? Not at this time.

  42. Charles

    As a perfessur I most certainly would give her an A. I would also tell her she is wasting her time, and she needed to meet with me once a week and I would give her extra work at her level.

  43. Julez

    …What the hell comp sci course asks for code to be printed into hard copy to be turned in?? O_o even my QBasic (yes, way back in the day) class had us hand in assignments electronically so it can be proven they work.

    1. Seth

      I graduated last year, and majored in both software engineering and computer hardware engineering. In my limited experience, the hardware professors typically wanted hard copies of everything, including code. I went through so many trees while learning Verilog. If a software professor wanted a hard copy of something, though, it wasn’t code. (Funnily enough, it’s possible that the intro to web development class I took, which was taught by two web developers who weren’t full-time professors, was an exception. My memory’s unclear on this point.)

    2. segnosaur

      I used to be a college professor in computer science… I always expected code to be handed in both in hard copy, and electronically (so it could be tested).

      The reason I asked for the printout is because, in the case of a problem in the code (probably 90% of all assignments had at least [i]one[/i] bug, I could mark down where the error was, and (if necessary) show them how to correct it. (The assignments were not simply pass/fail.)

      I also didn’t mind if a student went “above” what the assignment asked for, as long as their efforts didn’t require me to do extraordinary amounts of work to grade their work.

  44. Jordan

    Is the hugs bosom any relation to Chris Hallbeck’s hugs bison?

  45. hof1991

    What are these people doing in a classroom? Why aren’t they doing amusing things in the dorms? OK, I guess they are attending a “college” or “university ” but they almost never go to classes.

    Glad I don’t have to do any programming any more. Yes, I started in FORTRAN on clay tablets and punch cards. I had a high school teacher who did punch cards by hand, like with a hand punch. Drupal is confusing enough for me.

    On printing, many printers are wireless these days as well as on networks. Maybe she just hacked the cheap wireless printer instead of the entire university network.

  46. OmegaDez

    Oh man, I always hated how much paper they made us waste back when I was in computer science class. -_-

  47. chisci

    you guys, the problem isn’t that she finished the assignment in 5 minutes and is being a smug jerk about it (that she isn’t), but that she didn’t use html in her assignment or that she’s using his ink to print what’s likely more than one page, that stuff’s expensive and that code probably too complex [/joke]

    on another note, i had to take an “algorithm and coding language” course or whatever where they taught us to use some form of C, and I find it odd that a month in they skipped ahead from basic use of the computer straight to web coding. When I took it the first couple of weeks were spent learning like how the computer works (as in, RAM and proccesors and slots and all that) and stuff like binary-octary-hexadecimal and that ASCII and unicode and all that exist. Granted, I’m not a computer science major, I’m not even from the US, so perhaps courses are structured differently for you; but web design sounds like an odd language to begin with, and so does coding without an intro to the hardware ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    1. chisci

      why do my comments always end up being like 30 lines long what the hell

  48. begbert2

    “The assignment was an entire page coded in html. Your page page has non-html elements. F.”

    1. Bagge

      “The assignment was for YOU to print the page, not me. F-” #RuleLawyeringIsGoodForLearningRight

    2. Kelly

      So you can’t use CSS? That’s going to be a boring page.

  49. democraticMayonaise

    I should really get that tiny portion of Danny’s face for my gravatar, that’d be neat.

  50. WaytoomanyUIDs

    Let me guess, next semester they’re doing COBOL.

    1. EvilSupahFly

      I hated COBOL. Love her shirt though: HUGS BOSON. Classic. 😀

  51. Bagge

    So… when was the last time Amber did something that people was proud of as Amber rather than amaziegirl?

  52. Lucy

    As a college professor, I hate professors like that. If your students are clearly well above mastery of your content, either find a way to challenge them, let them challenge *themselves* (because the really bright people will usually overachieve rather than coast), or shut up and let them ride the requirement. There are plenty of students who *don’t* get the material you can focus on (or better yet, get the the ones who know the material to help them). Don’t be an ass just because your school doesn’t know what to do with students who come in already knowing the 100-level stuff.

    1. Bagge

      I completely agree- basically any response would have been better.

      “Wow, how did you do that?”
      “Clever. I will only grade the HTML part though.”
      “Care for an extra assignment?”
      “You know, I could use some help with tutoring the other students.”
      “Are you sure this is the right class for you. Maybe I could help you find something that challenges you more.”

      1. Mr. Morningstar

        Yeah at first i thought he was mad because she hacked him or something.

        I’ll be honest this coding things goes way over my head so i barely understood half the dialogue.

  53. wakeangel2001

    what good would a printed out hard copy of that code do? I don’t know HTML but wouldn’t it just be a massive waste of paper?

    1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

      It’s so he can indicate corrections more easily, probably. I’ve only coded once or twice, but making notes is a ridiculous hassle in most non-paper formats.

    2. Mrelegos

      Because University Policy demands he get a paper copy of all assignments whether or not it’s sensible, and it’s not worth fighting?

      Or because it stops people trying the “my internet isn’t working, maybe my email didn’t get through?”

  54. Jimmy

    I remember taking programming languages and struggling mightily. Before that, I thought I wanted to be a programmer. Not after that disaster.

  55. Bill

    Y’know, while everybody here is carping about whether or not Amber should be in this class or if the instructor is being a total dick, I want to give Willis a shout-out for nailing the sound of the printer (“Chff-chff-chff-chff-chff”).

    1. Bill

      Ahem — Chff-chff-chff-chff-chff-chff-chff.

  56. TessandraFae

    I agree with Lucy. I also hate professors that hold back students that have clearly mastered a topic. She should CLEP out of that class.

  57. Em

    Show-offs are rarely appreciated.

  58. Tenn

    It seems that “Amber XOR Alex is a huge asshole” is as close to consensus as the comments section can get.

  59. Saaaam

    Guy’s being a jerk. She isn’t doing this in front of anyone but the teacher.

  60. brute

    regardless of whether she’s being a jerk or not, i can’t help but sympathize with amber here. she seemed genuinely proud of herself, and tried to do something out of pride (something she has to work pretty hard for), and was met with anger. i’ve experienced that kind of disappointment- where that one thing you were confident about is turned back on you into shame- and it sucks pretty hard 🙁

    at least, that’s how i see it. i could be projecting. whoops.

  61. MrSirk

    I like how you can just barely see Danny in the first panel but he still gets a tag.

  62. Vree

    Willis, why do you insist on making Alex the totally not a stereotype neckbeard?

    He was so awesome in IW! Is he gonna be the “fandom guy customer I don’t like” equivalent from Shortpacked?

  63. Hinoron

    It HAS been quite a long time since we were reminded Amber has other skills beyond punching people and jumping onto moving trucks.

  64. Akahane

    I dock points from computer science “teachers” for requiring printed out hardcopies of code.

  65. Aisling

    I want Amber’s tshirt, what a great play on words!

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