• Old Wolf (unregistered) in reply to David G
    David G:

    In New Zealand, it is typically:

    Primary: 5 to 10 Intermediate: 11 and 12 College (including sixth form and bursary): 13 to 18 University: 18+

    In my area, 13 to 18 was called 'high school'. There are a handful of high schools that are called 'X College' but they still call themselves high schools too.
  • mabinogi (unregistered) in reply to Old Wolf
    Old Wolf:
    David G:

    In New Zealand, it is typically:

    Primary: 5 to 10 Intermediate: 11 and 12 College (including sixth form and bursary): 13 to 18 University: 18+

    In my area, 13 to 18 was called 'high school'. There are a handful of high schools that are called 'X College' but they still call themselves high schools too.
    As far as I remember, in New Zealand college really isn't a formal definition. It's just a colloquial term that means "school" or "institution". Some Highschools used "High School" in their name, some used "College" in their name, there was no real reason for it, but they were all high schools.

    However, here in Canberra, Australia, College specifically means year 11-12 (the last two years of secondary school), with high scool being years 7-10. (Which is different to the rest of the country which is more like NZ and treat College and Highschool as interchangeable).

    However, the term "college" is also often used for a particular institution or faculty within a University.

    It is rare that anyone in New Zealand or Australia (outside of the ACT) would actually say they go to "College" though, they'd say "High school" or "Uni" regardless of what their High School or University named themselves.

  • q123 (unregistered) in reply to matt
    matt:
    did everyone miss the 15-bit colour? Is it just me or is that a very strange value...
    No, that's ok: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_depth#HighColor
  • (cs) in reply to AdT
    AdT:
    dkf:
    A screen bit-depth of 520 bits? Holy smoking donkeys! I need an upgrade for my eyes so I can perceive that...

    Make sure the upgrade includes tetrachromacy, for 520 is not divisible by 3.

    Not necessarily! It's Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha. By the time we have 130-bit-per-component displays, we sure as heck have see-through displays, too!

    Or maybe some manufacturer will interpret the "digital ink display" a little bit too literally and implement a CMYK monitor.

    Or maybe it's a paletted display, like what you get in 8-bit displays. You can fit heck of a lot of cool colors, real or imaginary, in a palette of 2^520 entries.

  • BillyBob (unregistered) in reply to SuperousOxide
    SuperousOxide:
    Kemp:
    Only the resultant grade is adjusted (A, B, C, etc for high-school/college work [english college = american something else]). The actual numerical percentage mark itself stands as it would be frankly ridiculous to adjust that. Again, what is adjusted is the lookup table for which score results in which grade.

    Grading curves are ridiculous anyway. Why is student X's crappy work acceptable just because everyone else turned in crappy work, too?

    Typically it's not the overall result that gets adjusted. However, say you have an exam and for a question in that exam, only 5% of the students answer it correctly the question will be scrapped because it wasn't suitable - it says more about the question than the students.

    Sometimes the people setting the assessments get it wrong and just about anyone who has taken a course has benefited from it. Especially if you've taken a course where there is a new lecturer as they typically get a little excited.

  • BillyBob (unregistered) in reply to BillyBob
    BillyBob:
    SuperousOxide:
    Kemp:
    Only the resultant grade is adjusted (A, B, C, etc for high-school/college work [english college = american something else]). The actual numerical percentage mark itself stands as it would be frankly ridiculous to adjust that. Again, what is adjusted is the lookup table for which score results in which grade.

    Grading curves are ridiculous anyway. Why is student X's crappy work acceptable just because everyone else turned in crappy work, too?

    Typically it's not the overall result that gets adjusted. However, say you have an exam and for a question in that exam, only 5% of the students answer it correctly the question will be scrapped because it wasn't suitable - it says more about the question than the students.

    Sometimes the people setting the assessments get it wrong and just about anyone who has taken a course has benefited from it. Especially if you've taken a course where there is a new lecturer as they typically get a little excited.

    ... and occasionally, marks are adjusted down as well - but that's much rarer.

  • NightCreature (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    Justin Haygood:
    I was under the impression that the last 8-bits was for the alpha (transparency) bits?
    Sure, why not? It's more likely to be correct than as a z-buffer.

    The extra 8 bits are padding. Without specifying what is in 32-bit mode, it's impossible to really give any answer.

    However, the screenshot seems to suggest that it's the display mode, and for the actual display memory, the extra 8 bits are useless and just ignored.

    For texture memory, then yes, the extra 8 bits are frequently used as an alpha channel.

    Note that as far as I know, nothing uses an 8-bit Z-buffer. Someone might find some really old system that did, but I can't imagine a system both old enough to use only 8 bits for a Z-buffer and new enough to support 24-bit color.

    I haven't done enough graphics programming recently to know what modern hardware uses, but I expect any recent graphic cards would use (or more accurately support) a 32-bit Z-buffer that's effectively completely separate from the display buffer.

    Also, note that 16-bit also isn't evenly divisible by 3. Usually the extra bit is either assigned to the green channel, giving it an extra 32 values, or is used as a single-bit alpha channel.

    In D3D and OpenGL the depth buffer is independent from the color. Mostly the extra 8 bits are used as alpha or as spacing as indicated. Besides you don't even want to use a 16bit depth buffer these days, gives a lot of jagged edges, these are also mostly 24bits and 8 extra bits for the stencil.

  • (cs)

    extra question is a bonus question :P

  • Java Scripter (unregistered) in reply to matt
    matt:
    did everyone miss the 15-bit colour? Is it just me or is that a very strange value...

    They're getting that value from JavaScript. In other words, it's user supplied data and subject to any sort of intentional manipulation you want.

    I wouldn't be surprised if XSS was possible on that site; the input validation is probably non-existent and making your browser report that it had a 23^script src="http://evil.com/evil.js"^ screen couldn't be all that hard.*

    *Angle brackets intentionally rotated because I don't post here often enough to know how to properly quote them on this forum.

  • Mr Steve (unregistered) in reply to David G
    David G:
    VisualD:
    make that 16-18

    Primary 5-11 Secondary 11-16 College / Sixth Form 16-18 University 18+

    The ages are not exact, It depends on the position of your birthday in the school year.

    In New Zealand, it is typically:

    Primary: 5 to 10 Intermediate: 11 and 12 College (including sixth form and bursary): 13 to 18 University: 18+

    However in New Zealand, it is only compulsory to attend a qualified school of any kind, including correspondence, up to the age of 16, after which you can drop out legally and become a bum.

    Hahahahaha.

    I'm in NZ as well. Kinda scary looking back at the amount of people who must have simply fallen off the radar. I mean there are so many UNI students who are friggin retards you wonder how they manage to hold down some of the crap jobs they do, god help the people who failed 5th form.

    Despite all the shit code and retard clients, we're really quite lucky to hold down the jobs that we have

  • dkf (unregistered) in reply to grrr
    grrr:
    The alpha transparency in a RGBA pixel is used to combine two images on the same screen so that you can see both at the same time. EX. partially transparent windows.
    Having written blending engines, I know that in great detail. But we don't have transparent displays (yet) so at some point you're going to hit a surface that is opaque; that's at least conceptually the desktop (or perhaps the underlay for the desktop...)
  • Anonymous Coward (unregistered) in reply to SuperousOxide
    SuperousOxide:

    But apparently the prof doesn't know how to tell the difference. There's nothing wrong with saying 50%+ is an A. But using a curve to determine that is stupid. He should know how much of the material is necessary to know for the ungrads, and base the "curve" on that. (I guess I mean to clarify that I only object to "Top student gets the A" or "10% of students get A, 30% B, etc" style curves)

    In this case, I'd say the professor was just too lazy to make appropriate lesson plans and tests for his audience and just used what he taught to the graduate students.

    It has been my experience (both as a student, and as a teaching assistant), that once you get a large enough number of students (in the hundreds or so), grading on a curve makes perfect sense, because academic ability is a Gaussian distribution in any large enough population. That being said, I agree with you that for smaller classes, grading on a curve is a cop out so that the person coming up with the test doesn't have to bother with making sure his test is appropriate for its intended audience (which is actually quite difficult to do).

  • Daniel K (unregistered) in reply to Java Scripter
    Java Scripter:
    matt:
    did everyone miss the 15-bit colour? Is it just me or is that a very strange value...

    They're getting that value from JavaScript. In other words, it's user supplied data and subject to any sort of intentional manipulation you want.

    I wouldn't be surprised if XSS was possible on that site; the input validation is probably non-existent and making your browser report that it had a 23^script src="http://evil.com/evil.js"^ screen couldn't be all that hard.*

    Yeah, because Google are totally incompetent when it comes to web coding (hint: it's a shot from Google Analytics a few days after I put my blog up.)

    It seems to be a problem with macs: http://www.panotools.org/mailarchive/msg/52745

  • Cloak (unregistered) in reply to dkf
    dkf:
    A screen bit-depth of 520 bits? Holy smoking donkeys! I need an upgrade for my eyes so I can perceive that...

    Yes it gives the ridcuolous amont of 3,4323988300653048574909503995407e+156 colors.

    Happy upgrading

  • Cloak (unregistered) in reply to AdT
    AdT:
    dkf:
    A screen bit-depth of 520 bits? Holy smoking donkeys! I need an upgrade for my eyes so I can perceive that...

    Make sure the upgrade includes tetrachromacy, for 520 is not divisible by 3.

    Loren Pechtel:
    Here's 6 problems, answer any 5.

    Another possible explanation is that one question had a weight factor of 0. Though that makes me wonder why it was posed at all.

    32-bit cannot be divided by three easily, AFAIK

  • JohnB (unregistered) in reply to BillyBob
    BillyBob:
    ... and occasionally, marks are adjusted down as well - but that's much rarer.

    "Occasionally ... adjusted down"!?!?! Occasionally!?!?!?!

    Mine were always adjusted down.

    (I don't like doing this but ... captcha: dubya -- make of that what you will.)

  • (cs) in reply to JohnB
    JohnB:
    BillyBob:
    ... and occasionally, marks are adjusted down as well - but that's much rarer.

    "Occasionally ... adjusted down"!?!?! Occasionally!?!?!?!

    Mine were always adjusted down.

    (I don't like doing this but ... captcha: dubya -- make of that what you will.)

    You get 8 out of 10 questions right and you get a 50% mark? Sucks to be you, I guess.

  • no longer a student (unregistered) in reply to SuperousOxide
    SuperousOxide:
    In this case, I'd say the professor was just too lazy to make appropriate lesson plans and tests for his audience and just used what he taught to the graduate students.

    And in this case you'd be wrong. While she did have some PhD students, she regularly taught undergrads. She was well known in the department for teaching all of her classes above the stated level, not just the undergraduate ones.

    It isn't that rare to find professors who will teach above the level of their class. Some of them are lazy and some of them are clueless. The rare few will do it so that even the cum laude students are challenged.

  • (cs) in reply to dkf
    dkf:
    LCD displays
    Sorry, but this is bugging me. LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. So you have a Liquid Crystal Display Display? Or do you just like repeating TLAs without knowing what they actually stand for? </TLA_Nazi>

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Channel When doing work involving textures, yes they are used to provide transparency. However, when drawing to screen they are just padding, to align everything nicely in memory. So 32-bit colour is just 24-bit colour with 8 bits of padding. Unless you happen to have a 24-bit computer. :)

    I'll get my coat.

  • Michael.H (unregistered)

    maybe he needed to just answer 3 or 4 or 5 out of 6 to get 100% its plausible.

  • Myself (unregistered) in reply to AdT
    AdT:
    Make sure the upgrade includes tetrachromacy, for 520 is not divisible by 3.

    Or it just uses different numbers of bits for different color channels, much like 16-bit video (5R 6G 5B).

  • (cs) in reply to SuperousOxide
    SuperousOxide:
    no longer a student:
    I've been in undergraduate classes where the professor has purposefully taught at a graduate school level, then applied a curve. It isn't that the majority of the students are turning in crappy work, it's that the majority of the students don't have what it takes to earn a PhD in the subject.

    But apparently the prof doesn't know how to tell the difference. There's nothing wrong with saying 50%+ is an A. But using a curve to determine that is stupid. He should know how much of the material is necessary to know for the ungrads, and base the "curve" on that. (I guess I mean to clarify that I only object to "Top student gets the A" or "10% of students get A, 30% B, etc" style curves)

    In this case, I'd say the professor was just too lazy to make appropriate lesson plans and tests for his audience and just used what he taught to the graduate students.

    Obviously it would be out of line to consider professors that wanted their students to actually learn up to their potential.

  • (cs) in reply to AdT
    AdT:
    Make sure the upgrade includes tetrachromacy, for 520 is not divisible by 3.

    Right, because we all know 2, 8, 16, and 32 are all divisible by 3.

  • (cs) in reply to AdT
    AdT:
    dkf:
    A screen bit-depth of 520 bits? Holy smoking donkeys! I need an upgrade for my eyes so I can perceive that...

    Make sure the upgrade includes tetrachromacy, for 520 is not divisible by 3.

    Loren Pechtel:
    Here's 6 problems, answer any 5.

    Another possible explanation is that one question had a weight factor of 0. Though that makes me wonder why it was posed at all.

    //Possible reconstruction

    Question number 6) What is your name?

  • Kitgerrits (unregistered) in reply to Anon

    My thoughts exactly!

    Keep in mind, though, that transparency and depth 'live' in 2 separate types of buffers.

    Like you said, transparency lives in texture memory (as RGBA). Z-buffer is kept in the frame-buffer (the 2D picture that is the result of all the 3D work).

    Z-buffer keeps track of which pixel is how deep As a result, if helps wo work out if the next drawn 'object' is in front or behind the existing texture.

    Captcha: pointer - for pointier textures :-P

  • Rob G (unregistered) in reply to Jon

    Er.. no.

    In England a College typically offers more vocational courses - carpentry, masonry, catering, etc. Which result in diploma's but not degrees.

    Universities follow a more academic bent, or at least until recently when there's been some criticism that some of Uni's are offering "softer" subjects, such as "wind-surfing".

  • Rob G (unregistered) in reply to Control_Alt_Kaboom

    Obviously his display is f***ing amazing, not only does it address a massive 520-bit colour depth, but also addresses an array of LCD's.

  • Daniel Rutter (unregistered)

    The pre-CS3 ImageReady Save For Web function had that same "Auto and Auto" bug.

  • (cs) in reply to SuperousOxide
    SuperousOxide:
    Grading curves are ridiculous anyway. Why is student X's crappy work acceptable just because everyone else turned in crappy work, too?

    Because the alternative (the instructor misjudges and gives a test that's way too hard, that almost no one would be able to do well on -- maybe he's new, maybe he just got unlucky and misjudged, maybe he is just a soulless bastard) is worse? It also evens out the differences between how hard different instructors/TAs grade (I suspect you're rather more likely to have TAs who grade markedly differently than two classes with markedly different distributions).

  • Rob (unregistered) in reply to Someone You Know
    Someone You Know:
    Kemp:
    ...english college = american something else...

    What does "college" mean in England, then?

    In England, "college" normally refers to a further education institute normally started from the age of around 16, or maybe 18, as an alternative to university. Colleges typically offer vocational courses, and are an alternative to "sixth form" for gaining the qualifications required to attend a university.

    "College" may also refer to a particular "component" of an older institute, such as the Oxford or Cambridge universities; see the Wikipedia article on the "Oxford collegiate system" which someone's already pointed out in these comments for more information.

  • Rob (unregistered) in reply to Rob G
    Rob G:
    Er.. no.

    In England a College typically offers more vocational courses - carpentry, masonry, catering, etc. Which result in diploma's but not degrees.

    Universities follow a more academic bent, or at least until recently when there's been some criticism that some of Uni's are offering "softer" subjects, such as "wind-surfing".

    David Beckham studies, anyone? I shit you not...

  • DF (unregistered) in reply to AdT
    Make sure the upgrade includes tetrachromacy, for 520 is not divisible by 3.

    So? Maybe it's not an RGB color space, or maybe it allocates more bits to green. Not unheard of. Or, you know, it could just be padded.

  • AdT (unregistered) in reply to Cloak
    Cloak:
    dkf:
    A screen bit-depth of 520 bits? Holy smoking donkeys! I need an upgrade for my eyes so I can perceive that...

    Yes it gives the ridcuolous amont of 3,4323988300653048574909503995407e+156 colors.

    Happy upgrading

    To be precise, it's 34323988300653048574909503995406966086347176500716527046972 31729592771591698828026061279820330727277488648155695740429 018560993999858321906287014145557528576 colors.

    Cloak:
    32-bit cannot be divided by three easily, AFAIK

    Yes it can. Ten and two-thirds. See how easy that was?

    Sheesh... where do people learn arithmetics these days?

  • AdT (unregistered) in reply to sxeraverx
    sxeraverx:
    Right, because we all know 2, 8, 16, and 32 are all divisible by 3.

    Of course I know what irony is, it's like goldy or silvery, only it's made of iron.

  • Phlip (unregistered) in reply to matt
    matt:
    did everyone miss the 15-bit colour? Is it just me or is that a very strange value...
    There are two common 16-bit graphics modes. The more common is 5 bits of red, 6 of green and 5 of blue (as has been mentioned, humans perceive green better than the other two, so the extra depth makes sense there). This mode uses all 16 bits for colours, but the fact that the channels are distinct depths can cause problems... so an alternative is 5 bits for each channel and 1 bit of padding (generally the padding bit is ignored, but where it makes sense it's often used as an alpha channel). This mode is sometimes referred to as a "15-bit" colour depth to distinguish it from the deeper 5-6-5.

    Knowing is half the battle.

    Also: people have been talking about the extra 8 bits in 32-bit images being an alpha channel... though that is what the padding bits are often used for, an alpha channel isn't going to me that useful in a display mode... they could be used in the various images and layers and such used to generate the display, but the actual final display itself is going to end up opaque, and that's what this stats script is (ideally, when it doesn't mess up and report "520-bit") measuring.

  • pmv (unregistered) in reply to AdT
    AdT:
    sxeraverx:
    Right, because we all know 2, 8, 16, and 32 are all divisible by 3.

    Of course I know what irony is, it's like goldy or silvery, only it's made of iron.

    I don't know what you're talking about... it's the opposite of wrinkly.

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