• jim (unregistered)

    These people we label "legends in their own minds."

  • (cs)
    Alex Papadimoulis:
    <font color="#ff0000">Expert</font>: Ok, then. But don't explain it to me. I've gotta finish this up, and don't want to spend an hour learning something that'll be of no use to me.


    I have said this for years.  Hex is of such little use, why don't we just get rid of it. 
  • Edwin (unregistered)

    Ow. Owie ow owwwww ouch. 


  • (cs)

    I'd think it was high time to do some calling around on those 2 "degrees".

    You know, just to make sure it wasn't something like "Perdue of the Bayou, Louisiana"

  • Ian (unregistered)

    <font size="2">I'd bet the Purdue Mechanical Engineering degree misses out two important concepts... "nut" and "bolt"... should try him with those two.  </font>:|
    <font size="2">
    The post kinda reminds me of the one about the pointy-haired boss who called the programmer in to tell him his code was unreadable because there were "too many colons"      </font>

  • (cs)

    just keep giving him rope and eventually he'll hang himself....

  • (cs) in reply to Mung Kee
    Mung Kee:
    Alex Papadimoulis:
    <font color="#ff0000">Expert</font>: Ok, then. But don't explain it to me. I've gotta finish this up, and don't want to spend an hour learning something that'll be of no use to me.


    I have said this for years.  Hex is of such little use, why don't we just get rid of it. 


    Yeah, real men code constants in Base64.
  • Ara Pehlivanian (unregistered)

    I wonder if he knows what binary is.

  • (cs)

    One of my first corporate IT positions was with an internation freightbroker.  For some reason they had more Purdue graduates than any other college.  And in my personal experience Purdue graduates are the most obnoxious and condescending alumnists that I have ever had the displeasure of working with.  My personal favorite was one Purdue Masters holder who argued about the origin of the word "Illinois".  He believed it was French and kept explaining to me the correct pronunciation is "Illi-nowah".  After several minutes of debate he basically declared that my education was ahem lacking. Fortunately for myself his friend, a US history major was coming to visit and he would set me straight.  When his friend arrived he practically tackled him and told him to illuminate me on the origin of the word "Illinois".  Before his friend could finish his sentence I was already laughing hysterically.  To the Masters holder's dismay his friend said, "Many people believe that 'Illinois' is a French word, but it comes from the name of the Native American tribe that was already living here prior to the French and English settlers."  I laughed and wished them a good weekend and took my illiterate and under-educated kiester out for a beer.  Purdue Boilermakers, their heads are always like a boiler ready to explode, they're huge.

  • gramie (unregistered) in reply to Ian

    That was a Dilbert cartoon, and the real punchline was Dilbert explaining that he used so many colons "because they remind me of you, sir."

    It took me a while to make the connection between "colon" and "large intestine" and "full of sh*t"!

  • Smartypants (unregistered) in reply to Just3Ws
    Just3Ws:
    One of my first corporate IT positions was with an internation freightbroker.  For some reason they had more Purdue graduates than any other college.  And in my personal experience Purdue graduates are the most obnoxious and condescending alumnists that I have ever had the displeasure of working with.  My personal favorite was one Purdue Masters holder who argued about the origin of the word "Illinois".  He believed it was French and kept explaining to me the correct pronunciation is "Illi-nowah".  After several minutes of debate he basically declared that my education was *ahem* lacking. Fortunately for myself his friend, a US history major was coming to visit and he would set me straight.  When his friend arrived he practically tackled him and told him to illuminate me on the origin of the word "Illinois".  Before his friend could finish his sentence I was already laughing hysterically.  To the Masters holder's dismay his friend said, "Many people believe that 'Illinois' is a French word, but it comes from the name of the Native American tribe that was already living here prior to the French and English settlers."  I laughed and wished them a good weekend and took my illiterate and under-educated kiester out for a beer.  Purdue Boilermakers, their heads are always like a boiler ready to explode, they're huge.


    Actually , The word "Illinois" is the French form of the Algonquin name "Illini" which means "superior men." It is how some native Americans in this area referred to themselves.
  • Steven Padfield (unregistered)

    This is the best WTF I've read in a long time.  I would love to meet that guy.

  • (cs) in reply to Smartypants

    It reminds me of a different Dilbert comic, or rather series. Namely, the "Certified Network Engineer" series.

    Stand back! I'm certified!

  • (cs)
    It's been around since the dawn of computing.
    Actually, octal is older than hexadecimal. Hexadecimal didn't make it big until the 1980's.

    But the correct response to the young engineer should have been

    Hey, it's your sensor that spitting out the letters!
  • (cs) in reply to Raymond Chen
    Raymond Chen:
    It's been around since the dawn of computing.
    Actually, octal is older than hexadecimal. Hexadecimal didn't make it big until the 1980's.


    Ah, no.  It was used on IBM mainframes well before then.

    Sincerely,

    Gene Wirchenko

  • (cs)
    Alex Papadimoulis:
    <font color="#ff0000">Expert</font>: Ok, then. But don't explain it to me. I've gotta finish this up, and don't want to spend an hour learning something that'll be of no use to me.


    "Expert"?  Someone who was formerly pert? <G>  Education is wasted on too many stupid and prideful people.

    This WTF reminds me of the Dilbert strip where Dilbert and Wally are comparing nuclear power and stupidity: both can be used for good or evil, and you do not want to get any on you.

    Sincerely,

    Gene Wirchenko

  • (cs) in reply to Just3Ws

    Just3Ws:
    One of my first corporate IT positions was with an internation freightbroker.  For some reason they had more Purdue graduates than any other college.  And in my personal experience Purdue graduates are the most obnoxious and condescending alumnists that I have ever had the displeasure of working with.

    I only know one Purdue grad and he's one of the most humble and agreeable people I've every known.

    But I do find that there are a lot of grads from 'top schools' that feel that the tower over the mere peons they 'work' with.  The schools that I usually associate this with are Harvard and Cambridge.  This is pretty universal though.  I bet you can find someone from the worst school in the nation that is throwing their intellectual weight around some people who didn't go to college.

  • (cs)
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    <font color="#ff0000">Expert</font>: Ok, then. But don't explain it to me. I've gotta finish this up, and don't want to spend an hour learning something that'll be of no use to me.



    Apparently that Purdue CS degree wasn't of much use to him either. But seriously, how could someone complete a CS degree and not know about hex?
  • (cs)

    Wait a second, Purdue is considered a "top school"?

  • Mr. Bill (unregistered) in reply to Ara Pehlivanian

    Anonymous:
    I wonder if he knows what binary is.


    There are only 10 types of people in the world:  Those who understand binary and those who don't...  [8-|]

    Mr. Bill

  • James Schend (unregistered)

    Ooo, Raymond Chen posts here.

  • (cs) in reply to Mr. Bill
    Anonymous:

    Anonymous:
    I wonder if he knows what binary is.


    There are only 10 types of people in the world:  Those who understand binary and those who don't...  [8-|]

    Mr. Bill



    I wouldn't go taking credit for that yet

    http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/frustrations/5aa9/
  • LX (unregistered)

    FYI,

    Purdue CS department is in a gym. "Memorial Gymnasium" is carved into the marble while "Department of Computer Science" is a tiny plastic sign.

    I think this story makes sense when you consider CS graduates coming out of a gym... ;)

  • (cs) in reply to Mung Kee
    Mung Kee:
    Anonymous:

    Anonymous:
    I wonder if he knows what binary is.


    There are only 10 types of people in the world:  Those who understand binary and those who don't...  [8-|]

    Mr. Bill



    I wouldn't go taking credit for that yet

    http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/frustrations/5aa9/


    I came up with all the ideas for Sesame Street.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon
  • (cs) in reply to Matt B
    Matt B:
    Wait a second, Purdue is considered a "top school"?


    Surely not for CS.  I'm pretty sure they are highly ranked in other Engineering disciplines though.
  • (cs) in reply to Richard Nixon
    Richard Nixon:
    Mung Kee:
    Anonymous:

    Anonymous:
    I wonder if he knows what binary is.


    There are only 10 types of people in the world:  Those who understand binary and those who don't...  [8-|]

    Mr. Bill



    I wouldn't go taking credit for that yet

    http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/frustrations/5aa9/


    I came up with all the ideas for Sesame Street.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon


    Even the HIV+ muppet?
  • Mr. Me (unregistered) in reply to dubwai

    dubwai:

    But I do find that there are a lot of grads from 'top schools' that feel that the tower over the mere peons they 'work' with.  The schools that I usually associate this with are Harvard and Cambridge.  This is pretty universal though.  I bet you can find someone from the worst school in the nation that is throwing their intellectual weight around some people who didn't go to college.

    This isn't limited to college grads.  I've run into plenty of self-proclaimed experts that you can't reason with.

  • Anonymous (unregistered)
    Alex Papadimoulis:
    The raw data is a long hexadecimal string, and looks something like this: 

    D86442AE68F94C70B31036BCF0904242
5889A429F97A4963906A52C27C523C23
A97033272C3E435BAC4657B5781447C2
167BBCEED02A46C39FFB65BBE2D2815B
DBF04628498241F0A32975CC57B3861D
BEB37DC4B0544D399E75A3EC827D786B
046989F766CD45E1B362B4DCD7262231
024E2AE20D71491EA030CF29208D5232
206C69AD282C4E1D8966E3516A4292B9
999BD8A73B9149D79533E9C16F87666D
    Just out of curiosity, who decided to generate guids to represent the data?
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                         in reply to Mike R
            
            
    
                
    Or perhaps the Purdue was like in Frank Purdue Chicken Farms.... 
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 Ron G   (unregistered)                                     
            
    
                
    Either your young compadre is lying about his qualifications, or this
story's complete balony, cooked up to to pour scorn on young turks.
    

    
There is not a single Computer Science degree on the planet
that doesn't contain numerous areas where hex is used and taught
extensively. A CompSci graduate not knowing about hex is like a
mathematician not knowing about addition.
    

    
I smell bull.
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                         in reply to Mung Kee
            
            
    
                
     Mung Kee:
     Richard Nixon:
     Mung Kee:
     Anonymous:
     Anonymous:
    I wonder if he knows what binary is.


    There are only 10 types of people in the world:  Those who understand binary and those who don't...  [8-|]

    Mr. Bill

    

    
I wouldn't go taking credit for that yet
    

    
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/frustrations/5aa9/

    

    
I came up with all the ideas for Sesame Street.
    

    
Sincerely,
    

    
Richard Nixon

    

    
Even the HIV+ muppet?

    

    
Listen pal - Big Bird, Oscar, Elmo, and the rest of the gang are not
muppets. As far as I am concerned, all those muppets can drop straight
down to the hot place. My Sesame Street creations have class, unlike
Jim Henson's foul offspring. 
    

    
And yes, I came up with the idea for Kami as a way to teach kids in South Africa about AIDS. Thank you.
    

    
Sincerely,
    

    
Richard Nixon
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                     
            
    
                
    nar·cis·sism   Audio pronunciation of "narcissist" ( P )  <FONT color=#0033ff>Pronunciation Key</FONT>  (närs-szm) also nar·cism<!--PR:N0017100--> (-szm)
    n.
    

      

    1. Excessive love or admiration of oneself. See Synonyms at <FONT color=#0033ff>conceit</FONT>. 
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 asdf   (unregistered)                                         in reply to Smartypants
            
            
    
                
    Okay Professor Cooper
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                     
            
    
                
    As a Big Ten grad who is married to someone with degrees from 2 Big Ten schools (none of which are Purdue), I just love how this has turned into a Purdue bashing thread.

    -ds

    [pi]
    [B]


    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                         in reply to DisturbedSaint
            
            
    
                
    @#$%@#$%@#

    I'm apparently pizza and beer deficient as well...
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                         in reply to Ron G
            
            
    
                
     Anonymous:

    A CompSci graduate not knowing about hex is like a
mathematician not knowing about addition.
    



    Addition???  now who's making stuff up?

    Sincerely,

    DisturbedSaint
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                         in reply to Ron G
            
            
    
                
    Either your young compadre is lying about his qualifications, or this story's complete balony, cooked up to to pour scorn on young turks.

    There is not a single Computer Science degree on the planet that doesn't contain numerous areas where hex is used and taught extensively. A CompSci graduate not knowing about hex is like a mathematician not knowing about addition.

    I smell bull.
    

    ++
    

    There is no way in hell that he doesn't know what hex is with those credentials.  No way.
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                         in reply to Ron G
            
            
    
                
     Anonymous:
    Either your young compadre is lying about his qualifications, or this
story's complete balony, cooked up to to pour scorn on young turks.
    

    
There is not a single Computer Science degree on the planet
that doesn't contain numerous areas where hex is used and taught
extensively. A CompSci graduate not knowing about hex is like a
mathematician not knowing about addition.
    

    
I smell bull.

    

    
I do not.  In 2002, I started a diploma program to finally get
formal credentials in computing.  A first semester class
introduced hex.  The instructor allowed a hex cheatsheet during
exams.  Yes, I mean something that said A=10, B=11, etc.
    

    
I can see some programs not dealing with hex at all.  I would be rather leery about their quality though.
    

    
One poster asked why GUIDs were used.  32 hex characters does not
necessarily mean a GUID.  I was reading hex dumps in the '70s that
consisted of lines of 32 hex characters.  After all, that is
10(hex) bytes.
    

    
Sincerely,
    

    
Gene Wirchenko
    
 
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 BR   (unregistered)                                     
            
    
                
    I have the reverse problem - some developers on my team have this thing
about using hex for magic numbers in code. I have to trawl through huge
case statements like:
    

    
switch(l)
    
{
    
    case 1:  
    
        i = 0x005A;
    
       break;
    
    case 2:
    
        i = 0x0168;
    
        ...
    

    
They aren't even byte-oriented numbers or anything, they're just twips measurements.
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                         in reply to Anonymous
            
            
    
                
     Anonymous:
     Alex Papadimoulis:
    The raw data is a long hexadecimal string, and looks something like this: 

    

    

    D86442AE68F94C70B31036BCF0904242
5889A429F97A4963906A52C27C523C23
A97033272C3E435BAC4657B5781447C2
167BBCEED02A46C39FFB65BBE2D2815B
DBF04628498241F0A32975CC57B3861D
BEB37DC4B0544D399E75A3EC827D786B
046989F766CD45E1B362B4DCD7262231
024E2AE20D71491EA030CF29208D5232
206C69AD282C4E1D8966E3516A4292B9
999BD8A73B9149D79533E9C16F87666D
    Just out of curiosity, who decided to generate guids to represent the data?
    

    

    Good observation! I added the hex for effect ... I figured I could have either done a bunch of "SELECT NEWID() UNION ..." or used the GenerateHex function ... but I didn't want any "z" in there confusing things ;-)
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 cypherpunks   (unregistered)                                         in reply to Ron G
            
            
    
                
     Anonymous:
    There is not a single Computer Science degree on the planet
that doesn't contain numerous areas where hex is used and taught
extensively.
     While this sure /seems/ likely, I'd hesitate to claim this. I've had people say this about various data structures that weren't addressed at ECU's CS program (Red-Black Trees, for example). I've also had to explain binary<=>decimal conversions to a CS senior. I know he'd learned it (multiple times) before, but he was just really stupid. 
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                         in reply to Ron G
            
            
    
                
     Ron G:
    There is not a single Computer Science degree on the planet that doesn't contain numerous areas where hex is used and taught extensively. A CompSci graduate not knowing about hex is like a mathematician not knowing about addition.
    

    What class would this be taught in? Core ComSci coureses are Data Structures, Hardware & Arch, Op Sys, Compiler Design -- the only one I could see it being used in is Hardware & Architecture, but then again, it isn't really necessary to use hex to teach H&A.
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 David   (unregistered)                                     
            
    
                
    nahhh i think it's fake...2 degrees and don't know Hex? gimme a break...
    

    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 kaj   (unregistered)                                     
            
    
                
    A friend of mine swears that more than half the CS graduates he
interviews can't tell him what 5 is in binary, even if given all the
time they want and pen and paper.
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 Anonymous   (unregistered)                                         in reply to Gene Wirchenko
            
            
    
                
     Gene Wirchenko:
    One poster asked why GUIDs were used.  32 hex characters does not necessarily mean a GUID.  I was reading hex dumps in the '70s that consisted of lines of 32 hex characters.  After all, that is 10(hex) bytes. 
    

    You are correct that a 32 hex characters do not necessarily mean a GUID.  In fact, only a fraction of randomly generated 32 hex character strings would actually represent a GUID.
    

    However, each line in the submitted sample data is a GUID, and I was just curious whether Alex or Todd decided to generate a few as 'random' data.
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 Anonymous   (unregistered)                                         in reply to Alex Papadimoulis
            
            
    
                
     Alex Papadimoulis:
    Good observation! I added the hex for effect ... I figured I could have either done a bunch of "SELECT NEWID() UNION ..." or used the GenerateHex function ... but I didn't want any "z" in there confusing things ;-)
    

    Thanks Alex!
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 Colonel Angus   (unregistered)                                         in reply to Ron G
            
            
    
                
    Just because the degree program offers the courses, does not mean they are required for the degree.
    
I have a BSCS and MSCS. The BSCS only required that we know what hex was. 
    
The MSCS never touched hex.  Perhaps you are thinking of an EE degree?
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
 frunobulax   (unregistered)                                     
            
    
                
    15 years ago, when I was a know-it-all recent grad, I had the misfortune of working with some seasoned developers who were really were morons. When I approached the seasoned team lead of the database group (raised on COBOL and hierarchical IBM databases) to discuss a completely retarded relational data model (not even first normal form, only one foreign key was allowed per table, keys were generated with no unique identifier derived from data), I tried explain the concept of foreign keys, primary keys one to many, and many to many relationships, referential integrity and how those concepts, if applied to the data model would make it usable.
    

    I was dismissed with this zinger "key, foreign key, what's the difference?, they are both keys, your ivory tower BS won't work in the real world, relational databases are just like any other, bla bla bla..". They never straightened out the retarded data model, and the product never worked becuase the database was always filled with nonsense. 
    

    Of course the problems were blamed on  relational database technology in general, not  the fact that the people designing the database were complte morons who had absolutley no clue about relational databases.
    
            
    
        
    • 
        
  • 
    (cs)                                     
            
    
                
    <FONT face=Tahoma size=2>I bet he has great computer hacking skills, though. Girls like boyfriends with great skills. [W]</FONT>
    
            
    
        
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  • 
    (cs)                                     
            
    
                
    I went to hex education when I was in middle school.  This guy obviously didn't.  I thought all adolescents at some point learned about hex.....either through rumors, reading, or experimentation.
    

     
    

    what a pitiful play on words..........sigh....
    

     
    
            
    
        
    • 
    


            


            
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