Thomas1134 wrote:Something I've always wondered is why computers, particularly in URLs, insist on putting seemingly random characters in, such as the '%20' part in this one.

I've always thought it has something to do with maintaining backwards compatibility. Because some operating systems (sa DOS) do not support certain characters (sa spaces) in file and path names. Then again, I always thought the number after the % was an ASCII code number, but ASCII 20 is a paragraph break and not a space. *shrugs*

Computers also annoy me when they come up with error messages, and you ask for more detail, and it gives you a load of gibberish. Yeah, real helpful.

The errors are usually hexidecimal, machine code, and/or memory addresses. I don't know for sure. Doesn't mean much to me either, but it can be useful to people who can interpret it. When my PC started spitting up Blue Screens after Patch 1, I was able to track it to a memory problem by cross-referencing the address in the error to an online code list.

But... uh... to keep it on-topic... Not even the error codes can pop up faster than the speed of light.

In fact, electrons in a wire only move at about 70mph. However, the positive "hole" that the moving electron leaves when it moves travels the opposite direction down the line... at the speed of light.

MinionJoe wrote:
It's not a peer-reviewed article, but it is in a published text:

http://www.nd.edu/~mrea/papers/Four%20Dimensionalism.pdf

Remember, you can spell "metaphysics" without "physics" (and "meat")!

Something I've always wondered is why computers, particularly in URLs, insist on putting seemingly randon characters in, such as the '%20' part in this one.

Computers also annoy me when they come up with error messages, and you ask for more detail, and it gives you a load of gibberish. Yeah, real helpful.

% symbol denotes that whatever receives your the URL you typed in, needs to pay attention to the number that comes after. 20 is the hexadecimal ASCII code for a space so essentially %20 means replace this with a space. For whatever reason spaces aren't allowed in URL's.

Now error codes are almost pointless. It's likely that only the person who coded that particular part of the program knows what they mean. It makes me wonder how much use sending those error reports is.

That article looks interesting. I'll have to have a look at it later.

Zepherite wrote:

MinionJoe wrote:
It's not a peer-reviewed article, but it is in a published text:

http://www.nd.edu/~mrea/papers/Four%20Dimensionalism.pdf

Remember, you can spell "metaphysics" without "physics" (and "meat")!

Something I've always wondered is why computers, particularly in URLs, insist on putting seemingly randon characters in, such as the '%20' part in this one.

Computers also annoy me when they come up with error messages, and you ask for more detail, and it gives you a load of gibberish. Yeah, real helpful.

% symbol denotes that whatever receives your the URL you typed in, needs to pay attention to the number that comes after. 20 is the hexadecimal ASCII code for a space so essentially %20 means replace this with a space. For whatever reason spaces aren't allowed in URL's.

Now error codes are almost pointless. It's likely that only the person who coded that particular part of the program knows what they mean. It makes me wonder how much use sending those error reports is.

That article looks interesting. I'll have to have a look at it later.

Computers. They do me in.

SPORE got there before me on the %20 MinionJoe.

The reason the holes move at the speed of light is because the change in the Electric Field that runs the length of the wire "initialises" at the speed of light. Thats why there's no measurable delay between flicking a switch and the lights coming on. Those holes are so important that you actually have to take them into account when calculating a wires conductivity.

Zepherite wrote:20 is the hexadecimal ASCII code for a space ...

That makes sense now! Decimal ASCII code is 32, converted to hex is 20. Thanks!

I paged through the article before posting it. It's a lot of metaphysics and philosophy mostly. It does get into a bit of Einstein's views on the matter though.

But honestly, I'm not sure which you two it supports. If either.