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Many things puzzle me in the world of IT but none more than this:
The null coalescing operator (?: or ?.) in various languages is known as the Elvis operator because, apparently, if you turn it on its side it looks like Elvis.
The only thing is ... it just doesn't. I can't even work out which era of Elvis it's supposed to resemble. The rock 'n' roll years? The army years? The '68 comeback? The Vegas years? Some time after he died? I'm just not seeing it at all. However many pictures of Elvis I look at, I just can't find one where his hair remotely resembles a sideways question mark.
Admittedly, my eye-sight isn't terribly good but I just can't imagine that anyone could possibly see this as Elvis without considerable chemical assistance. Is it just me?
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Hair & forehead in profile.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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megaadam wrote: Hair & forehead in profile.
I can kind of get the question mark as a side-on quiff but then the colon just doesn't stack-up as a forehead.
If the colon is taken as eyes (as in most emoticons and the way I've been looking at it) then the hair doesn't make sense.
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It sort-of works if it's the "?." version: two dots for eyes, and a quiff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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On some folks (mostly in Washington dc) the colon and forehead are often in the same place.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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<MartyFeldman>On the nosey!</MartyFeldman> 
Software Zen: delete this;
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I really dislike emoticons - and as often as not can't figure out what the hell it's supposed to be. In addition, I hate having to un-emoticon perfectly valid punctuation because some parsing algorithm thinks it's what I want.
In this case, however, given the name, I can see the idea.
You do realize that this isn't supposed to be a photo, but simply a symbolic representation, right?
I mean, do any of them really look like anything if you don't give them some slack?
(note how this post is emoticon free, despite tempation)
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos wrote: You do realize that this isn't supposed to be a photo, but simply a symbolic representation, right?
I mean, do any of them really look like anything if you don't give them some slack?
Well, the smiley face and the wink just about work for me but beyond that, no, I can't think of too many that really make any kind of sense.
I think the really annoying thing with this one is that it isn't an emoticon, it's something that looks like it might be an emoticon so it's been named like one. We haven't ever, as far as I know, felt the need to come up with a pictorial name for the countless other two-character operators that we code with in the past so I'm wondering if this is the start of a new thing. If it is, I'm against it!!
And, yes, totally agree that editors that convert punctuation to emoticons are the most annoying things ever written.
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PeejayAdams wrote: editors that convert punctuation to emoticons are the most annoying things ever written.
Then I guess you haven't yet booted a PC and found it to be running Windows 8 ?
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos wrote: Then I guess you haven't yet booted a PC and found it to be running Windows 8 ?
Good point! I managed to endure that particular adventure for about 35 minutes.
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For that you get a Klingon smilie: }}:-[
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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PeejayAdams wrote: I can't even work out which era of Elvis it's supposed to resemble. The rock 'n' roll years? The army years? The '68 comeback? The Vegas years? Some time after he died?
The ASCII years, duh!
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I thought it was called the Elvis operator because everytime I see if I go "uh huh".
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PeejayAdams wrote: is known as the Elvis operator because, apparently, if you turn it on its side it looks like Elvis.
You don't understand. It looks just like Elvis Smith - the drunk guy that lives 4 door down the street from me. I don't remember that he ever was in Vegas.
Brent
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Just like many smart programmers, I like abstract thinking. So why can't we agree to ignore the least significant bits?
... such stuff as dreams are made on
modified 17-Jun-16 9:45am.
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Because it's the little things that matter.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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That's what I tell my girlfriend anyway.
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Did Mandelbrot teach us nothing? Did a butterfly flap its wings in Cambodia this morning in vain?
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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You have a doubled-word in there. Fix it. Now. 
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Why do do I always stutter when I write these things?
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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True story:
We once had a technical writer who couldn't understand the terms "least significant bit" or "most significant bit". We spent several discussions explaining this to him.
His first draft of the manual he was working on was filled with the phrase "least important bit" and "most important bit". He insisted that was easier to understand  .
Software Zen: delete this;
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That is an awesome story! Working on the Apollo project, were you? 
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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Kodak was pretty high tech! I still remember the Kodak Cineon (Digital film post production) as a wet dream!
Also... In my grey-haired memories a lyrics fragment pops up.
Had a dream last night
Aint Kodachrome and and aint black-and-white
Couldve been Simon n Garfunkel...
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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Check this[^] out. You can't even say "No. Don't write anything."
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