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I really have to get 1-800-CALL-RAVI. 
/ravi
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Ravi Bhavnani wrote: I'm still trying to make sense of this[^] post.
I see what you mean. I cannot make any sense of that post.
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WTF?[^]
Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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I think it's a communication issue here. The original poster seems to be researching ways to break captcha (hopefully for non-malicious purposes). Some people have already done some research into that area. Example : http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mori/research/gimpy/[^]
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I know it can be done. There are implementations of CAPTCHA that are far weaker than others.
I just don't help people try to break something that other people use to secure their sites with. If he can type "CAPTCHA OCR" into Google, he'll get far more useful information, but he has to do that himself.
The fact that he's asking for help at such a general level tells me that he knows nothing of OCR in the first place, let alone how to even start an advanced implementation of OCR that can crack one of these things.
Plus, from what I've seen around the web on the subject, the implementation of his OCR would have to be pretty nearly custom made to defeat the features of the CAPTCHA type he's looking at. Things like lines throught the text, characters offset from each other, wavy text, different colors, overlapping characters, background blends, ..., would all have to be handled on a case-by-case basis. You could implement some analysis functionality for some of these things, but there's no way for the code to be absolutely sure of what it's dealing with without some outside help.
Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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Ah okay. I had assumed that you posted it in the Hall of Shame because of how he couldn't properly understand your replies to him. But now, I am confused. What's Hall-of-Shame-ish about that thread? It seems to be a newbie attempting to do something he has no clue about - much like those first time C++ programmers trying to write an advanced TCP server as their first project
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Nishant Sivakumar wrote: It seems to be a newbie attempting to do something he has no clue about - much like those first time C++ programmers trying to write an advanced TCP server as their first project
Time was, a person starting out on a project where they possessed no knowledge of the area in question would... you know, go to a library and research it. Now we have The Internet, and i've gotta say, researching things like this has become a much easier task... yet, time and time again, we see people asking the most basic questions, questions that would be answered in minutes by a quick search on Google. I tend to assume then, that they've already used Google, and simply couldn't comprehend any of the answers. Being the humble sort of person that i am, i realize that my answer would likely do no better, and prudently withhold it. 
What strikes me as odd about this particular post though, is that he seems to understand roughly what he'll need to do: prior to his question, he lists three steps required to perform the task (i've no idea if they're accurate or not, but it's a start...) So given that, i don't understand why he doesn't (say) look for a noise reduction algorithm, an OCR library, a string-handling tutorial for whatever language he plans to work in, etc. Again, all of these things are just about as common as the tumbleweeds piling up around my neighborhood.
Donno whether that really qualifies it as a WTF though; it seems to be closer to the norm here some days. 
----
It appears that everybody is under the impression that I approve of the documentation. You probably also blame Ken Burns for supporting slavery.
--Raymond Chen on MSDN
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Dave Kreskowiak wrote: More like a "what was he thinking?"
There's a new forum idea
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I think we already have it. It's called VB.NET Forum...
Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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Shog9 wrote: it seems to be closer to the norm here some days
yup.
in a way it's nice to know that it's not just the stereotypical lazy American kid who wants everything handed to him without having to spark any neurons beyond those required to pout and say "me want!" - there are spoiled lazy kids everywhere!
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It isn't just american kids Hesse.. The spoiled brats are EVERYWHERE
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What, you mean instead of starting with a string reversing function?
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I would say that's a communication issue there too. I'm pretty sure the OP (of that thread) does comprehend the replies but is not expressing that fact clearly (or at all).
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Well, maybe what the problem is... he took some random string and made a CAPTCHA image of it and now he's trying to compare the user's response with his string, but didn't store the string so he is trying to un-CAPTCHA it to perform the compare? 
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Sadly, this happens all too often!
Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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next article I'll write. I think I'll develop a CCaptchaToOCR class. Publication date set for April 1.
Chris Meech
I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar]
I agree with you that my argument is useless. [Red Stateler]
Hey, I am part of a special bread, we are called smart people [Captain See Sharp]
The zen of the soapbox is hard to attain...[Jörgen Sigvardsson]
I wish I could remember what it was like to only have a short term memory.[David Kentley]
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...inhale deeply...hold breath...
Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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Dave, you've made my day. That's the funniest sh*t I've seen in quite sometime. I can imagine how you must have felt 
Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. - Cicero
ப்ரம்மா
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Shades of Pinky and the Brain with that one. I wonder if he burted out "NARF!" after creating his responses?
Phil
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Or maybe he's trying to test his CAPTCHA-ing algorithm?
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Somehow, I seriously doubt it.
Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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You know, I think this[^] one sets a record for the longest post in the programming forums, weighing in at 25K.
It's not so much Hall of Shame, but instead qualifies as  . Does anyone else here think that he works on a governmnet contract?
Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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You've got to admit that he's thorough. Long winded, but thorough.
Dave Kreskowiak wrote: Does anyone else here think that he works on a governmnet contract?
I suspect that he works in a consultancy where success is counted as each member of staff producing their own bodyweight in documentation. He's got at least an arm there.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Pete O`Hanlon wrote: I suspect that he works in a consultancy where success is counted as each member of staff producing their own bodyweight in documentation. He's got at least an arm there.
This reminds me of the Post-Communist European government that required 8 meters of documentation[^]
--
Marcus Kwok
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