« first day (29 days earlier)      last day (3979 days later) » 

2:00 PM
Q: What's your favourite programming quote?

Simon BrownSimilar to this question on StackOverflow that was closed.

Q: Is there any hard data to back up "Human task switches considered harmful"?

PaddyslackerJoel Spolsky wrote a famous blog post "Human Task Switches considered harmful". While I agree with the premise and it seems like common sense, I'm wondering if there are any studies or white papers on this to calculate the overhead on task switches, or is the evidence merely anecdotal?

the two highest-voted questions
One is clearly better than the other
What makes "programmers.*" different from stackoverflow.com?
@Lasse, StackOverflow is about programm-ing, NotProgrammingRelated about programm-ers
> Programmers - Stack Exchange is for expert programmers interested in discussions that are only indirectly related to programming.
So we can discuss sitting up all night drinking beer while coding, but not actually talk about the code?
2:01 PM
that's the official definition from the FAQ
(not what lasse said)
Or that question a while back about that ailment you get in your hands when you use a mouse too much?
How apropos, I'm trying to clean my keyboard
(sigh) It wasn't a nightmare. iTunes 10 still looks horrible.
Yeah, sadly it does
There's no escaping that nightmare
@LasseVKarlsen Well the good news is it now installs on Windows Server
2:04 PM
Yeah, like anyone wants to infect their server with iTunes
@LasseVKarlsen So now I can at least stream my central library
@LasseVKarlsen Sure, now people can say their server is iTunes powered!
That's not a plus
It's like saying that my server is bogged down by dirt
To each his own but personally I never hated iTunes as much as most people seem to...
2:05 PM
@badp When running a mixed network, you have no idea how useful it is, especially with an Apple TV nearby
@Josh I didn't. Until about 4 hours ago
maybe it's because I'm on OS X
iTunes isn't the infectious agent here, AT&T on the other hand....
@Diago So I shouldn't upgrade from 9 to 10? :-)
@Diago - point. That's not the kind of server I was thinking about
@Josh Definitely because...
2:06 PM
@Josh Have a look at the starred posts :P
At least iOS 4.1 was a good upgrade for my 3G iPhone
Runs much smoother now
2 hours ago, by Diago
@LasseVKarlsen OK. I was an iTunes fan. Really. Honestly. Until about 10 seconds ago. Both the Mac and Windows versions looks like it was designed by a 2 year old!!!!!!
There are iTunes fans on Windows?
And I think the word "designed" is too strong
fans, as in revolving things that keep the heat of your taxed processor away
@LasseVKarlsen are you a iPhone dev, or just running the beta?
2:08 PM
I haven't seen v10, but I have no complaints about ITunes really, except I avoid using it as much as possible. :)
Well, I'm off, see you later
I am neither
@LasseVKarlsen Later!
I am running the release-version, but not a developer
@LasseVKarlsen Nice. I can't stand my iPhone 3G running so sluggish and flaky on iOS 4
The final 4.1 version was seeded to developers last night, but not bound to any developer, so it quickly found its way to the net
2:08 PM
I'm just glad Rhythmbox can replace iTunes when it comes to managing my sister's iPod
Anyway, later
(actually, Rhythmbox will not delete songs without asking)
I tend to wait a few days after a release seeing as I use the phone heavily
@devinb Line count completed. Size of the project: 3,250 files; 701,211 lines of code (excluding commants and blank lines)
I can rewrite that in a weekend!
2:13 PM
I think you're have an easier time writing a code converter :p
@balpha Awww... :-( "We're running a short, private beta right now, just to get things clean, well lit, and warmed up before the whole world arrives". Care to share any gems from that question for those of us underprivileged children of SO? ;-)
16 hours ago, by Popular Demand
@Diago I have now. What of it?
I hope Chrome adds some JSON color love, something like this: json.parser.online.fr
2:24 PM
@balpha Very good actually! Thanks!! :-)
@badp I love you
@NickCraver I like that site
I love how the SO api takes the time and bandwidth to serve the json prettified
does it? Chrome started formatting JSON at some point I haven't checked in another browser
2:26 PM
I can select the whitespace so I think that's the case
ah it does
firebug and chrome format it, so i never bother to look at it in anything else anymore
and JSon View > PrettyJSon
I quote that json page
> body: "<p>"Commenting your code is like cleaning your bathroom - you never want to do it, but it really does create a more pleasant experience for you and your guests."</p> <ul> <li>Ryan Campbell</li> </ul> "
How many parsers would choke there?
If you comment @Someone in a SO question, and Someone is an editor of the question but nothing more, does that notify them? I've forgotten
Okay, correction, it does.
I think it does actually
2:30 PM
I thought that was added at some point, but maybe not
thought there was a blog post about anyone with activity on the question
@NickCraver I thought so too but couldn't remember where
Q: Allow post editor to see @comments directed at him

alexThere have been times when I have edited a post, left no comments, yet I have made mistakes that were pointed out simply as @comments. That's ok, but unless I actually come back to the post, I will never see that comment. Would it be possible to extend the comment reply functionality to also incl...

just thought someone might know offhand
ah there it is
2:31 PM
@MichaelMrozek Awesome thanks!!
3:02 PM
@PopularDemand In your opinion would you consider nosredna a legend or just boring?
@Diago I don't recognize him. Should I?
I also didn't dig too deep into that blog; the main page didn't make me feel like it would have been worth it.
@PopularDemand From what I gather he or she worked at SEGA in the early years and has some extensive history in the gaming genre. Nothing I could confirm thought
@Diago What's that got to do with gravatars?
@PopularDemand No idea. Now I'm confused. I am going to have to check the transcript. Later. When I am drunk.
And I just remember I have no alcohol. Maybe I should go buy quick.
@Diago Fair enough. I just had to go back and double-check, too.
3:12 PM
Nah. Too much effort. I'll stay sober tonight. And I am getting drunk tomorrow night anyway.
@Diago, be careful. Robots always need a certain amount of alcohol for proper operation.
@badp They can pry my alcohol out of my dead hands!
looks around shiftily
Ha... just found this in code:
//WHY!? Why can this not be done more simply? WHY????!!!!!
3:22 PM
> "You should definitely use jQuery. It's really great and does all things -- I<3jQuery"
@MichaelMrozek It was a senseless conversation with myself. I do that. At times. Then regret it. Which thankfully means the delete function comes in handy.
@Diago You're not alone, I do the same
@Josh I credit bobince for the nickname
I come back to the word "fishnipples" and a lot of removed messages
bibince is cool. That question is hysterical. Correct answer gets -2 because "not enough jquery"
@devinb LOL gold star 4 u!
3:25 PM
@Josh Your gold star is a black star for me
@devinb I went on a rampage. Cause you and @PopularDemand weren't here to put me out of my misery
Sorry sometimes work gets in the way of my procrastination.
Is putting off procrastination a case-in-point or not?
@badp That's because you don't have a sense of humor ;-) If you did, it would be gold for you too, hehe
The damn reply icons run away from me ;-)
@Josh so just use the @ instead
@Josh Point. I admit defeat :D
3:27 PM
@Diago But then I don't get that really awesome hover-reply-indicator
Actually you do, @Josh
LOL. I love this place =D
@badp oh? Let's see
It just highlights the highlightee's last message, so if you weren't replying to that you're "out of luck".
didn't realize that. sweet
@Josh you can also scroll up a tad
that'll stop the auto-scroll
3:28 PM
@balpha How much more awesome are you planning to add to already awesome?
I heard all circles would be hand-drawn
@balpha That's very helpful, thanks!!
Just so we know when to stop singing your and @marc's praises
@Diago Sorry, awesome is out. We have a few more quite alrights, and I think there's a "better than nothing, I guess" in the back.
No "it could be worse"?
3:30 PM
@LasseVKarlsen no, twitter bought the last one
ah, yeah, they did
@balpha I'll be ok with the latter first. The quite alrights can come over time.
I guess per-site spawning takes the "better than nothing, I guess" one
Is there a limit to the number of stars you can stick to things?
Actually so did Facebook apparently according to the response to this post:
Q: Created Super User page on Facebook - need info...

studiohackI have created a Super User page on Facebook. I need information such as when Super User was founded, our mission, etc...check out the page and provide insights and suggestions...and of course, Like Super User's page! I also need a high-resolution image of the Super User logo (the existing is l...

3:31 PM
@YiJiang A daily limit, as with anything else
Because I've being playing around with Firebug on this
Will oneboxing work on all the chat sites with all the chat sites?
I hit the limit without trying on the one day beta test :(
So that I can onebox a question on math here?
And thought more than once to do a .click() on the stars...
3:32 PM
@LasseVKarlsen As far as I know yes
@LasseVKarlsen MathOverflow? No. Math.SE? Yes.
It uses the API MathOverflow lacks.
you should build an api for oneboxing
@badp Thanks for the correction
a site could have a onebox script in its root or something which you queried, giving it the url to the thing you want to onebox
and it could return something appropriate
I would love onebox when blogging, come to think of it.
3:33 PM
such a onebox thingy, once pulled into chat, how attached is it to the original site?
@LasseVKarlsen That's called "implementing the SO API" and when I asked that, I was replied chances are sites are checked against a "StackAuth" before question/answer oneboxing happen
I mean, if I hit Ctrl+F5, will you reload the onebox data from that site?
or is it cached?
Mmmmhmmm... I've just ran that command
@LasseVKarlsen Good question!
I think I just starred at least a dozen messages
3:35 PM
@YiJiang You also flagged 15 messages, it seems.
Ah crap...
awww... nuts
@devinb Just want to make you feel part of the loop
@devinb I fixed that for you :-)
I feel bad joke-flagging people. Unless it's Shog9
3:37 PM
Okay... I just unflagged them all
@devinb Flagged for being Canadian. I'm still bitter about the War of 1812.
@mmyers LOL!
@mmyers You can't win 'em all.
@YiJiang Could you have warned before i manually started unflagging
We would have ruled you all! But then where would we get our cheap medications? Hmm...
3:38 PM
If it makes you feel better, if you tried now, I think you'd have a better shot at not embarassing yourselves.
@Diago Sorry...
Flags are like on questions/answers, it's for inappropriate content, right? @devinb was my first chat flag
@Josh yes.
Mostly for offensive stuff, because spammers will most likely be attacked by other users.
OK I undid it @devinb :-) Why the blue square then? Shouldn't it be red?
or something
3:42 PM
Blue square shows that you flagged it. Red is used to indicate that you have done something wrong.
... usually.
Ahhh. I see. Blue made it look like I was flagging it as interesting or w/e
I suggest orange instead of blue, and keep red for when your own message is flagged
and any one of you twits can feel free to flag this blatantly offensive message so I can see what it looks like... (this message is probably a really really really bad idea...)
@devinb Blue squares don't show to other users?
@badp No, they show to yourself, and the > 10k users
Hm, and there's two different flags, "flag as spam/offensive" vs "flag for moderator attention". Difference being? (Sorry, just making sure I understand :-)
3:49 PM
@Josh Just like in SO. Only diamond mods can read your messages.
@mmyers Thanks
Looks like "twits" wasn't offensive enough, or, do I need a certain number of flags to see a red box like @devinb mentioned? :-)
Oh, you'll never see a red box.
@devinb oh. HA! Sorry for misunderstanding :-) * goes back to coding *
@Josh If you flag a message you can see its flag count
@badp But I can't flag my own message ;-)
4:03 PM
Hi gus
@SergioTapia You can hit up to edit your last message
Woah! That works!
@badp that scares me
So....what's new?
My class ended yesterday finally!!! Today I start a new one though. :(
4:05 PM
@badp Wow, I'd forgotten about zombo.com. Nice
@Diago What wasn't I here for?
@SergioTapia Same old same old... talk of fishnipples, random flagging of each others' messages, everyone harassing @PopularDemand for no reason, you know the drill :-)
@SergioTapia What topic?
Hey, is PopularDemand a SO admin or something?
4:06 PM
> everyone harassing @PopularDemand for no reason
I'm afraid that's by popular demand
@balpha This isn't a feature, it's a bug! I keep thinking there's no activity in a room when I'm actually just scrolled up by one imperceptible pixel or so.
Now to flag my own message for the bad joke
@SergioTapia He should be!
@badp I liked it :-)
Man I'm working on a blackberry app and so far it's pretty wierd for me. I'm used to a visual design like in Visual Studio and in Blackberry you have to design everthing by code! You know, add controls in a very specific order so they appear well.
@Josh I can see it now... Closed by Popular Demand. Deleted by Popular Demand. Banned by Popular Demand.
4:08 PM
@PopularDemand A good counterpoint. I found his feature very useful though
listenerBody: [object Object]
I wish my company would invest in Windows Phone 7 :'(
damnit, Chrome
@mmyers I love it :-)
@PopularDemand Maybe if you were scrolled up by 1px then an indicator shows at the bottom, a flashing red div
Okay, transcript skimmed. You people care too much about the flagging system.
4:09 PM
@PopularDemand I found that message offensive and have flagged it as such
@badp Have a star for this.
I like how trying to star your own message produces a scary looking "forbidden" box
@SergioTapia Negative. I just have too much Internet connection on my hands.
As I was telling someone (@Diago?) yesterday, I've had a lot of reading to do at work lately, so I can keep this open in the background.
My activity should drop off precipitously when I'm switched back to more of a coding role.
@mmyers I told someone the other day that I couldn't remember why I changed my name to Popular Demand, but I think I just re-found it:
A: User has Yearling badge but less than 200 reputation

Popular DemandThe other answers and comments cover this in bits and pieces, so here's a comprehensive answer. Maybe too comprehensive... but I'm hoping to use this as a template of sorts for future reports of this issue. The behavior of the Yearling badge was changed in December 2009. (It's my fault.) Unti...

Wait, no, wrong link
A: Yearling badge bug for Sneakers O'Toole?

Popular DemandYearling used to require a mere 100 rep, until I raised a massive amount of heck about it. There's a window of four months or so between when Sneakers was around for a year and when Jeff raised the bar. So, you could say this is by Popular Demand. ba dum pshhh (Finally, changing my Meta name ...

I wonder how many Easter egg test accounts are out there.
I think I only know of two.
I like your name change @PopularDemand. One of my favorites
more people should weigh in on the /me debate:
Q: IRC-like /me command for chat

JoshApologies if this is a duplicate or belongs elsewhere. I love the "action" command /me in IRC, and think it would be fun to have in the chat. So a message like: /me loves the new chat system Would show up as: Josh loves the new chat system Rather than: Josh: loves the new chat sys...

4:17 PM
@mmyers I think you changed your name onec, and that wa smy all time favorite, but I've forgotten now
@Fosco I agree. I also feel badly that your first meta answer received a net -1
So everyone go upvote him :-)
Oh wait, I forgot who I'm talking to. Everyone go downvote him xD
@Josh You may be interested in
A: The Many Memes of Meta


@PopularDemand Thanks that's right, I edited that a few times
The #1 reason for implementing /me is that many people will ask for it
@Josh I don't know. The only time I can remember changing my name was briefly on SO to Jon Skeet (on April 1st, 2009).
which was the #1 reason for the untimely demise of Bouncy.
Poor Bouncy.
4:20 PM
@mmyers Yeah I just realized I was mistaking you for @Pekka
Changing his name to Questions
My name used to be 'bp', then somebody had to rain on my parade!
@badp LOL!!
(I'm talking, obviously, about Jeff and his 3 characters limit.)
@badp Was it unusually thick, black rain?
@PopularDemand The rain was full of lolcats, laptops and problemz. :(
Does anybody else feel that getting a question reopened is much harder than getting it closed?
Sure, it doesn't help that I'm trying to reopen a question from Aug 18th, in this very specific case
4:30 PM
@badp Yes, if only because the question is likely to have fallen off of the main page by the time you want it reopened.
Now that chat exists, it helps to post here. Or, to

Regulator Headquarters

Yeah, I'm discussing it on chat. I doubt any of you there have 500 rep on Gaming :P
I suppose people who bring justice to the wasteland by closing bad questions down for good should also reopen inappropriately closed questios.
I pinged the diamond mod who gave it the final blow
That should do
So the bouncing avatar was just removed? Now how do I get rid of the (*) in the title bar?
oh.. by sending anything to the room...
@Fosco You can also click on the bouncing avatar if you have nothing to say.
4:38 PM
or pressing Esc
or clicking on the blue circled number
The options are infinite! Well, several. Or, like, four.
Three. There is no more bouncing.
Escape didn't work... what blue circled number?
but now you can race to have this really high number on your avatar!
@PopularDemand Done.
Q: How do you reopen a closed question?

RadekTo reopen a closed question, five (5) people with at least 3000 reputation must agree that the question is suitable for the site and cast votes to reopen the question. But: How does one actually vote to reopen? Is there a reputation level that you must have before you can see this function? ...

4:43 PM
@Diago That was fast.
@PopularDemand Always happy to oblige a fellow scholar and gentleman
@badp That's how it looks for you? For me it's in the very bottom left
@Diago But... but... you didn't make my "How does Meta work" an FAQ for months!
Also, scholars? Gentlemen? Where?
@Josh It's probably changed from when I took the screencap
@Pop I wasn't around for months remember. There is a scholar right behind you. The one behind your screen, the one in charge of typing on the keyboard is also a gentleman.
4:50 PM
Somebody please @me again...
@Diago I had no idea you were gone. Meaning no disrespect, you were kind of a faceless mod before chat, your gravatar notwithstanding.
@Josh Ping
I've edited the new page into the main FAQ page and added a link from the closed questions FAQ.
@Diago Thanks. I had stale cache files
@Diago Oh, that's what he meant.
4:53 PM
It looks SO much better now!!!
@Pop I thought everyone knew.
I thought he typoed /me.
@PopularDemand LOL!
@Diago Ah, I forgot about that. And I also misinterpreted your earlier comment as you being on a business trip or something.
4:54 PM
Ok. TIme to be professional. The boss is awake.
@Pop Lolz. No problem.
