Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

Welcome to the computing section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

• Computing
• Entertainment
• Humanities
• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Miscellaneous
• Archives

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

• Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
• Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
• Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
• Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
• Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
• Note:
  • We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
  • We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
  • We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
  • We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

• The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

June 10

RHDD or SSD

What is "1TB WD My Passport Ultra"? -- Apostle (talk) 04:24, 10 June 2016 (UTC)

Appears to be 1 terabyte Western Digital My Passport Ultra. External USB HDD. ―Mandruss ☎ 04:48, 10 June 2016 (UTC)

@Mandruss: You might also use this link Hard disk drive#External hard disk drives for 'External HDD'. --CiaPan (talk) 11:57, 10 June 2016 (UTC)

It is not an SSD. I prefer the 2TB version. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 09:59, 10 June 2016 (UTC)

I was thinking; I gave it a small shake and heard a bang. Okay, thanks peeps -- Apostle (talk) 18:23, 10 June 2016 (UTC)

If you mean while it was running, that was a really dumb idea. Modern hard drives particularly 2.5" are far less sensitive to vibrations than old ones, but intentional misuse will still cause problems. It should be obvious from the specs, speed, a simple online search, weight, SMART, internal drive info etc etc whether it's an SSD or HD. (For that matter where did you even get this HD? Unless you're randomly being given devices, it should be obvious from the price, or if it isn't you really need to do more research before buying stuff.) If you mean when it was disconnected, then provided it's really a small shake that was probably harmless and the noise may be an indication it can't be trusted. Nil Einne (talk) 06:39, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Yes Nil, I'm not 100% dumb Thank you however; noted all for the future... Regards. -- Apostle (talk) 18:13, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

June 11

Comp Holiday homework in HTML

I am in Class 8 and in my Computer holiday homework I have to write the coding for a website on a particular topic and e-mail it to my teacher. I am completed the coding but when I will send it the photos and videos I have used in it will not be available at the smae location as it is on my laptop, this would result in blank spaces it the websit. What to Do?????????--Aryan ( है?) 05:26, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

This is what I want- http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=66726697372990967788 [1] --Aryan ( है?) 06:00, 11 June 2016 (UTC)--Aryan ( है?) 06:02, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

This is what I get-[2]--Aryan ( है?) 06:02, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

You could host your images on a public site like Imgur. Personally I'd host the images there and host the page(s) on a site like CodePen or JSfiddle; you'll have to use the full URLs that Imgur generated for your images when you refer to them from your email, or a site like Codepen. If you really had no alternative, you could embed the image into the HTML using the Data URI scheme (possibly using a tool like this to generate the encoded text), but for all but trivial images that produces horrifically unreadable HTML code (which matters if your teacher intends to manually read the HTML source text). -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 14:44, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Or you could zip the HTML, images and folder structure? --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:14, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Yes, zipping the files is a better solution. The whole thing is then self contained and doesn't depend on external servers. Just put all the files in one folder, make sure it works there, and then run zip on the folder to create a zip file and send the zip file to your teacher. CodeTalker (talk) 16:54, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

CodeTalker will the links from one file to another will be intact in that case ?--Aryan ( है?) 07:29, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

The links will work if you used relative links and not absolute links. If you links C:/users/aryan/My Photos/school/coolimage.JPG then it will not work. If you used coolimage.jpg and the image is in the same folder is the HTML file, then it will work. 199.15.144.250 (talk) 13:45, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

hey please answer my request.

Hello, i wanted to know what i have to do to own an lte network. I searched the internet but nothing regarding my searches. I mean what do i have to buy?, from who?, and how much is it going to cost me actually. Please specify exactly what i have to buy to start a 4g lte network (for business). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.210.16.20 (talk) 09:06, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

In most places you need a license from the government. And you can't get one unless you have billions of USD to buy out a company with an existing license. Cellular networks (like 4G LTE) use regulated frequencies. Things like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth use unregulated frequencies, which is why anyone can buy devices transmitting on those frequencies. --71.110.8.102 (talk) 09:11, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Self-pedantry: what I really meant was "base stations transmitting on those frequencies". Of course anyone can buy a cellular device that transmits on LTE frequencies, but only devices that act as "clients". --71.110.8.102 (talk) 23:25, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

There are areas that are currently not covered and may be licensed. The reason is that there are still some areas with no cities or main roads. So, there is no reason to put in a cell tower to cover the area. As an example, most of Alaska is not covered. You can probably get a license to put up a tower in the middle of nowhere pretty cheap.

However - I think that the questioner thinks that he can buy a tower, drop it in his backyard, and suddenly the phone companies will come and pay him to use it. That won't happen. What you can do is lease land for the phone company to use so they can put up their own tower. They prefer very tall buildings or very open farmland. If you have either, then they probably already contacted you. 199.15.144.250 (talk) 12:05, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

That's very common around here in Vermont. Many farmers have cell phone antennas on their grain silos. I figure that there are so many because there are so many mountains getting in the way. Getting towers, be they cell phone, TV, or wind turbines, put up on mountain ridges around here is a long painful process. Dismas|^(talk) 12:51, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Print-Screen's Video Equivalent

Like we are able to capture whatever is there on the computer's screen just by pressing one button, is there any software etc. that can help us capture video that's going on on the screen from a particular moment to another.  Jon Ascton  (talk) 16:34, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Comparison of screencasting software -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 16:36, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Please tell can it record a whole film, i.e. continuesly for 2-3 hours ?

 Jon Ascton  (talk) 16:17, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

To Buy in Detroit

I'm planning to buy this or this. Any idea of the closest shop to buy from, near Rochester Hills, Michigan, Detroit? -- Apostle (talk) 18:14, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

I don't live in Michigan but I would think that Detroit has quite a few electronics stores. I'm not recommending them but Best Buy should have that item or you could order it and pick it up at any of the local stores. Dismas|^(talk) 20:33, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Just curious, why do you want to buy it at a brick & mortar store rather than online? CodeTalker (talk) 21:43, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Someone lives their who's might be coming down after Ramadan with their family to visit me where I'm. If they do, than I can request this as a souvenir along with few other things; all has to be within $200 however. They are not good at doing online transactions, same goes with me... -- Apostle (talk) 04:54, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

June 12

Microsoft Access educational resources

I am trying to find online websites/webpages which would have assignments that are scientifically based rather than business based. For example, it would be great to have a table/database of star names and locations, rather than suppliers and product names. Are there any resources such as these?68.148.186.93 (talk) 08:14, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

I am not 100% sure what you mean, but maybe this file is helpful to you. I found it here. Another database of starnames and locations can be found here. If you google "database of star names and locations" you'll find many more. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 06:36, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Each of the assignments here asks the student to manipulate customer, supplier, or product information if i am not mistaken. Are there assignments that are not business or supply chain related?68.148.186.93 (talk) 09:53, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

That website seems to be down at the moment. I used downforeveryoneorjustme.com/atticacsd.org and it says they cannot access this website either. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 17:51, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

It works for me. Try clicking on the link or copypasting it. i use chrome68.148.186.93 (talk) 19:00, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Unfortunately I am unable to access that page, but via Google's cache I can see that the webpage contains 3 Microsoft Word documents. Are you able to download those files and upload them elsewhere so I can see them? (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 08:24, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Free Zip Password Recovery

I’m using the entitled software for days now, I’m wondering if it’s worth the time and energy, and electric bill. What are the chances of the software’s success?

Notes (The following appears on the software window):

Recovery type: Brute-force

Charset: – I’ve ticked them all excluding the box Custom (user defined)

Status:

Processed: [length: 5]

Average speed: something around 1500-2000psw/sec

Apostle (talk) 18:33, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

The chances of the software's succes are probably close to 100%... if you have an infinite amount of time!

A password like "AA" or "10" can be bruteforced very quickly. But it will take a very very long amount of time to bruteforce a password like "&%&^%*&&(*&()SDHISUH#&*(^$*&^*Y*89739487930847&*^^%^%%^SU(((&&^((^^!!@@@@".

Because we do not know what the password is it is very difficult to estimate the amount of time required to bruteforce it (although we do know that most passwords are quite short). If you created the ZIP file then you probably know what characters are likely to appear in it. For example, in my native language diacritics are rare compared to some other languages, and I never use them in passwords. But in Germany it is far more likely to see a password that contains a ü (U-umlaut).

Because you have chosen all charsets it may take very very long; OTOH if you select (for example) alphanumeric only then the software cannot find the password if it contains a character that isn't alphanumeric. If you created the file then you probably know which characters you've most likely used in the password. If you downloaded the file from the internet then I would recommend Googling the filename. Another option is to try if the URL of the site you downloaded it from is the password (which is common on certain download sites). If you want to learn more about password cracking then I would recommend downloading Extreme GPU Bruteforcer by InsidePro. Unfortunately I don't think it works on ZIP files, but it may be interesting to you nonetheless. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 05:54, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

I agree this question is only answerable by the OP. Notably, for many people whether or not it's worth it is going to depend significantly on the content. If it's your only copy of certain highly prized photos of you deceased parent/child/spouse, people are going to be wiling to spend a lot more effort than they would if it's some warez who's password you couldn't find and for all you know it's not even what you believe it do be. Yet even within these, people's value judgements are going to vary. In addition, any info you know about the password should inform your password cracking solutions and judgements.

IMO the best thing to do would be to calculate the amount of time it would take for password of various lengths for various logical combinations (e.g. all low caps alphanumeric) and set a cut of point which you feel fits your requirements. While cut off points at character limits are often no more arbitary than another random point (unless you have some reason to think it will be that many characters), they're a simple point. Give the rate of increase by adding a character, it shouldn't really be that hard to decide. E.g. maybe 5 days is resonable but 4 months is not and these could easily be one character difference. (Of course if these are maximum times and your certain the password is under that length your average time would be half that.) It may make sense to choose different combinations e.g. all low caps alphanumeric, only numeric depending on precisely what you think you know about the password.

Nil Einne (talk) 09:22, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

P.S. Another alternative would be to define a cut off point in time, e.g. give up after 4 weeks. But two issues I can see with this are that you may not make the best decisions about which passwords to try in that time, and also I think some people would have a tendency to leave it since maybe it'll be next and you stopped just at the wrong time (and so on and so on). While there isn't intrisicly wrong with keeping going, ultimately if it isn't worth it trying forever you've got to stop at some stage. And which this could happen even if you plan to stop at a certain number of characters, when you're thinking of it in terms of doing all those characters and so the contrast in time is very high, you're probably less likely to just keep going since it could be next. Nil Einne (talk) 13:23, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Noted. Thank you both. Love you guys -- Apostle (talk) 19:27, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

See the article about Password cracking. How does a general-purpose brute force ZIP password search program detect when it has found the correct password ? AllBestFaith (talk) 21:55, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

If checking all of the "charset" boxes makes it try all 95 ASCII characters, then at 2000 passwords/second it will take 95ⁿ/2000 seconds to check all passwords of length n. That's 45 days for length 5, 4254 days for length 6, 404130 days for length 7, and so on, increasing by a factor of 95 each time.

You would be much more likely to find the password if you used a program that ordered passwords by some more sophisticated measure of plausibility than length. For example, a good password cracker would try "password123" before "!JU$". See if the program you're using has a dictionary cracking mode, and try that instead.

2000 passwords per second is very slow. This program allegedly manages 36,500 p/s on a high-end CPU from 2009, or 1,150,000 p/s on a high-end GPU from 2009. It's commercial, but you can probably find free software with similar CPU performance (maybe not GPU).

It may be worth pointing out that the original zip encryption was weak and could be cracked by a known-plaintext attack (and possibly still faster than brute force even without known plaintext, but I'm not sure). The Info-ZIP utility that is widely used on *ix systems never implemented modern (AES) encryption and doesn't even warn about the weak encryption, so it's possible that this zip file might be vulnerable to attack even if it was made recently. -- BenRG (talk) 00:58, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Noted. -- Apostle (talk) 18:58, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

”Right” click mouse button features

How do I insert files and folders (options of choice) inside the “new” and “send to” feature? -- Apostle (talk) 18:33, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

I very nearly pasted your exact question into Google and got this. Please try to search first. You might find what you're looking for much faster than anyone here could read and reply to your question. Dismas|^(talk) 20:43, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Check out FileMenuTools. Unfortunately the installer comes bundled with crapware (OpenCandy if I remember correctly). Make sure you disable updating, every time it gets updated it tries again to install crapware. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 01:56, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Access denied guys. -- Apostle (talk) 18:54, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

lopesoft.com or http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/filemenu_tools.html (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 17:55, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

Okay thanks. -- Apostle (talk) 18:37, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

Stopwatch and Timer software sought

What is highly praised? I sought a:

stopwatch that can do lots of stopwatch timing with lapsing option available for each.

timer that can do “lots of timing.

Can someone help me please?

Apostle (talk) 18:33, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Try Free Countdown Timer and Stopwatch Timer at [ https://sourceforge.net/projects/countdowntimer/ ]. --Guy Macon (talk) 19:07, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Standard. I'm desiring something alike the smart phone's alarm clock. -- Apostle (talk) 19:45, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Help sought

Most things I install and or uninstall adds its information at my ‘‘recovery’’ point, what I’m not happy about because my last successful ‘‘recovery’’ point will disappear. It occurred before… Sometimes it just disappears anyway if it becomes many months…

1) I sought a software, portable if possible, that helps mitigating this issue? – Say it saves/installs everything on the software rather than Programs option available on the Control Panel - Any other guidance would be helpful.

2) How do I go back to day one, before I used the first ‘‘recovery’’ point, rather than uninstalling and reinstalling Win7?

Apostle (talk) 18:33, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Install a large hard disk for holding backups, and run Windows 7 backup regularly, and especially right before making a change like installing new software. [ http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/1838/using-backup-and-restore-in-windows-7/ ] --Guy Macon (talk) 19:24, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Noted. Thanks. -- Apostle (talk) 19:49, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Software

Peeps, I'm searching for a software that will actually allow me to create such listed designs/themes manually. Can someone help me please? -- Apostle (talk) 19:50, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

User Apostle, you do not create such sophisticated apparels just manually (unless you want with it a very huge pile of advertisory distractions added to it by your provider) --Askedonty (talk) 20:19, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Well allright, let's say you do. --Askedonty (talk) 20:31, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

You can use SkinStudio for WindowBlinds, see here. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 06:12, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Hope this works. Thanks Mr. Potato. Is this you? -- Apostle (talk) 19:27, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Unfortunately I am not that sexy. I know this is a huge disappointment and I apologize. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 00:29, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/24609/create-a-windows-7-theme-pack-from-scratch/ The Quixotic Potato (talk) 01:47, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb773190.aspx The Quixotic Potato (talk) 01:54, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

June 13

Library for calculating a phone number's, or generally any number's, memorability

I'm picking a new phone number. My carrier gave me a list of possible numbers to choose from. Since the list is quite large so choosing one by hand would be time consuming. Is there a Java/Python/JS library that can calculate a phone number's memorability? Here are some metrics that I'm interested in:

• Number of runs of repeated digits, lengths of such runs ( 1111 )
• Number and length of repeated patterns ( 121212 )
• Number of unique digits (the lower the better)
• Number of syllables when pronounced out loud (the lower the better)

Johnson&Johnson&Son (talk) 07:55, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

In your shoes I'd look for memorable letters! — Anecdote: when my number was ...5333, I got a lot of calls intended for ...5533. —Tamfang (talk) 08:17, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Phonewords are common for businesses but are rare for personal numbers, and since I need to put my number on my resume, using letters might be seen as unprofessional, or in the very least, unusual.Johnson&Johnson&Son (talk) 12:58, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Other past phone numbers of mine include JEDIKNT and OOHBABY, but on my résumé I put the digits. —Tamfang (talk) 08:50, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Do kids actually use phone numbers still? I assumed they just click the photo in their contact list and tap call. 199.15.144.250 (talk) 11:58, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Unless OP is running a business where they want potential customers to be able to remember the phone number from a commercial or ad jingle, I'd tend to agree. The only phone numbers that I remember are mine, my wife's, and my father's. And I only remember my father's because he still uses the land line we used as kids. So, Johnson&Johnson&Son, you might want to just go with something that sounds good to you since you're likely going to be the only one who ever thinks about it. Dismas|^(talk) 12:56, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Not many people will need to remember my number, sure. But a more memorable number also has the benefit of being memorable for its owner. Johnson&Johnson&Son (talk) 13:02, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

In that case, maybe try to find a number that is just an anagram of the number that you had while growing up. That's what happened with my cell phone number. Completely by chance, I ended up with the last four digits being the same, though in a different order, from the last four of my phone number growing up. The prefix is different, of course, since I live in a different state now. Dismas|^(talk) 22:52, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

... or, alternatively, choose a number that contains the digits of your birthday, or that of someone you know well. Dbfirs 07:12, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

The issue here is the assumption that remembering an abstract relationship between two things is easy. Instead of remembering 4 digits (since most places use very few options for the first 3 digits), the person is supposed to remember that, for no apparent reason, the 4 numbers are related to a birthday, or address, or some sort of anagram. Then, assuming that memory holds, who's birthday? What address? What order does the anagram go? Now, two difficult memories must be in place to have any chance of remembering 4 digits. In my opinion, it isn't patently "easier" to form abstract memories. For many (if not most) people, remembering 4 digits that are used frequently is easier. I remember the last four of all my phone numbers from the past (7443, 8161, 2000, and 2257) and I have a hard time remembering numbers. 199.15.144.250 (talk) 15:35, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Like you, I can remember sequences of digits (including pi) just by learning them, but some people find this very difficult, whereas they can remember the dates of birthdays more easily. The association of a telephone number with a birthday seems almost effortless to many people, but perhaps not to all. Whatever works for you ... Dbfirs 08:02, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

June 14

Digital photo with varying focus

This generally isn't a high-quality photo; I took it while driving at comparatively low speed, and (as with most of my images) I had the camera on auto mode, not manual. I'm confused by the inconsistent focus: the center of the image is properly focused while the building's wings aren't (as is expected for such an image), but areas of the right wing are substantially blurrier than areas of the left wing that are no farther from the physical camera and no farther from the center of the image. See the two image notes I've added. Could someone help me understand why the focus is varying? Nyttend (talk) 02:03, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

A digital camera like that typically used in a phone doesn't take a photo in a literal "instant", it takes some fraction of a second to capture the image and it does so by scanning the field of view. This can lead to some strange effects, as this photo of a propeller illustrates. Also, after just a cursory examination, it actually appears to me that the car on front of the building is the most "in focus" thing, your camera might have focused to that, in which case I don't really see much inconsistency, the right wing IS the object farthest behind the car, so it's the most out of focus, the left wing is not that far behind so it appears less out of focus. Vespine (talk) 04:06, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

The image was taken with a Nikon D3200, according to the EXIF data. That's a DSLR with a shutter, so I don't think it's a scanning artifact. -- BenRG (talk) 07:39, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

DSLRs are not rolling shutter effect–proof... --CiaPan (talk) 08:09, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

You're right. I only meant that it can't be a CMOS scanning artifact, because the sensor isn't scanned until after the shutter is closed. But I don't think this can be related to the mechanical shutter either, because the D3200's shutter moves vertically ([3]). -- BenRG (talk) 21:09, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Looks to me more like jpeg compression artifacts than out of focus. 91.155.193.199 (talk) 05:33, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

It's definitely blur, not JPEG artifacts. -- BenRG (talk) 07:39, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Everything is blurred on the right, even the grass in the foreground. Also, the blurring seems to be linear, not circular (look at the white handicapped parking sign). So this is probably some sort of motion blur, not focus blur. -- BenRG (talk) 07:39, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

From the distance this image was shot from, 'landscape' auto-mode would have been better. The aperture would have shut down more, brining more of the background into focus. On a bright day like this, the ISO could have been increased to 200 without loss of quality. Some say that wide angle (in this case 42 mm) increases the depth-of-field - rubbish. Double up on ISO to keep the faster shutter speed, (since you where sooting it from a moving vehicle) and use landscape to ingress depth-of-field.. Auto-modes are useful when one only has a moment to point and shoot but they can't do everything for you. Landscape mode will (on a Nikon) do a good job of averaging the exposure too over the whole scene as well. The blur to the right and left is just down to the wide-angle and too large an aperture. Hope this helps Digital_camera_modes#Automatic_modes.Aspro (talk) 16:48, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

I don't think depth of field is the problem here. The picture was taken roughly from here. Here's how it looks in Street View. The blurred windows on the right are farther from the camera, but only by ~10–20%. The grass on the left is much closer to the camera and would be much blurrier than the windows if it was a DOF problem. Also, as I wrote above, the blurring appears to be linear, not circular.

If it's a motion blur (camera shake) problem, then of course what you need is a faster shutter speed, possibly combined with a larger aperture and/or higher ISO. -- BenRG (talk) 21:09, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Selenium Webdriver

I am automating a form in which there is unique id field that generates ids randomly through regular expression. I need that random value to be captured and stored in the excel sheet for my own database so that I can perform edit and search on the same data further. Here I have given the code that is generating the ids

public class Regular  {

	final static String ALPHA_NUMERIC_STRING = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789!@#$%^&*()_+-=<>?:\"{}|,./;'[]\'";
	public static String randomAlphaNumeric(int count) 
	{
	StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
	while (count-- != 0) {
	int character = (int)(Math.random()*ALPHA_NUMERIC_STRING.length());
	builder.append(ALPHA_NUMERIC_STRING.charAt(character));
	}
	return builder.toString();
	}

}

It gets to the unique id field through the following code:

    enterTextField(UniqueCode,5,"Unique Code", Regular.randomAlphaNumeric(25));

How do I get this in my sheet. I have exhausted my limited knowledge of selenium and java.121.243.112.118 (talk) 04:54, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Selenium Auto Focus

How can I write a test case that checks if an element has the cursor focus or not in whenever a form is opened for the first time in selenium using java?

What i have been doing is that using

 name.equals(driver.switchTo().activeElement()

and returning a boolean value.

but its not working.Any help....121.243.112.118 (talk) 06:30, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

I am sorry I had to edit this. I am new to this. Anyway did you try .IsDisplayed by Boolean value? if it's true you'll know

What is this...(electric component in digital watch)

Can anyone please identify the little black thing. [4]From touch seems to be made of ferrite, you know the stuff radio coils etc. are made of. It's identical twin was destroyed during accidental mishandling while trying to insert a new battery and is thus totally missing. Jon Ascton  (talk) 08:26, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

(Sorry I can't help but I want to thank you for taking the time to ask the question carefully- that image is packed with info! I've also added a bit to your header for clarity.) SemanticMantis (talk) 13:28, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Thanks SemanticMantis.

And this model of Timex® was high on buyers list for a perfect backlight, what Timex people call Indiglo™, their zealously well-guarded patent. Might be (component in question) has something to do with it... Jon Ascton  (talk) 15:06, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Looks like a small ferrite cored inductor to me.--178.104.157.88 (talk) 23:19, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

It may be, in which case may be part of the boost converter circuitry to generate a high enough voltage for the Indiglo electroluminescence display. But it may also be a piezoelectric sounder (the thing that beeps); usually in watches this is a flat element on the watch back which looks like this, but it's possibly (perhaps due to the type of watch) that they'd use a packaged version like this, where the "cap" on the top is an element used to conduct the sound through to the backplate (which is very often used as a kind of soundboard. But yes, I'd probably go with inductor too. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 11:53, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

On-line Surveys

I recall from my past: Sometimes while on-line, certain websites demand you to fill out a survey in order to receive something or go to the next page… What should I be worried about before I fill in such [random] surveys? -- Apostle (talk) 18:56, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Relevant links: Google Consumer Surveys, Survata. -- ToE 20:41, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Wasting your time, ending up on a sucker list, providing your enemies (and parasites in general) with accurate information about you and giving them the false impression that using those surveys is a good idea et cetera. When I cannot avoid filling something in I fill them with nonsense, but 99,99% of the cases I leave in disgust. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 17:51, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

Okay noted. Thanks peeps. -- Apostle (talk) 18:35, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

June 15

route optimization combining Google Maps and Uber

For my project that I hope to use as a portfolio as part of my admissions to a boot camp, I am trying to write an app that include a route optimization feature that's always been on my wishlist. Now, right now I'm working on the more boring aspects of basic app development, but at my heart I'm trying to decide if my algorithm is possible at all.

Concept: As a resident of New York City, I often note there are many parts of desired trips where the subway for that route is much faster and efficient then a car along the route, especially for express trains (the A, D, E, F, Q, 4, 5 etc.) However, transfer times and hailing times for the Uber have to be factored in as well. Thus we could have two types of commuters: customers who mainly want to save time, but will trade a little time for money, as well as customers who want to save money, but willing to trade a little money for more time saved. It is also possible to save both, assuming transfer times work out, and this app should detect that. (Surges and UberPool can be dealt with at a later stage of development.)

• Imagine customer A, who sets a budget of $20 for her trip (has an Unlimited Ride metro card), and but also wishes to maintain gains on time. However, customer A wants to stay below $20 (a little over is okay, this tolerance could be entered) and is willing to take as much public transit as possible in order for her Uber ride to cost roughly $20. She's coming from bars in the Village and doesn't want to spend 2.5 hours using late night (low-frequency) subway service getting home to Flushing, Queens, but doesn't want to spend a fortune either.

• Imagine customer B, who sets a time budget of 45 minutes for his trip, and would rather not spend that much on an Uber ride especially if the Uber ride is going to take him through really traffic-jammed areas of the city, but will spend money on a ride to ensure that his ride stays under 45 minutes. (He's going to an important meeting.)

• Another optimization feature would be to set a "time for money" or "money for time" conversion rate, i.e. "I am willing to spend $5 to save 15 minutes" or "I am willing to spend up to 20 minutes more to save $25

So my questions are: is such an optimization practical to implement? Is this an NP complete problem? (It sounds a little like the Knapsack problem.) I spoke to a CS major on the Megabus who didn't seem convinced it could be implemented easily. Would Uber be really mad if I was using their API frequently to try to estimate times for trips at various branch points of calculation without actually hailing a ride? To me it seems possible at least for an NYC implementation given that a) there a fixed amount of subway stops in NYC b) there are natural chokepoints in and out of the city (bridges, tunnels) c) the app could have a "common sense" feature that could be turned on so it would ignore jammed areas or lines reporting construction or delays, and also focus on expressways and express train routes as branch points for optimization. Yanping Nora Soong (talk) 12:03, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

It is not an NP complete problem to get *A* solution that meets your criteria. It is an NP complete problem to get the absolute optimal solution. Another way to word it: Can I find a path through a weighted network that is below a cutoff? Once I find one, I'm done. So, I use a greedy algorithm to brute force it. I know that I will likely miss complicated paths that are the absolute best, but I will get one that works. 199.15.144.250 (talk) 15:05, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

Updating the previous comment... If you can represent all options as a weighted graph, you can use Dijkstra's algorithm to quickly find an optimal solution. So, the trick is in the representation of the problem. If it is represented as "how do I pack all these options into a confined space", it is much harder to solve. If it is represented as "I have a network of locations with a weight to get from one to another and I want the shortest/cheapest/quickest route from one location to another", it is easy to solve. 199.15.144.250 (talk) 17:11, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

"Would Uber be really mad...?" MAYBE. I wouldn't like that, but I also don't like Uber, so maybe they'll like it. My point is we can't answer this. I can point you to their TOS for the API: [5], but interpreting that for your specific use case would constitute legal advice. Maybe call them if you want clarification. Seems to me you'd be aggregating Uber data with the competing subway, but maybe not. SemanticMantis (talk) 14:00, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Tweeting @UberDevelopers may be a good idea. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 16:43, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

sf email

What do the "sf email" bits do in this code?

<a href="mailto:TownClerk@foo.com">[sf_email]Treasurer@foo.com [/sf_email]</a></td>

The code lets someone email Treasurer@foo.com, so it works as intended but I don't understand why it works. Dismas|^(talk) 01:41, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

@Dismas: Square brackets are used for shortcodes (e.g. in WordPress). In this case it means that the website uses the Safer Email Link plugin for WordPress. Go here and scroll down to the "Safer Email Link Plugin" header. If you want the technical details you can read this and/or download the plugin and read the code (which is pretty much the same as the code in the "Examples" section of the Wordpress Codex).

The relevant line of PHP code looks like this:

return '<a class="email-link" href="mailto:'.antispambot($content).'" title="Email" target="_blank">'.antispambot($content).'</a>';

(((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 08:21, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

@The Quixotic Potato: Thanks for that! But why are the two email addresses different? The first for TownClerk and the other, the intended recipient by the way, Treasurer. Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 11:36, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

@Dismas: I am not 100% sure, but I think that the most likely scenario is that a n00bish user used the WYSIWYG editor instead of the code editor.

1. The user creates a mailto: link to TownClerk@foo.com like this

   <a href="mailto:TownClerk@foo.com">TownClerk@foo.com</a>
   

2. Some time later someone (maybe the same person) realizes that the mailaddress has changed or is wrong and thinks that using spam protection may be a good idea.
3. The user tries to fix the mailto: link in the WYSIWYG editor (by selecting the text and replacing it with the shortcode) but doesn't realise that this replaces the contents of the <A> tag with the shortcode without removing the old mailto: link that surrounds it. If xe tests it xe will not notice it, because the shortcode is replaced by another mailto: link, which means that the user sees the behaviour the user expects. Nesting mailto: links doesn't send mails to multiple users (for obvious reasons), the correct way to do that is:

<a href='mailto:person1@domain.com,person2@domain.com'>Email Us</a>

(((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 11:49, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Hrm. Thanks. That's a reasonable guess as to what happened considering the user who I think created this code. This gives me a better idea of what I should do with the source code. Thanks again! Dismas|^(talk) 12:02, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

YVW. You may be able to check the revision history in WordPress. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 12:13, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

What was the last processor to copy the Intel 80X86 name?

The Cyrix 6x86 went up to 6 before they stopped. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 02:12, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Hike messenger for PC

Unable to find this. -- Apostle (talk) 09:46, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

It doesn't exist. If you really want to run it on a pc instead of on a phone then you'll need something "in between", like BlueStacks. A few examples for Android can be found here. The APK can be found here. Like always, if you are not sure if the software can be trusted then it is a good idea to use a sandbox, see here. Another tutorial. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 16:30, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Alternative to the virtual assistant Briana which is not free of charge for its full functionalities

Something good is sought. -- Apostle (talk) 09:46, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Sony Erricsson’s K700i

I sought the "Music DJ software" and the "Tennis" game. I'm guessing they'd be .apk file types. I'm not sure if an emulator (or something alike) is requisite or not. Can someone help me please? -- Apostle (talk) 09:46, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Sony Erricsson’s P1i phone’s CD software that comes with it; CD’s software

This is very important. An upgraded version is also sought. -- Apostle (talk) 09:46, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

I am not sure, this is guesswork, but I think there is a chance that this works. Do not allow it to update itself (pro tip: disconnect from the internet before installing it), the new versions of that software no longer support the P1i (I think, again I am unsure). I found it very difficult to find good information online about this stuff. I usually install anything I am unsure about in a sandboxed enviroment like a virtual pc (I use Virtual PC and VirtualBox) or a sandbox (e.g. Sandboxie). (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 10:44, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Suitable Unicode (UTF-8) characters for marking start and end of bold, italic, underscore and strikethrough ?

In a humanly readable plain text file (.txt), containing (UTF-8) text in various European languages, I want to use single character designated Unicode characters to mark the start and end of bold-, italic-, underscore- and strikethrough- text.
Of course one could use plain wiki-markup (<b>bold-</b>, <i>italic-</i>, <u>underscore-</u> and <s>strikethrough-</s> text.) , but I am looking for a single character solution (instead of the three, as in: “<u>”) that would be less obtrusively distracting, regarding the readability and comprehension of the text, while still clearly visible and just as intuitively understandable as the wiki-markup-solution.
So, what single Unicode characters might be best suited for this task?
--Seren-dipper (talk) 14:22, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

You can use some simple ASCII characters for some of this - Markdown does all four, with markup that's still readable when looked at plain - see markdown cheatsheet. Some email clients (I know at least Thunderbird) implements some of this (Thunderbird supports * for bold, / for italics, and _ for underscored, but I don't know of a sequence for strikethrough). -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 14:38, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

In many cases the * _ / # ~ (and the other ordinary keyboard characters) will do, but, unfortunately, these also very frequently appear as part of the body text (in the texts that I want to mark). Therefore I need some other Unicode characters which preferably also hints or indicates the meaning. (Besides I would strongly prefer, but do not absolutely need, to have different characters for «Start of…» and «End of…»).
--Seren-dipper (talk) 15:30, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Your example is not "wiki-markup", it is HTML (except the strike tag, which is actually strike, not s). The "ML" in HTML stands for "Markup Language". You are basically trying to invent your own markup language. As mentioned above, * is often used for bold, / for italic, _ for underline, and - for strike. The entire point is to embed markup in the content. No matter what you do, someone will say it looks like gobblygook. Then, you need to expand on your new markup language as people find problems, such as what I need to do if I want to show an equation like 10*3*5=150 and I don't want the 3 to be bold. If you strongly insist on writing an entirely new markup language, go ahead. Just be certain that you understand what you are doing. 199.15.144.250 (talk) 16:44, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

"Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart"

This message has appeared on two computers running Win 10. Blue screen with a big :( In the one case, the computer actually restarted and all was well. In the other, the counter remained at 0% and I had to turn it off physically. Then it worked OK.

Is it really Win 10 doing this or something else? --Halcatalyst (talk) 15:09, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Well, Win10 is restarting the computer, that is true. But the problem may be caused by something other than Win10. I hate vacuumcleaning with the burning passion of a thousand suns so most of the problems with my computers are caused by dust. There are a couple of options:

1. if this happened only once, or very rarely, then you can probably ignore it (it probably won't be worth the time and effort to investigate why it happened).
2. if this happens often enough to bother you then you can check what caused the error. Usually the error message displayed under the big :( gives an indication what may be wrong. If you are too late and the computer has already restarted before you can read what it says (or better yet, take a photo) then you can find the error by following these instructions. Once you know what the error message says you can post it here and people will probably be able to help you.
3. if this happens often and your pc is very dusty then it may be a good idea to ask your local computershop to clean it, or ask a local nerd to get it cleaned. Always ask what it costs first, if it is expensive then politely refuse.

(((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 15:30, 16 June 2016 (UTC)