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July 11

Linux on smartphones.

Are there any Linux distros for smartphones with 512MB of RAM? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.212.13.30 (talk) 01:49, 11 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The 512MB RAM is doable, but a problem with cell phones is the resolution you can get on the screen clicks, when using a finger. If you used Linux set to a low resolution, in the 320x200, 320x240, or 640x480 range, that might help, as would using a stylus. Most Linux distros are for a screen wider than it is tall, so you might want to use the cell phone sideways. They would need to add logic to make finger taps map to mouse clicks, but I'm not sure how you would allow for left and right mouse clicks, unless you wanted to hold a button down while tapping one, but that would be awkward to use. Linux also lacks support for zooming by stretching, rotating the screen based on position, etc. Then all the connectivity to the Internet, etc., would need tweeks to work over a mobile phone. But there are several distros available, so they must have figured this all out: [[1]]. Don't know which work with 512MB, though. SinisterLefty (talk) 12:35, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

JavaScript as a beginner language

I am new to programming having only taken a few courses on Khan Academy, and a few online HTML courses (which isn't really programming). I've been told by a computer programmer that the best language to start learning (based on usefulness of language compared to difficulty) is JavaScript. The idea is that it is the most useful language that a beginner can actually learn. Would you agree with this assessment? Secondly, is the usefulness of my first language really all that important, or is it better to learn something that I can do well, regardless of its practical applications? --Puzzledvegetable|💬|📧|📜 17:06, 11 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't recommend JavaScript, or at least not without caveats.

There are two main factors to a first language. Will you learn skills that will help you in the future? and: Will it encourage you to actually learn something? (usually by allowing you to complete a particular project you're already interested in). The first of these is important: techniques picked up at the start tend to hang around for a long time. It's sometimes said that programmers only ever learn one language (their first or second) and then just keep writing other programs and languages in that. This is an effect which is very obvious in some people's work (and almost never in a good way!). So when you pick that first language to learn, make it a good one!

I prefer Python as a first teachning language. This is for two reasons: because (only if well taught) it teaches good techniques, secondly because it's a useful language for a wide range of tasks. But then there's plenty of bad Python being taught. As many people, especially youngsters, are learning to code on the Raspberry Pi at present, then Python's also a good fit to that platform.

If someone were to learn PHP first, or BASIC, they'd learn a pile of awful habits too which they'd have to break if they were to get anywhere further. PHP is the prime example of a language which can only be used to the full by someone who really understands how bad it is, and how better other languages would be (which is hardly a recipe for job satisfaction). So really, don't start there.

JavaScript has a couple of distinctive aspects: It's the only language usable for client-side web browser scripting, it's very poorly understood by those coding in it, and it's not only usable for client-side web browser scripting, but it's certainly not common in other tasks (at one time JavaScript was also used server-side scripting, but that's rare now).

So JavaScript can be a great choice: it meets the goal of "delivering my incentive project", provided that's hosted within a web browser (no bad thing). Its drawback is that so few people understand it. Most seriously misunderstand it. It looks like Java, but isn't. It looks like C++ and a squillion other languages too, but isn't. The object orientation model for JavaScript is significantly different and almost no-one bothers to read the manual to find out why, they just write bad code and complain when it goes wrong. I don't think I've seen anyone begin to get it right unless they've read this: Douglas Crockford (2008). JavaScript: The Good Parts. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-0-596-51774-8. (the Butterfly Book), not just any handy JavaScript tutorial off the web, and especially not the Rhino Book.

So go for JavaScript. You'll learn to write things inside browsers, and that's a good thing. But make sure you use a good enough tutorial to really understand what you're doing. Andy Dingley (talk) 17:47, 11 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with pretty much everything Andy says here. Javascript has been a great starting point for lots of people via Khan Academy, in spite of its various badnesses compared to decent languages like Python. Javascript has the advantage that it's easily available everywhere, and easy to make it do things visual. Python takes a little more setting up to get to an environment that gives you as much quick reward. When you're ready, make the transition. Or get to be good at Javascript and transition to Typescript. Dicklyon (talk) 00:10, 12 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]
The basics of programming can be learned in any mainstream language. Later on though, each language has its quirks (or its "philosophy"); if you want to get serious, you need to learn a few to get a better understanding of the various patterns and conditions of use.

An example of such a pattern is checking for error conditions before doing a risky operation. If you learn Python, you are encouraged to instead let the error happen and pick up the pieces afterwards (see e.g. [2]); most languages have some version of exception catching, but few advertise it to beginners/intermediates. Regardless of what language you use, you should be aware that both options exist and have a rough idea of when one is preferred to the other depending on the language but also the problem to solve. Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 08:51, 15 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

July 15

Dark

How tf ya'll update the whole layout and not include dark mode, this website has so much text and reading and the white fucking hurts.

(User deleted question saying it was only an issue on mobile phone.) Many mobile phones have an option like Accessibility + Invert Colors that will help you out. SinisterLefty (talk) 22:43, 15 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

There is MediaWiki:Gadget-Blackskin.css. It gives a mainly black background with green writing. It used to be a preference setting, but last time I looked I could not find it. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 23:16, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Are you using the Android App for Wikipedia? It has a light/dark mode toggle in its display settings. LongHairedFop (talk) 20:26, 17 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

July 16

Is that Intended?

(After Question at the Teahouse) is [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Teahouse&diff=prev&oldid=906439945 this intended by MediaWiki? I mean, you can't really do damage except that you place an overlay over the whole page which prevents the page from being seen (And since that div elements are also transcludeable, you could perform high level trolling if you place this on a template used by System messages or e.g. The main page, if they aren't cascading protected). I guess the only way to fix this is to configure the software behind Wikipedia to remove the "position" attributes from the source code when parsing. However, I'm unsure where to report this. 85.199.71.123 (talk) 06:34, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Why did my clock stop?

I don't know if this happens every time, but I noticed the last several times when I couldn't use the mouse or the keyboard that the clock wasn't working either. The sign that something is seriously wrong is that the hand won't stop being a hand when I want to type something, or it won't become a hand when I want to click (though at that point it also can't be moved).

I thought my userpage had my computer information on it, but that's my old computer. I am using Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 19:06, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like the computer is out of resources, like RAM, and needs a reboot to free up some. If only the clock was off, and everything else was fine, I'd say it needs the battery replaced. You might add more RAM, if not already at the max. SinisterLefty (talk) 19:38, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

How would being out of resources stop the clock?— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 19:45, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't actually stop the clock, just the update of the display. SinisterLefty (talk) 19:58, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, that makes sense.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 20:06, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

How much RAM do you have? Sounds like your computer is freezing up completely and that could have a lot of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with RAM. I'd also bet it has nothing whatsoever to do with the battery, whether CMOS or the laptop power source. If you prefer to throw time and money at it without delving into the problem, I'd suggest installing Windows 7 on another partition as a better investment. Have you done an antivirus check? You could be infected with a cryptominer or be part of a botnet. Visiting crpytominer-infected or ad- and tracking-heavy websites can also cause your computer to freeze; I don't know if Edge has switched to Chromium engine yet but Chromium is pretty bad at handling this and due to its multi-process design it's pretty much impossible to recover the system (short of rebooting) once Chromium freezes it up. Did you recently move your computer case or change a component? This is often a short circuit or airflow problem. It could also be a problem with the drivers for a device you recently added (whether USB or inside the case). 93.136.58.135 (talk) 05:14, 18 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Greek "mu" letters

Hello, what's the difference between these two page titles?

They're visually identical, but the full URLs are different:

If I strip out everything but the μ character for each, both of them go to Μ, URL https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%CE%9C&redirect=no. It's as if there are two different Unicode characters for the same lowercase "mu" that resolve to the same capital letter, which doesn't make sense to me; we don't have separate characters for lowercase Latin letters (e.g. and ). So apparently I'm missing something somewhere. Nyttend (talk) 23:21, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have the details at hand, but the general idea was that the folks that invented Unicode felt a need for μ used as an ordinary Greek letter, μ used as a mathematical symbol, and μ used as a unit of measure. The unit of measure was known as the micron, and now the micrometer, μm, is used; they are the same length. See Mu (letter). Jc3s5h (talk) 23:54, 16 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

%C2%B5 is the UTF-8 encoding for Unicode Character 'MICRO SIGN' (U+00B5) while %CE%BC is the UTF-8 encoding for Unicode Character 'GREEK SMALL LETTER MU' (U+03BC). Per the linked pages, the suggested uppercase mapping for both is Unicode Character 'GREEK CAPITAL LETTER MU' (U+039C). The micro sign is part of the Latin-1 Supplement (Unicode block) which was derived from the upper end of the ISO/IEC 8859-1 character set. I expect that when the Greek and Coptic group was defined, the decision was purposely made not to omit those characters duplicated elsewhere. -- 02:39, 17 July 2019 (UTC)

July 17

Under Android 7.1.1, how do I change the color of contacts ?

If I don't add photos, each contact gets a colored dot with their first initial in it, and when I text them, their text is also that color. I like this feature, except that two of my contacts got the same color. How do I change them to be different ? SinisterLefty (talk) 23:23, 17 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

UPDATE: I found a way to change the contact's color in the text thread, but that doesn't seem to change their color in contacts. How can I make a change and keep the two in sync ? SinisterLefty (talk) 00:26, 18 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

July 18

Notepad problem.

I recently got my Mom's laptop Windows 7, and she is Chinese, and so this laptop can do Chinese characters.

Problem is, when I open up my own files via Notepad, some of the characters become Chinese. Like 's becomes a Chinese character and <i becomes a ?. How do I turn this off? I don't have the same problem with Wordpad or Word. 67.175.224.138 (talk) 04:27, 18 July 2019 (UTC).[reply]

Probably someone with Chinese/Japanese/Korean locale will be able to tell you exactly what's going on. This is a mojibake problem. My guess is it's caused by the fact that you saved your original file as ASCII (aka ANSI) and Notepad working in Chinese locale presumes it's in one of the Unicode encodings despite the lack (or maybe in spite of the presence) of a byte order mark. 93.136.58.135 (talk) 05:34, 18 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]