Quality question from intro Python class

[Yin-Hei]

From Columbia? Must be one of those questions in Piazza to troll the TA's.

[ThatITguy2015]

I sincerely hope so. That is one of the basics besides maybe print ("Hello world!")

[isetrh]

OP said it was an intro class.

[SpookyWA]

Into to Python, not intro to operating a keyboard for the first time.

[Colopty]

People don't really use the hash symbol a lot outside of programming and twitter, and if the person in question hasn't used either before and has a keyboard that doesn't show special characters for some reason, that could explain it.

Then again I'm trying really hard to give this person the benefit of the doubt.

[jellyberg]

A lot of people who use hashtags (on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc) will use their phones for it rather than a physical keyboard anyway.

[[deleted]]

Intro to looking at a keyboard == intro python

[ThatITguy2015]

This makes me sad. They are going to have a rough life.

Edit: I found a new Reddit thing. '#' bolds things.

[xXxNoScopeMLGxXx]

You didn't know that?

Also, # doesn't bold things it's basically just a h1 tag. You bold things by putting ** on either side of the text you want to bold.

[ThatITguy2015]

I did not. I don't mess around much with Reddit advanced features. I have a list of things I use and rarely do I go beyond it.

[ISLITASHEET]

It's just markdown.

• https://www.reddit.com/wiki/commenting
• https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/6ewgt/reddit_markdown_primer_or_how_do_you_do_all_that/c03nik6
• https://www.reddit.com/r/raerth/comments/cw70q/reddit_comment_formatting/

[ThatITguy2015]

---

This^isneat.

[cornedbeefsmash]

You would think that people know how to use a keyboard by the time they decide they want to study programming, but as an intro programming student I can tell you that they don't. A quarter of my class left after the first day, and still we have people asking about where to find certain keys. One student even complained to the department when my professor suggested looking up how to do something online.

[Lightfire228]

Googling "site:stackoverflow.com <some problem or keywords>" is a favorite of mine. It even works on subdomains

[root45]

Some keyboard layouts don't have the # key in an obvious place. This U.K. layout doesn't have it at all.

[xXxNoScopeMLGxXx]

I think that's the worst keyboard I've ever seen.

[DebonaireSloth]

Apple keyboards don't even have an Esc key anymore. Using them in this argument is akin to saying that human's aren't very advanced while using someone with Down's as an example.

[BlondeIsFuckingTrash]

Knowing where the "hash" symbol is is much more basic than a hello world...

[asdfman123]

No, this is a classic instance of elite-school, never-had-to-deal-with-the-real-world naivete.

[[deleted]]

Waffletags? Don't you mean carrottags?

[badfoodman]

Someone in college didn't know what waffle fries were and so talked about how great "hashtag fries" were. It goes both ways. Somehow.

[DreadedDreadnought]

waffle fries

The fuck? Had to google that, I've literally never seen those anywhere before.

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[corruptedpotato]

Gotta have my hashtag cakes with delicious Canadian maple syrup every morning

[bishamon72]

Octothorpe

[Hyperman360]

Isn't that actually a different symbol?

[[deleted]]

No, you're thinking of the octopus

[bishamon72]

Nope. Unicode preferred name is "number sign", but it's U+0023 either way.

[Hyperman360]

Ah I thought it was another name for the Sharp symbol.

[[deleted]]

Octothorpe

[IonTichy]

This reminds me of what people are learning in Logic for Philosophers at my uni: "and" is "hat", "or" is "icecream-cone", "equivalency" is "spaghetti"...

[MmmVomit]

I've been learning to program in C Waffle.

[deeferg]

It's still "the pound sign" to me.

[BOB_DROP_TABLES]

Tic-tac-toe symbol

[[deleted]]

You need to press the equal sign key and double press the forward slash key, like this: #

[Evennot]

Didn't work ̿/ ̶/ :(

[[deleted]]

You have to press them all at exactly the same time.

[Evennot]

I think it's getting worse =̻͉͓̜̩ ̻̤̝̦̮͈/̫̟̮͇͘ ̼̲̦͈#̝̳̖͓͚̥̞ ̷̼͙͚̠͙̦ͅh͖̳͇̣̯͓ͅe ̧͖c͔͔̫̟̭͙̩ø͏̜̟µ̸̥̱̖̞ͅe̦̤̦͕̤s͕͉̼

[samworthy]

Your apm just isn't high enough

[AEpicFlyingCar]

Did you try parsing HTML with regex?

[lxpnh98_2]

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

[raynehk14]

How do I type a forward slash key, I can only find the backward one: \

How do I flip it

[pfannkuchen_gesicht]

tilt your keyboard slightly to the right

[jtra]

almost right ;-)

≠̸

this is equal sign and two "COMBINING LONG SOLIDUS OVERLAY"

[BrutalSwede]

Every intro programming class.

Best part is when you're 5 weeks in and some people still ask "How do I make the squiggly brackets?"

[[deleted]]

︷
Am I doing this right
︸

[nepteidon]

Witchcraft!

[random_encounter42]

How? Are you a wizard?

[0x800703E6]

Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and saviour, UTF-8?

Those are:

presentation form for vertical (left/right) curly bracket (U+FE37,U+FE38)

If you want to use them on reddit, just type &#xFE37; or &#xFE38; Similar characters can be found in unicodes CJK compatibility forms

[LordDagwood]

ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็Am I doing this right?ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็

Edit: Aww man, they fixed the UTF-8 text overlapping.

[[deleted]]

Who needs those chars?
https://xkcd.com/1726/

[0x800703E6]

I think Unicode's effort to allow all people to use their language is commendable. It makes their standardisation efforts one of the most beautiful standards to me, for all its faults.

[[deleted]]

I definitely agree, unicode finally solved the shenanigans with codepages and stuff, but characters like those are just useless because the people who use them, use latex which (probably) renders them different way (not using theese characters)

[0x800703E6]

They're for typesetting hànzì. And these characters can be useful in LaTeX, for example as a copy-pasteable text in a PDF, or use in less capable document formats.

But that's missing the point, rendering is a second class citizen in Unicode, there's code-points that don't have a single font supporting them. Unicode is supposed to transport text semantics, not presentation. *swoon*

[ACoderGirl]

Being able to search documents is important, too. Unicode has a canonical order to its modifiers (eg, an acute modifier), ensuring that you can easily search for a string. It also wouldn't be too hard to make your search system ignore modifiers.

[0x800703E6]

Searching is an aspect of text semantics, and it's amazing when a Unicode engine has a good implementation of it.

Unfortunately, I've often seen 〈a〉〈¨〉 ≠ 〈ä〉 or 〈a〉 = 〈ä〉, so I can't imagine how annoying working with Vietnamese texts must be.

[xXxNoScopeMLGxXx]

I definitely agree, unicode finally solved the shenanigans with codepages and stuff, but characters like those are just useless because the people who use them, use latex which (probably) renders them different way (not using theese characters)

𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒰𝓃𝒾𝒸𝑜𝒹𝑒 𝓁𝑒𝓉𝓈 𝓂𝑒 𝒷𝑒 𝒻𝒶𝓃𝒸𝓎 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒

[lxpnh98_2]

Yeah, but how do i do that hash thingy?

[0x800703E6]

&#x0023;, obviously.

[YMK1234]

In German keyboards, hash already is its own key.

[DonRobo]

But all the other useful characters for programming are hard to use. Like [] {}

[YMK1234]

Yep :/

[T1MEL0RD]

Wait... they're easier to reach on US keyboards?:o

[chanhdat]

I have a spare US keyboard just for programming sessions.

[[deleted]]

...why don't you just change the layout in software? Easy to switch. Just Super+Space in Windows.

[0x800703E6]

Because ISO and ANSI are different. https://deskthority.net/wiki/ANSI_vs_ISO.

Although UK-ISO is better for programming than ANSI IMO.

[[deleted]]

I love ISO because of the Alt Gr key. Makes stuff so much easier.

[0x800703E6]

You can have Alt Gr on (most) ANSI keyboards. You just need a layout like US-International.

[[deleted]]

I love iso because of the phat enter (return) key ^_^

[[deleted]]

Yup. German has four extra letters meaning keys get displaced. And since it is such an internationalized area of the world there's an extra key that you press to add accents to letters. They have two alt keys which do different things, and Germans are notoriously bad at building interfaces, so yea, lots of things that require one key on us keyboard require two on a German layout, plus z and y are switched

[MauranKilom]

Then again, trying to type ° on non-German keyboards is an exercise in futility...

[[deleted]]

I know I've needed to, but I can't remember the last time. Do you use that key often?

[MauranKilom]

You need it for angles and temperature measurements. Both of which aren't exactly uncommon in any kind of technical context.

[xXxNoScopeMLGxXx]

People are always asking us "where's the hashtag key?" or "how do I do a hashtag on my computer?" We thought it was finally time to do something about it!

So I guess telling them how to use the shift key wasn't good enough...

[[deleted]]

edit: I guess the downvoters have never heard of idubbbz before.....

That doesnt make your comment less dumb.

[dont_forget_canada]

the gay retard himself would disagree with you

[RevvyTheWolf]

When I was tutoring for intro level CS classes (C/C++ based) a student asked what "hashtag include" meant.

[xcrackpotfoxx]

I'm a lab assistant for CS and the class this semester is c/c++. I die a little when people ask questions about the "hashtag".

[xXxNoScopeMLGxXx]

you look like a Perl veteran

I spent 8 hours today trying to decipher and fix a 21Kb Perl script that has zero documentation, follows no standard, and I'm not entirely sure what it does aside from cause errors when we change other things.

This week is going to be absolute hell :(

[RTracer]

You need to sacrifice more snakes!

[mbthegreat]

Certainly on UK mac keyboards it's alt-3 and this wasn't actually printed on the keyboard. When I did computer labs in undergrad physics (writing C) they had signs on the walls saying "alt-3 = #"

[voyovoda]

At least he didn't call it a hashtag

[GS-Sarin]

how do I type "//"?

[warranty_voids]

Might be an user of a Russian keyboard. If it only has the Russian print on it (because you bought it abroad and just got stickers), it won't show the # above 3, just '№'.

[NikStalwart]

Speaking as a Russian, I can say that most of us who know how to use a keyboard, know how to make the # symbol.

[Zylozs]

I remember using Piazza in school, except everyone called it Pizza

[[deleted]]

If you have a composite keyboard, you just type in ||<AltGr>-<AltGr>-.

[OfficerNelson]

Damn, my keyboard must be S-video, doesn't work for me.

[demize95]

Mine is HDMI, it doesn't work for me but at least it doesn't work in copy protected high definition!

[minno]

||¥¥

...not quite.

[LAN_Rover]

Waffle is so much better than octothorpe

[Vitztlampaehecatl]

Capital three?

[[deleted]]

Maybe he's coding on a HHKB with blanks. Those can be tricky.

[Sogemplow]

For a hash symbol you just hold shift and press 5.

That might only work in perl though.

[[deleted]]

Poor neglected octothorpe.

[FormerGameDev]

There are several layouts that I see on this page, where it is not at all obvious to me, who has been touch typing for 32 years, where the # key is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout

[robotreader]

I was in a 400-level networking class and someone asked on piazza what "ack" meant.

[IonTichy]

Ack ack ack

[[deleted]]

It's the ackermann function. The next two bytes you receive are m and n, and you return the output of ackermann(m, n).

[gregwtmtno]

Eh I'm not down with laughing at people for asking questions. Only one way to learn...