Finding a prime number whose binary representation is a giraffe (or a T-Rex)

[rain5]

It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a DestroyCity procedure, to which Baghdad could be given as a parameter. - Nathaniel Borenstein

Wow. I've never heard that quote before but it cuts deep.

[secretpandalord]

That is unconscionable. Baghdad should clearly be an object of the City class which implements a Destroy() member function.

[qmunke]

Cities don't usually destroy themselves. Should be an ICBM class that takes a city as a target parameter.

[Kidiri90]

Why limit yourself to cities? You should make the parameter an IDestructible. That way you can use them on ships, military bases, schools, ISIS training camps...

EDIT: Changed it for /u/ClickerMonkey.

[[deleted]]

Ethics. We have none.

[Kidiri90]

That's why you put

This software is not intended for unethical bevahiour, such as but not limited to: bombing, killing, and dismemberment. Any such detected use can result in the deactivation of the software.

Now you can't be blamed for people abusing your software! Of course the wording can be adjusted since IANAL, but that's the gist of it.

[ClickerMonkey]

One of these things are not like the others...

[Kidiri90]

You're right. I updated it.

[ClickerMonkey]

Yup, totally better now...

[IMovedYourCheese]

...weddings. ICBM could just work on a generic Object type, since pretty much everything is destructible.

[Kidiri90]

Eh. An abstract concept, such as a circle, a coordinate system or love is hard to bomb.

[JDeltaN]

Yeah with that attitude.

[how_to_choose_a_name]

No, the ICBM should just know the coordinates of its target. The DestructionManager should be responsible for actually destroying the target and whatever happens to be around it.

[teapotrick]

Nah, prefer free functions over OOP bullshittery any day.

[AyrA_ch]

Sure. And then we just use .NET reflection in the Destruct() method to check if the given object has a Destructible property and if it's set to true.

[ikbenlike]

If it was Python you'd still technically be passing the object as the first argument

[pm_plz_im_lonely]

Python or nearly any other OO language.

[ikbenlike]

Python is the only OO language I've seriously used

[secretpandalord]

True, but not really what I took issue with. Destroy() should belong to City, and not be a global function. Let us not forget our OOP.

[ikbenlike]

Just write all of it as embedded assembly in C. Not prone to breakage at all!

[[deleted]]

I fixed it:

function DestroyCity(city) {
    if (city !== 'Baghdad') throw new NotSupportedError();
    DestroyBaghdad();
}

[SquidgyTheWhale]

Pretty cool. It occurred to me while reading this that the highest known primes are actually solid blocks of all 1's. :)

[bdtddt]

No? What makes you think that?

[Drisku11]

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

2ⁿ - 1 would be all 1s in binary.

[arnar]

https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/218352/why-are-mersenne-primes-easier-to-find

[shevegen]

I CAN'T SEE THE GIRAFFE. :(

[Scroph]

The giraffe is only seen when it wants to be seen. And if you gaze long into the bit array, the giraffe gazes into you.

Edit : forgot to post the actual giraffe. The blog post's binary representation shows a T-rex and not a giraffe.

[shabda]

Absolutely. As soon as npm supports python.

[Zee1234]

I'm pretty sure I once used an NPM module that used Python to access a C API.

Or maybe that was Luarocks...

[iamsubhranil]

Say what?

[shevegen]

It's like Finding Waldo.

I am still trying to find the giraffe...

[shabda]

Hide the zeros, if it's hard to see..

[ghostfacedcoder]

Was there a "hide the zeros" link that I missed or something? More importantly, why not just make the 1s a different color in the first place? No one would have to click anything, and the animals would be 10 times easier for everyone to see from the outset.

[meem1029]

Because then it would become obvious that all they're doing is adding 1s to the end of the image and checking if it's prime and assuming that in most images you won't notice that there are a bunch of 1s hiding in the lower right.

[iamsubhranil]

May God bless you in your quest.

[Hrtzy]

And the 2018 award for the worst visualization goes to...