Comic Archive

Zhang: Wanna bet for a beer you will be wrong about what this bit of Python code will do?
Max: May I scan for no-break spaces and zero-width joiners first?
Zhang: No need: there are none, I promise.
Max: OK, then…

We see a simple method definition: “def poc1(): return "OK"”, followed by an invocation: “print(poc1()),” but program output reads: “Gotcha.”
Max: Seems trivial, this ‘poc1()’ method should just return “OK”… but it will not, right?
Zhang: Indeed, it prints: “gotcha.”
Max: Wait a minute… there's more code! Let me scroll up!

Max: Another ‘poc1()’ definition? How can it not be overridden? Hmm, that is not a ‘c,’ is it? Is it a Cyrillic ‘es’?
Zhang: You got me. This did take me some effort, they already foresaw this and imposed NFKC normalization on identifiers. However, because the Cyrillic letters represent something totally different, ‘c’ and ‘es’ cannot be treated equal.

Max: No beer for you!
Zhang: How about we just buy each other a beer then?
Max: Very acceptable… with 2 Roman ‘c’ characters, that is.

Setting: the workshop.
Alana: Has the machine you ‘rescued’ from the Quantuple office revealed any secrets, Heidi?
Heidi: As a matter of fact: yes, but things get weirder and weirder.
Alana: After what we recently found out about this guy, weird has certainly become the new normal.

Heidi: This machine seems to connect wirelessly to somewhere… or maybe I should say sometime.
Alana: What do you mean? Some kind of time machine?
Heidi: Well, sort of, but then only for information. It must somehow be exploiting quantum entanglement.
Alana: The name of the company was Quantuple after all… are we talking past or future here, or both?

Heidi: Future, it seems, and a specific moment in time, which is consistent with the entanglement theory. Apparently this machine is one half of a whole, the other of which is somewhere in the future.
Alana: I think I'm again approaching risk of head explosion…

Max: So, this is some kind of WiFi router to the future? Can we predict stock market trends?
Heidi: Alas, it is restricted to one point in time, although I can not pinpoint it. I also have little control over the information it streams, as if the flow is controlled mostly from the other end.

Max: Say… if this links to the future… could it be how the Quantuple guy got the advanced technology?
Heidi: Interesting theory. But how then did the link get established for the first time?
Max: Hm, chicken and egg problem. Speaking of which, do you have any dinner plans?

Heidi blushes.
Heidi: Ehh… I am on sort of a diet.
Max: Oh well… another time then?
Heidi: Yeah.

OIB-A271: To be fair, that wasn't totally worthless. But your dating skills still need a lot of work.
Max: Oh, shut up, you.

Setting: Zhang and Max are walking through a corridor.
Zhang: I have heard from OIB-A271 that you have made an ill-fated attempt to score a date with Heidi.
Max: Yeah, it was on the spur of the moment. But, neither of us seems truly comfortable with the whole dating thing.

Zhang: Finding some additional common points between you two, may help break the ice.
Max: Like what? I'd like to help with that weird machine, but quantum entanglement is not my expertise…
Zhang: Dunno… Aren't you über-geeks into text editors? You use Vim, right? Maybe she's does too!

Max: You expect me to woo someone with Vim lore? That idea deserves a resolute “:q!”
Zhang: I usually stick with Nano, but I know what that does. Say, if she proves an Emacs user… it would be the ultimate test for a prospective relationship!
Max: It would most likely just lead to :bn