Four Island

Wow. I love The Daily WTF, and looking back at some of my code, I've written some WOEs myself. (WOE = What On Earth). So, I'd like to share them. Because they're funny. Yes.

for (i=0;i<toParse.length();i++)
{
  if ((toParse.substr(i, 1) != " ") && (toParse.substr(i, 1) != "4") && (toParse.substr(i, 1) != "\n"))
  {
    cout << endl << endl << "ERROR: Unrecognized character in line " << lineNum << ":" << endl;
    cout << "\t" << curline;
    endProgram();
  }
}
int j = 0;
i = 0;
if (toParse.length() > 0)
{
  while (toParse.length() != 0)
  {
    if ((toParse.substr(i, 1) == " ") || (toParse.substr(i, 1) == "\n"))
    {
      if (i == 0)
      {
        toParse = toParse.substr(1);
        i = -1;
      } else {
        string2int((char*)toParse.substr(0, i).c_str(),paras[j]);
        j++;
        toParse = toParse.substr(i + 1);
        i = -1;
      }
    }
    i++;
  }

If you haven't gotten it yet, here's the explanation. The program first verifies that the string toParse does not contain any non-4s, non-dashes and non-spaces. Then it examines each character and if it is not a dash or a space, it converts the character from an integer to a string. This is absolutely ridiculous as the only value that character could be at that point would be a 4.

This WOE has been taken from lines 43-72 of singlefour.cpp of the singlefour project. This code was introduced in revision 7 and fixed in revision 26.

It's PARADOX TIEM! RUN! GAH! Sorry, but seriously, who voted NO on this weeks poll?

Yes - 6 vote(s)! No - 1 vote(s)! Huh? - 2 vote(s)! Don't care - 0 vote(s)!

In other news, you may have guessed that today's my birthday! YAYZ! Also, the weirdest thing happened this morning. (No, not as weird as the personality swap) When I woke up, I looked at the clock and it was 4:44. StRaNgE.

Well, once again, I'm hosting another site. This time, it's a blog for Timbo94! It's called Dream Weaver and he's already populating it with interesting posts! Find it at http://timbo94.fourisland.com! It's also on the Four Island Links page!

In other news, the new Four Island is doing great! The quotes db has been completely re-written, and I've now decided that, if you are logged in while posting a quote, you don't have to get it verified. You only have to get it verified if you're anonymous.

No, you haven't lost your mind again. I have changed my username. Again.

I just felt as if Starla was too common, I mean, I really liked the name, but too many other people on the Internet used the same name, so it wouldn't be unique.

I've come up with StarlaXY as an alternative as it's unused and actually makes logical sense (though I won't tell you why, and be quiet Tamasys, you're lucky I told you), but I don't think it's cute enough.

So please leave comments on what you think. I'd like help on this because I don't want to always be changing my username. I may even decide to go back to Hatkirby. Please tell me what you think.

NOTE: The Login button is still in existance, it's just invisible. Sorry. That's fixed in the new Four Island. For the time being, it's located next to the "Links" button on the NavBar.

[ #30 + (8) - [X] ](/quotes/30.php)

....We've got a new QOTM. And guess what, it's the (in)famous #30! Click on the link for the full details.

Also, the new Four Island is doing great! I won't reveal much, but I'd like to give you a tiny hint: CSS Speech Bubbles | willmayo.com

Goodness, I don't think I've ever seen so many people vote No on a poll before. I guess you all just felt very strongly against it. Thank's for your opinion! This poll was actually important because, as I'm rewriting Four Island, I wanted to know what I should do for a home page and I was going to take these results into effect. Here are the results:

Yes - 1 vote(s)! No - 5 vote(s)! Huh? - 3 vote(s)! Indifferent - 1 vote(s)!

I'd also like to point out an interesting pattern I've noticed recently. I've been sick for the last two days so I haven't been on The Fourm or on Yaplet. Now, remembering that, read these notes:

• I am (normally) always on Four Island.
• It is rare for two people to log on within 5 minutes of each other.
• When someone logs in, and there is no one already logged in, they will wait 5 minutes for someone else to log in. If they don't, they log out.

Now, process that with me being sick. Ahhhh, bad effects, right? Also, I'm sorry, I was going to talk to you peoples about how the new Four Island was doing, but I'm still not feeling very well. Maybe later.

A little explanation. Does anyone out there program in PHP? If you do (woohoo!), you may have experienced a:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_CASE in /path/to/file on line 7

Or perhaps, maybe a:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_ECHO, expecting ',' or ';' in /path/to/file on line 12

Or maybe even a:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING, expecting ']' in /path/to/file on line 12

No need to panic. Well, I guess I did the first time I saw one of them. But it turns out that, while it is hard to find information about them on the internet, the solution for them is quite simple.

They just mean that you're using bad syntax. For instance, the T_CASE may mean that you have a switch statement somewhere and forgot a ; after the break. The T_ECHO could mean that you forgot a ; after an echo statement. And the what-on-earth T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING just means that you left out a ['s matching ].

That feel better? I knew it would.

Sorry, I'm just really random sometimes, but it WAS difficult to find information about these errors on the internet.

You may know this already, but I just want to post a quick tip on how to create a custom sidebar in Firefox. The novelty of it is that you use any old webpage and it stays there regardless of the tab you are on.

As an example, I will be showing you how to add the Four Island Yaplet channel to your sidebar, but if you have your own webpage assembled, you can skip this paragraph. First, open Yaplet. The URL is http://go.yaplet.com/?url=http://www.fourisland.com. In the top right hand corner, there is an image of two windows, one on the other. Click that to open Yaplet in a pop-up window.

Now, bookmark the page. This can be done by Ctrl-D, or, if you are using 3b5, the star in the top-right hand corner. Go to bookmark properties and edit the bookmark you just made. There will be a checkbox saying "Open this in the sidebar". Click that.

Yay, you're done! Now, whenever you open that bookmark, it will open as a sidebar. This is very useful, especially with Yaplet, because it means you don't have to be on Four Island to use it's Yaplet channel as it spreads through all tabs.

The word in the title may not be a real English word, but I don't care. What I do care about is the unfair treatment of people with phobias. I'm not just saying this because I myself have a phobia that has been exploited, I have met and befriended people with phobias themselves. Note, I'm also not pointing this at any individual, this is a notice for the world.

I have seen two different methods of dealing with someone with a phobia.

1. Generally ignore it, but warn the person in question if something that violates the phobia is nearby so that they can avoid it.
2. Try to discourage the phobia by informing that person of the way in which the thing they have a fear of surrounds them and is everywhere in their life.

Number two is a little difficult to explain, so here are some examples.

Example 1 is me. You should know that I'm mycophobic, which is a fear of fungus. People know this. And all I've heard is things such as "Fungus is everywhere", "Hatkirby, you eat bread everyday and yeast is a fungus".

Example 2 is a friend of mine who happens to be a pyromaniac. Because of this, she's highly hydrophobic. But all she's heard is "There's water in the air", "There's water in orange juice", "There's water EVERYWHERE" and "You are 70% water."

In my experience, this does nothing to help the person with a fear. All it does is frighten them and if in the case of telling them that something they like contains something they fear, it just puts them off of that things. (Air in the case of the pyromaniac which isn't such a smart thing, though no water isn't such a smart thing either)

I'm not pointing fingers, no way. I'm just posting a note of advice. Phobias hurt people and people with phobias don't need people attempting to help them by scaring them.

EDIT: Gryphic has posted a reply to this on her blog called Phobica.

EDIT: Gryphic has written another post in relation to this post, but not really on the subject of Phobias. It's called Pyromania =/= Hydrophobia (and other firey stuff).

Once again, thank you for voting on the poll of the week. This week was OK, but we got the same number of Indifferent as Yes. Anyway, here are the results:

Yes - 3 vote(s)! No - 0 vote(s)! Huh? - 1 vote(s)! Indifferent - 3 vote(s)!

In other news, you many have noticed that we have reverted the Layout 4. Sorry about that. Many people didn't quite like the style and the truth was, it broke in many browsers and many screen resolutions. Apparently, it broke in every browser and screen resolution other than mine. Oops.

EDIT: You also may have noticed that my username's changed. It has. Don't worry. You're not going insane.