geeky holiday humor

[javasaurus]

Found on the net...

Question:

Why do computer programmers confuse Hallowe'en and Christmas?

Answer:

Because oct31=dec25.

Comments

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

oct = octal notation -- the only digits you have are 0-7, so "10" = 8 and "20" = 16, "100" = 64.

hex is the same, with 16 numbers per digit, 0-9, A=10, F=15.

dec is decimal, at its latin root: dec = 10. its the number system we normally use.

so where oct 31 = 3*8 + 1 = 25.

dec 25 = 2 * 10 + 5 = 25.

oct and hex are standards in computers, especially at the hardware level, because it makes dealing with "binary" (where instead of 10, 8, or 16, each digit represents 2) much easier.

i can go hex2A instead of 00101010 and its much easier to see what's happening for us with experience at these things.

[wilhelmina-d.livejournal.com]

Huh. Interesting. Learn something new every day!