[IT] Advantages of Hexadecimal

If you work with computers on some level beyond Microsoft Office or browsing the net, at some point, you will run across hexadecimals. What are they and why do people bother using them when they seem something better left for assembly programmers?

Hexadecimal is just a base-16 number system. We humans because we grew up in a society where most of us has 10 fingers, use the decimal system for the most part. In hex, in addition to the numerals 0-9 to represent values zero through nine, we also have letters A-F to represent values ten through fifteen.

Consider the number 10995. In decimal system, we have
(1 x 10^4) + (0 x 10^3) + (9 x 10^2) + (9 x 10^1) + (5 x 10^0) = 10995

In hexadecimal system, we have 2AF3:
(2 × 16^3) + (10 × 16^2) + (15 × 16^1) + (3 × 16^0) = 2AF3

What's important is to realize that numbers are abstract counting notions which can have infinite ways of displaying in reality. Actually, base 10 really offers no advantage to us except that we humans are born with 10 fingers and toes which make it easier for us to count. We could use base-23 or base-159 for no good reason.

However, there are distinct advantages to using hexadecimal in computer science:

1. You can store more information in the same space. In a hex code with two digits you can express the numbers 0 through 255. In a decimal code with two digits you can count from 0 to 99.

2. Hexadecimal (base 16) converts easily to binary (base 2), which is used by computers at the fundamental level. A two digit hexadecimal number can range from 0 to 255, which can be expressed in eight digits of binary code.

Programmers sometimes like to throw around dorky jokes that ordinary people won't get. The following is a good test to see how dorky you are:

3x12=36
2x12=24
1x12=12
0x12=18

Programmers typically put 0x in front of a number that's in hex base. This way, people don't get confused. So here, the first three lines are interpreted as multiplication while the last is considered the hex interpretation of 12, which is (1 x 16^1) + (2 x 16^0) or 18.

Here's a better one:

Q: Let’s say only you and dead people can read hex. If you teach your buddy how to read hex also, what do you all have in common?
A: You are all deaf.

If you need an explanation, you're still not quite a dork. Work on it though! Still, for completeness, explanation: "dead" refers to a hexadecimal number DEAD (57005 base 10), as opposed to the state of not being alive. With you and your friend, that's two more to the group, so add 2 to D to get F. Hence, DEAD + 2 = DEAF.

[Sociology] Dating Social Progression?

Probably at a used book store somewhere sometime, I picked up a 1950s guide on dating called Facts of Life and Love for Teenagers by Evelyn Millis Duvall. I really like reading retro books and its subject matter was too curious for me to avoid. Since then, it has comfortably reclined on my book shelf gathering dust until now....

As I'm reading this, I'm wondering just how many of the things Dr. Duvall discussed still applies today. I'll list out five that I think no longer holds true in modern American society. Quoted verbatim from the book:

1. In a poll of high-school boys, more than two-thirds said that they do not like to have girls call them on the telephone. They feel that this is a boy's privilege, and that a girl seems forward when she phones a boy.

2. When in doubt about what to give a girl, flowers are usually safe.

3. Boys find that girls do not like the indirect approach that starts, "What are you doing next Friday night?" That puts the girl "in a spot." Boys should not act as though they expect to be refused, as Amos does when he says, "I don't suppose you'd like to go on a date with me, would you?" This backhanded kind of invitation is apt to make the girl feel uncomfortable and is a mark of the boy's feeling of insecurity, too.

4. A girl must be extremely tactful; boldly buying her own ticket or handing him the cash in public may be embarrassing for him.

And this line is quite hilarious. Ah, if only teenagers followed her advice then but too late for America now:

5. ... They are usually the more immature, impulsive boys and girls who have not yet learned that there is a place for everything in life, and that even a kiss is better when it is reserved for the times, the places, and the persons that give it most meaning. With experience a man is able to tell a woman he loves her with his eyes; a woman can express her adoration in a hundred little gestures that only he can understand. It is only during the calf-love stage that love-making is open to the herd.

There are some advance that very well still holds water though:

1. A good conversationalist is not necessarily the one who talks all the time. More often he or she is the sensitive person who listens well and is not afraid of the silences that come along from time to time.

2. You overcome a bad reputation by gaining a good one...This times time and perseverance, but it is the only sure way.

3. Your hospitality is one of the nicest things that you can offer to those you like.

4. You are fortunate if you and your parents have worked out your dating questions by now, for dating is much more satisfactory when it has their approval.

5. The first person you loved was yourself. Little babies are capable of loving no one else at first. They have not had enough experience even to be aware that there are other persons to love.

I'll probably pick up this book again and give my thoughts on it in greater detail but I leave you these few points to ponder upon.