Item:

Java and JavaScript are about the same as ham and hamster.

General Information about Item:

• Oral Folklore: joke
• English
• USA

Informant Data:

Azhar Hussain is a CS/Econ Double Major in the Class of 2019 from Dallas, TX.

Contextual Data:

Java and JavaScript are two programming languages. Java was created by James Gosling and his team in 1991. They modeled it after the C++ programming language. JavaScript was created by Brendan Eich in 1993 as a Web scripting language. Even though the two languages share a common prefix, there is no relation between the creators of the languages. There is also no relation between the purposes of both languages as explained below.

Transcript of Associated File:

Java vs JavaScript

Informant’s Comments:

Java and JavaScript are sometimes confused by novice programmers because they sound the same. In reality, they are very different in syntax and intended use. The parallel comparison is ham and hamster because although they share a common prefix, they are wholly different (Who would eat a hamster?)

Collector’s Comments:

These could be classified as proverbs because they are providing advice to novice programmers who may not know about the intricacies of languages such as Java and JavaScript.

Collector’s Name: Weiliang (Michael) Li

Tags/Keywords:

• java, javascript, language, syntax, novice, programmer

Item:

There is an optimal Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) at which one gains superhuman programming skills.. This is known as as the Ballmer peak.

General Information about Item:

• Oral Folklore: joke, superstition
• English
• USA

Informant Data:

Ahsan Azim is a Dartmouth computer science major in the class of 2018, from Lahore, Pakistan. He has three years of experience in computer science and is strongly interested in web development. 

Contextual Data:

This joke/ritual was said to have originated at Microsoft in the 80s when Steve Ballmer was CEO. Steve Ballmer is a highly accomplished technology executive who is best known for his tenure as CEO of Microsoft. Although Ballmer is generally not considered to be the creator of this joke, Ballmer was a very humorous and fun-loving guy who was a big fan of beer and other alcoholic beverages. He was known for outlandish behavior and high-enery outbursts in public, as if he was intoxicated. This may have been the reason why the Ballmer Peak was named after him.

The Ballmer Peak is considered to be a parody of the Balmer Peak, which are peaks in the emission spectrum of hydrogen. While completely unrelated to Ballmer, coding and alcohol, the similarity between the names may have been another reason behind how the Ballmer Peak got its moniker.

Later studies did seem to suggest that consumption of alcohol up to a point did increase creative problem solving speed and ability. Some researchers found that a BAC of 0.075 did have effect on programming ability. Psychologists view the Ballmer peak as a parody of the Yerkes-Dodson law in learning psychology which states that optimal learning occurs at a certain level of stimulation. 

See the famous xkcd comic on the Ballmer Peak here: xkcd Ballmer Peak

Transcript of Associated File:

Ballmer Peak

Informant’s Comments:

It [the Ballmer peak] has remained popular until today because many programmers are big fans of beer and/or other drinks such as vodka. At many hackathons [coding competitions] and computer programming events there is often free-flowing beer and wine. Programmers in general tend to be very fun-loving people as well.

Collector’s Comments:

This could be classified as either a joke (as a comic parody that is initially hard to believe) or a ritual (a process that programmers go through before they start programming). It is often thrown around by programmers who try to find the location of the Ballmer peak with their other programmer friends when they are bored of working on something. In a way, finding the Ballmer peak is like finding one of the Holy Grails of computer science.

Collector’s Name: Weiliang (Michael) Li

Tags/Keywords:

• ballmer, peak, alcohol, programming, microsoft, joke, ritual

Item:

Finding your Erdos Number.

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: game
• English

Informant Data:

Wes Kendrick ‘19 ; CS Major, Caucasian, 20 years old from Bethesda, Maryland

Contextual Data:

Paul Erdos was a Hungarian mathematician and was one of the most prolific and famous mathematicians of the 20th century. He published around 1500 papers in his lifetime. It is said that his number of publication is 0, and someone who collaborated directly with him is number 1. Someone who collaborated with a person who is a 1 is automatically 2. This way, through collaborations it shows you how close you are to Paul Erdos. A game that is often time played is when a computer science student gets published or is added as a collaborator on a paper, they try to find the shortest amount of connections it takes to get to Paul Erdos and from however many people or connections they have to do to, they get their Erdos Number.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Erdos Number

Informant’s Comments:

The interviewee first heard this game here while taking Computer Science 010 at Dartmouth College. His professor first mentioned the Bacon number based on the actor Kevin Bacon. The professor explained how actors who played a part with Kevin Bacon were given the number 1 while Kevin Bacon himself was number 0. Each interaction/connection added a number similar to how it is with Paul Erdos. The Professor then explained how the Erdos number can be found by looking at connections amongst publications.

Collector’s Comments:

This could be classified as a game because computer science students often times after getting published compete with their friends and peers to see who has the lower Erdos number. The student with the lowest number of connections and thus lower Erdos number ends up winning the game and is considered smarter because he or she is closer to Paul Erdos.

Tags/Keywords:

• Insert Tags/Keywords Here

Item:

Why did the programmer quit his job?

Because he didn’t get arrays.

General Information about Item:

• Oral Folklore: joke
• English
• USA

Informant Data:

George Hito is a Caucasian, 20 year old, Dartmouth CS and engineering double major in the class of 2018, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Contextual Data:

Computer Science has many different data structures and an array is a very common one. A data structure is a convenient way to organize large amounts of data or information. It makes things easier to retrieve and process.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

“Why did the programmer quit his job?”

Informant’s Comments:

The interviewee first heard this joke when he was researching for a computer science project he had in middle school. He was looking for a way to start the presentation so he could lighten up the audience and perhaps get them a little more involved during the presentation. He thought a joke was a good way to do this.

Collector’s Comments:

This joke can be classified as verbal folklore. This could be classified as a joke because it is uses wordplay when the audience expects a different answer. People commonly quit their job because they don’t get a “raise”, or an increase in the money they get paid from their job. In this joke however, humor is used when the word “arrays” is used instead. Both words sound similar but an array is a way to organize data structures while a raise is something completely different but similar sounding.

Tags/Keywords:

• Insert Tags/Keywords Here

Item:

If you put a million monkeys on a million keyboards, one of them will eventually write a Java Program. The rest of them will write Perl Programs.

General Information about Item:

• Oral Folklore: joke
• English
• USA

Informant Data:

Nathan Yu is a 19 year old Asian Dartmouth CS major in the class of 2019 from Norman, Oklahoma.

Contextual Data:

In computer science there are many different programming languages, some of which are more difficult than others. Java is known as one of the more elite languages that is often times very challenging to code in. On the other hand, Perl Programs are relatively easy to write. Many beginner computer science students start by coding in Perl.

Transcript of Associated File:

Ketav: “Hey Nathan, hope your day is going well. I understand that you are a computer science major here at Dartmouth and was wondering if you are familiar with any computer science folklore?”

Nathan: “I think there is this one joke that I’ve heard, not sure if that qualifies. ‘If you put a million monkeys on a million keyboards, one of them will eventually write a Java Program. The rest of them will write Perl Programs’.”

Ketav: “Hmm, not exactly sure what that means, would you mind explaining it?”

Nathan: “Sure! So essentially what the joke is saying is that it is sort of making fun of Perl Programs since it’s a common thing for many computer science students and professors to know that Java is a very difficult program to code in when compared to Perl. Often times many beginners start coding in Perl”

Ketav: “I see, and when did you first hear this joke?”

Nathan: “The first time I’ve heard this joke was in my 11^th grade computer science course. My professor at the time was teaching us the difference between Java and Perl programs before we familiarized ourselves with Java programming. I heard the joke a few times after from a few of my older friends who found out we learned how to use Perl Programming first”

Ketav: Great, thanks Nathan!

Nathan: Anytime, feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

Informant’s Comments:

The interviewer first heard this joke in his 11th grade computer science course. The professor was guiding them onto the path of learning Java and was comparing them to Perl programs since they had been learning about Perl Programs beforehand. The professor wanted to accentuate to them the extent of difficulty of learning Java compared to Perl.

Collector’s Comments:

This joke can be classified as verbal folklore. This could be classified as a joke because it is saying that if a million monkeys, animals that obviously have no coding experience, were to be given a keyboard and randomly type letters, only one would create a Java code while the others would all create a Perl code. Of course, the monkeys probably would not create either version of the code but what the joke is saying is it is instilling humor while also explaining how difficult a Java code is.

Tags/Keywords:

• Insert Tags/Keywords Here

Item:

“Knock Knock…

Who’s there?

…. (long pause)

Java”

General Information about Item:

• Oral folklore: joke
• English
• USA

Informant Data:

Shashwat Chaturvedi is a 20 year old Indian male Dartmouth CS/Econ double major, from Texas.

Contextual Data:

Shashwat heard this for the first time on the internet, and heard it again from Professor Cormen once. He doesn’t necessarily use the joke that often, but keeps it in mind as a reminder of the properties of Java. He might use it to lighten the mood if he was with a group of Java programmers who were frustrated with the speed of their code. As far as variations go, Shash felt like it would be quite straightforward to make variations for other languages that make fun of issues with those languages. As to whether the joke illustrates a divide among programmers, Shashwat said, “Yeah, It does show whether you like Java or not, and how there are polarizing reactions about the language… about every language… but a lot of people have strong opinions about Java.”

Transcript of Associated File:

“Knock Knock” transcript

Informant’s Comments:

“A lot of people have issues with Java, and one of their main issues with the language is its slow compilation time. Once you write the code, the computer has to prepare to actually be run. It has to go through the code, check if there are any errors… Once it has been prepared the computer can run it. And so preparing Java code takes more time than other languages.”

Collector’s Comments:

This joke is verbal folklore, and more specifically a riddle. It compares Java’s slow compile time with a person who takes a long time to respond after knocking on a door.

Tags/Keywords:

• knock knock, java, joke

Item: “It’s like a programming thing, where um, instead of putting in a tab, right? You want to put in two spaces. That’s good programming practice. It’s because tabs get interpreted differently on different systems so a tab on one system might turn into four spaces, or two spaces, or six spaces.”

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: ritual
• English
• USA

Informant Data:

Charley Ren is a 20 year old Asian male Dartmouth CS Major, who lived in the Midwest until he was 12, when he moved to Connecticut.

Contextual Data:

Charley first learned about it from programmers at Facebook who he overheard discussing it. The ritual/piece of knowledge applies when he is with other people who are particular about programming practices. This folklore defines a bit of a division within programmers, as some prefer spaces in their code while some prefer tabs.

Transcript of Associated File:

Spaces versus tabs transcript

Informant’s Comments:

Another similar ritual is how some people prefer using shift or caps lock all the time. This shows a bit of a division within programmers, as some prefer spaces in their code while some prefer tabs.

Collector’s Comments:

This can be classified as customary folklore. It is a ritual practice that programmers keep in mind whenever they are doing their work, but it is something that most non-programmers would not be familiar with.

Tags/Keywords:

• spaces, tabs

Item:

“There are 10 types of people in the world… those who understand binary and those who don’t.”

General Information about Item:

• Oral Folklore: joke
• English/binary
• USA

• Collector: , Agastya Gupta

Informant Data:

Tim Tregubov is a 37 year old white male Dartmouth computer science professor who grew up in the Upper Valley and whose family is from Russia.

Weiling Huang is a 19 year old in the Dartmouth Class of 2019, majoring in Government. He has taken some classes in Computer Science.

Contextual Data:

The joke is that “One Zero” is the number 2 in binary, but also reads like ten. So, if you aren’t familiar with binary, you wouldn’t know.

Tim first heard this joke last night from a student in the DALI Lab at Dartmouth. He thinks it would be a relevant joke to tell “when hanging out with nerds,” as they are the only ones who would understand it.

Weiling heard this joke told by his professor in a Computer  Science class here at Dartmouth College. He mentions that he has not used it outside of that context.

Transcript of Associated File:

Tim’s Interview

Weiling’s Interview:

Informant’s Comments:

A similar piece of folklore Tim had encountered was that the prerequisite for the course ENGS 31 (Digital Electronics) is being able to count from 0 to 1, as that class relies on binary where everything is a zero or one. In terms of how the joke works with group of people, it is “basically saying there are people who get it and people who don’t. It’s an in joke, and in a way, programming is like that… there’s a few movements about democratizing software development, but every time a developer builds new tools, they’re always hard to use… And it wouldn’t be a high paying job if it was easy for anyone to do. It creates a sense of ‘in-ness’, where I get it and other people don’t.”

Collector’s Comments:

This joke is a piece of verbal folklore – more specifically a riddle. It uses the similarity between representing the number 10 in decimal format and the number 2 in binary format to trick the person who is reading or hearing it.

Tags/Keywords:

• binary, joke

Item:

“When all you have is C, everything looks like a thumb.”

General Information about Item:

• Oral Folklore: joke
• English
• USA

Informant Data:

Anthony Addo is a 20 year old, American-Ghanaian Dartmouth computer science major modified with linguistics, from Ghana.

Contextual Data:

Anthony first read this piece of folklore on a Stack Overflow post, and could imagine using it if he was assigned a project to do in C for a class that would be very simple to do in Java or Python, but requires extensive knowledge to complete in C.

Transcript of Associated File:

“When all you have is C…”

Informant’s Comments:

“It means that C is a tool that can achieve many things, but achieving even the most simple of tasks can be very burdensome and onerous.” Another variant of this folklore he is aware of is a GIF of two men standing across from each other, one wearing a shirt that says C and one wearing a shirt that says Java. The man in the Java shirt acts like he is preparing to fight or hit the C man, waving his arms around and moving a lot. The man in the C shirt doesn’t move at all, and then with one quick hit knocks out his opponent. “This points to the superiority of C over Java.”

Collector’s Comments:

This joke can be classified as verbal folklore, and more specifically a proverb.

Tags/Keywords:

• C, Java, joke

Item:

“Why do programmers always mix up Halloween and Christmas?”

“Because Oct 31 = Dec 25.”

General Information about Item:

• Oral folklore: joke
• English/binary
• USA

Informant Data:

Nitasha Kochar is a Dartmouth computer science major, in the class of 2019, from Jericho, New York.

Contextual Data:

The informant said that she first heard the joke from a fellow classmate in her CS10 class during her freshman year.

Transcript of Associated File:

“Why do programmers always mix up Halloween and Christmas?”

Informant’s Comments:

The basis of this joke lies within the two different number systems, octal and decimal, as Halloween is represented by Oct 31 and Christmas is represented by Dec 25. In computer science terms, Octal 31 and Decimal 25 are equivalent. To get into a little more detail, decimal is the base-10 number system with 10 digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). After you surpass the highest digit 9, then you add another column to the left; therefore, the sequence goes as follows: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, etc. On the other hand, octal is the base-8 number system, which has 8 digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Thus, when you surpass the highest digit 7, then you add another column to the left; as a result, the sequence would go as follows: 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, etc. To test if octal 31 and decimal 25 are equal, we can convert octal 31 into decimal form by using the equation: 3 x 81 + 1 x 80 = 3 x 8 + 1 x 1 = 24 + 1 = decimal 25. This joke emphasizes the different number systems used in coding, which can help programmers remember the fundamentals.

Collector’s Comments:

• This can be classified as a type of verbal folklore. Also, this joke uses elements of a riddle by incorporating the comparison of the dates, October 31 and December 25, with the system based numbers Octal 31 and Decimal 25 in computer programming.

Tags/Keywords:

• jokes, programming, Halloween, Christmas