Computing desk
< October 8	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 10 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

October 9

USC-2 and 7-Bit length differences in SMSs

So I notice that when I am typing an SMS to my gf and I use a Hebrew character or even an unusual character like that joined a and e, my phone goes from saying #/160 to #/70, So I know it is changing over from USC-2 to 7-BIt (or is it the other way?). However even in Latin characters it still reads out of 70 on 7-bit. So why is it that 7-Bit can only transmit 70 characters and why is it that USC-2 cannot encode special characters and non-Latin characters? Apologies if the answer is obvious, but I don't know it. :( Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 11 Tishrei 5772 06:24, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See GSM 03.38. Anyway for starters, you have UCS-2 and 7 bit reversed. 7 bit is only enough for 128 (2^7) different characters (generally less since there are usually some special or reserved characters). This means with a 27 letter latin alphabet (upper and lower case) and 10 numeral characters you have 128 - 27*2 - 10 or 64 characters. You then need to add punctuation. And the normal GSM encoding system adds some diacritical and greek letters anyway. UCS-2 which is similar to UTF-16 uses 2 octets or 16 bits for every character no matter latin or whatever. (UTF-8 is one encoding system which uses one octet for latin but is some ways more complex and will use take more space for text using Asian characters.) Nil Einne (talk) 13:30, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

O'Reilly books

What's special about the O'Reilly "cookbook"s? I think that they're meant more for people who already know a language but I don't understand the "cookbook" reference. Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 10:57, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have any of those books, but the impression I get from the word "cookbook" is that it is a collection of recipes (short instructional passages) that stand on their own, so there is no advancement in difficulty or buildup of knowledge from the beginning of the book to the end. The order is arbitrary and you won't read the book from cover to cover but you'll just find the thing you want in the index and jump to it. The recipes would be presented without long explanations of the reasoning behind them. Now buy the book and tell me if I guessed right 67.162.90.113 (talk) 11:11, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah that's pretty much right. They're largely code snippets with explanations, although they are in some order. Why are you answering btw if you don't have nay books and you're just hazarding some guess? the RD needs to get away from hazard guesses. Shadowjams (talk) 12:55, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Seemed like it was at least half a linguistics question about the connotations of the word "cookbook" 67.162.90.113 (talk) 21:19, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I'm familiar with what a cookbook is but didn't know how it related to programming. So these snippets would be common programming problems and how to work around them or maybe more obscure tasks and some info on how to deal with them in the given language. I think I got it now. Thanks again, Dismas|^(talk) 23:04, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This is an established usage of the word in certain programmer circles. It appears in ESR's Jargon File here.

APL (talk) 00:07, 10 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Cookbook#Usage outside the world of food also covers it, referring explicitly to the O'Reilly books. --Colapeninsula (talk) 16:11, 10 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Detecting Printers

Hello. How do I make my laptop detect and default on a wireless printer in close proximity? My home and office printers are connected through different networks via modems. Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 16:09, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What operating system are you using? If Windows, what version? Looie496 (talk) 16:12, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Windows 7 --Mayfare (talk) 18:01, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Let me rephrase. Sorry for the confusion. How do I make my laptop automatically default on a local printer like how my PC automatically connects to my home modem when I am home? --Mayfare (talk) 01:26, 14 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

about html

Can u tell me what is HTML??--60.49.247.162 (talk) 16:26, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See our HTML article. Looie496 (talk) 16:30, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

HTML

HI,CAN U EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT IS HTML LINK??I TRY TO SEARCH IT BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEAN..--60.49.247.162 (talk) 17:07, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It is commonly called a "link", but it is actually an "a". Look up information on the "a tag". The syntax is <a href='some_url'>the link text</a>. -- kainaw ™ 17:36, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

HTML_anchor#Anchor — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.90.142 (talk) 17:54, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

http://webchat.freenode.net/?nick=whatIsHTML&channels=#websites ¦ Reisio (talk) 21:39, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Make a text box in OpenOffice.org Impress that maintains its vertical size

How can I make a text box in Impress that will act like one of the text boxes included in the standard layouts—in other words one that does not automatically expand its vertical size and takes the dimensions made with the mouse? --Melab±1 ☎ 20:46, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Default Search Engine in Chrome

My Google Chrome default search engine switches from Google to Yahoo every time I turn off my computer. How can I prevent this? Inter change able|talk to me 22:10, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]