text:
User talk:Arcarbaugh

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.--Laleena (talk) 21:17, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks
Ha! Laleena beat me to welcoming you (and I accidentally put a welcome on your user page instead of your talk page. But I did want to personally welcome you to wikibooks and thank you for your contributions to the Kites honor.  If you have any questions at all, please drop me a note on my talk page. --Jomegat (talk) 21:22, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Arcarbaugh


text:
User talk:Lambarine

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.--Laleena (talk) 21:28, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:Lambarine


text:
User:Æ~enwikibooks

Look out for some photographs for the cookbook soon :-)

title: User:Æ~enwikibooks


text:
User talk:NadiaHurley

Writing Adolescent Fiction
Due to your interest in the creative writing wikibooks, you may be interested in Writing Adolescent Fiction. Cilantrohead (talk) 22:21, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:NadiaHurley


text:
Spanish/Vocabulary/People

 * la gente: people

 * (a-e) los niños: children
 * (a) recién nacido(a): newborn
 * (b) la bebé: baby (el bebé for boys)
 * (c) el niño pequeno: toddler (la niña pequena for girls)
 * (d) la niña: little girl
 * (e) el niño: little boy

 * (f-g) los adolescentes: teens
 * (f) la chica: girl
 * (g) el chico: boy

 * (h-k) los adultos: adults
 * (h) el veintitanto, el twentysomething (not in Spain): twentysomething
 * (i) la mujer: woman
 * (j) el hombre: man
 * (k) la jubilada: senior (el jubilado for men)

title: Spanish/Vocabulary/People


text:
Talk:Circuit Idea/How to Reverse Current Direction

Not a diode
Article says ''But it is very primitive and confusing to say "the input transistor Q1 is a diode". Actually, it is not a diode; it is exactly a transistor operating in the active mode. It would be a diode, if its collector was disconnected.'' I'd be inclined to notice that the CB junction of the transistor is short-circuited in Q1. The collector node is attached directly to the base node. Therefore the circuit "sees" only the BE junction, which is, of course, a diode. Sounds like a simple explanation to me. Brews ohare (talk) 00:37, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Brews ohare, thank you for the response. It is wonderful that there are still (wiki)people showing willingness for discussing circuit phenomena! As you can see, I not only try to "humanize" Wikipedia articles by means of these discussions; I draw also inspiration from these conversations that I need to continue disclosing the mystery of electronic circuits on the pages of Circuit Idea. It will be so marvelous, if more key-wikipedians (e.g., Omegatron, Alfred Centauri, Light current, Heron, Rogerbrent, etc.) join this discussion! Of course, we have to be bold and fair enough for the purpose of such a frank discussion; we have not to hide behind "reputable" sources.

 * As far as I remember, I have also to reply to your comment in Wikipedia's Current mirror. Below, I will try to expose my viewpoint about this interesting topic.

What can be the current mirror building component?
I'm not familiar enough with microelectronics; I try to look at electronic devices from a macro- instead from a micro-level. From this viewpoint, the specific current mirror implementation is not so interesting for me; I try to "catch" the general idea behind it. Following this approach, let's see what an electronic device we can use as a building component to realize the two parts of the current mirror.

If you share my penetration, the so called transconductance (voltage-to-current conversion) is the main, general and inherent property of the device. It is not so important, if the relation between the output current and the input voltage is linear; but it is important for the device to keep up a steady output current when the load varies. Simply speaking, we need a voltage-controlled current-stable resistor that changes its present resistance contrary to the input voltage: if we raise the input voltage, the resistance decreases and v.v. This property allows us to build the input current-setting (programming, reference) part of the current mirror by applying a negative feedback. For this purpose, we just connect the device's output to its input, in order to reverse it (to transmute it from a voltage-to-current converter into the opposite current-to-voltage converter).

Almost all the electronic devices (tubes, bipolar-, MOS and junction field-effect transistors, the so-called transconductance amplifiers, etc.) are transconductors that control the current flowing through the load (if we want they to produce a voltage, we connect in series a resistor acting as the simplest current-to-voltage converter). But only two of the "conventional" active electronic components (the bipolar transistor and the E-MOS field-effect transistor) possesses the needed input-output relation.

MOSFET as a current mirror building component

It is exactly what we need since a MOSFET has a true voltage input behaving just as an open circuit. As a result, there are no any problems, if we connect the M1's drain to its gate (Fig. 1). There is no additional current to be extracted from the input source (there is no error because of the input currents); there are no any "diodes" connected in parallel to the device's output... There is only a regulating element (a voltage-controlled resistor) that changes its present resistance (between the drain and the source) so that to keep up an almost constant voltage. We have made it behave in this way - as a voltage-stable resistor, as a forward-biased diode! There are no any other elements in this arrangement...

An E-MOSFET has a threshold in its |transconductance curve but it affects only the output, not the input (although the threshold voltage is exceeded, the input resistance remains infinite). So, we can think of an E-MOSFET as a kind of "transdiode".

BJT as a current mirror building component

But BJT is a "nastier" and more confusing device... First, it is a double-faced component; we can think of a bipolar transistor simply as a current-to-current converter (a current amplifier) or, more precisely, as a voltage-to-current converter (according to Ebers-Moll model). Well, we might accept here the second viewpoint... But what do we do with the base-emitter diode? What is its role here? Is it important? Is the transistor T1 with a shorted CB junction a diode? What is it?

Yes, there is a diode in this arrangement... You are right, the base-emitter junction is really a true diode... But this is only the first diode. Because there is another "diode" - a regulating element (a voltage-controlled resistor) that changes its present resistance (now, between the T1's collector and the emitter) so that to keep up an almost constant voltage. Again, we have made it behave in this way - as a voltage-stable resistor, as another forward-biased diode!

So, in this arrangement, we have two diodes - the first (base-emitter junction) is genuine, the second (collector-emitter part) is artificial. And these two diodes are connected in parallel to each other. Only, the BE diode is low-power (driving) while the CE "diode" is powerful, "executive". The BE diode consumes only 1/(1 + β) portion of the whole current. The CE part serves as a shunting regulating element that diverts the great amount (β/(1 + β)) of the current. So, what the circuit "sees" is not only a diode, it "sees" a shunted, powerful diode... We can even say that since the CE shunting "diode" predominates over the BE true diode (it is β times more powerful than the BE diode) the circuit "observes" only the CE "diode"!

Well, Brews ohare, that's enough; I suggest correcting the original article text from

''...But it is very primitive and confusing to say "the input transistor Q1 is a diode". Actually, it is not a diode; it is exactly a transistor operating in the active mode. It would be a diode, if its collector was disconnected...''

to

''...But it is not sufficient to say "the input transistor Q1 is a diode" since it is not only a diode; it is a "buffered diode". It would be a bare diode, if its collector was disconnected and only the base-emitter junction was connected...''

or to something similar.

True diode as a current mirror input part
Brews ohare, I would like to ask you to take up a position on another "scenario" for building BJT current mirror. In this story, we may first use a true diode as a current-setting input part and, as usual, a BJT as an output part. Then, we will note some disadvantages of this arrangement that will make us use another BJT as an input part.

This idea dawned on me when I, looking for current mirror materials on the web, found the Tony Kuphald's Current mirrors page. He has used such a succession; only he has not given reasons for such a circuit evolution. I regard with respect his web materials; IMO they are the best written popular circuit stories. I know him and I have the intention of inviting him to join Circuit idea stories.

Only, I think there is something confusing and wrong in his material. Can you read thoroughly this material and then give your opinion on it? Do you see something wrong in this arrangement - to connect a bare diode in parallel to the T2's input? Can such an arrangement exist at all? Can it serve as a current mirror?

If we answer these questions, we can show in another credible way the reason of using an active diode. Then, we might invite Tony Kuphaldt to join this discussion, to edit this page or to write new one.

I have an opinion but I prefer first to see what you think about it.

Regards, Circuit-fantasist (talk) 18:35, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Vout of Input Part is const
I'm confusing about this point: If this Vout of input part is a const and won't be changed with the input currrent, then the output current won't be changed also as this voltage is Vbe of output part and therefore will decide the output current. So the result is if we change the input current configuration resistor, the output current won't follow this change;

Would you please give me a more detail explanation? Thanks!

 * Hi, your question is interesting and important. Vout (or VF of an ordinary diode) is relatively constant. In some cases, e.g. in a case of a voltage stabilizer or if the second device has a large operating range, we assume it is constant because its variations are insignificant in comparison with the voltage range. In the case of a current mirror, we assume it depends logarithmically on the input current (see Fig. 8) in comparison with the transistor's input voltage range. Circuit-fantasist (talk) 16:03, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The FB-based reverse is incomplete
It is amazing how one can decompose an initially miraculous circuit into principal blocks. Yet, thinking in terms of feedback causes trouble when trying to understand the metamorphosis turning the transistor into its inverse. This book helped me to understand that the feedback not only a way to keep the output at specific level but also a lookup of the input that produces given output. Normally, "internal input" i is adjusted by i = i+Δi, where Δi = ref - o is the difference between primary input ref and "internal output" o. In your example, the current (and collector voltage) is the reference input and base voltage is the internal input. But I see no comparator. Instead, I see that the internal output controls our golden reference, the input current! You see, instead of matching with the golden signal, feedback controls it. Next, the two drivers, the primary input and our transistor converter, must fight -- who is stronger (explained in Commutation cell). Analysis reveals that the mirror reference input always wins because, when the transistor is too closed, the current can go through the base (and open it). It will also close the transistor if the collector voltage is too low for the given current. The solution comes from understanding the transistor operation while the feedback view seems only to cause trouble. The book is otherwise great, yet, I feel like it lacks a last remark to explain the trick of actual FB implementation. Or, is it supposed that the audience is of competence to guess itself? --Javalenok (talk) 14:39, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

 * Javalenok, your thoughts are very interesting for me. I noted your insertion this evening; so, please let mi scrutinize them. If you want, you may join as well another interesting talk - Wikipedia discussion about Emitter-coupled logic where I appear as Circuit-dreamer and sometimes with my old WP user name Circuit-fantasist. Regards, Circuit-fantasist (talk) 20:10, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

 * Javalenok, I have found a very interesting source (page 12 and 16) that seconds this current mirror presentation. Circuit-fantasist (talk) 22:40, 24 October 2009 (UTC)


text:
User talk:24.115.251.46

Spanish wikibook
Check out my new vocabulary page at Spanish/Vocabulary/People. What do you think of structuring the vocabulary pages this way? Cilantrohead (talk) 00:54, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:24.115.251.46


text:
German/Appendices/Vocabulary/People

 * der Mensch (-en): person (pl. people)

 * (a-e) das Kind (-er): child
 * (a) neugeboren: newborn
 * (b) das Baby (-s): baby
 * (c) das Kleinkind (-er): toddler
 * (d) das achtjährige Mädchen (-): 8-year-old girl
 * (e) der achtjährige Junge (-n): 8-year-old boy

 * (f-g) der Teenager (-): teenager
 * (f) das sechzehnjährige Mädchen (-): 16-year-old girl
 * (g) der sechzehnjährige Junge (-n): 16-year-old boy

 * (h-k) der/die Erwachsene (-n): adult
 * (h) der Twen (-s): twentysomething
 * (i) die fünfundvierzigjährige Frau (-en): 45-year-old woman
 * (j) der fünfundvierzigjährige Mann (-"er): 45-year-old man
 * (k) die ältere Mitbürgerin (-nen) : senior citizen (der ältere Mitbürger (-) for men)

Vocabulary/People

title: German/Appendices/Vocabulary/People


text:
User talk:68.161.204.155

-Ravichandar84 (talk) 01:45, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:68.161.204.155


text:
User talk:Retropunk

-Ravichandar84 (talk) 01:46, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Japanese Wikibook
Hi Retropunk,

I just added a comment on Talk:Japanese which I wanted to draw your attention to as you're involved in this book. --Swift (talk) 05:12, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Typo in page name
Hi Retropunk,

I found Japanese/Lessons/Leeson_7 while browsing orphaned pages. Japanese/Lessons/Lesson_7 seems to be a more recent version of the former. Is it OK to delete that orphan? --Swift (talk) 13:02, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Wikistress?
Hi Retropunk,

Thanks for all your hard work on the Japanese wikibook lately. I'm happy that this effort to make sense of the existing material has been sustained so far.

I wasn't, however, quite sure what to make of the tone in your last few comments. I quickly wanted to check if you were unhappy with the direction or pace of progress; and, if so, whether that was something we could try to sort out before continuing.

I think we both want the best for this book and believe that discussing the ideas we have for it will benefit it greatly. A fresh viewpoint can often serve well, not only to spot the flaws in poor ideas, but also to improve already good ones.

I was a little confused by your comments on Talk:Japanese/Reading Hiragana. "Do what you want to do." Since it seems you've spent a good deal of your time on these pages I wanted to first approach you on this. Both to avoid stepping on your toes, and to get your oppinion on this; constructive critisism would be preferable.

I hope we can continue to work together to make this book the best it can be. --Swift (talk) 02:43, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

 * I wrote a comment on that talk page several times before I gave up.

 * The use of roomaji on a pronunciation table would only benefit the people who wish to impress people with their minimal Japanese speaking capability. Some people may be able to become fluent off of just learning words in roomaji.  The use of roomaji as a guide for people to learn hiragana and katakana isn't better any better.  In my opinion, the book should reference sounds as a pronunciation supplement for the kana scripts and not the hepburn transliteration.  However, I don't know of any PD sound files for the entire syllabary.  Another problem is when writing the kana scripts on a keyboard with IME or some other language software.  IME translates the hepburn roomaji into kana and into kanji.

 * To summarize, I would not mind if all three scripts (hiragana, katakana, and roomaji) are provided for all concepts. I find it counterproductive to have it in strictly roomaji.  --Retropunk (talk) 03:22, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

 * I'm still confused. Could you please tell me if you're frustrated by the progress on the Japanese wikibook? My comments above weren't specific to the talk page I linked to.
 * Regarding that talk page. My last comment there only briefly mentioned romaji. The bulk of it was on how to best place content on the various pages. I'm, furthermore, in no way inflexible on any point.
 * It's this sort of stuff that leads me to think that you're frustrated. You seem to catch only the biggest sticking point in comments and lash out at them. I think we can conduct this in a much more constructive way. What do you think? --Swift (talk) 03:34, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

 * I'm not frustrated on the progress on the Japanese wikibook, put please stop with the "[...] much more constructive [...]" talk. I'm not a child.

 * I've already stated my thoughts on using roomaji (which the current pronunciation page uses) as a resource. I suggested moving the Kana page portions to the page, which you disagreed with this.  I've suggested moving the current pronunciation to roomaji page, since it's all in roomaji.  You disagreed with this.  I've suggested to putting everything into the page (pronunciation wise) - although I really wouldn't want to do this, but you believe that character pronunciation is some how vastly different from reading aloud.  I'm tired of giving suggestions for this page.  It's not "constructive" for either one of us for you to disagree with every one of them, or for me to disagree with you.  If you have your vision on how it should look like, why don't you be WB:BOLD and do it.  I'm done with my input for it.  --Retropunk (talk) 04:20, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

 * Your comments on my disagreement with your suggestions indicates that you don't find this part of the collaboration less than constructive. I'm not treating you as a child when I stating that I believe we can and hope that we would conduct it better. I'm treating you like a rational human being interested in discussion.
 * You list three points of disagreement and portray them like some long feud where I've been blowing off every one of your attempts to compromise. Rather, you've made two comments on Talk:Japanese/Reading Hiragana. After the former I give you a rationale for my opinion of how I see the content should be divided among these pages. I also give you my opinion that I believe romaji to be most useful for the pronunciation page and that I don't see much value in the Kana page (the content of which already exists on these other pages).
 * Nowhere do I state any of my opinions to be superior to yours. Never do I call your opinions or reasoning ridiculous. I've asked you for the argument for your views and am willing to be change my mind. I'm interested in discussing our differences as I believe it will improve the book. I understand that such a discussion may not be possible.
 * I'm going to back off from this and will refrain from contacting you again. I'm still interested in your comments and hope that you will review my contributions on this book and contact me if you're not happy with my work.
 * Take care, --Swift (talk) 15:32, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Japanese book update
Hi Retropunk,

I hope you are doing well despite a heavy workload. I just thought I'd drop a line to let you know my thoughts for the next few weeks and to see how you were doing.

My pace slowed down considerably after my old computer broke down. I've got a new one in the meantime, but am struggling with a few technical problems and won't be as productive as I'd like to be for a while. So far, I'm quite happy with where we've been able to take this book. We've trimmed away 33 pages, 15 navbars and printable versions, and 6 templates. |Category:Japanese is now down to a much more manageable 176 pages (with an extra 39 in Category:Japanese vocabulary).

I spend a bit of time today reordering a few things on the Japanese/Contents page. I think it's beginnig to show quite nicely the reduncancies. The next step for me is to try to tackle some of these and merge where possible. I believe that only then can we start to massage the avaialable content into the structure give by a syllabus. There a lot of work to do, but while it may take long to get this done I think the end of this stage is at least in sight.

There are a few things I'd like your thoughts on. One is on the redundancy between Japanese/Reading Hiragana and Japanese/Kana. I took large chunks of the former and spliced into the latter with the intent to create a page that would merge the two kana pages since the two syllabaries share a lot of concepts, while leaving the pronunciation of these to Japanese/Pronunciation (where I've added some soundbytes that I found on Commons). You didn't see eye to eye with me on this, but I'm fine with leaving two versions of this content if there is support for either.

Given that you've been absent for a while, I figured I'd check in to see whether you knew how much you could contribute to the project in the near and far future. If you'll be away for a while yet, but have any concerns that you'd like me to keep in mind (such as whether you'd like to keep the Japanese/Reading Hiragana page and give it equal prominence on the Japanese page) please let me know.

Sincerely,

--Swift (talk) 06:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

 * I may be around occasionally to check on things, but putting a heavy effort into material is probably out of the question... at least in the near future. I'm normally free on Sundays and generally tired by then.  I've looked your current rendition of Japanese/Kana, and while I have problems with it (e.g., references another page purely in romaji, kana page is partially romaji), I can live with it and the removal of Japanese/Reading Hiragana.  I don't think there's a feasible way to make what I would be perfectly content until we get PD wav files for the all of the pronunciation.  However, I would think we should require the person to review the pronunciation page instead of "See also:", which is more like a suggestion.  I can ask a native to provide sound files - or at least try to find someone savvy enough to record them.  My Japanese isn't even near perfect, so I would be a horrible choice.

 * The syllabus would be tough. It may be just wiser to have a constantly updated syllabus, but a consistently updated.  A contributor can add to the syllabus their lesson (after making sure it's not a duplicated material) and add what they want.  If we implement Junesun's plan, I don't think it's necessarily bad if the storyline is disjointed.  It should be easy for everyone if we just make a starting point and a guideline to making an addition to the syllabus.  --Retropunk (talk) 07:27, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the reply and the comments.
 * My reasoning for using romaji on the pronunciation page was that it's pretty much the first step into the language -- learning to enunciate what you are reading -- and thus students won't know any Japanese characters yet. The kana page does use latin characters for a number of words (e.g. dakuten and sokuon -- these is what you're talking about, right?) since the text is, after all, in English. Similarly we talk about a hamza, not a الهَمْزة when writing about Farsi in English.
 * I recognise the importance of using Japanese to practice and have purged several dialogues and vocabulary lists of romaji. I just find them akward these attempts to squeeze Japanese characters in wherever possible. There are perfectly good English words for these concepts. English text with English characters, Japanese text with Japanese characters.
 * I completely agree with you that the pronuciation page desperately needs more audio files. I don't mind leaving the page without these for a while. The rest of the book isn't that great anyway. Before this ever becomes a recommendable resource, we'll have to secure some decent ones. We're just not there yet.
 * I left the link to the pronunciation page as a "See also" figuring that the order of links on the Japanese page would imply that it was a "required" read. I'm reluctant to introduce "required" material at this point. We're nowhere close to binding this book properly together and people learn differently anyway. I don't think we need to hold students' hands all the way. --Swift (talk) 08:13, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

 * By the way, I contacted commons:User talk:Marsian last month and in passing asked if he'd be able to contribute sound files for the pronunciation page. He never got back to me, but I find his work to be of very good quality and would love to have a full set of audio files by him. --Swift (talk) 14:24, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

 * The use of romaji has always been my problem. Reading romaji is going to be a small portion of everyday Japanese. However, I'm willing to let this go as I have no idea how to represent the pronunciation without a full media library for the entire syllabary.  I don't mind waiting on the "required" material.    --Retropunk (talk) 03:30, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Lessons development
Hi Retropunk,

We've been managing a steady pace in getting through the Japanese/Contents which is positive. I've personally started on the easy stuff; merging pure grammer overviews and not adding much content. Every now and then, however, I glance over the meatier pages as well as your grammar list and wonder about how best to tackle that.

Not that I'm anywhere near that stage. I plan to concentrate on those grammar pages for now, but I was been wondering if you had formed some idea as for how and when you would like to move along with the work you started. If you think it would be useful to start hacking up and rewriting specific parts of the available content (such as the the introductions and other basic stuff of which we have way too many copies) to use in the first lessons in order to test some of your ideas, please let me know and I can give these higher priority when I'm choosing tasks. --Swift (talk) 19:38, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I really haven't thought about moving forward on the lesson plans. I suppose I've been hoping we would get a somewhat expert, but no one has really shown up.  Junesun gave an series of 'events' and vocab/grammar to be used for the first few lessons, which really isn't that bad from what I recall.  I've just been too lazy to either hack up the existing and/or make new material.  If you want, you can go ahead and take a hack at it.  I believe my current setup for lessons is solid, but I'm opened to new ideas on presenting the material. -- Retropunk (talk) 05:13, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

 * I see. Do you reckon you won't contribute much to this Wikibook once we finish refactoring and copyediting the existing content? I'll have a look through your grammar points list and see if I can come up with an interesting path through them. It would be a very long term goal for me, though. You mentioned that JLPT is now five levels. Do you know how that has affected the material for the lowest level?
 * If you're looking for another Japanese-related project in dire need of help, there is always the JLPT Guide. Patching it up to reflect the new level might help catch prospective contributors who otherwise might just pass on. --Swift (talk) 15:31, 6 February 2009 (UTC)
 * The new level is between 2 and 3. There should be no difference for 2,3,4; and JLPT1 is believed to become more difficult.  I'm not really sure what my future will be on this book.  It's not that I don't think I'll be contributing, but more of, "Can I even contribute once we're at a certain point?"  Lately, it's been more of, "I'm too tired to even think."  I'll try making a few more pleas to a few more ENG<->JAP  discussions groups: sci.lang.japan, lang-8 (again), and other high-traffic sites.. if i can find more. -- Retropunk (talk) 16:51, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Well, everyone has a point where they won't be able to contribute further. Let's see what your enquiries bring.
 * Hope you get some rest to regain your strength ... for wherever your path lies! --Swift (talk) 17:07, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

I've been thinking some more about the lesson plan. What is your source for the list at User:Retropunk/Japanese Curriculum/Outline/Beginner Lessons/Grammar? I'm interested partly because I'm a stickler for process and would like to document things for future contributors, but also because I'd like to see the corresponding lists for the other levels so as to have an idea how the form might scale and the various levels fit together.

Let me know if you hear anything from these discussion groups. --Swift (talk) 17:38, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
 * JLPT Study has the grammar for JLPT4/3. It doesn't have JLPT2/1.
 * E-Japanese Some more. It has some JLPT2/1 points.
 * Shows examples for JLPT1/2. Links to EJapanese for 3/4.

 * It may also be useful to buy Kanzen Master. It's highly regarded. In general, you could just type "JLPT2 Grammar" and you'll get tons of hits.  --Retropunk (talk) 17:12, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

 * The only JLPT4 grammar I found at these sites was on this E-Japanese page. I also tried to search a bit myself, but couldn't find much of any worth, and certainly nothing as detailed as what you compiled! I was really surprised about the lack of content on the JLPT official site.
 * I've been looking over the list and think I might try to order them up into roughly twenty lessons with a grammar point or two per each. I'm only worried about two things: that the list is incomplete or that I'll do poor enough a job at it that someone else will see it best to toss my work. --Swift (talk) 14:18, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
 * My list of grammar points came from JLPTStudy.com. I took their list and compiled it a bit.  The best scenario would to get a book like Kanzen Master (or Complete Master)... but they don't have one for JLPT4.   --Retropunk (talk) 22:19, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

 * I couldn't find any such list on JLPTStudy, I browsed everything linked from http://www.jlptstudy.com/4/:, and . The closest thing to a grammar list was on a site linked to from JLPTStudy: http://www.mlcjapanese.co.jp/. They have a bunch of material including a grammar list from past tests.
 * One of the reasons I'm so interested in finding a good source is to be able to update our list and the book. The JLPT is a useful measure but if we don't document how this book relates to the topics being tested, reader won't have much of a guarantee that it actually prepares them for the test, and future contribuotrs won't know how to update the book to reflect changes in the test. We'll need to create some sort of a lesson plan that can be maintained and for that we need to reference primary sources where we get the grammar.
 * A (very quick and narrow) interenet search revealed JLPT Taisaku Koumoku Seiri - 4 Kyuu Mondai-shuu which might also be a useful resource. --Swift (talk) 05:49, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * this is the exact page I took my list from - well, I may have update the list some.  MLC has a lot of tests, practice work, and other fun stuff.  I don't know about the book you mentioned. --Retropunk (talk) 06:56, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

More mergers
Hi, Retropunk,

Could I bother you to have a quick look at the Talk:Japanese? I've managed a couple of spurts over the last couple of weeks and would really appreciate it if you could review my work before I start deleting pages. --Swift (talk) 20:00, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Sorry to bug you again. Could you take a quick look at the remaining ones? Cheers, --Swift (talk) 05:55, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

NPOV
Please take a look Talk:God's Rights/Amnesty. الحارث بن همام (talk) 03:44, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

Japanese particles
Hey Retropunk! すごい久しぶりだね. I just noticed you recently touched on a couple of lesson pages you'd started. I've not been very active on the wikibook for a while, but recently revisited the particle pages trying to clean them up. I've moved all the essential particles to Japanese/Grammar/Basic Particles but have yet to merge most of the text. The sentence ending particles are in Japanese/Lessons/Sentence ending particles and then there's a misc-bin at Japanese/Lessons/Other uses of particles. That last one needs a lot of work and could even be split into two or three subjects but I think the other two are on their way to being presentable.

If you're looking for quick and easy tasks to dabble with, feel free to look over these pages and even clean up a section or two. I reckon they're just a few hours' work from being linked to from the Japanese page. Then I think I'll try to move to finishing sorting out the Japanese/Grammar page with links from each section to the relevant grammar and lesson page (if there are any).

Either way, glad to see you're still around and I look forward to seeing how your lesson pages develop. --Swift (talk) 01:15, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

 * Really, I'm not even sure how much I'll be contributing. Someone recently added a conversation to  Lesson 2 and some vocab, but that was about it.  I saw some minor errors and fixed those. Each time I'm ready to sit down and start again, I have some life-changing event.  I've been hoping to push a conversation for this wikibook on other resources (that allow the 'hey, come check this resource out and help contribute!') without breaking some community rule.  I'll look at the links and work you've done.  Retropunk (talk) 03:15, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

 * Ah, I see. I didn't notice your guests' contributions. Hope your life-changing events are on the whole for the better.
 * Speaking of other resources, I've recently come across Rhinospike which I think could be a great resource for native speaker audio which has been sorely missing and is absolutely crucial. Uploaded content is free under a CC license.
 * I really appreciate you looking over the particle pages. I hope to dabble on them over the next few days. --Swift (talk) 08:56, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:Retropunk


text:
Iranian History/The Abbasids

In 747, the Abbasids, a Hashemite tribe rose in rebellion against the Umayyads and deposed them, killing the Umayyad Caliph. The Abbasids captured the throne and established the Abbasid Caliphate. They shifted the capital from Damascus to Baghdad from where they ruled till the 10th century AD.

Establishment of the Abbasid Caliphate
In 747, the Abbasids rose in rebellion against the Umayyads in order to capture the throne and realize their age-old claim to the leadership of the Arab world by virtue of their being descendants of Muhammad's yongest uncle Abbas. They received the ardent support of the Persians, Jews, Christians and Egyptians. The Persians participation in the rebellion, in particular, was enormous and had it not been for the overwhelming support of the Persians which the Abbasids received they would not have been able to capture the throne.

In 750, matters became so serious that the Umayyad Caliph Marwan II was forced to take note. He led a large Umayyad force into Iraq to strike the rebelling Abbasids. But despite the disparity of numbers, the Umayyad forces were overwhelmed at the Battle of the Zab on January 25, 750. Marwan fled to Egypt where he was captured and killed. Abu al-`Abbās `Abdu'llāh as-Saffāh ibn Muhammad, an Abbasid, became the Caliph of the Islamic world establishing the Abbasid dynasty.

As Saffah
Abu al-`Abbās `Abdu'llāh also known as As Saffah or "The Slaughterer" was the first Abbasid Caliph. He put an end to the practice of discrimination against non-Arabs initiated by the Umayyads and recruited freely from amongst the Jews, Nestorian Christians and Persians. Moreover, he shifted the capital from Damascus to Baghdad (which was nearer to the Persian heartland) making it the centre of arts and learning. Education was also encouraged, and the first paper mills, staffed by skilled Chinese prisoners captured at the Battle of Talas, were set up in Samarkand.

Abu al Abbas earned the epitheth "The Slaughterer" due to cruel punishment he handed over to the Umayyads. Due to his anti-Umayyad pogroms, they were almost extinguished, with the exception of Abd Ar Rahman I who fled to Spain and established Umayyad rule over Al Andalus.

As Saffah died of smallpox on Jun 10, 754, after a reign of four years. He was succeeded by his brother Al Mansur.

Al Mansur
Al mansur a brother of As Saffah ascended the throne in 754 and ruled till 775. In 762, he established the royal residential complex of Madinat As Salam in Baghdad.

In 755, Al Mansur ordered the assassination of Abu Muslim whom he perceived as a serious threat to his power. According to Shiite sources, the scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu'man was imprisoned by al-Mansur and tortured. He also had Imam Malik, the founder of another school of law, flogged.

During the reign of Al Mansur, there was general tolerance for non-Arab subjects of the Empire.Censorship for Persian works of literature was removed. The era of persecution of non-Arab populations which had characterized Umayyad rule had long since come to an end and Persian arts and sciences were held in high esteem. This led to the growth of a literary movement known as the Shu'ubiya. Al Mansur is also credited with having established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. The Abbasid Caliphate supported conversions as a result of which whole communities of non-Muslims embraced Islam. The proportion of Muslims in the Empire doubled from 7% in 750 to 15% in 775.

Al-Mansur died in 775 on his way to Mecca to make hajj. He was buried somewhere along the way in one of the hundreds of graves that had been dug in order to hide his body from the Umayyads. He was succeeded by his son, al-Mahdi.

Al Mahdi
Al Mahdi ascended the throne on the death of his father Al Mansur in 775. The reign of Al Mahdi is marked with general prosperity. Baghdad grew into a big and prosperous city.The city attracted immigrants from all of Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Persia, and lands as far away as India and Spain. Baghdad was home to Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Zoroastrians, in addition to the growing Muslim population. It became the world's largest city outside China. It was also the centre of the Empire's paper-manufacturing industry.

Al Mahdi's reign is also remembered for the persecution of the zanadiqa, or dualists and the protection of the orthodoxy. Al-Mahdi declared that the caliph had the ability – and indeed, the responsibility – to define the orthodox theology of Muslims, in order to protect the Muslim ummah against heresy.

Al Mahdi died in 785 and was succeeded by his son Al Hadi.

Al Hadi
Al Hadi succeeded Al Mahdi in 785 and ruled for about an year. He was renowned for his openness and simplicity. There was a rebellion in Medina in which Husayn ibn Ali ibn Hasan declaredf himself Caliph but this rebellion was crushed by Al Hadi but one Idris escaped from the battlefield and established the Idrissi state in Morocco. Al Hadi also had to face a Kharijite rebellion and a Byzantine invasion but he dealt with them efficiently.

Harun Al Rashid
Harun Al Rashid ascended the throne in 786 and ruled till 809. He was the greatest monarch of the Islamic Empire.

Harun Al Rashid was born in Tehran to Al Mahdi, the third Abbasid Caliph and an Yemeni slave girl called Al Khayzarun. Hārūn became caliph when he was in his early twenties. On the day of accession, his son al-Ma'mun was born, and al-Amin some little time later.

It was under Hārūn ar-Rashīd that Baghdad flourished into the most splendid city of its period. Tribute was paid by many rulers to the caliph, and these funds were used on architecture, the arts and a luxurious life at court.

In 796, Harun Al Rashid moved his capital from Baghdad to the town of Ar Raqqah located in the middle Euphrates due to security reasons. In 798, he threw the minister Yahya ibn Khalid in jail and killed his son Jafar in order to counter the rising influence of the Barmakids.

During the later part of his reign, he invaded the Byzantine Empire with an army of 95,000 Arabs and Persians. Harun defeated the Byzantine general Nicetas and marched upon Chrysopolis in Turkey. Chrysopolis is located in the vicinity of the Byzantine capital Constantinople. Empress Irene, the ruler of the Byzantine Empire submitted and agreed to pay yearly tribute to the Abbasids. The Abbasid Caliphate was at the zenith of its power.

Islam's Golden Age
Harun Al Rashid's reign is universally regarded as the golden age of the Islamic Caliphate. His reign saw the flowering of Islamic culture and civilization. Many foreign books were translated into Arabic during this period. The most popular amongst them was the Arabian Nights which was actually an anthology of Persian and Indian tales translated into Arabic. The Persian translations of the Panchatantra too were translated into Arabic during this time.

Harun gave great encouragement to learning, poetry and music. He was a scholar and poet himself and whenever he heard of learned men in his own kingdom, or in neighboring countries, he invited them to his court and treated them with respect. The name of Hārūn, therefore, became known throughout the world. At Tabari (v. 30 p. 313) refers to the physician Mankah coming from India to treat Harun. Harun had diplomatic relations with China and with Charlemagne.

The Barmakids
The Barmakids were descended from one Barmak who was a high-priest of a Hindu/Buddhist temple of the same province. However, the latter seems to be most probable as Nowbahar could easily be a corruption of the Buddhist monastery of Nava-vihara (which gave name to the modern-day Afghan province of Nagarhar). Barmak is regarded as a corruption of Pramukh, the Sanskrit word for "head priest". Historian Andre Clot too agrees with the fact. He says that they "came from Khorasan, but their roots were Buddhist, not Zoroastrian"

In the early part of the eighth century, Barmak settled in Damascus and converted to Islam. However, the fortunes of the Barmaks rose only after the replacement of the Umayyads with the Abbasids. The Barmakids greatly benefitted by the policy of tolerance followed by the Abbasids. Khalid, the son of Barmak became the Prime Minister or Wazir of Al Saffah, the first Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. His son Yahya aided Harun Al Rashid in capturing the throne and rose to power as the most powerful man in the Empire. The Barmakids were remarkable for their majesty, splendor and hospitality. They are even mentioned in the some stories of the Arabian Nights.

title: Iranian History/The Abbasids


text:
Horticulture/Cephalotus

Cephalotus is a genus of pitcher plants which contains one species, Cephalotus follicularis. The common names for this small, carnivorous plant are: Albany Pitcher Plant, the fly-catcher plant, the mocassin plant, or the Western Australian Pitcher Plant. The plant is cultivated for the unusual insect traps of its modified leaves. It is not closely related to any other species.

Description
Cephalotus follicularis is a small, ornamental plant which traps and eats insects. Some of the leaves are modified, creating pitcher-like traps filled with digestive enzymes. These are small, green, and described as looking like moccasins, little sacks (Latin: follicules), or a pitcher. The other leaves on the plant are simple, more conventional in appearance, with an unbroken outline. The foliage is arranged at ground level and are crowded together, the pitchers are outward facing and usually sit beneath the simple leaves. These leaves give the main form of the species, the height is around 200 mm.

The 'pitcher' trap of the species are similar to other pitcher plants. The rim at the entrance of the trap has a spiked, inward facing, structure that allows the prey to enter, but hinder its escape. The lid over the entrance prevents rainwater entering the pitcher, preventing dilution of the digestive solution. The enzymes in the bottom of the pitcher digests the insects, those unable to escape are consumed by the plant. The lid is partly transparent, this confuses its prey by appearing like patches of sky. The mechanism does not close like other carnivorous plants, but escape is difficult once the prey enters the pitfall trap.

The flowers appear in small clusters on long stalks, and are creamy, or whitish. Cephalotus can be propagated from leaf or root cuttings; in the wild, plants establish small colonies from their roots.

Growing conditions
The plant was originally found in southern coastal areas of Southwest Australia, a mediterranean climate, regions that are cool and moist. It prefers well drained peaty sands found around swamps, creeks, and streams, where it might experience seasonally dry periods. In the wild, they prefer warm day-time temperatures of up to 25 degrees Celsius during the growing season(spring, summer, and the early months of autumn), coupled with cool night-time temperatures. In the cooler months of winter (down to about 5 degrees Celsius), they have a natural dormancy period of about 3–4 months, triggered by the temperature drop and reduced light levels, where they often drastically slow or stop growth altogether.

In cultivation, this winter rest is unnecessary and the plants may be grown as any subtropical plant, although dormancy can result in somewhat larger pitchers. Should a grower allow dormancy to occur, it is extremely important that the Albany pitcher plant receive a drastically reduced amount of water, enough to keep the soil just barely damp. This will help to prevent diseases and fungi which may set in and rot the rhizome and roots. Also, it is best to not let the plant freeze over, as this will kill the above ground portion of the plant and possibly the roots, although plants have been known to recover from such harsh conditions.

Uses
Cephalotus are grown successfully around the world in cultivation. The peculiar appearance and insectivorous habits of the Cephalotus make an appealing ornamental garden plant, or an exotic specimen in the greenhouse.

Maintenance
As spring approaches, the plants will produce many non-carnivorous leaves, which are thought to aid in photosynthetic processes. In mid-spring, Cephalotus follicularis will start producing small, fuzzy knob-like structures, which, after a matter of weeks, will inflate and become the season's first set of pitchers. During this period, the growing season, the substrate must be kept damp to moist and never allowed to dry out completely. However, it need be extremely well-drained, to help prevent root and rhizome rot. This is often achieved by the use of the tray method of watering, in which the plant's pot is kept in a 1/4 inch of water or less. The tray may be allowed to dry completely between waterings as a prophylactic measure against root rot. Additionally, watering from the top, at least occasionally, may prevent rot by oxygenating the soil with dissolved O2 and also encourage root proliferation. One grower even recommends the use of an aquarist's airstone to increase the natural level of dissolved O2 in his water, although this is not necessary.

Cephalotus follicularis tolerates many soil types, the most commonly used is a mixture of sphagnum peat moss, perlite, and sand used for propagation/horticultural purposes. A reasonable humidity (60-80%) is also preferred. Too high a humidity will encourage many pests to set in, such as scale, and diseases which cause the plant's crowns to rot. Too low a humidity is not tolerated as often the plant will wilt and close its lid (operculum) (however, it is possible to slowly adjust your Cephalotus to lower humidity). The plants become colourful and grow vigorously when kept in direct sunlight, while plants cultivated in bright shade remain green.

Propagation
Propagate Cephalotus follicularis through leaf and root cuttings, and, as a much slower method, through seed. Pinch off the leaves (both carnivorous pitchers and non-carnivorous leaves may be used) from the base of the plant, while trying to keep as much of the whitish base intact as possible. These leaves are then placed upon milled sphagnum moss or a mixture of sphagnum peat/perlite/sand; small amounts of substrate are placed over the whitish base of the leaf. The leaves must receive bright light and remain covered to ensure high humidity. In many weeks plantlets will appear at the base of the leaves. Propagation from root cuttings is similar. Roots and parts of the rhizome can be cut into pieces an inch long and then treated similarly to the leaf cuttings. Propagation through seed is a much slower way, but is possible. Seed must first be stratified, where they are placed in cold, slightly damp conditions for 2–3 months before sowing upon milled sphagnum or a peat/perlite/sand mix in warm conditions, bright light, and high humidity. The seed may take from weeks to months to germinate, and will be extremely slow growing.

title: Horticulture/Cephalotus


text:
Talk:GIMP/Introduction

bias
this page, intro, is biased against photoshop and other such non gimp applications, can someone plese fix this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.253.130.46 (discuss • contribs) 2008-03-02T14:02:02

 * Rubbish, it has no such bias. If anything, it talks up the capabilities of Photoshop compared to The GIMP, in simple factual terms. Webaware talk 12:58, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Some information is not accurate
GIMP can create and edit vector graphics, not to the same extent as other applications. GIMPs paths are vectors. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.241.85.126 (discuss • contribs) 2009-05-04T11:35:05

Version
Suggest the need for a GIMP version number at feature level. Aethelbald 09:51, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

title: Talk:GIMP/Introduction


text:
User talk:Cygnis insignis

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.-- – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 03:39, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Cygnis insignis


text:
User:Farhan Nasim/Images

Images Created By Farhan Nasim
Book Covers

title: User:Farhan Nasim/Images


text:
Galileo's Science/Astronomy

Galileo made important discoveries in astronomy which directly opposed Aristotelian physics and the Ptolemaic system, which was based on Aristotelian principles. He made extensive use of his improved telescopes to observe the night sky. These discoveries were first published in 1610, in his book Sidereus Nuncius (“The Starry Messenger”).

According to Aristotle, the Moon and other heavenly bodies are made of quintessence, which never changes, and are perfectly spherical. Galileo disproved this theory when he observed that the Moon has craters and mountains on its surface with his telescope.

He also observed four satellites revolving around Jupiter, the “Galilean moons.” This opposed Aristotle, who held the theory that everything in the universe orbits around the Earth.

title: Galileo's Science/Astronomy


text:
Galileo's Science/Mechanics

Galileo had made his most important contributions to mechanics.He introduced the three laws of falling bodies which utterly refutes the Aristotlean view of motion and provides the very basis of Newton`s laws of motion.He proved that the distance $$d\,$$ traveled by any object falling from zero $$(0)\,$$ initial velocity is $$d=\frac {gt^2}{2}$$

title: Galileo's Science/Mechanics


text:
Galileo's Science/Natural Philosophy

Aristotle and Natural Philosophy

Aristotle(384 BC – 322 BC) was the greatest philosopher of ancient Greece.He had discussed almost all the branches of knowledge.Studying Nature was essentially one of his principal interest.Knowledge of nature or natural philosophy is physis in Greek from which the word Physics derived.Aristotle covered this in his several works such as Physics, On The Heavens, Meteorology etc.He set the principles of natural philosophy in Metaphysics.

Aristotle proposed four elements of which all natural objects on earth consist of.They are Air, Water, Earth and Fire.He also proposed that the heavenly bodies or objects in the sky(stars, planets, moon etc.) are completely independent of earth and they are made of another completely different thing called quintessence.Quintessence itself and objects made of it do not change with time or any other cause.

Aristotle assumed earth as the center of the universe, according to him all objects in the universe rotates around earth.

According to Aristotle every event is lead by a cause and principal objective of natural philosophy is to find causes behind events.

According to Aristotle's dynamics the natural state of all body is static, everything tends to be static.Some force applied on an object makes it moving or an object gains velocity if force is applied.When the force is withdrawn objects eventually return to their natural state or become static.Mathematically Aristotle says force(F) is proportional to velocity(v) or $$F \propto v$$ which is completely contradictory to the modern view that force(F) is proportional to acceleration(a) or $$F \propto a$$

But Natural Philosophy was gradually proving unable to describe nature. Some doctrines (like Copernicus` Heliocentric Model of the solar system) against it was growing outside universities.

title: Galileo's Science/Natural Philosophy


text:
Philosophy of Religion/Why think about religion?

The question is not, "Why think about my religion?" Obviously, if you dedicate yourself to a belief, you will think about it. The question is, "Why think about religion in general?" or "Why think about the nature of all religions?"

Paul Tillich defined religion as "our ultimate concern for the Ultimate," and although it's too broad a definition for purposes of this work, it underscores a commonality in all religions. What sort of questions do religions answer?

Where do I come from? What is my essential nature? What is my ultimate relationship to the universe? What is the origin of the universe? Is there any real reason for my existence or am I simply an accidental product of nature? Is there a reason to do what I do and is there a reason for abstaining from doing things that I feel that I should not do? Do I cease my existence at some point in the future and, if not, what happens to me when I die?

Are these questions relevant to people and should they consider them? Obvious extensions of the above questions present themselves and indicate that a religion should be of interest to anyone:

If there is a purpose to my life, what is it and what should I do about it? If I continue after I die, how should I approach the situation as to improve the condition that I will be in at that time?

Martin Jaffee reminds us that our world view is not the only one and that a consideration of other people's world view reminds us of how precarious our idea of "what ultimately is" is. Therefore a study of religion results in a healthy humility that somewhat protects us from fanaticism.

Robert Odem, in his lecture series on comparative religion emphasizes two reasons to consider religion in its generality. The first is that, like Mount Everest, "it is", meaning that it is an important part of the lives of people around you and to understand them, you really must understand their religious beliefs.

His second point is that religion is an inextricable part of world affairs. You cannot understand the condition of the Middle East without understanding the religions of the Middle East. You cannot understand world art and architecture without understanding the religious sentiments of the artists. You certainly cannot, for example, understand Bach's achievements without understanding his religious views and his position in the church. Protestantism had a lot to do with the growth of capitalism and the work ethic in America.

To really understand world affairs you cannot dismiss the role and importance of religion.

Oden, Robert (1998) "Why Nothing is as Intriguing as the Study of Religion", in God and Mankind: Comparative Religions (lecture series). The Teaching Company: Chantilly, VA

Jaffee, Martin, & Alfred Benney Why Religion Matters (Video) http://jsis.washington.edu/religion/CRP_Jaffee_video.shtml


text:
User talk:Mike.lifeguard/Archive 13

Name
Hi Mike

I'm just writing to let you know that I've changed my name from Urbane to Reece. Hope this doesnt cause too much confusion.

Reece  (Talk)   (Contributions)  15:08, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks for letting me know. I probably would have become very confused before figuring it out :P Is Reece your real name? – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 16:35, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Yep, it is :) I've been wanting to use it for a while, just been so busy up until recently. Reece   (Talk)   (Contributions)  18:51, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

WV bot request
Hi Mike!

Just a short ont this time. See the diff here: http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=User%3ASB_Johnny%2Fsandbox_8&diff=214768&oldid=214767

You should be able to "grab/replace" the  and replace with , and then just add   to the end of the line.

In case you're wondering, we're trying to get a master list of all the BCP profile pages going, to make it easier for folks to find them.

Thanks! -- SB_Johnny | PA! 13:02, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

 * Oh, oops :). I'll unblock the bot if you promise not to run it in that manner. As I said before, Wikiversitains tend not to look very kindly on being told what to do or how to do it. -- SB_Johnny | PA! 16:38, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Sure can. Ping me when it's done & I'll get started. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 22:51, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

 * Okay, unblocked. Whenever you get a chance :). -- SB_Johnny | PA! 16:53, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * ✅, I think. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:09, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Education graph
Hi Mike, this is a late response to your question on my education graph. It is from the US department of Education at http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/dailyarchive.asp I also left a response to your message on my talk page.Shellysimonds (talk) 15:02, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Great; I've added the source to the image page & everything is fine. Thanks! – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 15:44, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

WB bot request
Hi Mike. If you have time for a larger run on Wikibooks (please do the Wikiversity one first... there's more of a deadline for that!), here's the scoop:
 * For all pages in Category:Garden plants, Category:Garden perennials, and Category:Garden plant genera
 * Place the template WMOG-header on the first line of each page (should share the same line as the beginning brackets of hortibox and similar). It needs to use the subpagename as the variable, but not using the magic word, because this template is in part used to add headings to print versions (and so the magic word wouldn't work!).
 * Replace the category tag (e.g., ) with the following text:

That'll do it :). Don't fill in any of the fields BTW... I'm going to follow along using a dud category the template will create when the first field isn't answered.

Thanks in advance, and I hope your exam went well! -- SB_Johnny | PA! 17:13, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * WHOA! That's a mightly large template :) I can probably do that one tonight. The exam did go quite well, thanks for asking. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 17:16, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * OK, this one might be a bit tricky. For 1, I think should work for the parameter; I will test this shortly. 2 is easy beans.  – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:11, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Yup, it works, so no problems there. Starting now in two runs for simplicity's sake. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:12, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I need to know whether you want the subcats included in this too. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:14, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * No, just those categories. The other two use a different sort of organization (though I'll have bot requests for them as well later, stay tuned :-)). Eventually all of the cats for that book will be from templates only, but I need to make a couple more versions of horticat (horticat-topic is the only other variant so far). -- SB_Johnny | PA! 20:56, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

 * There's a few problems... don't do any more until I can figure it out. Some of them are ending up with double templates (top and/or bottom). -- SB_Johnny | PA! 12:46, 16 February 2008 (UTC)
 * [[Image:Yes check.svg|15px]] Done with problems, apparently. If you provide a diff or two it'd help. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 15:22, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Image Deletion
I dont even understand the rationale behind the tagging of the image. I have been a Wikipedian for a fairly long amount of time and I have a fairly good knowledge of Wiki's fair use rationale. -Ravichandar84 (talk) 17:47, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

The copyright notice itself states:

''This is a screenshot of copyrighted computer software, and the copyright for it is most likely held by the author or the company that created the software. It is believed that the use of a limited number of web-resolution screenshots for identification of and critical commentary on the software in question on the English-language Wikibooks, hosted on servers in the United States by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. ''-Ravichandar84 (talk) 17:51, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Foundation policy states that fair use images must have a rationale. That template simply states "Yes, it meets fair use criteria" - the rationale states why that is true. For example, Image:Website Admin Security Roles.JPG could get a rationale like

 * I hope that clears it up, but feel free to come back again. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 17:55, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

 * Okay I am sorry. I did'nt understand your message. Anyway thanks for clearing my doubts :-) -Ravichandar84 (talk) 17:59, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Well it's important that the template message isn't misunderstood; do you mind suggesting some changes to the message either on your talk page or the one on the image page? – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:08, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Is this okay:

-Ravichandar84 (talk) 18:23, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Looks good; thanks! Please double-check that all your fair use images have something similar (I suspect you could probably copy-paste those templates to all of them). – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:34, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

 * Hmmm. The details are identical. All are snapshots. Only the filename varies. Hence I felt the same rationale without any changes was applicable to all -Ravichandar84 (talk) 06:31, 16 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Yup, for a lot of images like that the rationale can be repeated since we'll often have a single module that uses a bunch of images that are included for the same reason. That's fine; if the images have the same rationale, then so be it. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 15:24, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

ME too. I took a screen shot and it came up with that. It isn't even software.Desalvionjr (talk) 20:40, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I don't understand what you're asking. can be used instead. License tags are listed in Category:License tags and subcategories.  – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 21:54, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Yup, I wanna transfer it to a new location
Well, firstly, thanks for your offer. Yes, I do wish to move the book to a new location. Again, thanks -Ravichandar84 (talk) 18:22, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * I am trying to write a new bot to do this so it's easier than the method I'm currently using. I'll wait until it's done unless this takes a long time. Probably this weekend. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:35, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks Mike

Changes made to Introduction to Physical Science.

Cheers --J.M.Pearce (talk) 21:09, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * It's looking a lot better. I look forward to seeing this project grow. I may even contribute to it when I have some time. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 21:17, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Votes for deletion
Thanks for listing that. I haven't got a login, and don't want to at the moment. But I may do soon. --82.42.237.84 (talk) 22:40, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

subst:
Hey Mike, would you check out my sandbox? I just tried to warn a vandal and put my signature in the template ( ~ ), but it came out as just a link to my E-mail. If I don't subst the template, it works out fine. I've done both in my sandbox. Any idea what's up? Neoptolemus is my signature, is that causing the problem? Νεοπτόλεμος ( talk | email | contribs ) 01:38, 16 February 2008 (UTC)
 * You need to change | (the pipe character) to | whenever it's supposed to appear as clear text, otherwise the parser thinks that there are additional parameters to the template, and it doesn't render properly. Also, you should put the wiki markup that is generated by that template for your sig into the signature box in my preferences; this avoids some server load, since the template must be called every time you use your signature. Hope that helps. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 01:47, 16 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Fixed now, thanks! Νεοπτόλεμος ( talk | email | contribs ) 01:58, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Thank You!
You are such the Wiki-God! Thank you for all your advice and guidance on Student-Generated Text! I am so much more comfortable with my topic now and am on my way! Thank you again!!Cmcnulty6497 (talk) 14:56, 16 February 2008 (UTC)
 * No problem. If you guys need help later, you know where to find me. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 15:19, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

A request
Can you welcome me? Thanks, Slade meta 21:14, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

 * Thank you! Isn't better if the welcome box uses the whole screen, besides just the left part? Greets, Slade meta 03:52, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
 * We wanted to keep the welcome message short and to the point. If you want to propose changes, Template talk:Welcome is the place. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:20, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Re:Making decisions
Sorry Mike :(. I didn't realize I had been making poor choices. In fact, I am going to quit closing VfDs altogether. I'll keep putting up calls to close, however. Thoughts? Laleena (talk) 13:27, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
 * There's really no need for reminders, but I have no specific objections to it if you want to do that. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:06, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Regarding Auto Wiki Browser
Well, I've read that AWB could be used in Wikibooks. But no other specification is available. I am a Wikipedian and a registered user of AWB. I just wanted to know if I could use AWB in Wikibooks and if In can then how could I use it. If not, then what is the procedure for resgiatering. Do we need to download an alternate version of AWB to get Wikibooks at startup. -Ravichandar84 (talk) 14:27, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, AWB works here without a check page. I'd actually recommend having a separate account for semi-automated edits, which can then be easily flagged if it becomes a problem. Since we have no check page, you'll probably have access to the bot tab. You can ask for a bot flag at WB:RFP, but it probably won't be given unless you're going to be flooding RC. We technically don't have a policy, but if you pretend that WB:BOT is policy that should do just fine. Keep in mind there are many WP-specific features that won't work here; if you have any usage questions, I can try to help. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 18:18, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Reg Deletions
I scanned the pages thoroughly for any broken links but could not find any. I even moved the Template:.NET Framework 3.0 to Template:Introduction to .NET Framework 3.0. Kindly notify me about the broken links present. Thanks :-) -Ravichandar84 (talk) 18:54, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Broken links can be found at Special:Brokenredirects, but have all been cleaned up by now. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 01:28, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I think we both meant Special:DoubleRedirects. What happened though is that you marked some redirects for deletions, but there were pages which redirected to them. ie you wanted B to be deleted in A->B->C; doing so would break the link at A. Please make sure that when marking redirects for deletion that they are orphaned (ie there are no pages which link to them). – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 01:33, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Templates
Mike are the templates on my userpage acceptable they're the same templates i use on wikipedia. Terra Who are you? 19:01, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Looks fine to me. – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 01:28, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Mike.lifeguard/Archive 13


text:
User:Cassiopeia sweet

user page ja:利用者:Cassiopeia sweet bg:Потребител:Cassiopeia sweet ca:Usuari:Cassiopeia sweet cs:Uživatel:Cassiopeia sweet da:Bruger:Cassiopeia sweet de:Benutzer:Cassiopeia sweet el:Χρήστης:Cassiopeia sweet

title: User:Cassiopeia sweet


text:
Maxima

This book shows how to use Maxima. Maxima can be used to :
 * both symbolic and numerical computations
 * plotting 2D and 3D

Table of Contents

 * /Weaknesses of math software/
 * /Methods of use/
 * /Installation/
 * /Symbols/
 * /Operators/
 * /Names/
 * /Objects/
 * /Variables/
 * /Data types/
 * /Features/
 * /Numbers/
 * /Functions/
 * /Debugging/
 * /Data structures/
 * /Numerical methods/
 * /Algorithms/
 * /Plots/
 * /Outputs and warnings/
 * /Example programs/
 * /Help/

=See also=
 * Images with Maxima CAS source code
 * syntax highlight for Gedit
 * syntax highlight for KDE
 * questions tagged Maxima on stackoverflow

=References= Chaotic dynamics with Maxima A. Morante and J. A. Vallejo

Maxima Maxima

title: Maxima


text:
Cookbook:Potatoes Anna

| Cuisine of France | Side dishes

Potatoes Anna (or pommes Anna) is a classic French dish of sliced, layered potatoes cooked in a very large amount of melted butter. It can be eaten hot or cold.

Ingredients

 * 4 potatoes, optionally peeled
 * 100 g butter

Equipment

 * Oven
 * 23 cm round pie tin

Procedure

 * 1) Preheat the oven to 250 °C.
 * 2) Melt the butter.
 * 3) Slice the potatoes thinly. Press slices against absorbent paper to dry.
 * 4) Brush the tin with melted butter. Layer the potato slices into the tin, brushing each layer with butter and ending with butter on the top.
 * 5) Cover and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook for a further 30 minutes.

title: Cookbook:Potatoes Anna


text:
PyGTK For GUI Programming/Packing

'''Packing is used to place the widgets in the application. '''

There are three types of packing.

 * Horizontal Box (HBox) - Horizontal row structure
 * Vertical Box (VBox) - Vertical row structure
 * Table/Grid (Table) - Table like structure

The format of the packing widgets is :

homogeneous (default=False) argument decides if the objects should all be the same size. HBox same width / VBox same height.

spacing (default=0) argument is the spacing between the different objects.

To place the widget inside the packing :

1. Create the packing object

2. Add the widget to the box call the pack_start or pack_end method of the packing object

pack_start will start placing the widget from the start (left to right, top to bottom)

pack_end will start placing the widget from the end (right to left, bottom to top)

3. Show the box and widget

title: PyGTK For GUI Programming/Packing


text:
User talk:Canadaduane

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.-- – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 16:50, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Canadaduane


text:
User talk:Khitc003

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.-- – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 16:51, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Khitc003


text:
User talk:Amerritt83

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.-- – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 16:51, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Amerritt83


text:
User talk:Suphero~enwikibooks

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.-- – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 16:52, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Suphero. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Suphero~enwikibooks that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:44, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 05:34, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Suphero~enwikibooks


text: User talk:Luokate

title: User talk:Luokate


text:
Topfield 5800/Troubleshooting/USB Driver

Generally remember to install Topfield software before connecting USB cable.

This is written for XP If things go wrong then disconnect the Toppy & completely uninstall Topfield Applications & Boot up in safe mode and then use Device Manager to properly remove any/all Topfield devices.

Check you have no files named 'topfield*.*' or 'tfbulk*.*' anywhere on your system - if so delete or rename them.

Download and install just Altair from Topfield Utilities.

Put these files in a known place - TfBulk.inf & TfBulk.sys.

Reboot the PC in Safe Mode and log in as Administrator.

Start Device Manager and page to the bottom so you can see USB devices.

Turn on your Toppy. Plug into the USB and Windows should detect it. Folow the wizard and install the drivers from wherever you put TfBulk.inf & TfBulk.sys. Hopefully these will now install successfully (though it will tell you they won't work until you reboot).

You should now see the Toppy as a USB device in Device Manager.

Leave the Toppy plugged in and reboot.

Look in Device Manager - the Toppy should be there?

(It is not generally expected to be needed to reboot the PC but as this worked for a couple of people who were having problems I have written it in here)

Also a guy in the forum reported success after problems post SP3 here


text: User talk:75.55.223.230

title: User talk:75.55.223.230


text:
User talk:Klk17511

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.--Laleena (talk) 18:28, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Klk17511


text:
User talk:Lionel Botha

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.--Laleena (talk) 18:29, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Lionel Botha


text:
User talk:It Is Me Here

__NOINDEX__

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.--Laleena (talk) 18:30, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:It Is Me Here


text: Wikibooks:Requests for deletion/Common phrases in various languages


text:
Cantonese/Common phrases

Chinese, Cantonese (Sinitic)
''Note: Cantonese is a tonal language. Pronunciations provided below include numbers indicating tone. Tone 1 is high and level/falling; 2 is medium and rising; 3 is medium and level; 4 is low and falling; 5 is low and rising, 6 is low and level. The characters shown are Traditional Chinese characters. Pronunciation is given using Jyutping and IPA. However, non-use of the tones will not hinder comprehension for such simple phrases.''

Note: Cantonese, like most of the other Chinese languages, does not actually have words for “yes” and “no”. Translations for “yes” and “no” given above actually mean “it is” and “it is not” and can be used for questions asking for confirmation. However, for certain yes/no questions, one would normally respond with the verb or the negation of the verb. For instance, to respond to a question such as “do you want to go?” one would respond with “want” or “not want”.

title: Cantonese/Common phrases


text:
Hokkien/Common Phrases

Chinese, Min Nan / Taiwanese (Sinitic)
''The Han characters provided below are for reference and are consistent with the Taiwanese Minnan Recommended Hanzi Usage (台灣閩南語推薦用字) which has been promoted by the government of Taiwan. Individual usage may vary from speaker to speaker based on preference.''

title: Hokkien/Common Phrases


text:
Modern Greek/Lesson 02.1

= Lesson 2.1: Common Greek Expressions =

This table will get you started speaking Greek. Don't worry for now that there isn't much explanation, here we just want to familiarise ourselves with the sounds and learn a few expressions which you might commonly hear.

Keep practicing, and then when you're ready, move on to the next lesson.

title: Modern Greek/Lesson 02.1


text: Gujarati/Common phrases

title: Gujarati/Common phrases


text: Hebrew/Common phrases

title: Hebrew/Common phrases


text:
Hungarian/Common phrases

Hungarian (Finno-Ugric)
Note: gy is pronounced like in would you; ny ( like in can you; ö and ő  like in fur; a  like in hot; s  like in ship; sz  like in sun; j  like in yes; cs  like in chip; é  like in eight. The stress is always on the first syllable of the word, although secondary stressing is possible in compound words

title: Hungarian/Common phrases


text: Icelandic/Common phrases

title: Icelandic/Common phrases


text: Irish/Common phrases

title: Irish/Common phrases


text:
Italian/Vocabulary/Common phrases

Italià/Vocabulari/Frases comunes Italiano/Vocabulario/Expresiones coloquiales

title: Italian/Vocabulary/Common phrases


text:
Japanese Phrasebook/Common phrases

Wikijunior_Sprachen/_Japanisch Japonés/Lecciones/Capítulo_1 Japonais/Vocabulaire de base

title: Japanese Phrasebook/Common phrases


text: Kannada/Appendix A

title: Kannada/Appendix A


text:
Template:MIRC Scripting/header

 Starting From Scratch: Become Familiar with mIRC | Getting Started

Learning the Ropes: Branching and Loops | Timers | User Levels | Text Matching | File Handling | Hash Tables | Dialogs

Advanced Subjects: Custom Windows | Agents | Sockets

Planned: DLLs | COM Objects | Error Checking and Handling

Usage
Leave a single space after previous or next if there is not a previous or next space.

title: Template:MIRC Scripting/header


text:
General Chemistry/Solubility/Answers

1.
 * a) Octane is the solute, for it is present in a smaller amount.
 * b) Yes, benzene and octane will form a solution. They both are nonpolar compounds.

2. Use physical properties such as boiling point, melting point, solubility in water, etc. See Methods for Separating Mixtures for some ideas.

3. Liquids A & C are solutions. Liquid B is a pure substance.

4.
 * a) Bottle B. It has the lowest temperature, and gases (including the "fizz" of soda) dissolve best in cold liquids.
 * b) Cool Bottle C to 10°C.

title: General Chemistry/Solubility/Answers


text:
User talk:JetL011

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.-- – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 20:24, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:JetL011


text:
User talk:Fmc26

Welcome!
Welcome, !

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.-- – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 20:31, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Fmc26


text:
The Sway Reference Manual/Functions

Recall, the series of expressions we evaluated to find the y-value of a point on the line

y = 5x - 3 given an x-value:

sway> var m = 5; INTEGER: 5 sway> var x = 9; INTEGER: 9 sway> var b = -3; INTEGER: -3 sway> var y = m * x + b; INTEGER: 42 sway> y; INTEGER: 42

Now, suppose we wished to find the y-value corresponding to a different x-value or, worse yet, for a different x-value on a different line. All the work we did would have to be repeated. A function is a way to encapsulate all these operations so we can repeat them with a minimum of effort.

Encapsulating a series of operations
First, we will define a not too useful function that calculates y give a slope of 5, a y-intercept of -3, and an x-value of 9 (exactly as above). We do this by wrapping a function around the sequence of operations above. The return value of a function is the value of the last thing evaluated.

function y {   var m = 5; var x = 9; var b = -3; m * x + b; //this quantity is returned }

There are a few things to note. The keyword function indicates that a function definition is occurring. The name of this particular function is y. The stuff between the curly braces is the code that will be evaluated (or executed) when the function is called. This code is not evaluated until then.

You can copy and paste this function into the Sway interpreter. If you do, you'll see something like:

sway> function y more> { more> var m = 5; more> var x = 9; more> var b = -3; more> m * x + b;  //this quantity is returned more> } FUNCTION:

Notice that the interpreter prompt changes to more> when the input is incomplete. In the case of the function definition above, that occurs when the curly close brace is entered.

Once the function is defined, we can find the value of y repeatedly:

sway> y; INTEGER: 42 sway> y; INTEGER: 42

The parentheses after the y indicate that we wish to call the y function and get its value.

The y function, as written, is not too useful in that we cannot use it to compute similar things, such as the y-value for a different value of x. But before we improve our function, let's modify it so that it displays the current environment. This may help you to understand what happens in a function call. while the body of the function is executing:

function y {   var m = 5; var x = 9; var b = -3;

pp(this);

m * x + b; //this quantity is returned }

When we call the new version of y, we see its current environment, which has bindings for b, x, and m.

sway> y; : context:  dynamicContext:  callDepth: 1 constructor:  this:  b: -3 x: 9 m: 5 INTEGER: 42

The variables b, x, and m are known as local variables since they are not directly visible outside the neighborhood of the function body.

Passing arguments
A hallmark of a good function is that it lets you compute more than one thing. We can modify our function to take in the value of x in which we are interested. In this way, we can compute more than one value of y. We do this by passing in an argument, in this case, the value of x.

function y(x) {   var slope = 5; var intercept = -3; return slope * x + intercept; }

We give names to the values being passed in by placing variable names between the function definition parentheses. In this case, we chose x as the name. Notice that since we are passing in x, we no longer need (or want) the definition of x, so we delete it. Now we can compute y for an infinite number of x's:

sway> y(9); INTEGER: 42 sway> y(0); INTEGER: -3 sway> y(-2); INTEGER: -13

What if we wish to compute a y-value for a given x for a different line? One approach would be to pass in the slope and intercept as well as x:

function y(x,slope,intercept) {   return slope * x + intercept; } sway> y(9,5,-3); INTEGER: 42 sway> y(0,5,-3); INTEGER: -3

If we wish to calculate using a different line, we just pass in the new slope and intercept along with our value of x. This certainly works as intended, but is not the best way. One problem is that we keep on having to type in the slope and intercept even if we are computing y-values on the same line. Anytime you find yourself doing the same tedious thing over and over, be assured that someone has thought of a way to avoid that particular tedium. So assuming that is true, how do we customize our function so that we only have to enter the slope and intercept once per particular line? We will explore three different ways for doing this. In reading further, it is not important if you understand all that is going on. What is important is that you know other approaches exist and understand the pros and cons of each approach:

Creating functions on the fly
Since creating functions is hard work (lots of typing) and Computer Scientists avoid hard work like the plague, somebody early on got the idea of writing a function that itself creates functions! Brilliant! We can do this for our line problem. We will tell our creative function to create a y function for a particular slope and intercept! While we are at it, let's change the variable names m and b to slope and intercept, respectively:

function makeLine(slope,intercept) {   function y(x) {     slope * x + intercept; }   y;    }

The makeLine function creates a local y function and then returns it. This next version is equivalent:

function makeLine(slope,intercept) {   function y(x) {     slope * x + intercept; }   }

Since the last thing makeLine does is to define the y function, the y function is returned by a call to makeLine.

So our creative function simply defines a y function and then returns it. Now we can create a bunch of different lines:

sway> var a = makeLine(5,-3); FUNCTION:  sway> var b = makeLine(6,2); FUNCTION:  sway> a(9); INTEGER: 42 sway> b(9); INTEGER: 56

Notice how lines a and b remember the slope and intercept supplied when they were created. While this is decidedly cool, the problem is many languages (C and Java included) do not allow you to define functions that create other functions. Fortunately, Sway does allow this.

Using objects
Another approach to our line problem is to use something called an object. In Sway, an object is simply an environment and we have seen those before. So there is nothing new here except in how to use objects to achieve our goal. Here, we define a function that creates and returns a line object. A function that creates and returns an object is known as a constructor.

function line(slope,intercept) {   this; }

The this variable always points to the current environment, which in this case includes the bindings of the formal parameters slope and intercept. By returning this, we return the environment of line, and we can look up the values of slope and intercept at our leisure. To prove that slope and intercept exist, we can use the built-in pretty printing function, pp:

sway> m = line(5,-3); OBJECT:  sway> pp(m); : context : dynamicContext: constructor:  this: intercept: -3 slope : 5 OBJECT:

We access the variables in an object with the '.' (dot) operator:

sway> m. slope; INTEGER: -3 sway> m. constructor; FUNCTION:

Now we modify our y function to take in a line object as well as x and use the dot operator to extract the line's slope and intercept:

function y(line,x) {   line. slope * x + line. intercept; }

In this scenario, we create different lines, then pass each line to our new y function:

sway> var m = line(5,-3); OBJECT: sway> var n = line(6,2); OBJECT: sway> y(m,9); INTEGER: 42 sway> y(n,9); INTEGER: 56

The problem with this approach is we have separated line objects from finding y values, yet these two concepts are closely related. As an example, suppose we have parabola objects as well as line objects. Our y function would fail miserably for parabola objects even though the concept of (x,y) points on a parabola is just as valid as points on a line.

In the object-oriented world, we solve this problem by bundling the object and functions that work specifically on that object together. In our case, we make the y function part of the line object:

function line(slope,intercept) {   function y(x) {     slope * x + intercept; }   this; }

This is very similar to the functions-on-the-fly approach, but we return this instead of the function bound to y. Now we call the y function via the line object.

sway> var m = line(5,-3); OBJECT: sway> var n = line(6,2); OBJECT: sway> m. y(9); INTEGER: 42 sway> n. y(9); INTEGER: 56

Should we have a parabola object, it would have its own y function with a different implementation. We would call it just the same, however:

sway> var p = parabola(2,0,0); OBJECT:

sway> p. y(7); INTEGER: 49

This approach is supported in object oriented languages such as Java. The earlier approach (where the function was separated from the object) is supported in procedural languages such as C.

Functions versus operator
All operators are functions and can be called using operator syntax. For example, the following expressions both sum the values of a and b:

var sum = a + b; var sum = +(a,b);

Conversely, any function of two arguments can be called using operator syntax. Sometimes using operator syntax makes your code more clear. Let's make a function that increments a variable by a given amount, similar to the C, C++, and Java operator of the same name:

function +=($v,amount) {   $v = force($v) + amount; }

Don't worry about how the code works; just note that the +=</tt> function has two formal parameters ($v and amount) and thus takes two arguments. We can call <tt>+=</tt> to increment a variable using function call syntax:

var x = 2; +=(x,1); inspect(x);

or we can use operator syntax:

var x = 2; x += 1; inspect(x);

In both cases, the output of the code fragments is the same:

x is 3

Functions that are called using operator syntax have the same precedence level as the mathematical operators and are left associative.

title: The Sway Reference Manual/Functions


text: Template:MIRC Scripting/Author

title: Template:MIRC Scripting/Author