Today's Question:  What does your personal desk look like?        GIVE A SHOUT

SEARCH KEYWORD -- equality

  Why cannot compare double values directly for equality?

A question in PHP: Get some value from the database and use floatval() to convert it to floatint point value, then compare it with another value which is also converted to floating point value with floatval(). These two values are the same when using var_dump() to output, the two outputs are float(8.87), they are the same. But when comparing them for equality, the result is weird., they are not equal. Why?To analyze this question, we need to start with PHP data types. PHP uses weak types. In PHP...

   PHP,floating, precision,compare,equality     2012-06-27 09:01:36

  Why 0.1+0.2 != 0.3

In programming languages such as JavaScript, c/c++, Java and Matlab, you will find that you will get unexpected result when doing float point calculation. For example, when calculating 0.1 + 0.1, you will not get 0.3: > 0.1 + 0.2 == 0.3 false > 0.1 + 0.2 0.30000000000000004 Don't be surprised of this result, this is the end result of IEEE 754 standard, float point number cannot be accurately represented according to IEEE 754 because: No enough memory is allocated for representing the num...

   float point,comparison,JavaScript     2014-11-19 05:32:46

  Can a == true && a == false be true in JavaScript?

JavaScript is a weak typed language and it has a loose comparison feature where two objects/values of different type can be compared using == operator. This provides developers great flexibility and confusion at the same time.  Before understanding how == works in JavaScript, can you first answer the question in the post title? Can a == true && a == false be true in JavaScript? Normally, we would think that this expression will always return false since a can be either true or ...

   JAVASCRIPT,COMPARISON,INTERVIEW QUESTION,==     2018-03-25 03:39:43

  <=> operator in MySQL

Have you ever seen "<=>" in a SQL query while using MySQL? Does it mean less and equals to and greater than? Actually if you consider it as the union of <= and =>, great, you are close to it. This is one form of equal operator in MySQL, it has the similar meaning to the = operator with some subtle difference. According to MySQL documentation, <=> is NULL-safe equal. This operator performs an equality comparison like the = operator, but returns 1 rather than NULL if both operand...

   MySQL,NULL safe,<=>     2014-03-24 06:23:22

  JavaScript's Two Zeros

JavaScript has two zeros: -0 and +0. This post explains why that is and where it matters in practice. The signed zero Numbers always need to be encoded to be stored digitally. Why do some encodings have two zeros? As an example, let’s look at encoding integers as 4-digit binary numbers, via the sign-and-magnitude method. There, one uses one bit for the sign (0 if positive, 1 if negative) and the remaining bits for the magnitude (absolute value). Therefore, -2 and +2 are encoded as f...

   JavaScript,zeros     2012-03-24 05:21:49

  Arrays.equals() vs MessageDigest.isEqual()

Both Arrays.equals() and MessageDigest.isEqual() are used to compare the equality of two arrays. They can be interchangeably in many cases. However, they do have some differences which lead to different use cases in real applications. One difference is that the arrays passed to MessageDigest.isEqual() cannot be null while it's ok for Arrays.equals(). The one major difference between these two methods is that Arrays.equals() is not time-constant while MessageDigest.isEqual() is time-constant. Thi...

   Arrays.equal(),MessageDigest.isEqual(),Java,Security     2015-05-14 22:03:29

  Undefined property or variable in JavaScript

JavaScript is a weak type language, and also you can use a variable or property where it's undefined. If we don't have correct ways to check whether a property or variable is defined, we may get unexpected results when we try to access the,. How can we check whether a property or variable is undefined? This is actually a somewhat tricky question. Let's start off with some facts about undefined and then see what kind of function is consistent with the ones we care about. JavaScript attaches type...

   Property,Undefined,Array,JavaScript     2014-07-24 06:56:07

  Do We Really Need Wi-Fi in Schools?

Why do I think Wi-Fi is needed in schools? Times have changed.  We need to adapt to the changes. I believe the internet is probably the most important tool available today. The world- wide web contains information about anything you could possibly want or need to know.  It allows an even playing field for people who don’t have the information and knowledge to be able to get it. Students today are the future.  They need to be able to access as much knowledge as possible to be...

   SCHOOL,WIFI,EDUCATION,COMPUTERS     2018-11-13 18:13:27

  Why Does Work Start At 9 A.M.?

I prefer to come into work a little earlier before our 9 a.m. start time in order to leave before 5 p.m. My boss has no problem with my hours, though an older female colleague apparently does. She regularly tells me that this “special” work schedule is damaging my career trajectory and conveys to others that I am a diva. To that I reply, according to whom? There are many workplace assumptions that employees accept without question. Why does the traditional work day start at 9 a...

   Work,Start time,9 am,Reason,Women     2012-01-19 10:12:09

  Eight C++ programming mistakes the compiler won’t catch

C++ is a complex language, full of subtle traps for the unwary. There is an almost infinite number of ways to screw things up. Fortunately, modern compilers are pretty good at detecting a large number of these cases and notifying the programmer via compile errors or warnings. Ultimately, any error that is compiler-detectable becomes a non-issue if properly handled, as it will be caught and fixed before the program leaves development. At worst, a compiler-detectable error results in los...

   C++,Compiler,Error detection     2012-04-08 09:55:20

RECENT