Secret Code Programming Puzzle

I'm trying to solve a mathy programming problem. (I came up with the problem a couple of years ago, but it's still preying on my mind.) There is a secret code (which you're allowed unlimited guesses at) => a string 12 characters in length. Each character can be either a number or a letter (a-z, 0-9) and it's not case-sensitive (A == a). After every hour, a character in the secret code is revealed. For example: Hour 1: _ _ Q _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Hour 2: _ _ Q _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 4 _ Hour 3: _ _ Q _ _ _ _ 7 _ _ 4 _ Hour 12: 1 C Q 8 2 V V 7...

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Best Practices in Comparison

I have a best practices question about some code. Which code is easier for another programmer to understand: This file contains bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters. Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters Show hidden characters if rocks > pebbles ...

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The Course Schedule Program

My school lists the course schedule as pictured. The search functionality is deficient in that it offers little customization in the "advanced search." I would like to "pull" the entire schedule and do the following things to help me choose classes: 1.) Have an option to compare it to a list of classes I'm required to take, classes I HAVE...

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Checking for Primes

I'm writing a script that will check whether or not a number is prime and I'm having some issues on how to do this. If I take a number, lets say 100, and I want to check and see if it's prime I could do this: -Divide it by all numbers 2..99 to see whether or not 100 is divisible by them. If not, it passes (it's prime.) -Check whether it's divisible by 2. If so, it fails (composite.) If its not di visible, truncate the result of dividing by 2 and check all numbers 2..the_result of dividing by two. This would significantly reduce the pool of...

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My Sorting Algorithm: Melsort

A friend challenged me to a little algorithm writing contest and I'd never written an algorithm before (this was about a year and a half ago) and had little knowledge of algorithms.Specs:Write code that sorts an array of numbers from lowest to highest.Use this array: [5, 2, 8, 0, 9, 3, 1]Don't look up sorting algorithms.It goes without saying that I was not allowed to Ruby's built-in sort method on the array => array.sort!That would be cheating as the point is to create the code that sorts the array.I thought of a number of ways to do...

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Spatial Skills on Facebook?

I recently took one of those Facebook feed reader quizzes where you let something read through your Facebook posts and it gives you some scores -- basically what kind of person you supposedly are. This isn't something I usually do, but I wanted to kind of play around with it and maybe come up with an analysis (and I did and it is as follows): "Melanie is more spatial than 97% of people." I can't agree with this. First of all, what does it mean to "be spatial"? Am I physically larger than 97% of people? Do I take up more space? Despite the ambiguity...

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Interviews & Podcasts

HubPages http://hubpages.com/about/newsletter/2011-11-30 http://blog.hubpages.com/2012/10/melbels-secrets-to-great-graphics/ ExtraSmall http://extrasmall.me/body-image/what-its-really-like-to-be-naturally-thin-interview Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123129220146959621.html Podcasts http://blog.hubpages.com/2011/05/airplane-danger/ http://blog.hubpages.com/2011/11/the-meaning-behind-tibetan-prayer-flags/ http://blog.hubpages.com/2011/12/dating-board-game...

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HubPages vs My Own Site

I've been thinking about leaving HubPages and have been giving this whole thing a lot of thought. Should I continue on HubPages or create my own site and post articles there? Here are some pros and cons of creating my own blog, to kind of help flesh things out a bit: Blog Pros I get 100% of the earnings I have complete control of the site from the design to the SEO Sharpen my web dev skills. Chances are I would use Drupal (I don't care for WordPress.) I would want a lot of customization in the way of plug-ins. It could be a lot of fun managing...

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Watermelon Slushie

I made this watermelon slushie the other day (it was that super hot day we just had) and it was amazing! I made it from a half of one of those smaller sized seedless watermelons, a syrup I made, and ice. It was fab! I'll publish the full recipe in the next few days for those of you who are dying to try this....

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Embarrassing Technology Story?

What's your most embarrassing technology story? What's something you did with your computer that was super dumb? When I first started using the Internet (this was 1997), I went to the library in town and their homepage was the State of Michigan website. I couldn't figure out how to get off that site. I kept searching in the site's search box for "Hotmail", but it kept taking me to State of Michigan search results. I knew nothing of the address bar. I told you my story, now tell me yours....

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Funny Dinosaur Pictures

This post has been moved. You will be redirected to Funny Dinosaur Pictures shortly....

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Christian Words for Vagina

My sister and I were bored so we came up with some Christian words that mean "vagina." This list is the result of snarky moods and being up at 2AM. What do you think? Anything funny that we missed? Let me know! :P Enjoy and share! (Note: She's a Christian, I'm atheist) Cave of Commitment The Holy Hole Mop of Matrimony The Promised Land Covenant Cavity Pledge Pocket Passage of Promise Sacred Split Obligation Station Marriage Land (Copyright 2012, Melanie Shebe...

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Let's Install Ruby & Learn to Program!

If you've never programmed, you should really give it a shot! It's a lot of fun and even if you don't really know what programming is useful for... even if you know you'll never want to become a developer, just try out Ruby. I don't write software professionally, but I still have fun programming. I've also noticed throughout my school career that...

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Stepping Into Some New Shoes

I've really been missing niche blogging. I really loved managing multiple blogs on different themes. I know that sometimes it can get a little hectic, but I think it's time I stepped back into it -- I loved it too much! I just started two niche blog. One will have a ton of content I've recycled from some of my now defunct niche blogs. I put a fresh perspective on the content and found a really nice way to tie it all together. I'm really excited about it. I don't have the domain on this one yet. I'll have to shop around for something nice for...

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DMCA Takedown Notice Template

The following contains information on how to find the contact details of the company who hosts a website. This can be used to contact hosts in regards to copyright violation. Here are the step to follow in finding contact details and a sample DMCA takedown notice. You can find out the hosting company of the website that's stolen your content by doing the following: Step 1: Go to http://whois.domaintools.com/ or any other whois site of your choice. Step 2: In the box, type in the url of the offending site and hit "lookup." Step 3: Click...

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There Are Four Lights

I don't know if I would have continued to say or or if I would have gone with what Madred wanted. I'm pretty stubborn, so I hope in that scenario, it's be the four. I've got six more articles to write and then it's vacay for a while. I'm super happy about that. I start ballet next Monday. I tried on all my old stuff and it still fits which is awesome. I did some editing to CodeGurl... mainly just fixed the bullet points. They were red and I wanted them to match the rest of the blog, so I made some new ones using teh GIMP. I also changed my picture...

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Pancake Art

So, I came across a bunch of delicious looking pancake designs. These look really fun and tasty. I'm going to have to try some of these! Some of these actually remind me of the smiley face and Mickey Mouse pancakes my mom would make us as kids. Have you ever tried making any fun or creative pancake designs? Which of these are your favorite? I can't...

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Oldies, But Goodies

So it has finally come to this: I heard Depeche Mode on an oldies station today. "Enjoy the Silence" Kind of depressing to find music I know and love on an oldies station. Great station, though. When did you start hearing your childhood faves on oldies statio...

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Proud of This

I am proud of this. That is all. Hoping to repeat this next fall when I take way too many courses! I'm in: Biology Seminar Algebra II &  Trig Italian I Ecology & Evolution General Chemistry Diversity, Ecology, And Behavior I'll also be going to Chicago three days a week for ballet. I'm going to continue on as treasurer of the PNC Robotics Team. By next fall I'll be finishing up my apprenticeship, so I'll have a lot more extra time on my hands than I did this Spring! Plus, since I'll be taking the train, I'll do some homework during...

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The Weirdest Song I Love

I'm not really all that big on embedding videos into blog posts, but there's this one song that I've found oddly alluring throughout the past few years. I'm not sure where the "pull" is... if it's the lyrics or tune or if it's the music video! Now that I think about it, the guy kind of looks like the dude who plays Peeta! "Always" by Erasu...

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Melbel's HubPages Milestones

As you may already know, I'm a writer on HubPages. There, I write under the name "Melbel." While I joined HubPages in 2009, I only really gained an interest in writing there sometime around January of 2011. As I wrote more, my writing skills really improved. Some hubs saw great success, some never saw the light of day. This year, I've embarked on a journey in HubPages' Apprenticeship program. While, many of my hubs written before the program still receive MUCH more traffic than my newer ones (they're so new, it's really too early to tell how...

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Retro Cycling Jersey... Pour Moi?

I have been thinking of getting one of those more retro style bicycle jerseys, but aren't sure what to get. There are a few fabulous ones that I've got my eye on. At their price, I think I should really only get one. The Spiuk La Vuelta one is definitely near the top of my list. It's really attractive. Unfortunately, I have no idea what "Spiuk La Vuelta" is/means! That's one I'm going to have to look up! Another jersey that I found kind of cool was this Chiquita one, but it's a little bit on the flashy/ridiculous side. The thing I don't like...

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Competing Against Yourself on HubPages

In for a little competitive hubbing? Here's a fun game for competing with yourself in hubbing: In track (running), there is this "game" where everyone runs in a line and the person at the very end of the line has to pass everyone else. Once he gets to the front, the new last person in line has to pass everyone (and so on.) Let's try that with hubs! What's your lowest scoring hub? What score does it have? How can you revamp it to make it one of your top hubs? Example: My hub "How to Make a Threaded Running Stitch" is a 68. It's really short...

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Where It All Meets

For several years I've been chasing a dream. The reasoning behind the dream would change, but the dream never did. When this happens, it really confirms in your mind that this is something important to you. You really think it is something you should pursue... strongly. I did. At every turning point I would stumble. I would get so frustrated at every wall and give up, even when the walls were easily torn down. After a while I realized that these were walls I was building. But why? I found the answer and it was more simple than I'd thought....

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Domo Arigato, Pool Roboto

In robotics club, we made a robot that "swims" around in water. The intention was to test it out in a swimming pool, but we made do with a pond. This is the frame for the robot. (As you can see, it was difficult to assemble. Just kidding!) It just required a pool noodle, some pvc pipe cut into sections (with holes drills into parts of the pipe.) The...

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Full Swing

Grades came in and I've managed to get an A in each and every one of my classes. So.... that puts me on the Dean's List. That paired with the $$$ from on my my articles going viral in May have given me great cause to celebrate. On another note, I'm finally writing again. I've only just published my first article for the month. It's a humanities piece. I always love writing those. :) Things have been pretty awesome lately. I've been doing some traveling (not happy about an upcoming 21 hour layover in Helsinki :( murrrrrrrr....), my cats have...

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Alligators? Sweet!

I was away in Florida and couldn't post for the lack of interwebs. I flew out there on a quick red-eye so didn't have time beforehand to warn ya'. :P So, without internet what is a girl to do? With rumors that the woods/swamp near could have an alligator, I made it my mission to find it. I went out there alone a few times, but walked the top of the wall around the swamp to be safe*. I found that from this point that I could see quite a bit of the swamp, but wasn't close enough to see anything. I'd heard what I was told were alligator grunts,...

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Foreign Language This Summer

I made a goal of working toward learning a foreign language over the summer. Obviously, I won't be fluent by the end of the summer, but I plan on learning enough to get by. I was hoping to learn French since I have a few French books (and already know some French), but unfortunately, they're all packed away in the furthest reaches of the attic. I was able to find some fabulous foreign language learning resources, but they are for learning Italian. I played around with the resources and found that I'm actually really cool with learning Italian....

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Fibonacci Script in Ruby

I wrote a small script that calculates fibonacci to the nth number. The script doesn't use recursion, but it's still awesome. It's, of course, written in Ruby and it looks awesome. I've decided to make this a part of a series of math related scripts that will do a few things for me:      a. Teach me better math skills     ...

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Logic Puzzle in Ruby

I wrote a puzzle that kind of takes some skill in the area of logic. It's essentially a word puzzle that does a small bit to introduce a little bit of Ruby syntax. It's a string made up of characters. There is one letter for each character given and one character for each letter. Meaning that if { = z, { ALWAYS = z and z ALWAYS = {. Line 1 is the puzzle string. Do not edit this line or you will mess up the puzzle and you may be unable to solve it. Line 3 shows syntax for inputting symbols (in this case it's "|") and inputting letters (in this...

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Writing for May

I've chosen nine topics to write articles on this month which I'm really excited about. They're topics I'm really comfortable writing about, so they should be cake! I've also got a bit of editing to do on articles I wrote last month. (I was in a HUGE rush due to finals.) Just got done with a little CS schtuff. Now I fear it's just time for bed. I drew a picture of a kitty that I was going to post, but I don't have my phone with me to take a pic, so it'll have to wait until the next time I post....

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"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh" + "h" = "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Holy cannoli! A grade came in. I got the HIGHEST A in Speech class. I'm feeling awesome. I should totally have an F since I'm uber shy. (Although I'm getting less shy and I did give an awesome speech.) Yesterday I was taking my Geography final when my prof said I hadn't turned in an assignment. I told him that I promise I had. He said I could redo it, which I promptly did. When I was just about to email it to him, I saw that he'd emailed me and said he'd found it and that I'd received a 96 on it. I should have an A for the course, but that...

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Week 2

Week 2 of my summer courses with Stanford just started. It's also finals week at PNC. Right now I'm juggling six classes, work, and volunteering. In a few weeks I start my third summer course, but I'll be done with PNC until fall. I'm mentally exhausted, but this stuff builds character, right? I just got done figuring (or at least attempting) my grades for the semester, as it closes. I have a solid 'A' in Speech. This surprises me as this is the class that I'd figured I'd do the worst in, given my shyness. English 102 could potentially give...

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........

So my Stanford course (CS) just started. Things are due the day of (most) finals at PNC. I also still have four articles due by the 30th. I've mainly got outlines for those done. No math ones assigned for the remainder of the month which is good. Got some oddball ones... a linguistics one, gardening, the Titanic, and a travel one. Next month is probably going to be all employment topics. :) Just started a new volunteer job which, perhaps, will make summer somewhat interesting, two summer courses... one doesn't start until July. I might add another...

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One of My Linguistics Articles Went Viral!

The last week has been a real surprise! Last Thursday, I started receiving a large bit of traffic on one of my articles, which is unusual, but not unheard of. I was definitely excited, but expected it to wane over the next day or two. However, traffic went through the roof and is only just now subsiding a bit! Thus far, I've receive 64,000 Facebook likes on my Michigan Accent article alone. There were also several hundred tweets, Pinterest pins, etc. I'm definitely excited about this! Since the article contains links to a few of my other articles,...

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How to Identify Bad SEO Companies & SEO Scams

Having a website is a great way to spread the word about a company, but without proper optimizing, a website may never be found in the search engines. Search engine optimization companies work to bring websites more traffic by improving the site's ranking in search engines. There has been a lot of negative press about SEO, in general, and it's because of SEO scams and terrible SEO companies. While there are a lot of scams in the SEO business, search engine optimization is still an extremely important aspect in building a website. This is why...

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Disguising Load Times w Information

So I'm writing a script that essentially allows people to enter a url of their writing profile on a particular site. The script will then give them a list of articles that don't meet their own quality specifications and also provides the writer with fun facts about their writing. Users can customize some pre-set specifications. For example, the word count specification, which defaults at 1000 words, can be set to equal 700 words. Then, the user can see a list of articles they've written that are under 700 words. In addition, the script will show...

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Why Search Engine Submission Can Be Harmful

The first thing many so-called SEO "pros" do when they create a new niche site is submit it to all the search engines. This act seems to make sense, because how else is the search engine going to know the site exists? There actually is a way for search engines to find out about sites other than search engine submission, which is covered in this article. In actuality, the practice of search engine submission, however common, may be harmful to a site. Many SEO firms even offer search engine submission services for a fee. This is a good sign...

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