And it's one of the parodies he's ranting about. Recursion again!

Labels: Strange Loops

Ok, this is a good runner up for the best definition of recursion. Douglas Hofstadter would be proud.

I think I'm going to start collecting these.

-the Centaur

Comic from xkcd, used according to their "terms of service":

You are welcome to reprint occasional comics pretty much anywhere (presentations, papers, blogs with ads, etc). If you're not outright merchandizing, you're probably fine. Just be sure to attribute the comic to xkcd.com.

So attributed.

Hm. Does the xkcd terms of service apply to the xkcd terms of service? Is that a bit like a post about recursion referring to itself? How meta.

Labels: Intelligence, Strange Loops

For those that don't get it, recursion in computer science refers to a process or definition that refers back to itself. For example, you could imagine "searching for your keys" in terms of searching everywhere in your house for your keys, which involves finding each room and searching everywhere in each room for your keys, which involves going into each room and looking for all the drawers and hiding places and looking everywhere in them for your keys ... and so on, until there's no smaller place to search.

So searching for [recursion] on Google involves Google suggesting that you look for [recursion]. Neat! And I'm pretty sure this is an Easter Egg and not just a bug ... it's persisted for a long time and is geeky enough for the company that encourages you to "Feel Lucky"!

-the Centaur

Labels: Intelligence, Strange Loops