please explain this joke

[Wendy Gibbons]

why do programmers confuse christmas and halloween
because 31 Oct == 25 Dec

[Paul Clapham]

31 octal (base 8) is 3*8+1 = 25.

25 decimal (base 10) is 2*10+5 = 25.

Here's another joke for you. Three logicians walk into a bar.

Bartender: Do you three all want a beer?
First logician: I don't know.
Second logician: I don't know.
Third logician: Yes.

[Campbell Ritchie]

The question is whether all three want beer:-

If 1st log didn't want any beer, they would have said no.
2nd log knows 1st log wants some beer, as well as themself, but not knowing about 3rd log, has to say don't know.
At this point 3rd log knows neither of the others doesn't want any beer, and wanting some themself means all three do.

[Pat Farrell]

Ahhh, these young 'ens. They never did anything in octal. They probably think that a byte was defined by John von Neuman as having 8 bits.

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Wendy Gibbons wrote:why do programmers confuse christmas and halloween
because 31 Oct == 25 Dec

In all seriousness, the fact that this joke works so perfectly is a minor miracle.

[Henry Wong]

I wish someone can explain the joke that starts with... "A sandwich, a rabbi and yo mama walk into a bar..." ...

Okay, so technically it isn't a complete joke, as we don't know the punch line.

Henry

[Wendy Gibbons]

Thank you all

[Campbell Ritchie]

Pat Farrell wrote: . . . They probably think that a byte was defined by John von Neuman as having 8 bits.

And don't know what half a byte is called.

[Wendy Gibbons]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:

Pat Farrell wrote: . . . They probably think that a byte was defined by John von Neuman as having 8 bits.

And don't know what half a byte is called.

This is Alzheimer's not youth, is it a word?

[Matthew Brown]

Ernest Friedman-Hill wrote:In all seriousness, the fact that this joke works so perfectly is a minor miracle.

Coincidence...or is it?

[Tim Cooke]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:And don't know what half a byte is called.

ooh I know I know.... a nibble.

[Frank Silbermann]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:The question is whether all three want beer:-

If 1st log didn't want any beer, they would have said no.
2nd log knows 1st log wants some beer, as well as themself, but not knowing about 3rd log, has to say don't know.
At this point 3rd log knows neither of the others doesn't want any beer, and wanting some themself means all three do.

This was a pet peeve of mine in elementary school. The teacher would ask, "Is everyone finished?" and half the class would raise their hands and say, "Yes!"
I wanted them disciplined for lying to the teacher -- they said yes even though they knew perfectly well that not everyone was finished.
(The teacher did not ask, "Are you finished.")

[Jim Venolia]

Tim Cooke wrote:ooh I know I know.... a nibble.

It's actually a nybble, commonly misspelled with an i.

[Tim Cooke]

Jim Venolia wrote:It's actually a nybble, commonly misspelled with an i.

I stand corrected Jim. Thank you. Clearly I've only learnt this term through conversation.

[Greg Charles]

Some years we even confuse Thanksgiving too! (NOV 27 = DEC 25 = OCT 31).

Byte was spelled with a Y to make it harder to confuse with bit, which isn't necessary with nibble. Nybble is an alternative spelling among ubergeeks, but that doesn't make nibble wrong. Google search for computer nibble = 1.6 million results. computer nybble = 38,000, computer nyble = 5,540

[Stephan van Hulst]

Of which 1.52 million are probably about nibbling on a cookie :P