# Programming Guides and Tutorials on TPU



## Kreij (Jan 26, 2011)

Hello Fellow Coding Afficianados,

I've stated that I would like to write guides and tutorials for some of you, but the plain truth is that an internet forum is simply not a good medium for them.
Before you trash me, let me explain !!

To do justice to a programming language or complex concept one would need to write dozens (if not hundreds) of pages to make it comprehensive enough to be worthwhile.
Especially when you need to add graphics (for how-to) or code. Even a simple program can be dozens of lines of code.

C# alone has 1000s of APIs and there are 1000s more applications that release SDKs with their own APIs (DLLS) to reference from your programs.

This is why I recommend ... uh ... books (many are 500+ pages ... or maybe MSDN with their 1000s of pages of API assistance for all .NET languages) and google.

But they are not always clear and concise, so I still want to help, as do a lot of people. 
If anyone has questions on any topic, post a specific thread for specific help, whether it be code or a programming concept. 
This will increase the usefulness of the TPU archives for other programmers as well, as it will make searching better for something specific in this section. 

_Some of you will understand_ as you know what details are involved in any writing or coding, some perhaps will not.
Either way, questions and comments appreciated.

Thanks, 
Yer Old Uncle Kreij


_Error in MySQL Prefetch : &78#61&109;145 ;124#68#72;145&101 &77;157#64&115 ;44;64&48_


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## Kreij (Jan 27, 2011)

Hmmm ... almost 80 views and no comments. I wonder if people really understand the complexities of writing tutorials and programming user guides.


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## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

Kreij said:


> Hmmm ... almost 80 views and no comments. I wonder if people really understand the complexities of writing tutorials and programming user guides.



Now that is very odd Kreij, as I posted in this a few months ago:shadedshu

One of the mods or something must have cleaned the thread out? 
I personally made mention that I am a full time student in web development and design, and any web based tutorials would be very much appreciated


Edit:! Whops I see what your saying in your first post Mr. Kreij, LOL. 

Really the thing that I am having the most issues with at the moment is JavaScript. I know, everyone will say "Flash is better" and I agree 100%, however I am required to take a class on JavaScript. With that said, the overall concept of JavaScript is kicking my behind. So, any tutorial in plain old English would probably help me a ton!

Thanks in advance bro,
Dano


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## Kreij (Jan 29, 2011)

169 current views, 4 days have passed and no one in the TPU programming crew has figured out this is another stealth contest.
I even gave you a link that should have made it obvious something was up.
It's all in the details ... if you guys can't find my stealth contests, how are you ever going to find those stupidly persistent bugs in your code?

Try harder. I expect more for you.

PS. You may want to thank God I am not your CS professor in college.


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## Easy Rhino (Jan 29, 2011)

what's this now?


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## Kreij (Jan 29, 2011)

Easy Rhino said:


> what's this now?



See post above yours. lol


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## streetfighter 2 (Jan 29, 2011)

Kreij said:


> if you guys can't find my stealth contests, how are you ever going to find those stupidly persistent bugs in your code?


ICE, GDB, IDA Pro, and if I'm using .NET F5, F9 and F10 

Also I'm with Easy on this one.  I've done some querying in SQL but lord knows I'm not an expert.  I think I'll sit this one out.


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## Easy Rhino (Jan 29, 2011)

Kreij said:


> Error in MySQL Prefetch : &78#61&109;145 ;124#68#72;145&101 &77;157#64&115 ;44;64&48


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## scaminatrix (Jan 29, 2011)

I figured, but due to many factors I didn't reply.
Firstly, I have a severe lack of knowledge when it comes to coding. I haven't partaken in so long, an iron-oxide (II) kind of material has formed on my memory receptors in that area of my brain.
Secondly, I'm not as stealth-aware these days; probably due to a lack of ninja-ing posts and edits on TPU recently. 
I would like some info on how to make a code specifically designed to root out the real meaning behind some people's obscure/stealthed OP's/thread's.

Did I do it right?  I got no idea what's going on here but I'll give it a shot...


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## Kreij (Jan 29, 2011)

This contest really has nothing to do with coding in and of itself. It has all to do with noticing odd and anomalous things as you are reading through code. I really did it for the students here on TPU.

College graduated coders are a dime a dozen. If you do not rise above the rest you are just another member of the herd. You either love to write and troubleshoot code and it is your passion, or you are just another 2 bit keyboard pounder who will end up doing code maintenance for the rest of your career. If you've ever had to maintain something written by someone else, you know how tedious this will be. 

Easy Rhino found the contest ...
Now quit screwing around and solve this contest. The next one will be harder.


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## scaminatrix (Jan 29, 2011)

Yeeeea, I'll come back in a year or so. I thought it was a trolling contest.


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## streetfighter 2 (Jan 29, 2011)

Well I can tell you it's not ASCII and it's not HEX/OCTAL.  Whatever it is it's decimal.  The syntax is vaguely index oriented.  Also "Error in MySQL Prefetch" is not a common error (see google) so my guess is that's part of the puzzle as well.

Oh and I know I'm a lousy programmer, but you didn't have to rub it in...


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## Kreij (Jan 29, 2011)

@SF2 : lol ... no one was targetted. Just comments to get people motivated.
Also, do not assume you first assessment is correct.


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## Easy Rhino (Jan 29, 2011)

hrm...well i believe we need to decode that string and it will give us something meanful in terms of mysql errors. i am using a bunch of decoders online but really not coming up with anything...

also, mysql server errors are all in the 1000-1999 range and client errors are in the 2000-2999 range...i must be off somewhere

OK I THINK I GOT IT

convert* &78#61&109;145 ;124#68#72;145&101 &77;157#64&115 ;44;64&48* to binary and you get *26 37 38 23 36 31 26 31 30 39 3b 31 34 35 20 3b 31 32 34 23 36 38 23 37 32 3b 31 34 35 26 31 30 31 20 26 37 37 3b 31 35 37 23 36 34 26 31 31 35 20 3b 34 34 3b 36 34 26 34 38*

mysql uses innodb for prefetching and stuff and *26 37 38 23 36 31 26 31 30 39 3b 31 34 35 20 3b 31 32 34 23 36 38 23 37 32 3b 31 34 35 26 31 30 31 20 26 37 37 3b 31 35 37 23 36 34 26 31 31 35 20 3b 34 34 3b 36 34 26 34 38* is a common error in mysql when it is unable to start up the service!!!!

ok probably not but who knows...


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## streetfighter 2 (Jan 29, 2011)

Easy Rhino said:


> convert* &78#61&109;145 ;124#68#72;145&101 &77;157#64&115 ;44;64&48* to binary and you get *26 37 38 23 36 31 26 31 30 39 3b 31 34 35 20 3b 31 32 34 23 36 38 23 37 32 3b 31 34 35 26 31 30 31 20 26 37 37 3b 31 35 37 23 36 34 26 31 31 35 20 3b 34 34 3b 36 34 26 34 38*


 That's confusing.

Firstly, what system is the original expression in?  Secondly, how can you convert the original expression to binary and end up with a hex number (that's considerably larger than the original number expressed as a decimal)? 

Looks like I need to go back to school because that's way over my head.

I also don't understand the syntax of the original message.  The '&' could be interpreted as a bitwise AND, but the '#' is just gibberish (comment).  (Not to mention the spaces, WTF?)


Easy Rhino said:


> i think what kreij did was convert an error dump to another code so it was all about decoding his code. and since it is mysql related i figured maybe it had somethign to do with innodb. of course i literally could be miles off


I'd say the probability of you performing whatever operation you did and getting a large number that corresponds to a common error is sufficiently improbable enough that it has to be correct.


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## Easy Rhino (Jan 29, 2011)

streetfighter 2 said:


> That's confusing.
> 
> Firstly, what system is the original expression in?  Secondly, how can you convert the original expression to binary and end up with a hex number?
> 
> Looks like I need to go back to school because that's way over my head.



i think what kreij did was convert an error dump to another code so it was all about decoding his code. and since it is mysql related i figured maybe it had somethign to do with innodb. of course i literally could be miles off


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## Kreij (Jan 30, 2011)

Dang, Easy Rhino, I thought I tended to over-engineer things.


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## garyinhere (Jan 30, 2011)

I took the red pill so this contest isn't making much sense.


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## Kreij (Jan 31, 2011)

If you guys give up on my contest, I'm sending my attack Schnooodle over to bite your ankles.

Alright here's a hint ... the spaces are used for what spaces are normally used for.


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## streetfighter 2 (Jan 31, 2011)

Got it .  The hint was all I needed.

Kreij, Tatty_One, Mussels

If you're serious, give it to charity.


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 1, 2011)

Kreij said:


> &78#61&109;145 ;124#68#72;145&101 &77;157#64&115 ;44;64&48


I am anti-mod but these are the only two I've really encountered:
1. Garrys Mod
2. Crossfire (for Freelancer)
3. A bunch of other ones here: http://www.moddb.com/mods

I'll let someone else "solve" it.


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## streetfighter 2 (Feb 1, 2011)

FordGT90Concept said:


> I am anti-mod but these are the only two I've really encountered:
> 1. Garrys Mod
> 2. Crossfire (for Freelancer)
> 3. A bunch of other ones here: http://www.moddb.com/mods
> ...


Really depends on how you define mod doesn't it?  The majority of commercial games are just mods sitting atop existing game engines.  Unless you're referring to mods that cannot be classified as "total conversion"-- but you're not...



Easy Rhino said:


> i literally have no idea what any of this has to do with mysql...


I thought about that for a while before posting.  I came to the disturbingly sophisticated conclusion that I didn't know and didn't care.  Furthermore I just ordered Pizza. 


FordGT90Concept said:


> I suppose it could be modulus too . . .


Nope, plural of modulus is moduli.


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 1, 2011)

I suppose it could be modulus too:
1) = 5 % 2
2) = 8 % 6
3) = 10 % 7

It isn't specific. XD


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## Easy Rhino (Feb 1, 2011)

i literally have no idea what any of this has to do with mysql...


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 1, 2011)

streetfighter 2 said:


> Got it .  The hint was all I needed.
> 
> Kreij, Tatty_One, Mussels
> 
> If you're serious, give it to charity.


Now I get it.  We got three different definitions:
1) Moderators
2) Modifications
3) Modulus




Easy Rhino said:


> i literally have no idea what any of this has to do with mysql...


That MySQL bit was only there to mask the true intent of what was behind it.  It has nothing to do with the actual message.


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## Kreij (Feb 1, 2011)

Easy Rhino said:


> i literally have no idea what any of this has to do with mysql...



Nothing. It was just a fake error to hide the contest in. I'm a little surprised no one caught on to that right away as database errors don't post to the boards like that.
I even changed my title thinking someone might make the connection. lol

@SF2 Good job 
Charity it is then. There are a lot of poor people out here in the sticks that I am sure could use it to help them with heating bills or food this winter. 
I'll tell them it's from you. You're a good egg.


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 1, 2011)

I didn't look at this thread until yesterday. XD


Hard to say if I would of said anything about that MySQL line or not.  Depends on my mood.


Solution:

; denotes an octal value
& denotes a decimal value
# denotes a hexadecimal value

Converting them all to ASCII gets you: *Name Three Mods $40*


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## Kreij (Feb 1, 2011)

Thanks to everyone who gave it a shot. Keep your eyes open as you never know what might appear. 

And as a bonus, here's my favorite cartoon ...


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## caleb (Feb 1, 2011)

When I first saw this thread with a single post I thought there is some bug with the database because of only a single post being displayed and to be honest I never looked inside until today .
Thought of ASCII right away when I noticed it was a competition ^^. Only knew/noticed the & and # notations.Good to learn of the ';'. Them normal spaces were confusing for me as normally while looking at non human readable stuff its totally unreadable and it doesn't have nice spaces between char's.


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## Kreij (Feb 1, 2011)

The three notations (;, &, #) were just chosen randomly to designate what table they were taken from. Their meaning in other coding applications was not considered, and is coincidental.

I also purposefully did not use any hex values that contained letters as that would have given it away immediately.


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## streetfighter 2 (Feb 1, 2011)

Kreij said:


> I also purposefully did not use any hex values that contained letters as that would have given it away immediately.


That part through me off quite a bit ; and I initially misinterpreted the spaces as being a fourth type of delimiter.  

Though the solution is fairly simple, the way you designed it made it deceptively complicated.

@*↓*Kreij - It is a compliment.


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## Kreij (Feb 1, 2011)

SF2 said:
			
		

> Though the solution is fairly simple, the way you designed it made it deceptively complicated.



I'll take that as a compliment.
Now I'll have to take my time and come up with something harder and more deceptively complicated for the next one.


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## Easy Rhino (Feb 1, 2011)

well i got as far as knowing the prefetch error was the clue and that the sets of gibberish needed to be decoded somehow. 

did you guys use a converter for it or do you have ascii memorized


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## Kreij (Feb 1, 2011)

They probably just googled "ascii table" or something. That's how I made it. lol


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## Easy Rhino (Feb 1, 2011)

Kreij said:


> They probably just googled "ascii table" or something. That's how I made it. lol



did you make it letter by letter?


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## streetfighter 2 (Feb 1, 2011)

Do you want me to post the key Easy Rhino?

And for the record, I memorized the ASCII table in hex, octal and decimal.    No... I'm just kidding.  I just typed "ASCII" into google and the first link that pops up...  Been that same site for years too.

While I was making the cipher in ASCII I thought that maybe Kreij had decided to be really cruel and use unicode instead


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## Kreij (Feb 1, 2011)

Yeah, I wrote down the words and then just looked up the ascii values, and adjusted when I got a hex value with a letter in it and used either decimal or octal. Just a big jumble really.
Simple triple substitution encryption. The prefixes (;, &, #) were added to make it easier.


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## Easy Rhino (Feb 1, 2011)

oh. well i guess that makes sense. i never knew what # : and & stood for in the first place.


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## Kreij (Feb 1, 2011)

When you are trying to decrypt something, you can't make assumptions until some semblance of a pattern emerges. At that point you still don't know if you are the right track until you can gleen some meaning from the results.
Decyphering stuff is just another code junkies way of relaxing and having fun (and you thought the hardware people were nerds).


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