A blog a day

Blog entry that appeals to my "inner geek": Entry #2

Written by Bob McCormick on 12/29/2006 10:45:00 PM

Here is the top ten goofy things you can find in an index in a technical book, from http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2006/11/20/computer-geeks-can-make-jokes-too/

1. In the index: “pitfalls, see traps” and “traps, see pitfalls.”
   
2. In the index: Scooby Doo, pronouncing “Windex” 166
   It is supposed to be the rindex function but we all know Scooby Doo has a hard time pronouncing his r’s.
   
3. In the index: pun, really bad 152
   On page 152 talks about Bird and Penguin classes and says “Yet we’re not finished with these fowl matters.”
   
4. In the index, which is on page 269 it has: recursion 86, 139, 141, 182, 202, 269
   
5. At the bottom of the last page: Any inaccuracies in this index may be explained by the fact that it has been prepared with the help of a computer.
   
6. In the index: recursive loop See recursive loop
   
7. A dedication at the beginning of the book:
   To Joanna,
   My brilliant and beautiful wife without whom I would be nothing. She always comforts and consoles, never complains or interferes, asks nothing and endures all, and writes my dedications.
   
8. In the index of a Fourier Analysis book it says: fractals: not mentioned, 112
   Sure enough there is no mention of fractals on that page.
   
9. In the index: Fibonacci numbers, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610
   and then it goes on to give a “prime numbers” entry that lists every prime number from 1 to 826 (takes up 20 lines) which is how many pages there are in the book.
   
10. In the index: IndexOutOfBoundsException: 30, 196, 210, 596
    The book only has 595 pages.
    

Maybe my "inner nerd" is not "inner" enough?

;*)

Hat tip: Fred Kiesche/The Eternal Golden Braid