h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello - I'm the sub for your entry A653267 (see above). I've just got a query; you write

' Given the Year as a four digit number in the range 1700 - 2299
' Calculate Day and Month of Easter Sunday

' Note 1: the algorithm has not been tested outside this range.
' Note 2: the \ operator performs integer division without remainder.
' Note 3: the date returned is the Gregorian Calendar date
' (the one we use now), even for dates in the 18th Century.

Forgive my ignorance, but are the apostrophes meant to be there? If so, do tell me and they'll be left as they are.

Many thanks,

Em

PS. I'm a viola player, so you have my deepest respect for the article you wrote about them. Another joke for your delectation: How many viola players does it take to make chocolate brownies?




















A. Ten - one to make the dough, and nine to peel the Smarties.

Hi Emily. Yes, the apostrophes in Visual Basic and many other languages indicate that the line is a comment for the reader and not something that the computer has to do. So leave them in. They may mean something to the programmers and will probably not be noticed by the non-programmers.

I'm glad you liked my viola article. I don't play viola myself, so it is a little briefer than my other musical instrument articles, but I thought it captured the spirit of viola playing, from what I've read. Have you read "An Equal Music" by Vikram Seth. If not, do. It is a perfect description of playing in a quartet.

I'll send it off then. I've hardly changed a thing, this time - I can usually find a grammatical error or two.

I haven't 'An Equal Music', though as an English bod I probably should have; I'm reading 'True History of the Kelly Gang' by Peter Carey at the moment, which I'm really enjoying.