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Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

thejh.net

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Re: Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

#211
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you could still paste ^d (End-of-file)? Granted, if you paste ^d in the terminal, you'd exit, but one could do this?: dangerous-commands \n ^d #eof dangerous-commmands \n #repeat (I'm not actually sure if you can paste ^d in general... but I expect you could?)

Great point, we've just fired another salvo in an escalating war. The only winning move is not to paste. :)

My dentist won't let me do that :(

Re: Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

#212
Here's my biggest secret. I almost always use Chome's URL address bar as a text buffer. Not only to make sure what I copied is what I expected, but to remove new-lines, and if it's a terminal command, to allow me to edit the arguments in free-form before pasting into terminal.

Re: Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

#213

So, ok. Don't copy and paste from a website to a terminal, I get it and I got it the last time that this kind of thing was posted. But if I look around I put so incredibly much trust in total strangers all the time that compared to say ordering a pizza (where the cook could put anything in the food they wanted), driving on the highway (where anybody could swerve any moment if they wanted) and simply walking down the…

Not burned in the sense that I executed some hidden commands in the terminal, but I've tried pasting snippets of text in IRC and ended up pasting several lines of text that absolutely did not select. While this may not be a huge issue in practice, I have no idea what motivates the inclusion of functionality that manipulates the clipboard in the browser. I don't really think that the analogies of anyone swerving on th…

Technically, they're not manipulating the clipboard at all. That is definitely disallowed by browsers. What they are doing is extending the selection to an invisible part of the page, so you're copying more than you bargained for.

But without being able to manipulate selections, some nice features of certain sites would be lost. (e.g. the "share" link in StackOverflow automatically selects the URL for you so you only need to press Ctrl-C, instead of having to select it manually.)

Re: Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

#215
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At my school, it was made very explicit that you'd be immediately expelled for plagiarism (subject to appeal, IIRC, but yes: One strike.)

As it should be. The whole system is underpinned by the assumption that no one can cheat. Everyone knows tons of people cheat, but any university who has a "n-strike" policy for academic dishonesty (aka fraud), is purely in it for the money. To students who busted their asses to graduate legitimately, it's a hard slap in the face.

I think I know what you're saying. Still I wonder if perhaps the students that worked diligently and honestly gained more in the long run.

Re: Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

#216

I never paste anything directly anywhere when copied from a webpage. I first paste it on Notepad to handle any formatting and hidden text. Once pasted on notepad, I copy/paste to the final destination.

Notepad? Sounds like your machine is already infested with malware ;-)

Run Atom/ST3 with random plugins downloaded from around the web instead, that's much safer :)

Re: Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

#217
post #209
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the first place you would go to the Oracle manual? I use stack overflow all the time these days (documentation pages before that existed), not quite cutting and pasting but close enough.

The thing is, if you came to me and said "I know everything in this book", I'd say "so let's save money and buy the book instead of hiring you." Interview questions are an opportunity for you to show what you are worth. If you're worth less than a book, it's not a good sign.

The most important skill is to know how to look something up.

No one knows everything; or even a majority of things. How fast you can find an answer is what determines your productivity. Whether its via a book, a man page, google, stack overflow, or asking the right people doesn't matter.

Re: Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

#218
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At my school, it was made very explicit that you'd be immediately expelled for plagiarism (subject to appeal, IIRC, but yes: One strike.)

As it should be. The whole system is underpinned by the assumption that no one can cheat. Everyone knows tons of people cheat, but any university who has a "n-strike" policy for academic dishonesty (aka fraud), is purely in it for the money. To students who busted their asses to graduate legitimately, it's a hard slap in the face.

That's way too hardline, surely some people are wrongly accused or some cases are borderline. This sort of "zero tolerance" nonsense always just ends up removing human judgement and common sense from the equation.

Also the idea that "the system is underpinned by the notion nobody can cheat" is absurd. Cheating is rampant! Even in the ivy leagues. Especially in the ivy leagues! But people still value college degrees.

Re: Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

#219
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, if you came to me and said "I know everything in this book", I'd say "so let's save money and buy the book instead of hiring you." Interview questions are an opportunity for you to show what you are worth. If you're worth less than a book, it's not a good sign.

The most important skill is to know how to look something up. No one knows everything; or even a majority of things. How fast you can find an answer is what determines your productivity. Whether its via a book, a man page, google, stack overflow, or asking the right people doesn't matter.

[deleted]

Re: Don't copy paste from a website to a terminal

#220
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As it should be. The whole system is underpinned by the assumption that no one can cheat. Everyone knows tons of people cheat, but any university who has a "n-strike" policy for academic dishonesty (aka fraud), is purely in it for the money. To students who busted their asses to graduate legitimately, it's a hard slap in the face.

I think I know what you're saying. Still I wonder if perhaps the students that worked diligently and honestly gained more in the long run.

I was this kind of student, to the bemusement of people at my year. And I can say we like to tell ourselves that - that by honest learning we somehow gained more. But to be honest, what you do at work is so different than what you learn at university that in retrospect, you may just cheat your way through bullshit exams. If you're an autodidact, it could be even better for you, since you won't waste so much time learning nonsense to pass arbitrary performance bars.

I'm not encouraging cheating here. But I learned that sometimes you have to accept that you hold to some rules just because morality, and you don't need to invent practical reasons to justify it to yourself and others. Sometimes following the rules leaves you worse off, but the world where people follow those rules is better for everyone than the world where they don't, and I want to live in the former.

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