Talk:Matrix with two diagonals
Dependence on a potentially insecure direct link to a JPEG
The paucity of that task description leads to a dependence on directly loading an unknown JPEG.
JPEGs are susceptible to exploits, and it seems a pity to risk the impression of obliging others to do something which is potentially insecure.
(My advice to others would be: never click on a direct JPEG link offered by an unknown host). Hout (talk) 09:19, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
- Although I'm confident the author himself would never do anything malicious, you're right to express caution about viewing external images.
- Fortunately (if you haven't guessed already) you can work out what's required from studying the Ring code which is drawing a square matrix which has 1's on both diagonals and 0's elsewhere. --PureFox (talk) 09:38, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
- I wonder if there isn't a line that needs to be drawn at the point where the quality of task descriptions declines so far that they are not even secure (let alone adequate). Hout (talk) 10:40, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
- Suggestion 1. Delete that link to a JPEG. Some of us may well feel sufficiently protected by our assessment of CalmoSoft personally, but we know nothing about the security of the hosting site.
- Suggestion 2. Replace the JPEG link with a textual matrix and an adequate description. Hout (talk) 11:05, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
- Well, the author has been criticized many times in the past for posting tasks with inadequate or unclear descriptions and my advice to him would be to write them first in Hungarian and then use Google translate (or similar) to translate them into English.
- Personally, I don't regard ANY image hosting site as being 100% secure and that's why I avoid posting links to such sites in my own solutions. This is an unfortunate situation but, as I'll be surprised if RC ever allows images to be uploaded again, we're left with only posting text-based solutions or, if graphical solutions are posted, leaving it to people's discretion whether they want to risk clicking on links or not. --PureFox (talk) 11:25, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
- My view is that "leaving it to people's discretion" is not acceptable as a central dependency in a task description. Solutions are a different issue – there's no need to read them. Hout (talk) 11:28, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
- (and I see you've made that edit to the description – thanks) Hout (talk) 11:32, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
- I agree, of course, with what you've just said and my earlier remarks pre-supposed that the task description was already reasonably adequate. However, if I can understand the language it's written in, I generally read the author's solution (or at least its 'textual' output, if any) to make sure my understanding of the task is correct. --PureFox (talk) 11:49, 17 February 2022 (UTC)