Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2021 January 22

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January 22

Is any detailed information about Aaron Swartz's The Info Network available?

Thanks. Apokrif (talk) 03:35, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

The ArsDigita link from our Aaron Swartz article leads here, which is fairly detailed.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:16, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

Would it be useful to express -why- static variables are useful?

This page is pretty clear in describing what a static variable is, but while I am trying to learn about this, it might be useful to understand -why- they exist; the rationale for them and what benefits they offer - to the compiler, speed of resulting programme etc?

Just a suggestions, I am thankful for the record that exists!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_variable — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.41.228.205 (talk) 17:06, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

Before high-level programming languages were developed, the most common situation was that all memory was statically allocated. One way in which functions in a program can communicate with each other is by passing information through parameters. But suppose that in an application there is a centrally important store of information that can be consulted and updated by various functions. In that situation, passing it around through parameters is awkward. The alternative is to use a global variable, which in most languages means it is allocated statically. Depending on the instruction set of the processor, accessing static variables may be faster than accessing dynamic variables; the latter may involve some indirection and pointer arithmetic.  --Lambiam 21:15, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

Static variables will typically have storage reserved at compile-time. This means no memory needs to be allocated for them at run-time, which can be important in constricted environments such as embedded systems with strict memory limitations. This also means a given static variable has a fixed memory address, which can be necessary for low-level stuff like device drivers. --47.152.93.24 (talk) 03:56, 23 January 2021 (UTC)

Change in key's meaning

I use Google Chrome. Traditionally when I press F6 it takes me to the URL bar where I can edit the URL I'm at. But now when I press F6 it highlights my current tab. Any reason the F6 key's function changed?? Georgia guy (talk) 18:08, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

Oops, just after I saved my edit, F6's behavior was back to normal. Georgia guy (talk) 18:09, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

And now it changed again. Georgia guy (talk) 18:10, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

FWIW, you can also use Alt+D to access the URL bar. Elizium23 (talk) 21:36, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

Additionally, you can also use Ctrl+L as well. In the current stable release of Chrome, F6 once goes to URL/Search bar - a second time, highlights the Tab bar for keyboard navigation between tabs (instead of the Ctrl+Tab ↹ method). Andyhill7 (talk) 21:00, 26 January 2021 (UTC)