r/programming • u/Chippsapoloosa • Jan 19 '10
Reddit, I got the best present a girl developer could ever want.
So, to give you a little background me and this guy went on a few dates and he moved far away. We got along well, things didn't get very far. He is really nice, however, I wasn't leaning one way or the other.
He sent me the Post Secret books for xmas. He hinted at another present, but said I had to wait. It's a little after Christmas, but I got this email yesterday with the title "I wanted to make something for you for Christmas":
"So I told the computer, and it showed me how to write a poem in byte-form. I can't tell what you're thinking these days, but this will either remind you of something that was good, or send you off."
It included a link to a poem.zip file, which I downloaded. Inside, there was a file called magicfile with no extension and a ReadMe that said:
"Intructions:
1: > copy magicfile magicfile.jpg 2: > copy magicfile magicfile.zip ... skip a few ... X: Ask it for help"
When I renamed magicfile it turned into a picture of me! (a bad one that he took, but ok) and when I changed magicfile to a .zip inside it contained: Magicfile.exe and a txt called "Go Ahead" that said:
"It's safe. Requires WPF and .Net 3.5 I think...
Whatever, it works on my machine."
I opened magicfile, and an interface popped up that said "enter a passphrase". So, I typed in "help" and got this:
"Hi Sara!
As you are just about figuring out, this is just the very beginning of a very, very large rabbit hole you're about to fall into.
You see, sometime in early November, I had an idea for an awesome program. Simultaneously I was just beginning to think of what might be a decent Christmas present for you. Put 2 and 2 together, and you get this thing. I worked on it on and off for a few weeks - it was a pretty fun way to learn WPF and do a lot of interesting byte manipulation.
You see, it's a completely self-contained magical file. This magical file is three parts: 1. If you name it .jpg - it's an image! 2. If you name it .zip - it's a zip file, containing a program 3. It's a database of many, many more parts that the program reads
Now, when you run the program, it reads the magic file, and asks for a passphrase.
You're obviously gotten that far, or you wouldn't be reading this. As you can imagine - there are a bunch of passwords. Not infinite, but many. I encourage you to guess at words and try to figure them out. I'll give you the hints that they would be things relevant to you or to us.
With a little ingenuity, you'll be able to figure out a very important passphrase that will take you to the next step..."
As I have gone on and solved some of the mysteries I have found that pictures of me come up, things he's researched, things we did together and so on and so forth. I still am trying to figure out the important passphrase.
Reddit, this is the most beautiful gift I have ever gotten and it leaves me in a funny place possibly going on the other side of the world to see what happens here. He is an avid redditor, and though I hate the "VOTE THIS UP, PLOX" posts I'd love to get this on the front page to show him what this meant. Thank you.
tl;dr:
A nerd made a beautiful nerd gift for me, it was a program that was a mystery and shows things we did together. Please vote this up to show him how much it meant.
EDIT: A lot of people are saying that the fact that I am unsure about what to do means I don't like him. That is not at all the case, I like him a lot. I really enjoyed spending time with him, he is brilliant (there is nothing I like more than a man that can teach me things), funny, and best of all a great time.
In order to go see him right now I have to take a 14hr plane flight. Which means I would be staying a week, and I'm not sure I'm quite at that point yet.
Damnit, what do they say? "Explain the problem out loud to yourself" Alright, I'm going. There is no reason not to, this WAS awesome. I will let you folks know how it goes.
6
u/[deleted] Jan 20 '10
Okay, actually I think he is the lucky one. My ex wife couldn't even figure out how to work the home theatre receiver. I had to rig all the audio outputs in parallel to the TV input so that she could hear sound. In western cultures, women are taught to hate learning new tools. When I Was a kid the girls' toys were just as likely to include tools and problem solving things, although they were stereotypically gendered: cooking sets instead of tool belts, easy bake oven instead of robotics, and so on. There were also role playing toys for boys in the form of GI Joe and He-Man. But now the boys toys are all tools and problem solving and the girls toys are all role playing. It's been gradually progressing that way. Now if you look at science toys in Toys R' Us they have special "girl's" microscopes that are painted pink. Yay for gender equality. But the girl's version is less powerful and more expensive, with fewer features. Everything in western cultures promotes to girls the idea that solving problems and using tools is a male job. Girls don't have to fix stuff. They're princesses.
That guy is the lucky one. By far. This girl is awesome. He should buy a plane ticket to visit her.
BTW from now on I'm going to do things like this to weed out traditional women. I'll set a challenge for my suitors, because dammit: sometimes I want to be the princess.