Deconstructing the phrase: "Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable." using CODE!!!

6/17/19

Preface

Have you ever decided you were going to make a blog, but you did not have any ideas on what to write about in your blog? Probably not, but that's what I am doing right now. That means that I need to come up with enough words to fill up this space without making it look like I am just totally wasting space (which, by the way, is what I am doing.) I am typing this at about 11 PM on a Monday night, so you might think I should be getting to sleep for school or work or whatever. Well, if you thought that, then check the date of this post.

Introduction

Have you ever heard the phrase "EARLY IS ON TIME! ON TIME IS LATE! LATE IS UNACCEPTABLE!"? Well, that phrase is utter garbage that is garbage. You see, we can give each of these words definitions, corresponding with their meanings:

Early: Before the requested time
On Time: At the requested time
Late: After the requested time
Unacceptable: Not Acceptable

We can then represent each of those as a Java variable, as the following code:


      Definition early = new Definition("Before Requested Time");

      Definition onTime = new Definition("At Requested Time");

      Definition late = new Definition("After Requested Time");

      Definition unacceptable = new Definition("Not Able To Be Accepted");

Now, the definition of the Definition class does not matter. What DOES matter is that these words are definitions, represented by variables. Oh, and Definition has a public string called getDefinition(). It is used in the following example.


    System.out.println(early.getDefinition());

OUTPUT
Before Requested Time

The Setup

Now, let's start getting technical with the phrase at hand. Saying "Early is on time, on time is late" would be the equivalent of doing this:


    early = onTime;

    onTime = late;

Now, the early variable contains the value of onTime. Similarly, onTime now has the value of late. That means that this code:


    System.out.println(early.getDefinition());

    System.out.println(onTime.getDefinition());

would now output

At Requested Time
After Requested Time

instead of

Before Requested Time
At Requested Time

Early is now On Time, which satisfies the first part of this saying. On Time is now late, which satisfies the second part of this saying. So far, so good... but problems will soon arise...

The PROBLEM

Similar to the first sentence, "Late is unacceptable." does this:


    late = unacceptable;

Now, this code:


    System.out.println(late.getDefinition());

prints:


    Not Able To Be Accepted

BUT, what would happen if you printed "onTime"?


    System.out.println(onTime.getDefinition());

OUTPUT


    After Requested Time

Conclusion

The word meaning "Before Requested Time" has lost all of its references, and the Java Garbage Collector has erased it. If you appear exactly at the requested time, that is called being "Early." If you show up after the requested time, that is called being "On Time". If you murder someone, that is now considered "Late," or "Not Able To Be Accepted." Alternatively, you could use the word "Unacceptable", but that would just waste precious syllables.

Thank you for reading this pile of garbage! :)

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