What's The Longest Word You Can Write With Seven-Segment Displays?

That's right, we're kicking Season 2 of the Basics off with a technical episode about a somewhat-obsolete technology! IT'S PARTY TIME. Wait, no, not party time. IT'S CODE TIME. Close enough.

Let's talk about seven-segment displays, and about the longest word you can write with them.

Thanks to my proofreading team, and to Tomek on camera!

BONUS LINK:

(you can find contact details and social links there too)

[TomScottGo]

Bonus question: what's the longest word you can spell just by turning a calculator upside-down?

[GavConnn]

Tom: I and O are numbers with aspirations
S: *sweats nervously*

[tahaak]

2:08 as a software developer i can confirm that. The most important skill you need is finding the right stackoverflow post that describes your problem the best.

[RGC_animation]

I was hoping Tom would show us the word displayed in Seven-Segment Displays.

[charliedobbie]

I ran through the linuxwords list and I'm happy to include g - my result was "electroencephalography" which is quite a satisfying answer!

[Bacopa]

I would like it if the display said "Aarrgh" instead of "Error".

[ceruchi]

How you gonna do this video and not show "supertranscendentness" on a seven-segment display?!

[Siferzion]

Tom: "It doesn't matter that the 4 isn't the way most people write it"
Me: "They don't?? I do..."

[Omii_]

0:29 Actually, in 1908 when the 7-segmented display was invented, cursive was by far the most common way of writing, and in cursive, the top of the four is separated just like in the 7-segmented display. You can actually look up notes from 1904 and you will all see them in cursive, and every time the year is written by hand (not by a stamp) the 4 is separated at the top. So we haven't "gotten used to it" but instead we have drifted away from using cursive. The more you know! And in case you were wondering, I write the top of my fours separated, and that's what got me down this rabbit hole.

[Shuriken]

"Programming is not remembering exact words or syntax: it is breaking down a problem, working out how to solve it, and then fixing all the inevitable bugs in your solution."
- Tom Scott

Sorry, i am amazed by this explanation of what programming is and i think it deserves to be quoted in the future too.

[maheen-]

In case if you don't know, is shortly called DDT. The stuff we used to eliminate ants.

[transitpointmusic]

Ahh, the classic "leave it to the reader as an exercise".

[druncle]

G is not allowed because it looks like a 9, but S is totally fine even though it's exactly the same as a 5. arbitrary rules are arbitrary.

[CocoTheMii]

By far the most important part of programming is remembering not to delete that one little bit of code you've left untouched for three years because it somehow manages to remain integral to the entire program despite not being referenced by anything.

[NumdegasedUHC]

Supertranscendentness seems like a perfectly satisfying answer to the question though

[KwanLowe]

Just shouting into the void as this is years on since the video was posted: I was playing with some 7-segment displays recently and had this exact problem as I needed to output words that used the forbidden characters. Technically we could print every character (upper and lowercase and a fair bit of punctuation) if we were "flexible" in how the letters looked. Map each bit to a segment and we could represent every character from 1-128. So if you're ever in a position where you needed to communicate with someone using only 7-segment displays but needed to write "wax kumquat in gauze" then it's perhaps a workable solution.

[deleriousclock]

I’ve only just found this channel and Tom answers questions I was never gonna have but will always be happy as hell to have learned

[mr.conductor]

"Did I know all that code off my heart? No, of course not - I Googled..."

Giving away our dirty secrets, I see.

[ZeChainwarden]

Me: Wants to know what is the longest word with seven-segment display
You: Teaching me how to program

[Shelaney]

“What’s the longest word you can write on a 7 digit display?”
Me an intellectual: hehe boobies hehe