What Happens When U [BETTER] Download The Countdown App
Quirino Rico
The countdown timer reached zero a few moments ago, and nothing has been declared or announced. The only thing that changed is that it now says that my "soul has been collected" as opposed to the countdown.
So, I've already understood the idea of recursion in JavaScript (having a function that loops itself until it reaches a base condition, at which point it stops and returns the final result), but I'm having a bit of a headache when I apply that to the actual syntax of trying to apply it to create arrays.
Recursion is extremely useful when you need the stack (f.E. in a depth-first traversal). Creating a countdown doesn't require a stack. This is not using but rather abusing recursion to implement a highly suboptimal algorithm. If you - for whatever reason (perhaps you are forced to use a purely functional language that has no loops, only recursion?) - wanted to replace the perfectly fine for loop with a recursive call at all cost, simply use tail recursion and lexical scope (closures):
countdown(1) - In this scenario the else block runs. We see that it calls countdown(0), which means the interpreter executes the function again, passing n as 0. Above we saw what happens when countdown(0) is called, it returns an empty array [], so that's what gets assigned to arr within the else block. We then unshift n (which is 1 here) onto this empty array, which adds 1 to the start of the array stored in arr. This is then returned. So we say that countdown(1) outputs [1].
countdown(2) - Again, the else block runs, triggering a call to countdown(1). We saw above what occurs when this is called, we get back an array with [1], which is stored in the local variable arr, and we then .unshift(2) so that 2 is added to the beginning of the array which we then return. So we see that countdown(2) returns [2, 1].
arr is assigned to the recursive call so that we can build upon the results it returned. If countdown(1) returns [1], then we can build onto that result by storing it in arr and unshift 2 onto it to calculate countdown(2). It could have been made let, but const is commonly used if the variable doesn't need to be reassigned. We don't want to move arr outside of the function as then calling countdown() multiple times will modify the same global array. You would also need to change your code so that we can gradually "build-up" the result by further recursive calls if you did that also, which is more of a "loop mindset" than a "recursive mindset".
Moving the .unshift() component before the recursive call wouldn't work as you wouldn't have anything to unshift to. The recursive call is what provides you with the array result of countdown(n-1) so that you can build onto that later by using .unshift().
Returning your array in the else block is what allows you to obtain results when n is greater than 0. In the countdown(1) example above, we need to return arr so that it outputs [1]. This needs to be in the else block because we're returning arr which is defined in that else-block (and hence can't be accessed outside of it).
The const declaration is block-scoped. The reference only exists inside the else-block. There is not one generic arr that is shared by each call. Instead, inside of each call to countdown, we get an if-condition. If that fails, we create the else block and assign a brand-new arr variable. When this is returned, and the function ends, that reference is gone, and only the function return value remains.
Here's an alternative way of thinking about it: For any smaller value of n than our current value, we assume that countdown will magically provide us the correct answer, and then, when we call it, we will prepend our n value to the result.
So, for countdown (3), we call our magical countdown (2) function, which returns [2, 1] and use unshift to prepend 3 and get [3, 2, 1]. Of course if we wanted to dig into how that magical countdown (2) actually worked, we could and we'd see that it called the magical countdown (1), getting [1] and prepended 2 to get [2, 1], and so on. The magic, it turns out, is rather mundane.
Update: Epic Games has announced that both the event and the new season have been delayed by one week, with the event happening on Saturday, June 6, and the new season starting on Thursday, June 11. The in-game countdown does not, at the time of this writing, reflect the new schedule.
Think about what happens when countdown(1) calls countdown(0) and gets back the empty array in countArray. The next line then executes, unshifting 1 onto the front of the array. It then returns the array [1] to countdown(2), which is assigned to the countArray variable in countdown(2) (which is different than the one in countdown(1). Next line executes, and now 2 is unshifted onto the front of the array and [2, 1] is returned to countdown(3), and the process repeats again.
In Countdown (2019), the app's real meaning is glossed over, and the movie's ending doesn't make it any clearer, although it could be setting up a sequel. Countdown's eponymous app is introduced when Courtney (Anne Winters) and her friends mistakenly come across it searching for a weight-loss app. Everyone tries it, intrigued by its outlandish claim that it can tell users exactly when they are going to die. It seems amusing to everyone but Courtney, who is told she only has three hours to live. When Courtney tries to use this information to avoid her death, Countdown's sinister app tells her that she has broken the user agreement. As a result, she is attacked and killed by an unseen creature at her exact time of death.
Because of this, the Countdown movie's cursed app begins to tell her that she has broken the user agreement, and it torments her with powerfully realistic visions. In an attempt to get rid of it, she goes to phone salesman Doc (Tom Segura) for a new phone and is horrified when it follows her. She then meets Matt (Jordan Calloway), a Countdown user who also broke the user agreement. Together, they learn that the app's user agreement forbids using it to change your fate. With time running out, Quinn and Matt strive to break free from the app's sinister grasp, enlisting the help of Doc and demonologist Father John (P.J. Byrne).
After Doc hacks the Countdown app, Quinn discovers that her sister Jordan (Talitha Bateman, who starred in the Annabelle: Creation movie) has also used it and has slightly less time to live than she does. Doc is able to add time to their countdowns, and the problem is seemingly solved. However, their countdowns are soon mysteriously reset, forcing them to return to Father John, who tells them the app is cursed and is the work of a demon called Ozhin. Luckily, Father John has been preparing for a confrontation with such diabolical forces ever since he began seminary. He tells them that in order to remove the curse, they simply need to make a liar out of the Devil by either choosing someone to die before their countdown is up or by keeping them alive until after it ends.
Tricking humans into wrongdoing is a trait commonly attributed to the Devil and his minions, and Countdown actually starts with Courtney and her friends displaying their vanity, specifically in terms of the obsessive desire to be thin. They stumble upon the Countdown app looking for another one called Countdown to Skinny, which clearly plays on people's vanity and their insecurities about their weight. Of course, obesity is a serious health condition, but none of Courtney's friends seem like they are obese. It's the same with the Countdown app: the desire to know when you will die is a direct result of vanity, greed and the selfish (at least in God's eyes) desire to live forever.
Before its implosion in "Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1", the Swan contained a 108-minute countdown timer. The timer was reset by entering the Numbers into the station's computer and pressing the Execute button. Failure to enter the Numbers within the last four minutes of the countdown cycle triggered an alarm, which lasted until the timer reached zero. On completing the countdown, the timer's numbers were replaced by red and black Egyptian hieroglyphics while simultaneously a recorded voice repeated "system failure" continuously over the station's speaker system.
The procedure to reset the countdown timer was first described by Dr. Marvin Candle in the Swan Orientation Film. As described by Dr. Candle, the protocol was established after the incident - although he did not reveal exactly what happened. ("Orientation") Kelvin later described the incident as a leak although he may not have been aware of the particulars of what happened in 1977. Kelvin described the electromagnetic energy as continually building up - and that the act of pushing the button "discharges it". Hence, the countdown represented the maximum time limit for a "safe" build-up of the charge.
The countdown timer was regularly reset every 108 minutes, before and after the crash, a routine known as "pushing the button." As revealed by Locke, the timer could not be reset any time before the 104-minute mark, since that was the only time where the computer accepted typing ("What Kate Did"). Thus, the last 4 minutes in countdown after the sounding of the alarm, was the normal interval used in resetting the button.
The red and black hieroglyphs from the failure sequence were translated by Damon Lindelof to mean "underworld", although Carlton Cuse noted that they are "subject to interpretation". (Official 'Lost' Podcast/July 31, 2006) Other hieroglyphs are also momentarily visible on the countdown timer as it flips to the 5 final symbols:
In "Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1", Desmond revealed in his flashbacks an early incident where the hieroglyphs were all locked for a long period. At that point, the hieroglyphs were accompanied by a high power-build up, rising through time and causing the whole computer room to shake rapidly, while a system failure alarm signal kept playing. As Desmond frantically managed to enter the numbers while facing a monitor flooded with failure notifications, the build-up broke and things went back to normal. However, when he later analyzed The Pearl's log of that period, Desmond came to the conclusion that his system failure was the apparent cause of the Flight 815 crash ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1").
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