I have to say, I was a big fan of Creative Writer and Fine Artist when I was in primary school... say around 11 or 12 years old.
Clippy is demeaning and laughable for adults, but these characters really make these sorts of applications appealing to children (speaking from my own experiences). Creative Writer and Fine Artist went further and had a whole building you could explore with "crazy" ideas and projects and clickable joke animations. A building with a word processor built into it! I had fun with these programs.
(And to be honest, I liked Clippy and his friends when I was around that age as well).
Quite so! Arguably, this is the whole point of a NFP organisation - you gain a lot more community support when you declare that you aren't personally benefiting from their help.
Would Wikipedia be anywhere near what it is today if it was run by a For-Profit?
I love "this will probably be rated troll" posts which get modded to +5.:p
But let's just not forget that MOST money made by open source companies (like Sun, Canonical, etc) is from establishing accountability for failure, in open source software.
You don't get accountability for failure for free. But if you are willing to pay for it, you can get it, and still use open source software.
I think you missed GP's point, and I thought it was an interesting one, so I'll explain my interpretation of it.
This isn't a "search fee", which says "please enter your PayPal account details in order to proceed".
What this is is a small tweak to the site - an area in the corner of each page which says "You have read 872 articles. Please <a href="...">consider donating</a>.", with a link to a page which says "You have read 872 articles. Suggested donation: $8.72.", and a donation box.
Making a donation will update this page to show your history of donations. Perhaps after this, you may see "You have read 1029 articles, and donated $8.72. Suggested donation: $1.57".
Also I wouldn't expect this to start showing up until you hit 500 maybe.
He wasn't talking about rapists. If you follow the conversation thread backwards, by this point, it was firmly in the realm of peeing behind the bushes.
The worst is when I pay for a DVD and am forced to watch this shit. I'm talking about the 1-minute "piracy is stealing" commercials which play at the start of the disc, and cannot be skipped due to DRM.
It is offensive to me, to think that I have paid good money for this, only to be forced to listen to this shit every time I watch my movie. The pirated discs don't have this defect.
Lastly, dude, having a sig that would nuke a Linux system if applied isn't exactly friendly. On the other hand, I guess it would conform to the natural selection approach to weeding out morons, so perhaps its ok...
You mean this thing?
:(){:|:&};:
I've been using Bash for years, but I've got no idea what this will do. I'm now a little intrigued/scared. Care to explain?
Having users pay per hour is ridiculous. Nobody will stand for it. A flat monthly fee will be far more effective.
I'm not sure how it worked in other countries, but in Australia, our ISPs used to bill per hour. It was horrible. You would log on, and then feel this immense pressure to go to all the sites you had to go to as quickly as possible. Then in the early 2000s they all started charging a flat monthly fee (with a capped data rate) instead. Immediately the "product experience" changes.
Whether you're paying the same amount or not, it's a far better experience. You can just leave the Internet switched on all day and use it leisurely.
If they bill per-hour for MS Word, it will be the same degraded experience. You'll be in a rush to do your work. Every minute you spend in another window will feel like a minute wasted. You'll hurriedly close down all your documents if you have a coffee break.
There's no way out of this - charging per-hour for software equates to a horrible user experience. Nobody's going to switch to this from the current model.
Well Physics, Chemistry, Music, Physical Education - none of these are things "everyone needs to learn". All of them meaningful pursuits and things which students are (at least in my country, Australia) FORCED to try in a minor way, in early high school, and given as options in later high school.
Why is CS any different? It's something students should be exposed to in minor doses early on, so the good students will realise they are good at it and go on to study it, and offered more seriously later in high school.
That way, when students arrive at university, they will have at least a rudimentary understanding, rather than the blank slates that come into our 1st year CS degrees.
The only reason it isn't is because it's a relatively recent pursuit next to Physics, Chem, etc.
Right, and I'll remind readers that both parties eligible for government in Australia were intending to filter the Internet. (Granted, Labor is more keen, Liberals having already put it on the backburner).
But to say "we voted for the wrong party" is not fair on the Australian voters. It was a choice between "we might introduce a filtering solution in the future" (Liberal) and "we'll implement an optional filter" (Labor)... and clearly they're delivering more than they promised anyway.
There's nothing wrong with Myst as a game, except that it's not DotT.
Well of course Myst isn't an adventure game if your definition of adventure games is "Day of the Tentacle".
Clearly we, as individuals, can define "adventure game" however we like. But the commonly accepted definition encompasses games from Zork to Day of the Tentacle to Myst. Now we're just arguing over definitions.
Sorry, but I disagree with you there. Myst is just as much a descendant of Colossal Cave as Day of the Tentacle is. It's just that Myst eschewed the complex verbs for simple clicks and interaction with complex visual interfaces instead.
As I said, it's a subgenre.
You seem to have a problem with Myst as a game. So you could say "it's not a very good adventure game", but you can't throw it out of the genre!
As BigCow already said in reply to you, Myst certainly has plot, character and interaction with a rich virtual world. It's just more subtle. The story isn't read to you, you have to notice it.
A very good article. The author knows his adventure games.
The whole concept of "the underlying game is the same, just presented through a different interface" isn't really true. I find that the different interfaces make way to whole different sub-genres of game.
For instance, consider the point-and-click style Sierra / Monkey Island games, in which you have many verbs and inventory. Such games tend to be very much object based and character based. All of the puzzles are about either a) using the right object in the right way with the right target, or b) choosing the right dialogue path.
Compare this to the first-person Myst-style games, which are all left-click based. No inventory, only a single verb. Well these kind of games tend to have very few characters for one thing. The character interaction is usually limited to cutscenes, as opposed to dialogue trees. The puzzles tend to be more mechanical (figuring out how to make certain devices work) rather than purely logical. The solutions tend to be more about what this author calls "implicit information" - having to write down passwords rather than carrying keycards.
For example, consider that you are stuck in a locked room. In Myst, you will probably see some kind of complex lock mechanism, and have to figure out its controls, and how the device works, and then "hack" the device to open the door. In Monkey Island, you will probably be interacting more with the environment; have to use some item you find in the room or already have in your inventory, or bribe the guard by choosing the correct dialogue.
I think the interface directly influences the style of gameplay. For example, the Monkey Island interface is nowhere near complex enough to let you figure out the workings of a locking mechanism in the Myst style, and nor does the Myst interface have the ability to let you use items on the environment or have a conversation with a guard.
It's not "people are stupid". It's "people are ignorant" or "people appreciate the issue but have no time or insufficient interest to investigate alternatives". I know a lot of intelligent people who are in one of the latter camps. Those of us who have knowledge about computers have very little influence over the ignorant, and even less over the latter camp.
Actually, let me make it simpler for the Western judicial system - everyone is guilty of child pornography
Everyone?
Surely not! Only the sick, twisted perverts who went to watch this cartoon which promotes the abuse of children.
(I heard that it also included such extreme and repulsive acts of violence as a man inserting the back of a hammer into his own eye, and the suggestion that a man and a pig kiss).
So in another language, you'll settle for pasting code into your project, then just leaving it wrongly-indented?
I shudder to think about reading/maintaining your code.
I'm perfectly happy with you cutting+pasting code, but do me a favour and tidy it up so it's consistent with at least the containing FUNCTION block! Surely Python forcing you to do this can only mean good in the long run?
(I find going through pasted code to fix up its formatting is a good way to lightly check it over).
As I and many others have said: Python's syntax forces you to format your code to the bare minimum standard I would expect from any half-competent developer.
Re:I don't know why this story's flagged "endofday
on
Python 3.0 Released
·
· Score: 1
That's great and all (no seriously, I got a good chuckle out of it), but it would work even if they hadn't changed division, because (-3+1)//2 is also -1.
Slashdot Mirror
Is that where McZee came from?
I have to say, I was a big fan of Creative Writer and Fine Artist when I was in primary school ... say around 11 or 12 years old.
Clippy is demeaning and laughable for adults, but these characters really make these sorts of applications appealing to children (speaking from my own experiences). Creative Writer and Fine Artist went further and had a whole building you could explore with "crazy" ideas and projects and clickable joke animations. A building with a word processor built into it! I had fun with these programs.
(And to be honest, I liked Clippy and his friends when I was around that age as well).
Quite so! Arguably, this is the whole point of a NFP organisation - you gain a lot more community support when you declare that you aren't personally benefiting from their help.
Would Wikipedia be anywhere near what it is today if it was run by a For-Profit?
I love "this will probably be rated troll" posts which get modded to +5. :p
But let's just not forget that MOST money made by open source companies (like Sun, Canonical, etc) is from establishing accountability for failure, in open source software.
You don't get accountability for failure for free. But if you are willing to pay for it, you can get it, and still use open source software.
Laconica is not a website. It's the open source web software which runs such micro-blogging sites as Identi.ca and TWiT Army.
But yes, I agree with your sentiment. Also, 2 Ubuntus? What kind of list is this?
Ah yes and remember even before the Zune they had no planned obsolescence. In fact I believe they promised their music would play for sure OH WAIT.
I think you missed GP's point, and I thought it was an interesting one, so I'll explain my interpretation of it.
This isn't a "search fee", which says "please enter your PayPal account details in order to proceed".
What this is is a small tweak to the site - an area in the corner of each page which says "You have read 872 articles. Please <a href="...">consider donating</a>.", with a link to a page which says "You have read 872 articles. Suggested donation: $8.72.", and a donation box.
Making a donation will update this page to show your history of donations. Perhaps after this, you may see "You have read 1029 articles, and donated $8.72. Suggested donation: $1.57".
Also I wouldn't expect this to start showing up until you hit 500 maybe.
He wasn't talking about rapists. If you follow the conversation thread backwards, by this point, it was firmly in the realm of peeing behind the bushes.
The worst is when I pay for a DVD and am forced to watch this shit. I'm talking about the 1-minute "piracy is stealing" commercials which play at the start of the disc, and cannot be skipped due to DRM.
It is offensive to me, to think that I have paid good money for this, only to be forced to listen to this shit every time I watch my movie. The pirated discs don't have this defect.
Lastly, dude, having a sig that would nuke a Linux system if applied isn't exactly friendly. On the other hand, I guess it would conform to the natural selection approach to weeding out morons, so perhaps its ok...
You mean this thing?
I've been using Bash for years, but I've got no idea what this will do. I'm now a little intrigued/scared. Care to explain?
Having users pay per hour is ridiculous. Nobody will stand for it. A flat monthly fee will be far more effective.
I'm not sure how it worked in other countries, but in Australia, our ISPs used to bill per hour. It was horrible. You would log on, and then feel this immense pressure to go to all the sites you had to go to as quickly as possible. Then in the early 2000s they all started charging a flat monthly fee (with a capped data rate) instead. Immediately the "product experience" changes.
Whether you're paying the same amount or not, it's a far better experience. You can just leave the Internet switched on all day and use it leisurely.
If they bill per-hour for MS Word, it will be the same degraded experience. You'll be in a rush to do your work. Every minute you spend in another window will feel like a minute wasted. You'll hurriedly close down all your documents if you have a coffee break.
There's no way out of this - charging per-hour for software equates to a horrible user experience. Nobody's going to switch to this from the current model.
Well Physics, Chemistry, Music, Physical Education - none of these are things "everyone needs to learn". All of them meaningful pursuits and things which students are (at least in my country, Australia) FORCED to try in a minor way, in early high school, and given as options in later high school.
Why is CS any different? It's something students should be exposed to in minor doses early on, so the good students will realise they are good at it and go on to study it, and offered more seriously later in high school.
That way, when students arrive at university, they will have at least a rudimentary understanding, rather than the blank slates that come into our 1st year CS degrees.
The only reason it isn't is because it's a relatively recent pursuit next to Physics, Chem, etc.
You have to love a discussion where the best solution so far is "found your own nation".
Right, and I'll remind readers that both parties eligible for government in Australia were intending to filter the Internet. (Granted, Labor is more keen, Liberals having already put it on the backburner).
But to say "we voted for the wrong party" is not fair on the Australian voters. It was a choice between "we might introduce a filtering solution in the future" (Liberal) and "we'll implement an optional filter" (Labor)... and clearly they're delivering more than they promised anyway.
This is not the fault of the voters.
Well of course Myst isn't an adventure game if your definition of adventure games is "Day of the Tentacle".
Clearly we, as individuals, can define "adventure game" however we like. But the commonly accepted definition encompasses games from Zork to Day of the Tentacle to Myst. Now we're just arguing over definitions.
Sorry, but I disagree with you there. Myst is just as much a descendant of Colossal Cave as Day of the Tentacle is. It's just that Myst eschewed the complex verbs for simple clicks and interaction with complex visual interfaces instead.
As I said, it's a subgenre.
You seem to have a problem with Myst as a game. So you could say "it's not a very good adventure game", but you can't throw it out of the genre!
As BigCow already said in reply to you, Myst certainly has plot, character and interaction with a rich virtual world. It's just more subtle. The story isn't read to you, you have to notice it.
The best thing about trying out free/open-source games on Ubuntu is that (like all programs) they're just one command away...
sudo apt-get install
Makes it so easy to try these things out.
A very good article. The author knows his adventure games.
The whole concept of "the underlying game is the same, just presented through a different interface" isn't really true. I find that the different interfaces make way to whole different sub-genres of game.
For instance, consider the point-and-click style Sierra / Monkey Island games, in which you have many verbs and inventory. Such games tend to be very much object based and character based. All of the puzzles are about either a) using the right object in the right way with the right target, or b) choosing the right dialogue path.
Compare this to the first-person Myst-style games, which are all left-click based. No inventory, only a single verb. Well these kind of games tend to have very few characters for one thing. The character interaction is usually limited to cutscenes, as opposed to dialogue trees. The puzzles tend to be more mechanical (figuring out how to make certain devices work) rather than purely logical. The solutions tend to be more about what this author calls "implicit information" - having to write down passwords rather than carrying keycards.
For example, consider that you are stuck in a locked room. In Myst, you will probably see some kind of complex lock mechanism, and have to figure out its controls, and how the device works, and then "hack" the device to open the door. In Monkey Island, you will probably be interacting more with the environment; have to use some item you find in the room or already have in your inventory, or bribe the guard by choosing the correct dialogue.
I think the interface directly influences the style of gameplay. For example, the Monkey Island interface is nowhere near complex enough to let you figure out the workings of a locking mechanism in the Myst style, and nor does the Myst interface have the ability to let you use items on the environment or have a conversation with a guard.
It's not "people are stupid". It's "people are ignorant" or "people appreciate the issue but have no time or insufficient interest to investigate alternatives". I know a lot of intelligent people who are in one of the latter camps. Those of us who have knowledge about computers have very little influence over the ignorant, and even less over the latter camp.
You have the right to remain silent.
Whoa whoa. Hold your horses!
This teacher is still unfamiliar with Free Beer. Let's not get her all confused by trying to tell her there's such a thing as Free Speech as well!
Because in this case, CHILDREN ARE AT STAKE.
Maybe not your children. Maybe not children you know. Maybe not even real children! But when children are in danger, there's no sentence too harsh!
(Wow I think this is my 3rd or 4th sarcastic post in this thread...)
Everyone?
Surely not! Only the sick, twisted perverts who went to watch this cartoon which promotes the abuse of children.
(I heard that it also included such extreme and repulsive acts of violence as a man inserting the back of a hammer into his own eye, and the suggestion that a man and a pig kiss).
So in another language, you'll settle for pasting code into your project, then just leaving it wrongly-indented?
I shudder to think about reading/maintaining your code.
I'm perfectly happy with you cutting+pasting code, but do me a favour and tidy it up so it's consistent with at least the containing FUNCTION block! Surely Python forcing you to do this can only mean good in the long run?
(I find going through pasted code to fix up its formatting is a good way to lightly check it over).
As I and many others have said: Python's syntax forces you to format your code to the bare minimum standard I would expect from any half-competent developer.
Wait ... where's "profit!"?
That's great and all (no seriously, I got a good chuckle out of it), but it would work even if they hadn't changed division, because (-3+1)//2 is also -1.