Anyone else tired of the "battleship model" of space combat
I agree. Battleship isn't very fun. I am always losing those little plastic pegs and I never seem to be able to hide my ships effectively.
Oh wait, what you're talking about seems terribly boring. Kind of like fishing, only without nature to distract you while waiting for a bite.
Space games are pretty easy to write. It you have an idea for one that is a bit different, maybe you could whip it up yourself and see if it is fun. That is what I did.
Terrible article on an interesting subject
on
Immortal Code
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· Score: 1
I reconsideried my subscription to Wired after reading this article. The story is presented haphazardly and you are never quite sure what it is about. The code might be elegant and wonderful but this article is not.
Long answer: I hasn't taken off like some people thought it would, but there are plenty of applications being written in Java. I do consulting for a very large computer company and we do a ton of Java work.
I spent over a year on a contract at a NASA contractor helping to rewrite the automated documentation/shop floor system. The original system was only about 5 or 6 years old and had been written on the VAX. Of course the platform is dying and machines are getting hard to replace so they decided to port/rewrite the app.
But what platform to choose? You could shoot for Windows NT, but what happens when NT is EOLd? Hope that it still runs the same on whatever new version of Windows you are locked into?
So they decided to go with Java on the client and the server in order to give themselves the greatest amount of flexibility.
Was it a perfect solution? No. There were some issues involving the intricacies of Swing. We were doing some really wacky stuff with Swing though. You haven't lived until you've read "Understanding the Element Tree" five or six times and then finally realizing that if they had just drawn their diagrams a bit differently anyone could have understood it the first time through. That said, I didn't see anything that would cause a problem with your average, run-of-the-mill application.
Do I think they choose the best solution: Yes. They now have a platform that isn't going to evaporate under them. Even if Sun goes away Java is here to stay.
That looks just like my version. It is a pretty good Tetris game actually.
As for spending a fortune, isn't that what weddings are for? Seriously. Also the article suggests that $4 is an acceptable price point. I can guarantee you that EVERYONE will take home their mini tetris. Even if they don't want it they will know someone who does.
I agree that it is a matter of taste. I don't agree with your second point. You should write the code in a way that it is easily readable by those who maintain it. The compiler is going to do all sorts of other things to it that you can't and don't want to control. Otherwise you would be writing in assembly. Trying to guess what the compiler is going to do in order to match your code to it strikes me as a waste of time.
I purchased a bunch of keychain Tetris games a few years ago in Portugal. They were about $3 each. I think that Bandai makes one but it might be more expensive. Less portable but also cheap are the "talking brick game" things that are slightly larger than the original gameboy. If you are lucky you will find one that speaks Spanish. I bought those in Brazil (yes I know they don't speak Spanish in Brazil) for a few bucks each. You should be able to find some Hong Kong or Taiwan based exporter on the web where you can get stuff.
Another option is the Rubik's cube. You can buy a mini cube or a 2x2x2 cube for pretty cheap at www.hessport.com. Just remember to make a small initial purchase to get 10% off all subsequent purchases.
Your way is harder for me to read. Anyhow I would be shocked if modern compilers are unaware of de Morgan's law and don't optimize such that the complied code is the same in either case.
they accelerate. His novels start off slow and very detailed and then at some point the detail starts dropping off. Once that happens it drops off faster and faster, like he can't wait to finish the book. The end result of this acceleration in the amount of detail left out is that the last chapter of the book is simply not there. He was going to fast and skipped it. I still don't know if Uncle Enzo won the big fight at the end of Snow Crash.
The website says that the platform will be "Windows". I can't say for sure what that means, but it seems to me that unless they want a support nightmare for their 32,000 games they will ship with MS Windows.
If they want to they can count Ultimate
Blaster. I bet this is what they are doing. Counting all the freeware/shareware games out there in addition to the commercial releases. I wonder how much it is going to cost them to ship this box with Windows installed.
Some of the computer systems have been upgraded over time, but you can bet that NASA is very conservative when it comes to replacing computer components. The code that runs on the shuttle is some of the most expensive, carefully written code that exists. They are not going to just pop in a "modern" less reliable computer system.
One of the areas where they know they can save weight and easily increased heavy lift capacity is the boosters. In 1986 the military had a shuttle ready to launch with composite (instead of steel) boosters. After the Challenger explosion the launch was scrubbed. The black composite segments are still kicking around. I saw one two years ago.
Another option is to add another segment to each booster. This would be a relatively simple way of increasing the capacity of the shuttle.
And, I'm sure that when we can turn gravity off and on we really won't care that much anymore about trying to determine how fast it travels:) (although we probably will have already).
Actually if we could do that then knowing the speed at which it travels would be important if that speed were greater than the speed of light. That would mean that you could transmit information faster than the speed of light. I think that the ability to send and receive such transmissions has such obvious benefits that we would be very interested in the speed of gravity. What do you think?
Thanks for the link. That is useful information, though it doesn't make it clear if what the range is when the tag is moving at 160kph. Also, how much does this tag cost? I would guess that it isn't going into cereal boxes.
You are correct in saying that each tag can have a unique ID. However, your claim that they can be read from "tens of meters away" doesn't ring true with me, and I work in the industry. If you are aware of a passive tag that can be read from 10 meters away or more I would appreciate it if you would point it out.
I spent a year at Thiokol and I can tell you that the people there already have plans for boosters with an extra segment. They also have extremely cool composite boosters which were going to be used for the first time in February 1986 on a heavy-lift military mission. You can guess as to why they were never used. I saw one sitting out at the plant one day. Anyhow both longer and lighter boosters have been thought of.
Also, the current boosters have a primitive type of "throttle control" in that the amount of surface area burning determines the thrust. Obviously you can't change this during flight, but the shape of the fuel is engineered to provide a particular "thrust curve" over time.
I am not sure how damaging to the environment the current fuel is. If there were a few launches a day then I could see the problem, but as things are I am not sure if there is one. Of course extra fuel is burned off everyday at Thiokol. I learned the hard way that it isn't good for you. While I was there they switched from buring off the extra/unusable fuel late at night to doing it at about 6 pm. Most people leave at about 4 pm. I was going out to get in my car and there seemed to be a lot of fog in the parking lot. About halfway to my car I realized that it wasn't fog, but smoke from the dumped fuel being burned. I hurried to my car and got out of there. I spent the next hour of the drive coughing. When I asked around about it the next day I was told I should NEVER inhale the exhaust. You should also think of this after your airbag goes off, though I would guess that it would be hard to control your breathing in that situation.
This also brings up the point that there are very strict tolerances for the propellant and some amount of it doesn't meet those tolerances each day and is dumped and burned. If this extra propellant could be burned safely then maybe Thiokol could get into the business of selling high-intensity DuraFlame logs for home heating use.:)
I actually purchased a LifeCycle and began to reverse engineer it. I figured out the signals coming from the alternator control board but I don't have the EE type knowldge that I need to make a serial port controlled device to send signals to the control board.
Anyhow, once you have such a device you could do all sorts of things. Making the pedalling harder would be very simple. My initial plan was to hook it up to the open source version of TuxRacer and have it get harder when you go uphill. A simple version of a MarioKart type game could also be fun on multi-player. The interesting think is that if you had a control device it would be very easy to retrofi any existing LifeCycle to work with such a system.
Imagine a gym in which you can "race" against the person next to you or against a person across the country.
So I made the seventh post under this story with what I thought was an original idea. However two of the previous posts, including the first post (!) had the same idea. Before you mod me as redundant, notice that I included the extra steps of mentioning that your underwear would be toasty warm and the scary eventuality of mandating trackable clothing.
Put your tracking enabled underwear in the microwave for 30 seconds and not only will they be toasty warm but you will be able to wear them anonymously. The problem comes when certain establishments mandate that you wear trackable underwear!
I cerntainly didn't mean to imply that the Ivy League doesn't have excellent programs. Just wanted to point out that the ones that are generally regarded as "the best" are not it in. You are right that you need to look at what you want to specialize in and what a particular department's strengths are. Of course you may also want to consider the what the weather is like and then go to Stanford.
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I agree. Battleship isn't very fun. I am always losing those little plastic pegs and I never seem to be able to hide my ships effectively.
Oh wait, what you're talking about seems terribly boring. Kind of like fishing, only without nature to distract you while waiting for a bite.
Space games are pretty easy to write. It you have an idea for one that is a bit different, maybe you could whip it up yourself and see if it is fun. That is what I did.
I reconsideried my subscription to Wired after reading this article. The story is presented haphazardly and you are never quite sure what it is about. The code might be elegant and wonderful but this article is not.
I spent over a year on a contract at a NASA contractor helping to rewrite the automated documentation/shop floor system. The original system was only about 5 or 6 years old and had been written on the VAX. Of course the platform is dying and machines are getting hard to replace so they decided to port/rewrite the app.
But what platform to choose? You could shoot for Windows NT, but what happens when NT is EOLd? Hope that it still runs the same on whatever new version of Windows you are locked into?
So they decided to go with Java on the client and the server in order to give themselves the greatest amount of flexibility.
Was it a perfect solution? No. There were some issues involving the intricacies of Swing. We were doing some really wacky stuff with Swing though. You haven't lived until you've read "Understanding the Element Tree" five or six times and then finally realizing that if they had just drawn their diagrams a bit differently anyone could have understood it the first time through. That said, I didn't see anything that would cause a problem with your average, run-of-the-mill application.
Do I think they choose the best solution: Yes. They now have a platform that isn't going to evaporate under them. Even if Sun goes away Java is here to stay.
Kudos to you! You must be seriously bored though. Perhaps a hobby (or a job?) is in order. :)
As for spending a fortune, isn't that what weddings are for? Seriously. Also the article suggests that $4 is an acceptable price point. I can guarantee you that EVERYONE will take home their mini tetris. Even if they don't want it they will know someone who does.
I agree that it is a matter of taste. I don't agree with your second point. You should write the code in a way that it is easily readable by those who maintain it. The compiler is going to do all sorts of other things to it that you can't and don't want to control. Otherwise you would be writing in assembly. Trying to guess what the compiler is going to do in order to match your code to it strikes me as a waste of time.
Another option is the Rubik's cube. You can buy a mini cube or a 2x2x2 cube for pretty cheap at www.hessport.com. Just remember to make a small initial purchase to get 10% off all subsequent purchases.
Congratulations and good luck!
Your way is harder for me to read. Anyhow I would be shocked if modern compilers are unaware of de Morgan's law and don't optimize such that the complied code is the same in either case.
they accelerate. His novels start off slow and very detailed and then at some point the detail starts dropping off. Once that happens it drops off faster and faster, like he can't wait to finish the book. The end result of this acceleration in the amount of detail left out is that the last chapter of the book is simply not there. He was going to fast and skipped it. I still don't know if Uncle Enzo won the big fight at the end of Snow Crash.
The website says that the platform will be "Windows". I can't say for sure what that means, but it seems to me that unless they want a support nightmare for their 32,000 games they will ship with MS Windows.
If they want to they can count Ultimate Blaster. I bet this is what they are doing. Counting all the freeware/shareware games out there in addition to the commercial releases. I wonder how much it is going to cost them to ship this box with Windows installed.
One of the areas where they know they can save weight and easily increased heavy lift capacity is the boosters. In 1986 the military had a shuttle ready to launch with composite (instead of steel) boosters. After the Challenger explosion the launch was scrubbed. The black composite segments are still kicking around. I saw one two years ago.
Another option is to add another segment to each booster. This would be a relatively simple way of increasing the capacity of the shuttle.
You seem to have accomplished your mission.
Actually if we could do that then knowing the speed at which it travels would be important if that speed were greater than the speed of light. That would mean that you could transmit information faster than the speed of light. I think that the ability to send and receive such transmissions has such obvious benefits that we would be very interested in the speed of gravity. What do you think?
You are right, that is VERY impressive. Thanks again for the info.
There was no link. I meant thanks for the info. I Googled and found this.
Thanks for the link. That is useful information, though it doesn't make it clear if what the range is when the tag is moving at 160kph. Also, how much does this tag cost? I would guess that it isn't going into cereal boxes.
You are correct in saying that each tag can have a unique ID. However, your claim that they can be read from "tens of meters away" doesn't ring true with me, and I work in the industry. If you are aware of a passive tag that can be read from 10 meters away or more I would appreciate it if you would point it out.
Also, the current boosters have a primitive type of "throttle control" in that the amount of surface area burning determines the thrust. Obviously you can't change this during flight, but the shape of the fuel is engineered to provide a particular "thrust curve" over time.
I am not sure how damaging to the environment the current fuel is. If there were a few launches a day then I could see the problem, but as things are I am not sure if there is one. Of course extra fuel is burned off everyday at Thiokol. I learned the hard way that it isn't good for you. While I was there they switched from buring off the extra/unusable fuel late at night to doing it at about 6 pm. Most people leave at about 4 pm. I was going out to get in my car and there seemed to be a lot of fog in the parking lot. About halfway to my car I realized that it wasn't fog, but smoke from the dumped fuel being burned. I hurried to my car and got out of there. I spent the next hour of the drive coughing. When I asked around about it the next day I was told I should NEVER inhale the exhaust. You should also think of this after your airbag goes off, though I would guess that it would be hard to control your breathing in that situation.
This also brings up the point that there are very strict tolerances for the propellant and some amount of it doesn't meet those tolerances each day and is dumped and burned. If this extra propellant could be burned safely then maybe Thiokol could get into the business of selling high-intensity DuraFlame logs for home heating use. :)
Anyhow, once you have such a device you could do all sorts of things. Making the pedalling harder would be very simple. My initial plan was to hook it up to the open source version of TuxRacer and have it get harder when you go uphill. A simple version of a MarioKart type game could also be fun on multi-player. The interesting think is that if you had a control device it would be very easy to retrofi any existing LifeCycle to work with such a system.
Imagine a gym in which you can "race" against the person next to you or against a person across the country.
So I made the seventh post under this story with what I thought was an original idea. However two of the previous posts, including the first post (!) had the same idea. Before you mod me as redundant, notice that I included the extra steps of mentioning that your underwear would be toasty warm and the scary eventuality of mandating trackable clothing.
Put your tracking enabled underwear in the microwave for 30 seconds and not only will they be toasty warm but you will be able to wear them anonymously. The problem comes when certain establishments mandate that you wear trackable underwear!
I cerntainly didn't mean to imply that the Ivy League doesn't have excellent programs. Just wanted to point out that the ones that are generally regarded as "the best" are not it in. You are right that you need to look at what you want to specialize in and what a particular department's strengths are. Of course you may also want to consider the what the weather is like and then go to Stanford.
Places to be: MIT, Stanford, CMU, Berkley. None are in the Ivy League.
Cool. That is it. The big black band is the drive crash.