Yes, it is understandable if a UNIT is left untested when re-used, but it's still crucial to test the complete system which uses that unit, exactly for these reasons where the specifications change.
Unit A: "When parameter x is a positive integer less than 100, return x/2. Otherwise go up in flames" If that is the specification, then it's reasonable to test integers between 1 and 100 and nothing else.
If another program now re-uses this unit, you can still be assured it will work if x is a positive integer less than 100. If your program assumes it works for x > 100 as well, it will go up in flames. That's exactly why you test the whole system.
Actually it's Nintendo who originally said the Wii will not have DVD playback, to reduce costs/price. I can only guess it was the negative feedback about the lack of it that made them reconsider.
Going to the gym or jogging just seems plain boring... If can exercise to some extent by playing fun video games, all the better!
Not to say there aren't fun "old-fashioned" exercise, like ball games, skating or parkour but video games are much easier to just pick up and play (for me).
As a small semestrial academic project, I worked on a different kind of mapping project which uses a large number of very simple (and cheap) robots instead of a small number of expensive robots like in this article.
Each robot is aware of its location through odometry (measuring the distance traveled by both the of the bot's wheels) and collision detection using, in our case, a rotating straw due to the fact we were limited to Lego Mindstorms. Using odometry inserts a lot of error to the calculations. To counter these errors, the robots communicate over a short distance (touching distance) and average their expected location and heading.
In theory, and simulation, the algorithm proved very successful. Especially for a large number of agents. In practice the errors were too large compared to the very small number of agents (4) we had at our disposal.
The project page. And the simulation applet, written with NetLogo.
I wonder if they use such averaging algorithms with these robots aswell.
Noticed that too. Many 404s, outdated pages (which are USUALLY in the cache tho) or pages that have not a single reference to the search terms. Another truly annoying set of results are links to other SEARCH sites indexing some pages which may or not have anything to do with the search terms.
Exactly as it is done in Israel. In addition, there are poll booths for an early projection of true results, published only after the real election has been officially closed and usually are quite close to the real results. Results take about a day or two complete counting and maybe a day or two more to count "double sealed votes" which are votes from soldiers, citizen living overseas and such. These are normal voting envelopes inserted into an envelope with the person's details for verification.
At least in the first versions (don't know how it is now), it simulates it pretty crappily. The idea of breath control when you are prone, is that your aim will generally return to the same position when the air is completely exhaled, tho it may jerk when your lungs are filled of air. In AA, the aim jerks around whether you inhale or exhale, leaving you aiming differently when you exhale. I'm not a sniper or anything, but I can generally aim better than the soldier there.
Sony already spent the 700$ on producing a PS3. That money has been paid. They can't un-produce the unit to retrieve the 700$. For Sony, a PS3 is worth nothing on its own. When sold it's worth the price paid for it. If you then buy it for 600$, then they have a net loss of 100$. If you don't buy it at all, then they have a net loss of 700$, since the PS3 is worth 0 when it sits on the shelf.
Another example: You have 1000$. You buy an item for 1000$, you now have 0$ and an item. You figure you don't want it (for example, it's fake), it's value for you is 0. You try to sell it for 900$. If you sell it, you have 900$. Net loss 100$. If you don't, you stay at 0$ plus the item you don't want. Net loss 1000$ since the item is worth 0 to you.
My comment was to show a direct contrast to the OP's point of "X360 doesn't have these things". About "more quests", voila.
Surely, these mods are not as critical as cars or tracks, but it shows the X360 also has "additional content for additional pay" whilst on the PC all these mods are free as in beer and most are fan made.
About GT, I do believe the "classic" version will be relatively cheap on its own and only somewhat more pricey than the "premium" version after you buy "30 cars and 2 tracks" as that version includes, but you'll have the choice.
Not that I support a system like that but that was probably what made Sony think it is worthwhile for consumers.
Why do you left click with your middle finger in the reversed setting? Do you use your middle finger for right clicking in the standard position? So what do you use for middle clicking?
Do yourself a favor and try using your ring finger for right clicking and middle finger for middle clicking, it's MUCH more natural on the fingers and gives you more control.
PS1 games work great emulated. Dreamcast games work tho not perfectly. PS2 games don't really work.
About the XBox, there was a project trying to create a high level re-compiler for XBox binaries. It worked and it worked pretty well, until it was shut down by Microsoft.
About playing with a keyboard and mouse, you can buy a decent USB DualShock2 clone for about 16$.
In my opinion, portable video will never be really as successful as portable music. Music, unlike video, requires only one sense (hearing) and can be passive while one is doing other things. You can listen to music while you browse the web, jog, write code. You can't really watch a video using a portable device while doing those things. (other than porn...)
It can work though for people who travel a lot in public transportation. That niche is partly filled by portable gaming which is also an activity that requires your attention.
Re:World of Starcraft, with localized Korean
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Can Anyone Beat WoW?
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In my university days, I've worked on a Multi Agent Robotic System (MARS) in which simple robots calculate their position using odometry and mark where they collided with obstacles, thus allowing for mapping of a given area. The interesting part was allowing the individual agents to communicate when they come close to each other and average their predicted positions and headings to compensate for the error in the odometry calculation. In simulation it worked great (using netlogo), but in real life tests, using Lego Mindstorms, it failed miserably. Partly because the agents could only communicate when their InfraRed sensors were aligned. This required that the bots align themselves to face each other every time a collision was detected, seriously slowing down the operation and opening much more room for error. And also the the code is horrible:) If we had these bluetooth enabled cores, we could have let them communicate much more easily and constantly instead of waiting for both bots to align, much like the simulation. Project page here.
Powerleveling isn't necessarily paying someone else to buff your stats, but rather using "unlimited resources" to gain exp and thus levels faster. For example, to buy a load of mana potions to be able to spam your strongest spells early on and repeatedly, at prohibitive costs for a standard character of that level. Some people make calculations as to the exact best way to level, "normally" and by powerleveling. Knowing which mob has a good respawn rate compared to how much time it takes to kill it compared to how much exp you gain from it.
Surely sometimes the fastest way to level includes different players who party with you so you get some of their earned exp.
The point still stands that games that force you to grind are probably not that fun, but rather just addictive.
If that's how you felt, then you didn't get into the character enough. Being on the dark side doesn't mean having the cool dark side skills, it's about being dark/evil and the appropriate skills just seem to follow.:)
Well it's quite hard playing as dark side when the game plot drives you against the dark side..... (at least in Jedi Knight)
Permadeath or near permadeath surely makes you concentrate much more on your situation. It certainly makes the game less accessible, but those who want a good experience can get it and create epic stories. Another poster once written about an idea where there's near permadeath (as in stats are reset, items are partly inherited). Normal players would rather stay in the safe town and socialize / advance their non-fighting skills and only the brave would go outside and really fight the epic battles and increase their fighting skills. Only those who are really good will have good stats while most of the players will have medium stats, along a bell or exponential curve. Traveling between areas will indeed be a heart racing event, even if you take a well protected transport... Sounds like EVE, tho I don't know how permadeath is handled there.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, it is understandable if a UNIT is left untested when re-used, but it's still crucial to test the complete system which uses that unit, exactly for these reasons where the specifications change.
Unit A:
"When parameter x is a positive integer less than 100, return x/2. Otherwise go up in flames"
If that is the specification, then it's reasonable to test integers between 1 and 100 and nothing else.
If another program now re-uses this unit, you can still be assured it will work if x is a positive integer less than 100. If your program assumes it works for x > 100 as well, it will go up in flames. That's exactly why you test the whole system.
Actually it's Nintendo who originally said the Wii will not have DVD playback, to reduce costs/price.
I can only guess it was the negative feedback about the lack of it that made them reconsider.
So why not use Enlightment instead of KDE or GNOME?
It's slim, uncluttered AND pretty.
I will be stroking my Wii on Nov 19th.
Too much information.
Going to the gym or jogging just seems plain boring...
If can exercise to some extent by playing fun video games, all the better!
Not to say there aren't fun "old-fashioned" exercise, like ball games, skating or parkour but video games are much easier to just pick up and play (for me).
As a small semestrial academic project, I worked on a different kind of mapping project which uses a large number of very simple (and cheap) robots instead of a small number of expensive robots like in this article.
Each robot is aware of its location through odometry (measuring the distance traveled by both the of the bot's wheels) and collision detection using, in our case, a rotating straw due to the fact we were limited to Lego Mindstorms.
Using odometry inserts a lot of error to the calculations. To counter these errors, the robots communicate over a short distance (touching distance) and average their expected location and heading.
In theory, and simulation, the algorithm proved very successful. Especially for a large number of agents.
In practice the errors were too large compared to the very small number of agents (4) we had at our disposal.
The project page.
And the simulation applet, written with NetLogo.
I wonder if they use such averaging algorithms with these robots aswell.
Noticed that too. Many 404s, outdated pages (which are USUALLY in the cache tho) or pages that have not a single reference to the search terms.
Another truly annoying set of results are links to other SEARCH sites indexing some pages which may or not have anything to do with the search terms.
Exactly as it is done in Israel.
In addition, there are poll booths for an early projection of true results, published only after the real election has been officially closed and usually are quite close to the real results.
Results take about a day or two complete counting and maybe a day or two more to count "double sealed votes" which are votes from soldiers, citizen living overseas and such. These are normal voting envelopes inserted into an envelope with the person's details for verification.
At least in the first versions (don't know how it is now), it simulates it pretty crappily.
The idea of breath control when you are prone, is that your aim will generally return to the same position when the air is completely exhaled, tho it may jerk when your lungs are filled of air.
In AA, the aim jerks around whether you inhale or exhale, leaving you aiming differently when you exhale.
I'm not a sniper or anything, but I can generally aim better than the soldier there.
Actually not.
Sony already spent the 700$ on producing a PS3. That money has been paid. They can't un-produce the unit to retrieve the 700$. For Sony, a PS3 is worth nothing on its own. When sold it's worth the price paid for it.
If you then buy it for 600$, then they have a net loss of 100$.
If you don't buy it at all, then they have a net loss of 700$, since the PS3 is worth 0 when it sits on the shelf.
Another example:
You have 1000$.
You buy an item for 1000$, you now have 0$ and an item.
You figure you don't want it (for example, it's fake), it's value for you is 0.
You try to sell it for 900$.
If you sell it, you have 900$. Net loss 100$.
If you don't, you stay at 0$ plus the item you don't want. Net loss 1000$ since the item is worth 0 to you.
My comment was to show a direct contrast to the OP's point of "X360 doesn't have these things".
About "more quests", voila.
Surely, these mods are not as critical as cars or tracks, but it shows the X360 also has "additional content for additional pay" whilst on the PC all these mods are free as in beer and most are fan made.
About GT, I do believe the "classic" version will be relatively cheap on its own and only somewhat more pricey than the "premium" version after you buy "30 cars and 2 tracks" as that version includes, but you'll have the choice.
Not that I support a system like that but that was probably what made Sony think it is worthwhile for consumers.
No they don't.
The fact they sell the hardware at a loss still gives them more money than not buying it at ALL.
Example:
Cost 700$
You pay 600$, Sony loses 100$
You pay 0$, Sony loses 700$
In this case, cars not included
What's next? hd output costs extra? textures not included?
Two words... "Horse armor"
Even earlier. Pull up your NES or NES emulator and fire up Zelda1. Face down or up and attack, it's obvious that Link is left handed.
Why do you left click with your middle finger in the reversed setting? Do you use your middle finger for right clicking in the standard position? So what do you use for middle clicking?
Do yourself a favor and try using your ring finger for right clicking and middle finger for middle clicking, it's MUCH more natural on the fingers and gives you more control.
Well, they named it Zune which lets it be on Slashdot three times in three days.
PS1 games work great emulated. Dreamcast games work tho not perfectly. PS2 games don't really work.
About the XBox, there was a project trying to create a high level re-compiler for XBox binaries. It worked and it worked pretty well, until it was shut down by Microsoft.
About playing with a keyboard and mouse, you can buy a decent USB DualShock2 clone for about 16$.
In my opinion, portable video will never be really as successful as portable music.
Music, unlike video, requires only one sense (hearing) and can be passive while one is doing other things.
You can listen to music while you browse the web, jog, write code.
You can't really watch a video using a portable device while doing those things. (other than porn...)
It can work though for people who travel a lot in public transportation.
That niche is partly filled by portable gaming which is also an activity that requires your attention.
The rest play Starcraft.
In my university days, I've worked on a Multi Agent Robotic System (MARS) in which simple robots calculate their position using odometry and mark where they collided with obstacles, thus allowing for mapping of a given area. The interesting part was allowing the individual agents to communicate when they come close to each other and average their predicted positions and headings to compensate for the error in the odometry calculation. :)
In simulation it worked great (using netlogo), but in real life tests, using Lego Mindstorms, it failed miserably. Partly because the agents could only communicate when their InfraRed sensors were aligned. This required that the bots align themselves to face each other every time a collision was detected, seriously slowing down the operation and opening much more room for error. And also the the code is horrible
If we had these bluetooth enabled cores, we could have let them communicate much more easily and constantly instead of waiting for both bots to align, much like the simulation.
Project page here.
After succeeding in preventing the wi-fi signal from "leaking", you are surprised your cellphone stopped working.
Powerleveling isn't necessarily paying someone else to buff your stats, but rather using "unlimited resources" to gain exp and thus levels faster.
For example, to buy a load of mana potions to be able to spam your strongest spells early on and repeatedly, at prohibitive costs for a standard character of that level.
Some people make calculations as to the exact best way to level, "normally" and by powerleveling. Knowing which mob has a good respawn rate compared to how much time it takes to kill it compared to how much exp you gain from it.
Surely sometimes the fastest way to level includes different players who party with you so you get some of their earned exp.
The point still stands that games that force you to grind are probably not that fun, but rather just addictive.
If that's how you felt, then you didn't get into the character enough. Being on the dark side doesn't mean having the cool dark side skills, it's about being dark/evil and the appropriate skills just seem to follow. :)
Well it's quite hard playing as dark side when the game plot drives you against the dark side..... (at least in Jedi Knight)
Permadeath or near permadeath surely makes you concentrate much more on your situation.
It certainly makes the game less accessible, but those who want a good experience can get it and create epic stories.
Another poster once written about an idea where there's near permadeath (as in stats are reset, items are partly inherited). Normal players would rather stay in the safe town and socialize / advance their non-fighting skills and only the brave would go outside and really fight the epic battles and increase their fighting skills. Only those who are really good will have good stats while most of the players will have medium stats, along a bell or exponential curve. Traveling between areas will indeed be a heart racing event, even if you take a well protected transport...
Sounds like EVE, tho I don't know how permadeath is handled there.