Part of the challenge is to write the program based purely on a spec. After all, you're merely writing and reading a relatively simple ASCII protocol from a socket -- an API is really unnecessary.
It would be nice, however, if the server were provided for testing purposes, since parsing commands from the server and properly framing replies is really the least interesting part of the task, and a mechanism to speed up development (short of writing your own test server) would be nice. I'm sure a lot of entrants will die immediately based on the malformed-command/response = death criteria.
The program talks to the server using a tcp port and a defined protocol.
The program itself is required to run as a process on their local server, presumably to prevent "man-behind-the-curtain" cheating if the program were allowed run remotely.
Very cool -- wish I had the time. Once nice addition (which would really separate the men from the boys) would be to not download the entire map to the program.
Instead, the robot would have to discover the world itself; i.e. it would only know about the contents of x number of squares around itself.
/.-ed already. Well -- without having read the article, lack of compatibility was NOT what killed Java. Which, frankly, isn't dead yet. Even Java as released by Sun 5 years ago had significant problems (many since fixed), even in the networking area (wha? No timeout on tcp connects without a goofy work around?). Moreover, hardware access to serial ports, lpt ports and a decent media framework are all pretty damn important -- and these have been late in coming. This is not to mention the slew of performance problems at the client (again, since greatly improved).
Having said that, I continue to like the language and use it where it makes sense...
Sent ya email but your source forge address is bouncing. Get back to me via email with a working address and I'll shoot you some ideas:
mikey at swampgas dot com
...b*stard who took all my stuff out of the drier before it was done. Can it help me do that? All it would need is a webcam, and maybe some kind of minor chemical weapon I could fire remotely when I caught 'em. Nothing lethal, mind you. Maybe a little mace, or indelible dye.
Of course, once the clothes are actually dry, my offensive abilities would be deactivated.
The Internet is great, if you want to figure out that chick who was in the movie with the guy, if you need some information about Linux, or if you want to view some naked ladies. It is not, and I doubt will ever be, a good source for education.
While it is indeed great for all these things, around my home we've also found it to be pretty handy (at least at an elementary level of education) for quick and dirty research of numerous homework assignments and projects -- beyond even what a decent set of encyclopedias might provide.
I do agree that classroom uses may be somewhat more limited than many believe -- the yearly ThinkQuest project still goes over like a very large t*rd -- but as a means of reinforcing classroom assignments, we've found it to be pretty useful.
I have my kids in a rather expensive private school, and I still see major problems with teachers underutilizing technology. It would be a godsend merely to get homework assignments online, let alone live IM-based help.
That kind of sucks. I've been putting this off, I guess, but does anybody know of a good web-based email client that runs with apache on linux (that doesn't require php)and that I install with minimum effort?
I doubt this would be the way to defeat this cp scheme. The "keys" appear to be used to encrypt data the disk. Presumably, this data will need to be decrypted in order to get the SW to work.
Also, these are "special" keys. As we all know, "special" keys cannot be broken by anybody. Otherwise they wouldn't be "special".
At one point we had to ascend to 2500', and yet the APs still kept rolling in. I guess the lack of intervening metal, wood, and concrete made a big difference. I didn't see a drop off in the home use (Linksys, etc) or the commercial (Cisco, etc.) APs.
Not really surprising. With no intervening obstacles (or even a horizon) even a weak signal in the 2 ghz range can have incredible range. It might be amusing to try this kind of thing with a big tethered balloon in an urban area.
Do you really thing you are going to recall how some program you wrote a year or more ago was structured?
Really, it depends. Some code has a pretty short life-cycle prior to a complete rewrite. The company I used to work for generally produced this kind of software. Requirements for a product might change pretty radically within a year or two.
The people I work for currently, on the other hand, expect to get a lot more life out of a given piece of code. In this case, the extra effort on design and code documentation, as well as the work required to keep it up to date, is easily warranted by the need for long-term maintenance.
I have a broadband connection. I don't care if the other guy doesn't. In fact, being a member of the 10% that does makes me feel like a real 3liT3 d00d.
In fact, I know this problem has been around for a while. I used to do it accidentally quite a bit during the course of some development work. You could also cause Banyan/VINES servers to panic quite nicely with bad SMB requests.
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ICANN angry at Verisign. Who's gonna get all pissy next? Satan?
I think the KC is in Florida. But the rest of your post still pretty much applies.
It would be nice, however, if the server were provided for testing purposes, since parsing commands from the server and properly framing replies is really the least interesting part of the task, and a mechanism to speed up development (short of writing your own test server) would be nice. I'm sure a lot of entrants will die immediately based on the malformed-command/response = death criteria.
The program talks to the server using a tcp port and a defined protocol.
The program itself is required to run as a process on their local server, presumably to prevent "man-behind-the-curtain" cheating if the program were allowed run remotely.
Instead, the robot would have to discover the world itself; i.e. it would only know about the contents of x number of squares around itself.
And, of course, weapons, weapons, weapons.
Having said that, I continue to like the language and use it where it makes sense...
I think laundromats are the target audience here.
Sent ya email but your source forge address is bouncing. Get back to me via email with a working address and I'll shoot you some ideas: mikey at swampgas dot com
Of course, once the clothes are actually dry, my offensive abilities would be deactivated.
While it is indeed great for all these things, around my home we've also found it to be pretty handy (at least at an elementary level of education) for quick and dirty research of numerous homework assignments and projects -- beyond even what a decent set of encyclopedias might provide.
I do agree that classroom uses may be somewhat more limited than many believe -- the yearly ThinkQuest project still goes over like a very large t*rd -- but as a means of reinforcing classroom assignments, we've found it to be pretty useful.
I think I feel a new side-project coming on...
Neither will this stack of old 386's in my office. I really wish they would die, and then conveniently decompose.
That kind of sucks. I've been putting this off, I guess, but does anybody know of a good web-based email client that runs with apache on linux (that doesn't require php)and that I install with minimum effort?
Expect the recruitment numbers for the Canadian military to go way up.
Minnesota is also known here as "Western Sweden".
Also, these are "special" keys. As we all know, "special" keys cannot be broken by anybody. Otherwise they wouldn't be "special".
I believe most are RF. Many are actually based on common chipsets -- Holtek makes a popular line of encoder/decoder chips.
Not really surprising. With no intervening obstacles (or even a horizon) even a weak signal in the 2 ghz range can have incredible range. It might be amusing to try this kind of thing with a big tethered balloon in an urban area.
Really, it depends. Some code has a pretty short life-cycle prior to a complete rewrite. The company I used to work for generally produced this kind of software. Requirements for a product might change pretty radically within a year or two.
The people I work for currently, on the other hand, expect to get a lot more life out of a given piece of code. In this case, the extra effort on design and code documentation, as well as the work required to keep it up to date, is easily warranted by the need for long-term maintenance.
I'm going to guess Adelphia. What do I win?
I have a broadband connection. I don't care if the other guy doesn't. In fact, being a member of the 10% that does makes me feel like a real 3liT3 d00d.
In fact, I know this problem has been around for a while. I used to do it accidentally quite a bit during the course of some development work. You could also cause Banyan/VINES servers to panic quite nicely with bad SMB requests.
Apparently, you can also crash a Windows box by pouring beer into the fan outlet of the power supply. Code to be posted soon.
.. but why not? Humans basically suck anyway...
...like a lot of work to do to come up with what basically appears to be not much more than a metaphor.