I really hate hiding things important to syntax inside comments. Borland pascal had it (turning on/off interrupts etc) and it was ugly. I'm kind of purist as far as comments are concerned - for me, comment should be a whitespace for a compiler.
Indeed, foreach would be more clear - they even have mentioned it in design document. But unfortunately, java has to be backward compatible with previous versions of source code (look at the mess with assert keyword), so they have decided to go a bit more ugly, but fully compatible route.
Re:I'll care when native compilers become the norm
on
Preview of Java 1.5
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· Score: 5, Informative
I'm surprised to see that there are still people out there which use 'interpreter' argument...
Anyway, there is a plenty of native compilers for java. I'm not sure if you have heard about certain compiler from free software group called Antilope or something like this - I think it is called gcc. They have a frontend for java, gcj, which compiles java source/bytecode to same intermediate stage as other compilers, thus sharing optimizing backed. If you don't care about paying few bucks, JET is very good compiler, written specifically for java, supporting 1.4.1. There is also few others, but I can tell only about these two from my experience.
Both these compilers are available for few years now. Problem is not with lack of native compilers, or performance of java in mixed mode offerred by Sun hotspot - problem is with mindset of poster. If you are not willing to use java - no problem. But please say it is 'religious' - everybody will agree with you, as you can have any beliefs you want. But do not try to back up religious statements with fake arguments.
While, as a java developer, I'm looking forward to most of these changes, I'm a bit afraid that java may lose it's positions as simple OO language which can be used for teaching in schools. Java was originally built with idea that you can read every java program in the world without problems. A lot of expresive power was sacrificed because of that - most notable preprocessor (to avoid people designing their own 'languages' for each project and library, as it is done in C).
Anonymous inner classes was first major ugliness which came into language - not very clear, hard to explain to a newcomer. But with all these new proposals, significant complexity is added to code in terms of visual overview. This is not critical for developers - perl hackers are faring very well, despite of having language 10 times as complicated as java as far as syntax is concerned - but pure-OO, java-is-new-pascal-for-algorithms academic society will probably start looking for a new language soon... (ok, maybe not really 'academic', I'm thinking more about secondary-level school programming basics).
If you have a PC at home, certainly get a Fallout I and II. These are two best RPG games I have played ever - so far, between the very few that allow you to beat the game in really different ways. Planescape Torment is also quite interesting if you are more into fantasy/D&D regions - very good storyline, but a bit more linear than Fallouts (but still, it is way better that main-stream Baldur's Gate and Relatives series).
When your wife will come back, I would suggest picking up The Longest Journey. This is old school adventure game, but with really nice dialogue, reasonable story and graphics - and protagonist is a girl. Both my girlfriend and wife of my friend enjoyed this game a lot - even sometimes just sitting next to me and looking at it.
For the FPS, I would suggest Americas Army (if you have nothing against a bit of propaganda). It is free, so you can try it anyway without obligation and while it is not as feature-rich as some of game with similar theme (like bf1942), gameplay is a lot better for me - you really see what is happening and why. Good reality check for people trying to run under fire of machine gun.
For spy game, I have not played full Splinter Cell, but demo was not very convincing (but it is probably my problem, as most people find it very attractive). My advice would be one of Commandos games - you control few people with special abilities trying to do some diversion at enemy camps. Mostly thinking, with a small amount of arcade sometimes to properly time few people of the team.
Just to let you know - CIPA is a rude word for women genitals in Polish, sometimes also used to name somebody clueless (also rude).
Fresh blood is important
on
Layoffs at WotC
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· Score: 2, Insightful
No, your Chainmail rules will not dissapear. I will continue to play D&D with my friends. But if it will stop to be marketed this year, then in few years people will not understand what you are talking about when you will say AC.
Of course, some people don't care. If they can play with their old time friends, it's ok. But from my experience (not much, I do NOT have original chainmail on my shelf - I play RPGs for only 15 years), fresh blood is very refreshing experience (not Vampire pun intended;). To really develop you need a fresh look. And I doubt you can expect thousands of teenagers to look into archives for back issues of not-longer-developer games. These thousands are not important, but some of them will turn into really good GMs and players.
Now, it is not so grim - there will be other RPGs out there. If somebody would be a good D&D DM, he will also probably make good DM in other games. But certain genre of RPG - high heroic, strict rules for even very powerful characters, etc, is for me tightly tied to D&D. Even if I sometimes prefer 'deeper' sessions, I and my friends really enjoy being able to developer a HERO from 1st level up to ultimate dragon-slaying king. And I'm afraid, that with D&D demise (which is not yet sure of course), this type of RPG would die.
Slashdot Mirror
I really hate hiding things important to syntax inside comments. Borland pascal had it (turning on/off interrupts etc) and it was ugly. I'm kind of purist as far as comments are concerned - for me, comment should be a whitespace for a compiler.
Indeed, foreach would be more clear - they even have mentioned it in design document. But unfortunately, java has to be backward compatible with previous versions of source code (look at the mess with assert keyword), so they have decided to go a bit more ugly, but fully compatible route.
I'm surprised to see that there are still people out there which use 'interpreter' argument...
Anyway, there is a plenty of native compilers for java. I'm not sure if you have heard about certain compiler from free software group called Antilope or something like this - I think it is called gcc. They have a frontend for java, gcj, which compiles java source/bytecode to same intermediate stage as other compilers, thus sharing optimizing backed. If you don't care about paying few bucks, JET is very good compiler, written specifically for java, supporting 1.4.1. There is also few others, but I can tell only about these two from my experience.
Both these compilers are available for few years now. Problem is not with lack of native compilers, or performance of java in mixed mode offerred by Sun hotspot - problem is with mindset of poster. If you are not willing to use java - no problem. But please say it is 'religious' - everybody will agree with you, as you can have any beliefs you want. But do not try to back up religious statements with fake arguments.
While, as a java developer, I'm looking forward to most of these changes, I'm a bit afraid that java may lose it's positions as simple OO language which can be used for teaching in schools. Java was originally built with idea that you can read every java program in the world without problems. A lot of expresive power was sacrificed because of that - most notable preprocessor (to avoid people designing their own 'languages' for each project and library, as it is done in C).
Anonymous inner classes was first major ugliness which came into language - not very clear, hard to explain to a newcomer. But with all these new proposals, significant complexity is added to code in terms of visual overview. This is not critical for developers - perl hackers are faring very well, despite of having language 10 times as complicated as java as far as syntax is concerned - but pure-OO, java-is-new-pascal-for-algorithms academic society will probably start looking for a new language soon... (ok, maybe not really 'academic', I'm thinking more about secondary-level school programming basics).
If you have a PC at home, certainly get a Fallout I and II. These are two best RPG games I have played ever - so far, between the very few that allow you to beat the game in really different ways.
Planescape Torment is also quite interesting if you are more into fantasy/D&D regions - very good storyline, but a bit more linear than Fallouts (but still, it is way better that main-stream Baldur's Gate and Relatives series).
When your wife will come back, I would suggest picking up The Longest Journey. This is old school adventure game, but with really nice dialogue, reasonable story and graphics - and protagonist is a girl. Both my girlfriend and wife of my friend enjoyed this game a lot - even sometimes just sitting next to me and looking at it.
For the FPS, I would suggest Americas Army (if you have nothing against a bit of propaganda). It is free, so you can try it anyway without obligation and while it is not as feature-rich as some of game with similar theme (like bf1942), gameplay is a lot better for me - you really see what is happening and why. Good reality check for people trying to run under fire of machine gun.
For spy game, I have not played full Splinter Cell, but demo was not very convincing (but it is probably my problem, as most people find it very attractive). My advice would be one of Commandos games - you control few people with special abilities trying to do some diversion at enemy camps. Mostly thinking, with a small amount of arcade sometimes to properly time few people of the team.
Just to let you know - CIPA is a rude word for women genitals in Polish, sometimes also used to name somebody clueless (also rude).
No, your Chainmail rules will not dissapear. I will continue to play D&D with my friends. But if it will stop to be marketed this year, then in few years people will not understand what you are talking about when you will say AC.
;). To really develop you need a fresh look. And I doubt you can expect thousands of teenagers to look into archives for back issues of not-longer-developer games. These thousands are not important, but some of them will turn into really good GMs and players.
Of course, some people don't care. If they can play with their old time friends, it's ok. But from my experience (not much, I do NOT have original chainmail on my shelf - I play RPGs for only 15 years), fresh blood is very refreshing experience (not Vampire pun intended
Now, it is not so grim - there will be other RPGs out there. If somebody would be a good D&D DM, he will also probably make good DM in other games. But certain genre of RPG - high heroic, strict rules for even very powerful characters, etc, is for me tightly tied to D&D. Even if I sometimes prefer 'deeper' sessions, I and my friends really enjoy being able to developer a HERO from 1st level up to ultimate dragon-slaying king. And I'm afraid, that with D&D demise (which is not yet sure of course), this type of RPG would die.