Cool. It doesn't seem to have redstone elements and creatures yet but definitely performs a lot better than minecraft. It really is a great start. I like the way it does blocks better, having them just pop in your inventory instead of falling to the ground. The 6 square crafting window instead of requiring a crafting table is also cool.
In this case you are probably talking about a 400% performance boost. I realize that in most applications performance isn't a critical factor but if you are writing non-trivial 3D games in Java you are either extremely ignorant or a moron.
I'm not going to argue with that. Although I don't think there is any excuse for not doing your C/C++ properly so the benefit is mitigated somewhat.
This is a bit different though. This is a 3D game and performance is at least as important here as portability. A properly done and portable C/C++ is a better choice in this case than an easily portable but poorly performing Java implementation.
Java is script based too. It just saves the script in an intermediate compilation phase to save on loading performance. You can output byte code with the Perl interpreter as well to the same end.
C was DESIGNED for the same reason. If you are doing a lot of platform specific specific stuff it is either poor design or an intentional tradeoff somewhere for performance and those bits should be abstracted so you can do the same thing for new platform. With java you lack the option to make that tradeoff. The Linux kernel is written in C. It runs on more platforms than anything I've ever written in any language and there are underlying bits written in ASM!
I would agree that most java apps are more portable because in most scenarios performance doesn't matter. When there is common hardware among the target audience that can't run the application performance does matter. This is a 3D game with some significant mechanics and performance matters here. C/C++ are still around for a reason despite easier and more rapid development in other languages and this is it.
There is some truth to that but just like the moves on the chessboard what is bad or not bad changes with the state of the board. If you live by experienced based mantras like the queen being a critical piece who must be protected at all costs, you might miss an opportunity to win the game by sacrificing the queen.
That's the curse of experience. What experience tells you is right 99% of the time so more and more you tend to rely on memory rather than analysis to find your answers. If you don't follow up experience based conclusions with at least a little active analysis your analytical skills will atrophy.
"a whole team hasn't been able in a couple of years to fix this points more at a deficient design than at a poor implementation"
I'd contend that the design is just the first step of implementation (and the second, and the third, and the fourth). Maybe that is just semantics but I find that you aren't going to end up with a very efficient design if you don't stop and spend some time considering how you are going to implement it before you step back to the drawing board.
The clear answer is for someone who isn't as shitty a programmer (maybe a student learning games programming in C or C++) to write a minecraft clone and open source it. Should be a fun project for someone with the time. Replicate the login interface so you still need to own the game to use it. Someone will write a bypass but you can do that already.
I'm sure Notch is but crap C is faster (and more efficient) than crap Java just like good C is faster than good Java, though crap C isn't necessarily faster than good Java (but sometimes is, Java is that bad).
You can already do all this in Java. What is the benefit of exposing players to the wonder of javascript via minecraft vs exposing them to the wonders of java via minecraft? Either one is a POS.
I wish someone would do a C rewrite. People make excuses about the fully manipulable world and such but the reality is that there is nothing going on in minecraft that would make it tax a Pentium 3 without no gpu offloading had it been authored well in a decent language.
Don't get me wrong it's a great game and fun to play. The implementation just leaves a lot to be desired. Buggy as hell too but you can't blame that on the language!
Your employer can fire you if they think your less than sunny attitude is responsible for the weather, let alone if you refuse to sign a document. Your only question is whether the consequences of refusing to sign are worse than the consequences of signing but yes your employer can make there be consequences for not signing.
"You can't be forced to "agree" to something that restricts your rights. You can't be denied service for that refusal. I was certain of my position, and the electric company was uncertain of their position."
The lady at the desk was uncertain of their position and you were wrong about yours. They definitely could have refused you service and still could. Unless of course there is some sort of additional regulation specific to utilities that changes something as they do have additional regulation.
A business can refuse service for any reason it wants except a very short of list of protected classes. I believe that list extends no further than race, sex, age, religion, and disability but even those can be considered if the business can prove there is a specific reason that they have to discriminate. "Guy who wants to run generators" is not on the list of legally protected classes.
"Don't like a document? Don't sign it. Simple as that. You cannot be legally punished for refusal to sign on the dotted line."
You seem to live in a fantasy world. Simply because your boss hasn't chosen to punish you doesn't mean he can't. You can definitely be punished in general for refusing to sign and you can specifically be punished at work for refusing to sign. In many organizations there are any number of mandatory documents including write-ups, handbooks, etc where signing is a condition of continued employment. You and your employer have agreed to a business relationship but unless a contract has been signed either party can terminate that relationship at any time.
And yet police and prosecutors make agreements under threat of imprisonment all the time.
Although generally the threatened has already disclosed whatever the police or prosecution wanted and a court invalidating the agreement would only serve to screw the one forced into the agreement out of the police/prosecutions end of the deal.
"No company has the ability to force you to sign an NDA. And, if you felt forced when you signed it, then it's a contract signed under coercion, and unenforceable."
While technically true it should be pointed out that a company can definitely force you in the sense that they can refuse to provide any sort of service or employment opportunity or even continued employment. They can make you sign any type of (legal) contract they want as a condition of providing services or employment. And a company doing so does not qualify as coercion no matter how important the service/employment, how (un)reasonable the requirement, or how much you "need" it.
At the end of the day it is their money and they can give it to anyone they choose for any arbitrary reason they choose. The same is true of any effort or service they might provide. The same is true of you and your money and your efforts. It is only fair.
The analogy breaks because you are equating data with an actual object of (supposed) worth. Usually this type of false analogy results in the access of "IP" being wrongly equated to taking a physical object but in this case accessing the data is worse. If you walked through the hole and took some money and then brought that money to the bank manager in the morning as a demonstration the bank has zero net loss. You haven't stolen anything because the bank isn't missing anything. The most harm they could claim you've done is require them to invest the labor to walk over to the vault and put it back.
The data on the other hand is an idea. Upon looking at it you've made a copy without copying a single bit. The organization has to treat your access as a total breach because they just don't know. Sure you admitted to accessing this table for demonstration purposes but how can they know you didn't access more and cover your tracks? Or if they are following the broken security model most people use it might be difficult to know because your access would be through a security access account given to the application and they can be sure if it was the application or your doing the accessing of more sensitive tables.
None of that makes their treatment of this guy okay.
They wouldn't be misinterpreting my intentions. If I spot a giant hole into a bank vault when walking down the alley and resist the temptation once and point it out then walk back by next week and it is still an open hole... the only logical explanation is that the bank wants me to have the money. It is an implicit gift!
"Yes, a good game is more entertaining then a good movie. But a good meal is even better."
No. No it's not. I've gone this route Slashdotters. My wife is into cooking and was an amazing cook when we got together. I've always been proud of my ability to boil eggs and follow a recipe so I started getting into cooking with her. Now we are both excellent cooks.
"I'd love to get her interested in using to do co-op or combative games with me."
You are aware that she is a she right? I've known a couple girls who played shooters and combat games but they were the extremely rare exception. Most girls just aren't into games that are entirely driven by testosterone and predator/prey mentality. No idea why.
If you want to interest her in gaming you probably need to find more common ground so nothing that is about combat, owning, pvp, griefing, or of an otherwise in your face competitive nature. Slower action is usually better too. If it's an MMO then a more creative and social type of game is probably going to be appropriate.
The Sims is infamous for being chick bait. Minecraft is also a great gender neutral game. You can play cooperatively. Although you are going to want to play on a non-pvp non-griefing server.
It isn't going to the government it is enabling lower income for the wealthy along with every other revenue stream to government that isn't income tax. Every time you pay a $25 fee for a drivers license you are either paying more than your share if you aren't wealthy or getting away with less than your share if you are wealthy. That wealth wasn't produced by the efforts of one man and somewhere there are tons of not so wealthy employees who got a disproportionate share of that wealth and thus the wealthy man who ended up with the fruits of their efforts should be paying a portion of the cost of every one of them getting training to drive, testing, maintaining roads for them, and their licenses. Every time a consumption fee or tax is charged by the government a rich man gets to count his gold.
Only a lower grade high yield strain grown outdoors on an annual cycle yields a half pound. People generally don't grow that way because they prefer high grade indoor grown plants produced under controlled temperatures that can be harvested about every 3 months and produce a far greater yield overall. Depending on growing technique you might see anywhere from 1/8-1/4oz to 1.5oz from a single plant. There are techniques where you intentionally grow dozens of very small plants just growing a single top bud (top buds are of the highest quality and potency) from each. You are producing comparable quantities of usable cannabis but it involves a lot of plants.
There isn't much new content. I don't even mean new new I mean new to Netflix. If you've had a subscription for a couple years and watch any signficant amount of content you've watched the interesting recommendations (which it annoyingly populates with the same crap all the time even after rating it or saying you aren't interested), you've sifted through and watched the old tv shows you wanted to see, you've watched all the older good titles you haven't seen in awhile. Now you are left looking for something good in the new stream of content and it just isn't there.
Netflix has less worthwhile new content than a TV premium channel and you can have all the premium channels and still not have enough new content to get through the month. I know I've got a fully loaded package. Everything comes out on Friday or Sunday, You watch it all by the end of the weekend and then have nothing to watch (on tv or netflix) until the following weekend and that is just during the season.
Sure it's a question of taste. But that is all old content. If you've had Netflix for a few months you've seen all of that and they aren't really getting anything new.
I've seen the old episodes of series that interest me. I want the episodes that are on now. I want the movies that are in the new release section now. Hell, if I'm going to watch old movies I want the A list old movies that still run on premium channels.
The only interesting titles I see on Netflix aren't listed as new but in my previously seen list.
If you watch 3-4hrs of content of a day you'll burn through everything worthwhile in a month or two. There really isn't much in terms of quality recent content. It's great for watching an old TV series that you haven't seen or want to catch up on or if you are into old B movies but that only lasts for so long.
$5 a movie, the studios collaborate to build the distribution service and stop caring about rental places and put tv networks in second tier. DRM free files, no renting, no expiration, just buy. I'd expect this would generate more revenue than the studios get now and eliminate pretty much all piracy.
Toss in a monthly fee to have streaming access to the movies you've bought and sweeten the monthly with free access to stream TV shows. Nobody is in a better position to establish cross-licensing content agreements with the major TV content producers like HBO, Showtime, etc than the studios they license all their movie content from. This is a much better model than the lame attempts to try to charge $2-3 per episode you see now from places like Amazon and Vudu.
In other words content distribution has become easy and cheap. Content producers no longer need the entrenched and expensive content distribution networks of the past they can offer better pricing, more convenient access for consumers, and stop wasting money on the losing DRM battle altogether. Embrace technology, don't fight it or try to use it to enforce anti-consumer controls.
Slashdot Mirror
Cool. It doesn't seem to have redstone elements and creatures yet but definitely performs a lot better than minecraft. It really is a great start. I like the way it does blocks better, having them just pop in your inventory instead of falling to the ground. The 6 square crafting window instead of requiring a crafting table is also cool.
In this case you are probably talking about a 400% performance boost. I realize that in most applications performance isn't a critical factor but if you are writing non-trivial 3D games in Java you are either extremely ignorant or a moron.
I'm not going to argue with that. Although I don't think there is any excuse for not doing your C/C++ properly so the benefit is mitigated somewhat.
This is a bit different though. This is a 3D game and performance is at least as important here as portability. A properly done and portable C/C++ is a better choice in this case than an easily portable but poorly performing Java implementation.
Every tool has its place.
Java is script based too. It just saves the script in an intermediate compilation phase to save on loading performance. You can output byte code with the Perl interpreter as well to the same end.
"Java is DESIGNED to be extremely portable"
C was DESIGNED for the same reason. If you are doing a lot of platform specific specific stuff it is either poor design or an intentional tradeoff somewhere for performance and those bits should be abstracted so you can do the same thing for new platform. With java you lack the option to make that tradeoff. The Linux kernel is written in C. It runs on more platforms than anything I've ever written in any language and there are underlying bits written in ASM!
I would agree that most java apps are more portable because in most scenarios performance doesn't matter. When there is common hardware among the target audience that can't run the application performance does matter. This is a 3D game with some significant mechanics and performance matters here. C/C++ are still around for a reason despite easier and more rapid development in other languages and this is it.
There is some truth to that but just like the moves on the chessboard what is bad or not bad changes with the state of the board. If you live by experienced based mantras like the queen being a critical piece who must be protected at all costs, you might miss an opportunity to win the game by sacrificing the queen.
That's the curse of experience. What experience tells you is right 99% of the time so more and more you tend to rely on memory rather than analysis to find your answers. If you don't follow up experience based conclusions with at least a little active analysis your analytical skills will atrophy.
"a whole team hasn't been able in a couple of years to fix this points more at a deficient design than at a poor implementation"
I'd contend that the design is just the first step of implementation (and the second, and the third, and the fourth). Maybe that is just semantics but I find that you aren't going to end up with a very efficient design if you don't stop and spend some time considering how you are going to implement it before you step back to the drawing board.
The clear answer is for someone who isn't as shitty a programmer (maybe a student learning games programming in C or C++) to write a minecraft clone and open source it. Should be a fun project for someone with the time. Replicate the login interface so you still need to own the game to use it. Someone will write a bypass but you can do that already.
I'm sure Notch is but crap C is faster (and more efficient) than crap Java just like good C is faster than good Java, though crap C isn't necessarily faster than good Java (but sometimes is, Java is that bad).
Let me know when you can buy a 1KW panel for $50.
You can already do all this in Java. What is the benefit of exposing players to the wonder of javascript via minecraft vs exposing them to the wonders of java via minecraft? Either one is a POS.
I wish someone would do a C rewrite. People make excuses about the fully manipulable world and such but the reality is that there is nothing going on in minecraft that would make it tax a Pentium 3 without no gpu offloading had it been authored well in a decent language.
Don't get me wrong it's a great game and fun to play. The implementation just leaves a lot to be desired. Buggy as hell too but you can't blame that on the language!
Anyone who thinks this sounds good should have a look here first:
http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-my-employer-force-me-to-sign-something-stating-619319.html
Your employer can fire you if they think your less than sunny attitude is responsible for the weather, let alone if you refuse to sign a document. Your only question is whether the consequences of refusing to sign are worse than the consequences of signing but yes your employer can make there be consequences for not signing.
"You can't be forced to "agree" to something that restricts your rights. You can't be denied service for that refusal. I was certain of my position, and the electric company was uncertain of their position."
The lady at the desk was uncertain of their position and you were wrong about yours. They definitely could have refused you service and still could. Unless of course there is some sort of additional regulation specific to utilities that changes something as they do have additional regulation.
A business can refuse service for any reason it wants except a very short of list of protected classes. I believe that list extends no further than race, sex, age, religion, and disability but even those can be considered if the business can prove there is a specific reason that they have to discriminate. "Guy who wants to run generators" is not on the list of legally protected classes.
"Don't like a document? Don't sign it. Simple as that. You cannot be legally punished for refusal to sign on the dotted line."
You seem to live in a fantasy world. Simply because your boss hasn't chosen to punish you doesn't mean he can't. You can definitely be punished in general for refusing to sign and you can specifically be punished at work for refusing to sign. In many organizations there are any number of mandatory documents including write-ups, handbooks, etc where signing is a condition of continued employment. You and your employer have agreed to a business relationship but unless a contract has been signed either party can terminate that relationship at any time.
And yet police and prosecutors make agreements under threat of imprisonment all the time.
Although generally the threatened has already disclosed whatever the police or prosecution wanted and a court invalidating the agreement would only serve to screw the one forced into the agreement out of the police/prosecutions end of the deal.
"No company has the ability to force you to sign an NDA. And, if you felt forced when you signed it, then it's a contract signed under coercion, and unenforceable."
While technically true it should be pointed out that a company can definitely force you in the sense that they can refuse to provide any sort of service or employment opportunity or even continued employment. They can make you sign any type of (legal) contract they want as a condition of providing services or employment. And a company doing so does not qualify as coercion no matter how important the service/employment, how (un)reasonable the requirement, or how much you "need" it.
At the end of the day it is their money and they can give it to anyone they choose for any arbitrary reason they choose. The same is true of any effort or service they might provide. The same is true of you and your money and your efforts. It is only fair.
The analogy breaks because you are equating data with an actual object of (supposed) worth. Usually this type of false analogy results in the access of "IP" being wrongly equated to taking a physical object but in this case accessing the data is worse. If you walked through the hole and took some money and then brought that money to the bank manager in the morning as a demonstration the bank has zero net loss. You haven't stolen anything because the bank isn't missing anything. The most harm they could claim you've done is require them to invest the labor to walk over to the vault and put it back.
The data on the other hand is an idea. Upon looking at it you've made a copy without copying a single bit. The organization has to treat your access as a total breach because they just don't know. Sure you admitted to accessing this table for demonstration purposes but how can they know you didn't access more and cover your tracks? Or if they are following the broken security model most people use it might be difficult to know because your access would be through a security access account given to the application and they can be sure if it was the application or your doing the accessing of more sensitive tables.
None of that makes their treatment of this guy okay.
They wouldn't be misinterpreting my intentions. If I spot a giant hole into a bank vault when walking down the alley and resist the temptation once and point it out then walk back by next week and it is still an open hole... the only logical explanation is that the bank wants me to have the money. It is an implicit gift!
"Yes, a good game is more entertaining then a good movie. But a good meal is even better."
No. No it's not. I've gone this route Slashdotters. My wife is into cooking and was an amazing cook when we got together. I've always been proud of my ability to boil eggs and follow a recipe so I started getting into cooking with her. Now we are both excellent cooks.
Translation, this is a fast route to getting fat!
"I'd love to get her interested in using to do co-op or combative games with me."
You are aware that she is a she right? I've known a couple girls who played shooters and combat games but they were the extremely rare exception. Most girls just aren't into games that are entirely driven by testosterone and predator/prey mentality. No idea why.
If you want to interest her in gaming you probably need to find more common ground so nothing that is about combat, owning, pvp, griefing, or of an otherwise in your face competitive nature. Slower action is usually better too. If it's an MMO then a more creative and social type of game is probably going to be appropriate.
The Sims is infamous for being chick bait.
Minecraft is also a great gender neutral game. You can play cooperatively. Although you are going to want to play on a non-pvp non-griefing server.
It isn't going to the government it is enabling lower income for the wealthy along with every other revenue stream to government that isn't income tax. Every time you pay a $25 fee for a drivers license you are either paying more than your share if you aren't wealthy or getting away with less than your share if you are wealthy. That wealth wasn't produced by the efforts of one man and somewhere there are tons of not so wealthy employees who got a disproportionate share of that wealth and thus the wealthy man who ended up with the fruits of their efforts should be paying a portion of the cost of every one of them getting training to drive, testing, maintaining roads for them, and their licenses. Every time a consumption fee or tax is charged by the government a rich man gets to count his gold.
Only a lower grade high yield strain grown outdoors on an annual cycle yields a half pound. People generally don't grow that way because they prefer high grade indoor grown plants produced under controlled temperatures that can be harvested about every 3 months and produce a far greater yield overall. Depending on growing technique you might see anywhere from 1/8-1/4oz to 1.5oz from a single plant. There are techniques where you intentionally grow dozens of very small plants just growing a single top bud (top buds are of the highest quality and potency) from each. You are producing comparable quantities of usable cannabis but it involves a lot of plants.
There isn't much new content. I don't even mean new new I mean new to Netflix. If you've had a subscription for a couple years and watch any signficant amount of content you've watched the interesting recommendations (which it annoyingly populates with the same crap all the time even after rating it or saying you aren't interested), you've sifted through and watched the old tv shows you wanted to see, you've watched all the older good titles you haven't seen in awhile. Now you are left looking for something good in the new stream of content and it just isn't there.
Netflix has less worthwhile new content than a TV premium channel and you can have all the premium channels and still not have enough new content to get through the month. I know I've got a fully loaded package. Everything comes out on Friday or Sunday, You watch it all by the end of the weekend and then have nothing to watch (on tv or netflix) until the following weekend and that is just during the season.
Sure it's a question of taste. But that is all old content. If you've had Netflix for a few months you've seen all of that and they aren't really getting anything new.
I've seen the old episodes of series that interest me. I want the episodes that are on now. I want the movies that are in the new release section now. Hell, if I'm going to watch old movies I want the A list old movies that still run on premium channels.
The only interesting titles I see on Netflix aren't listed as new but in my previously seen list.
Most of the A list movies came from Starz. Granted those were a couple years old but at least they were there.
If you watch 3-4hrs of content of a day you'll burn through everything worthwhile in a month or two. There really isn't much in terms of quality recent content. It's great for watching an old TV series that you haven't seen or want to catch up on or if you are into old B movies but that only lasts for so long.
$5 a movie, the studios collaborate to build the distribution service and stop caring about rental places and put tv networks in second tier. DRM free files, no renting, no expiration, just buy. I'd expect this would generate more revenue than the studios get now and eliminate pretty much all piracy.
Toss in a monthly fee to have streaming access to the movies you've bought and sweeten the monthly with free access to stream TV shows. Nobody is in a better position to establish cross-licensing content agreements with the major TV content producers like HBO, Showtime, etc than the studios they license all their movie content from. This is a much better model than the lame attempts to try to charge $2-3 per episode you see now from places like Amazon and Vudu.
In other words content distribution has become easy and cheap. Content producers no longer need the entrenched and expensive content distribution networks of the past they can offer better pricing, more convenient access for consumers, and stop wasting money on the losing DRM battle altogether. Embrace technology, don't fight it or try to use it to enforce anti-consumer controls.