The company said the move was a "preventative step"
Translation: Microsoft is trying to prevent themselves from being sued, not trying to prevent more XBOXen from burning down houses, although less XBOX meltdown is a benificial side effect.
Altruisitic action does not imply altruistic intent.
Whenever I had to save a game state I would write a tree-like structure, and pass a file object around. Choose the format of your save file to be XML-like in the sense that you have some sort of marker that identifies the beginning of a game object and the end of a game object, and that your objects are nestable.
Next, create a utility class that contains functions that can read a file up to a marker and return what was read, and another that can identify a marker and jump to the appropriate class. When you do the save, tell the game to save by storing simple objects in order and then passing the save call to the complex objects in order. Those objects will do the same thing, delimiting their objects by bracketing them. Then when restoring, read to each tag and jump to the appropriate class constructor. In effect, you're crawling the tree of objects that are being used for the game.
The advantage of this method is that you store exactly what you need to store, adding game objects is a breeze and almost append themselves to the game tree, and if you expand your game you can tell the reader to ignore tabs it can't identify and work around them, meaning that your older save-files won't break the newer version.
One other thing to keep in mind is that make sure that no constructor actions take place until everything is loaded, so that you don't have say player objects trying to render on a board that hasn't been constructed yet. Make sure you have both a constructor and an initializer funciton for all of your game objects.
is one where a counterfeiter will steal chips. The idea is that our black hat will pass up victims walking from table to table with chips and have an RFID scanner in their pocket taking down IDs. Then he will take counterfeits with programmable RFID chips in them, program those chips with the ID they just scanned, and then cash out. Then when the victim tries to play his hijacked chip, the computer flags him (because that chip is already cashed out!) instead of the counterfeiter, who now has the victims's money in hand...
Deending on RFID for counterfeit identification is a recipe for disaster because of this sceneraio. This leads more credence to the idea that this tech is simply to measure action at the tables. It could also be used to speed up the counting of chips, which would speed up and increase the accuracy of transactions at the cashier. Either of these reasons are more compelling than the counterfeiting issue, but don't generate as good of a PR image as the targeting of counterfeiters.
I agree with you that there is a large trend in CS to create a lot of "blue-collar" IT jobs. Heck I'm working a hybrid of one of those jobs myself. And his comment is not off base in that regard. My only concern is that his interview makes him sound more like a whiner than someone with constructive criticism.
Alan Kay has earned his place as a leader in computer science. I'd suggest listening to what he has to say instead of dismissing him as a jackass.
One of the most renowned logical fallacies is an appeal to authority, and no matter how smart or famous a person is, that doesn't make the words that come out of his/her mouth legal tender and above question. One must always appeal to reason before authority.
Maybe I didn't RTFA as thoroughly as most, but this guy comes off as exremely self-centered. First off, every language has its purpose, and just because some of these languages aren't as well designed as the author's languages (like the comments "Java could have been great, just look at Squeak"), that's not a good enough excuse to bash them.
The reason Perl is so popular is because it is SOOO easy to throw something together in no time at all that can access databases, websites, and so forth, without all of the messy class coding of the other languages. Would I want to write something huge in perl? Heck no. Because Perl is made for scripting and not for large projects. Same thing for PHP and and all of those languages he likens to Egyptian pyramids made from brute force.
Also, I don't know about him, but I know that at Purdue the CS degree requires the authoring of a compiler, some study of programming language theory, some classes about Database Theory (I can't remember the last time a vocational class taught tuple calculus and normalization), as well as some high level algorithm knowledge. I would consider at least that degree program a step above just some Java vocational classes, and his comment only highlights how egotistical he really is.
Just because he's really smart doesn't give him the excuse to be a real jackass.
You'd think if they were going to go with this name, they would've snapped up the domain name. This guy picked it up over a year ago.
With Microsoft's awe-inspiring litigious power, let's see if he keeps it.
Unfortunately someone will eventually build a AI solver for the puzzles, run it side by side with the game, and then your idiots will once again dominate. You can't keep idiots away forever.
Microsoft is planning on taking their increase in earnings in order to build a humongeous flashlight, designed to wipe out all of those non-DRM enhanced gizmos out there.
FIFA 2005 was banned because of its recognition of Taiwan as a country, which China has been trying its best to supress for some time. It seems that while China is claiming that this is an action to combat piracy violations, in reality we must recognise that it is the Anti-porn minister who's running this campaign so there's more than piracy that's afoot here.
I really like the active record idea, Rails seems to have really hit on something cool. However, couldn't they have standardized on just suffixing an S to get the database name instead of english rules of plurals? How many people would remember the plural of fungus (fungi) or Addendum (Addenda) and is the proper plural of forum (Fora) chosen over the commonly accepted forums? What about words used commonly in their plural form, like media, data, and alumni; will we be forced to use medium, datum, and alumnus to reference them? Also, what if the word doesn't have a plural in the database you connect to, like trqk_imr or some other Informix-length-enforced name? Would you use hairs or hair to store the values of hair?
This just seems like a troubling idiom for Rails to take on, and it would have been more prudent if they had a more consistent convention than the ever changing rules of the English language.
Doesn't this only work if you compile the ELF and a.out support into the kernel, or am I mistaken? If so, it's just yet another reason to be VERY CAREFUL what you enable in the kernel when you compile it, lest you enable something that you don't need and is yet exploitable.
I should mention that enabling ELF format is still highly recommended (after the patch for this is released of course) and unless you do special programming work in linux then enabling a.out format is not recommended.
Not to mention that according to the EULA the maximum amount you can collect for damages from effects of the software is $5.00! That's so low as to be an insult. They might as well have said a penny and left it at that.
FTA: When spread evenly on a wall, the paint reflects signals in frequencies from 100 MHz to 5 GHz.
Won't 802.11a signals which operate in three bands all above 5GHz still pass through this stuff normally? I know that 802.11a doesn't pass through walls well anyway, but I would hate to purchase gallons of this stuff at their prices for a false sense of security.
Not to mention also that my cell phone wouldn't work in that room either. This stuff seems to be more trouble than it's worth. Better to build real network security that to depend on physical obstructions.
TFA is talking about modifications to process patents, not software patents. While it may affect embedded software (and there's still a question about whether or not that will be legal, according to a previous poster), it won't affect normal software until the law gets changed further. BTW, this probably has more to do with the manufacture of medicine than with computers.
Digital vs Analog Fat...
on
Digital Packrats
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
The article seems to suggest that digital obesity is a bad thing in the same way that being physically fat is unhealthy or being a packrat is being unnaturally compulsive. I disagree with this assertion; unlike physical portliness, digital gluttony is not damaging to the body, and unlike being a packrat, your computerized archive can be grepped or otherwise searched for important data, therefore implying that it has some structure, as opposed to the contents of most people's attics/basements/living rooms.
Seeing no real disadvantage to having an overabundance of digital baggage, I find the concept of this article ludicrous.
Thanks for the link! They have an interesting Java simulation of the path of the comet that explains a lot. This comet is nowhere near Earth's orbit, it actually seems to intersect with the orbit of Mars, and July 4th of next year places the comet on the second intersection of the Martian orbit. I'm sure that makes the calculations a lot easier from NASA's standpoint, they've already thrown a lot at Mars. Another thing with the experiment has me worried though... adding 400 or so kg of mass to the comet, won't the orbit change?
Although this might be a good thing, since by the simulation, the comet will make a scary close pass to Mars from Nov 2022 to Jan 2023.
...why is it legal to transfer patents? Shouldn't the only person allowed to have a patent be the person who invented the item worthy of the patent? If patents are really supposed to benefit the inventors they shouldn't be allowed to be sold or hoarded.
Make transfer of patents and copyright illegal, and this situation would not exist.
I think I'll wait for the reviews on this one... while I don't mind the bone-conductive sound, the unit looks really bulky to me. Being a masters swimmer who practices 4-5 times a week, even though the thought of music in the water is thrilling, the unit seems like it'd be irritating to those who don't wear a cap or earplugs to have anything foreign feeling around the goggles, IMHO. Anyone here ever try these things on?
You got it... instead of a solution by radicals (which Abel's proof shows does not exist for general polynomials with degree 5 and higher) he takes it into differential equations and creates a powerseries, which essentially gives an approach to the real number root, which doesn't necessarily have a radical decomposition.
Plus, the proof looks like a lot of handwaving at a cursory glance. I'm more inclined to believe that this is a wash.
Slashdot Mirror
Translation: Microsoft is trying to prevent themselves from being sued, not trying to prevent more XBOXen from burning down houses, although less XBOX meltdown is a benificial side effect.
Altruisitic action does not imply altruistic intent.
Next, create a utility class that contains functions that can read a file up to a marker and return what was read, and another that can identify a marker and jump to the appropriate class. When you do the save, tell the game to save by storing simple objects in order and then passing the save call to the complex objects in order. Those objects will do the same thing, delimiting their objects by bracketing them. Then when restoring, read to each tag and jump to the appropriate class constructor. In effect, you're crawling the tree of objects that are being used for the game.
The advantage of this method is that you store exactly what you need to store, adding game objects is a breeze and almost append themselves to the game tree, and if you expand your game you can tell the reader to ignore tabs it can't identify and work around them, meaning that your older save-files won't break the newer version.
One other thing to keep in mind is that make sure that no constructor actions take place until everything is loaded, so that you don't have say player objects trying to render on a board that hasn't been constructed yet. Make sure you have both a constructor and an initializer funciton for all of your game objects.
Deending on RFID for counterfeit identification is a recipe for disaster because of this sceneraio. This leads more credence to the idea that this tech is simply to measure action at the tables. It could also be used to speed up the counting of chips, which would speed up and increase the accuracy of transactions at the cashier. Either of these reasons are more compelling than the counterfeiting issue, but don't generate as good of a PR image as the targeting of counterfeiters.
Alan Kay has earned his place as a leader in computer science. I'd suggest listening to what he has to say instead of dismissing him as a jackass.
One of the most renowned logical fallacies is an appeal to authority, and no matter how smart or famous a person is, that doesn't make the words that come out of his/her mouth legal tender and above question. One must always appeal to reason before authority.
The reason Perl is so popular is because it is SOOO easy to throw something together in no time at all that can access databases, websites, and so forth, without all of the messy class coding of the other languages. Would I want to write something huge in perl? Heck no. Because Perl is made for scripting and not for large projects. Same thing for PHP and and all of those languages he likens to Egyptian pyramids made from brute force.
Also, I don't know about him, but I know that at Purdue the CS degree requires the authoring of a compiler, some study of programming language theory, some classes about Database Theory (I can't remember the last time a vocational class taught tuple calculus and normalization), as well as some high level algorithm knowledge. I would consider at least that degree program a step above just some Java vocational classes, and his comment only highlights how egotistical he really is.
Just because he's really smart doesn't give him the excuse to be a real jackass.
You'd think if they were going to go with this name, they would've snapped up the domain name. This guy picked it up over a year ago. With Microsoft's awe-inspiring litigious power, let's see if he keeps it.
Unfortunately someone will eventually build a AI solver for the puzzles, run it side by side with the game, and then your idiots will once again dominate. You can't keep idiots away forever.
Microsoft is planning on taking their increase in earnings in order to build a humongeous flashlight, designed to wipe out all of those non-DRM enhanced gizmos out there.
FIFA 2005 was banned because of its recognition of Taiwan as a country, which China has been trying its best to supress for some time. It seems that while China is claiming that this is an action to combat piracy violations, in reality we must recognise that it is the Anti-porn minister who's running this campaign so there's more than piracy that's afoot here.
This just seems like a troubling idiom for Rails to take on, and it would have been more prudent if they had a more consistent convention than the ever changing rules of the English language.
looks like some words were lost in between narcoleptic episodes...
I should mention that enabling ELF format is still highly recommended (after the patch for this is released of course) and unless you do special programming work in linux then enabling a.out format is not recommended.
Not to mention that according to the EULA the maximum amount you can collect for damages from effects of the software is $5.00! That's so low as to be an insult. They might as well have said a penny and left it at that.
Won't 802.11a signals which operate in three bands all above 5GHz still pass through this stuff normally? I know that 802.11a doesn't pass through walls well anyway, but I would hate to purchase gallons of this stuff at their prices for a false sense of security.
Not to mention also that my cell phone wouldn't work in that room either. This stuff seems to be more trouble than it's worth. Better to build real network security that to depend on physical obstructions.
TFA is talking about modifications to process patents, not software patents. While it may affect embedded software (and there's still a question about whether or not that will be legal, according to a previous poster), it won't affect normal software until the law gets changed further. BTW, this probably has more to do with the manufacture of medicine than with computers.
Seeing no real disadvantage to having an overabundance of digital baggage, I find the concept of this article ludicrous.
Although this might be a good thing, since by the simulation, the comet will make a scary close pass to Mars from Nov 2022 to Jan 2023.
...why is it legal to transfer patents? Shouldn't the only person allowed to have a patent be the person who invented the item worthy of the patent? If patents are really supposed to benefit the inventors they shouldn't be allowed to be sold or hoarded. Make transfer of patents and copyright illegal, and this situation would not exist.
I seriously thought that China's well developed firewall technology would have made top ten easily.
I think I'll wait for the reviews on this one... while I don't mind the bone-conductive sound, the unit looks really bulky to me. Being a masters swimmer who practices 4-5 times a week, even though the thought of music in the water is thrilling, the unit seems like it'd be irritating to those who don't wear a cap or earplugs to have anything foreign feeling around the goggles, IMHO. Anyone here ever try these things on?
You got it... instead of a solution by radicals (which Abel's proof shows does not exist for general polynomials with degree 5 and higher) he takes it into differential equations and creates a powerseries, which essentially gives an approach to the real number root, which doesn't necessarily have a radical decomposition. Plus, the proof looks like a lot of handwaving at a cursory glance. I'm more inclined to believe that this is a wash.