Your not the only one. I remember seeing Mortal Kombat on TV and being impressed how they had managed to turn a 2D fighting game into a cheesy but watchable movie (I loved the 4-armed dude). Resident Evil was suprisingly OK as well. I saw Doom last week, it wasn't nearly as good.
Is Hollywood is desperate to get the 16-30 demographic back into the theatres that they will spend money on purchasing the rights to a popular game when they could easily make the exact same movie without the rights by changing a characters' names (which they will probably do anyway). The plot is so generic that they could make their own "lone man storms a castle to fight monsters" movie. I guess the Doom movie was just successful enough for them to think that maybe it is worth a try.
interesting, and true... would you classify those in the same set as "rigid rule structure where creative manipulation of those rules = success" the way one could for coding or gaming?
+1 Insightful to that. Speaking as somebody who has just taken the time to whip up a batch of cheese and bacon scones, I have always thought that programming and cooking where very similar pursuits. The same goes for music and gaming - there are rules, the satisfaction comes from using the rules (and knowing when you can break them) to creative ends. As an aside, I have always thought of coding in terms of recipes especially back in the days of C. You list all of your ingredients (variables) first and then write instuctions on how to mix them together to get the result you want.
I am not sure you will be able to action that without also upsizing your synergy. Remember, you need to walk the talk, otherwise you're just a blocker.
Also, I wish people would stop using the phrase "comes of age" to mean "is now a good thing" when applied to technology. Does it imply that previously OSS solution stacks were not "of age". The truth is that the OSS stacks have been at least as mature as any other for a long time.
Many years ago the Amiga mags would run articles in pretty much every issue proclaiming that the Amiga had finally "come of age" with the release of such-and-such software release. They used the headline so often that it became pretty much a joke.
Years later, in about 1997 (well after the Amiga's heyday) I came across an issue one of the last remaining Amiga mags in a bookstore. On a whim I flicked through it - the feature article had the headline "The Amiga Comes of Age!", I sadly shock my head and replaced the the magazine on the rack.
I am not sure the movie-going public is ready for 2 hours of a silver man nude.
Re:ICMP flaw #1 on Linux: it's in the kernel
on
Examining ICMP Flaws
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· Score: 1
Congrats you just earned yourself a foe. You need to read up on networking, and they maybe, just maybe, you might understand how stupid comparing HTTP, SMB, FTP etc to ICMP.
Thats a pretty hash call there, dcam. Sure the parent post was uninformed (even for Slashdot!), but its not like he killed your dog or anything. Anyway, I am sure he is regretting it already, what with the pile-on of negative replies.
Re:ICMP flaw #1 on Linux: it's in the kernel
on
Examining ICMP Flaws
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· Score: 1
OK, I'll conceed the point that a user-space network stack doesn't need to have terrible performance, but this implies very efficent messaging and data trasfer between kernel and user space (and probably scheduling tricks as well, off the top of my head).
Most current OSes in common usage on the internet (which is what we are talking about here) do not have this design.
Re:ICMP flaw #1 on Linux: it's in the kernel
on
Examining ICMP Flaws
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· Score: 2, Informative
You have been modded up, but this is a pretty uninformed argument. ICMP is part of TCP/IP, which you definitely want in the kernel. I guess it would be possible to put it user space, but performance would be terrible. In any case, user space wouldn't protect against what the article is talking about. As a matter of fact, people DO put HTTP servers in the kernel. There is more than one Linux in-kernel HTTP server around, and parts of IIS run in kernel on later versions of Windows. If you really, really care about performance (hint: Apache doesn't, its strength is flexibility) then the cost of kernel calls and copying data from user space to kernel space is important.
Re:Cliff's Notes: Start Using TCP Sequence Number
on
Examining ICMP Flaws
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· Score: 4, Informative
I cannot speak for the orginal implementors of the network stacks, but it was probably for performance (if they thought about it all). Back in the day, when the summers were warm and music was still good, it was not uncommon for the network stack to take a hefty portion of the processor load just processing packets. Shaving off a few cycles per packet by ignoring part of the spec probably looked like a good idea, especially since people were not as concerned with deliberate attacks back then.
The International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation have a writeup on this facility.
Quoting from the conclusion (my emphasis added):
Livermore Lab is already on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Superfund" list of most contaminated sites in the country. NIF will generate toxic and radioactive wastes; even its 'routine' operation will create pollution for the surrounding communities. The situation could be exacerbated by newly-planned experiments and the addition of materials with long-lived isotopes like plutonium. Few scientists believe NIF will achieve its scientific objective of ignition, though it will reach energies, temperatures, and densities of interest to weapons designers. In essence, it's a machine to keep weapons designers busy at their deadly pursuits. NIF runs counter to the U.S.' disarmament obligation under Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Many believe is violates Article 1 of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as well. From conducting laser fireball experiments, to providing detailed analyses of mix, to studying new fusion weapon concepts to creating a test bed for weapons effects, NIF will push the envelope of nuclear weapons physics - and demonstrate once again that the United States will not practice the disarmament it so sanctimoniously (and forcibly) prescribes for others.
Who would have thought a giant laser could be used for war!
I am sure that a lot of comments are going to say the 360 is powerful enough to emulate the slowish x86 in the current xbox, which is true. Unfortunately, it isn't that simple - the rest of the hardware (graphics/sound/controller, etc) is different as well. It may be that Microsoft decided that it was more trouble than it was worth.
Personally, I think it is a mistake, but obviously Microsoft couldn't afford to pull a playstation2 and put an entire PS1 on the die. This is the downside of going with off-the-shelf parts and not designing your own chips. No way were they ever going to convince Intel and whoever did their video hardware on the xbox to provide a mega-cheap shrunken version that they could cram onto the 360 motherboard.
"However, if the list data doesn't change very often then there is little point storing it in the database in the first place." Really? What about articles on the web or posts here in Slashdot? They almost never change and are usually stored in the database.
It doesn't matter that the content of the articles doesn't change, the whole "list of articles" keeps growing as new articles get posted, hence the need for a database.
What this article is about is data that doesn't change very ofter (or at all). In slashdot terms, this would be the list of moderator categories (insightful, funny, troll, etc). This list changes very infrequently, and could easily be cached (as in the article), or even hard-coded save a database query (I have no idea how it is actually implemented).
An excellent point, the article assumes that the data will not change very often, if at all. However, if the list data doesn't change very often then there is little point storing it in the database in the first place.
Not to say that the article was actually bad or anything, its just a little light on when you would want to use this, and what some of the problems with this approach are.
Keeping frequently used data in static singletons, who would have thought it! Seriously, this is probably good advice for someone just starting out programming, but I would expect anyone with any experience at all to know about this. Its hardly a revolutionary new technique.
I tried the free trial of the online game last year and loved it. PP is a starge concept for a MMRPG but in practice it works really well. I ended up ditching it when my free trial ran out since it really just sucked away my time, but having a standalone boxed version for casual play is a great idea. An added bonus is that the online game is refreshingly free of 133+ powergamers.
They deserve their success.
Link to interview with the author...
on
Iron Council
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· Score: 1
There is an interesting interview with China Miéville at http://www.believermag.com/issues/200504/interview _mieville.php.
I have read both Perdido Street Station and The Scar and enjoyed both of them. The reviewer is right that his characters are sometimes a little hard to care about, but thats not really the point of the books, the setting and writing style really grabbed me. From the interview I linked to, Miéville seems like the quintesential geek author and I would recommend his books to anyone on Slashdot, although I haven't read Iron Council yet.
Here is a potted review of The Scar that I wrote for my personal book log:
The Scar - China Miéville
This is the sequel to Perdido Street Station, set in the same world but thousands of miles away from the damp city setting of the first book. This is set mainly on the open ocean, this allows for all sorts of navel battles, pirates, rigs that pump magic like oil from the ground, flying golems, a backstory involving aliens, etc all told in a gritty yet lyrical style, perhaps best described as maximalist. Miéville's richly spiced crockpot of fantasy genre favourites added to some generous scoops of genuinely new ideas reads like an instant classic. In many ways it is even better than the first book, although they both suffer slightly from having abrupt endings. Nevertheless, this is still a great book.
The Seattle Space Needle uses a one-horsepower motor to rotate its restaraunt once per hour. It can be done easily.
I'm sure with modern technology, we could design a much more powerful motor that would spin the restaurant at 15,000 rpm.
Thats how they clean it. Every night the last person out fulls the restaraunt with warm-soapy water and then pushes the spin-cycle button. 45 minutes later the whole place is clean, fresh, and ready for the next day.
More computer assisted puzzles
on
Programming Puzzles
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· Score: 3, Informative
This idea is not new, the guy that runs www.puzzlebeast.com uses a similar program to generate ingenious puzzles. Read about the program he uses, then check our his java applets if you have a an hour or eight to spare.
Umm, wasn't Douglas Adams's death pretty unexpected. I mean, he was only in his fourties and still in good heath right up until the end. I don't think the producers were delibrately holding back the movie just on the wild chance the author might die.
In the case of Superman, this movie has been talked about for months, so they are not trying to cash in on Reeve's death. If anything, it will hurt the movie. In any case, what would he say anyway, the Superman IV was years ago (and didn't do so well) so he wouldn't have been cast in the lead role even if he hadn't had his accident.
Slashdot Mirror
Your not the only one. I remember seeing Mortal Kombat on TV and being impressed how they had managed to turn a 2D fighting game into a cheesy but watchable movie (I loved the 4-armed dude). Resident Evil was suprisingly OK as well.
I saw Doom last week, it wasn't nearly as good.
Is Hollywood is desperate to get the 16-30 demographic back into the theatres that they will spend money on purchasing the rights to a popular game when they could easily make the exact same movie without the rights by changing a characters' names (which they will probably do anyway). The plot is so generic that they could make their own "lone man storms a castle to fight monsters" movie.
I guess the Doom movie was just successful enough for them to think that maybe it is worth a try.
+1 Insightful to that. Speaking as somebody who has just taken the time to whip up a batch of cheese and bacon scones, I have always thought that programming and cooking where very similar pursuits. The same goes for music and gaming - there are rules, the satisfaction comes from using the rules (and knowing when you can break them) to creative ends.
As an aside, I have always thought of coding in terms of recipes especially back in the days of C. You list all of your ingredients (variables) first and then write instuctions on how to mix them together to get the result you want.
I am not sure you will be able to action that without also upsizing your synergy. Remember, you need to walk the talk, otherwise you're just a blocker.
Many years ago the Amiga mags would run articles in pretty much every issue proclaiming that the Amiga had finally "come of age" with the release of such-and-such software release. They used the headline so often that it became pretty much a joke.
Years later, in about 1997 (well after the Amiga's heyday) I came across an issue one of the last remaining Amiga mags in a bookstore. On a whim I flicked through it - the feature article had the headline "The Amiga Comes of Age!", I sadly shock my head and replaced the the magazine on the rack.
I agree, this whole story is a load of carp.
Thats a pretty hash call there, dcam. Sure the parent post was uninformed (even for Slashdot!), but its not like he killed your dog or anything. Anyway, I am sure he is regretting it already, what with the pile-on of negative replies.
Most current OSes in common usage on the internet (which is what we are talking about here) do not have this design.
You have been modded up, but this is a pretty uninformed argument. ICMP is part of TCP/IP, which you definitely want in the kernel. I guess it would be possible to put it user space, but performance would be terrible. In any case, user space wouldn't protect against what the article is talking about.
As a matter of fact, people DO put HTTP servers in the kernel. There is more than one Linux in-kernel HTTP server around, and parts of IIS run in kernel on later versions of Windows. If you really, really care about performance (hint: Apache doesn't, its strength is flexibility) then the cost of kernel calls and copying data from user space to kernel space is important.
I cannot speak for the orginal implementors of the network stacks, but it was probably for performance (if they thought about it all). Back in the day, when the summers were warm and music was still good, it was not uncommon for the network stack to take a hefty portion of the processor load just processing packets. Shaving off a few cycles per packet by ignoring part of the spec probably looked like a good idea, especially since people were not as concerned with deliberate attacks back then.
Nothing in the patent nullifies my pagerank defeating technique - put lots of links to my homepage in slashdot posts modded to +5 funny!
Well played, young man, well played.
Quoting from the conclusion (my emphasis added):
Who would have thought a giant laser could be used for war!Personally, I think it is a mistake, but obviously Microsoft couldn't afford to pull a playstation2 and put an entire PS1 on the die. This is the downside of going with off-the-shelf parts and not designing your own chips. No way were they ever going to convince Intel and whoever did their video hardware on the xbox to provide a mega-cheap shrunken version that they could cram onto the 360 motherboard.
Its not duped, this article has been clustered.
I mean, haven't these people watch any horror movies at all! Mark my words, there will be tears and/or bloodshed before nap time.
What this article is about is data that doesn't change very ofter (or at all). In slashdot terms, this would be the list of moderator categories (insightful, funny, troll, etc). This list changes very infrequently, and could easily be cached (as in the article), or even hard-coded save a database query (I have no idea how it is actually implemented).
Not to say that the article was actually bad or anything, its just a little light on when you would want to use this, and what some of the problems with this approach are.
Keeping frequently used data in static singletons, who would have thought it!
Seriously, this is probably good advice for someone just starting out programming, but I would expect anyone with any experience at all to know about this. Its hardly a revolutionary new technique.
I tried the free trial of the online game last year and loved it. PP is a starge concept for a MMRPG but in practice it works really well. I ended up ditching it when my free trial ran out since it really just sucked away my time, but having a standalone boxed version for casual play is a great idea. An added bonus is that the online game is refreshingly free of 133+ powergamers.
They deserve their success.
I have read both Perdido Street Station and The Scar and enjoyed both of them. The reviewer is right that his characters are sometimes a little hard to care about, but thats not really the point of the books, the setting and writing style really grabbed me. From the interview I linked to, Miéville seems like the quintesential geek author and I would recommend his books to anyone on Slashdot, although I haven't read Iron Council yet.
Here is a potted review of The Scar that I wrote for my personal book log:
The Scar - China Miéville
This is the sequel to Perdido Street Station, set in the same world but thousands of miles away from the damp city setting of the first book. This is set mainly on the open ocean, this allows for all sorts of navel battles, pirates, rigs that pump magic like oil from the ground, flying golems, a backstory involving aliens, etc all told in a gritty yet lyrical style, perhaps best described as maximalist. Miéville's richly spiced crockpot of fantasy genre favourites added to some generous scoops of genuinely new ideas reads like an instant classic. In many ways it is even better than the first book, although they both suffer slightly from having abrupt endings. Nevertheless, this is still a great book.
Thats how they clean it. Every night the last person out fulls the restaraunt with warm-soapy water and then pushes the spin-cycle button. 45 minutes later the whole place is clean, fresh, and ready for the next day.
This idea is not new, the guy that runs www.puzzlebeast.com uses a similar program to generate ingenious puzzles. Read about the program he uses, then check our his java applets if you have a an hour or eight to spare.
Umm, wasn't Douglas Adams's death pretty unexpected. I mean, he was only in his fourties and still in good heath right up until the end. I don't think the producers were delibrately holding back the movie just on the wild chance the author might die. In the case of Superman, this movie has been talked about for months, so they are not trying to cash in on Reeve's death. If anything, it will hurt the movie. In any case, what would he say anyway, the Superman IV was years ago (and didn't do so well) so he wouldn't have been cast in the lead role even if he hadn't had his accident.