If you mean pattern matching such as using regexes in code, there's a module that does so. It's named "re", I believe (haven't touched python in a couple months, and I have a horrible memory for module names), and while not as quick to use as Perl's, has many features.
I wasn't trolling. I stated my opinion, what I thought the problem was, and you'll notice that I even stated that my turn-off from the graphics would make me think less of the game, so I wasn't going to play it and then bitch about a game that didn't deserve it gameplay-wise.
Did you even read the post, or did you just see I mentioned Wind Waker and rip into me?
Like some have mentioned, Python is a great place to start learning. It's platform indpendent (point #1), object-oriented (point #2), and not VB or Java (points 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.)
My hatred of Java and VB aside, however, I would add this: Once you get a good grasp of how to program in Python, it would be time to cut your teeth on a lower-level language. C or C++ would work here. It's going to be a little rough, as you get used to the different requirements, but you'll learn a lot more about Comp Sci.
Also, and this could possibly go before you learned C or C++, you may wish to take a look at design patterns once you get the basics down. Addison Wesley has an excellent book on patterns here (No, there is no referer BS in the link) which I encourage you to look at.
Giving a young person a stout is not a sure way of turning them off from beer. I had to cut my teeth on stouts and porters from local breweries because I couldn't stand the flavor of piss-water (Read: Budweiser and their ilk) and I was looking for something to that was a decent, drinkable beer. I wanted to find something I could enjoy with friends while we were playing poker or whatever.
Amazingly, I've developed a taste for beer in general now, and I can appreciate good pilsners now as well (Budweiser, Coors, etc. are still not good pilsner. I'm talking Pilsner Urquel, etc.)
There are plenty of other innovative companies out there than Nintendo and Square Enix. I'd like to see more stuff that was innovative in the manner of Ikaruga than another FF "innovation". Granted, gameplay changes from game to game, but it always seems to fall back to different gimmick mechanisms to allow you to perform the same option.
Renamed "summons" between VII and VIII- Oooo, now their "Guardian Forces!". I can't learn spells, and I don't equip items to get them this time...I have to Draw them! Oh, and in IX, I get to learn them BY equipping items!
Honestly, as far as Gameplay, Squaresoft (and later, Square Enix) realized that it's not INNOVATIVE gameplay that keeps a franchise going- it's familiar yet innovative gameplay that does it. And that's why I'll keep buying the games- I have a good idea of what I'm getting.
Nintendo suffers from the opposite problem- too much innovation and change between games, and a constantly irritated fanbase. I know I'm not alone in skipping Wind Waker. I don't care how great of a game it is- I don't like how it looks, and I'm not going to force myself to play it. That would take a potentially "Great" game and make it mediocre. Super Mario Sunshine? Great game. I still wanted the familiar "mario" game for that system, though. Something that I could feel nostalgic about, but that had enough change in it to not feel like Super Mario World all over again.
Considering TFA says they're running Solaris, I'm not quite seeing anything here other than a blatent zealot's assumption that if it's not Linux, it must be Windows, and Evil.
I had a wired NIC problem with Ubuntu and my old Sony Vaio notebook. It came down to doing a little googling on another box to find the right driver to select, because for some reason the install couldn't figure it out. I didn't have to install drivers, but I did have to know which one to use, so it technically didn't work "out of the box".
I seem to recall some stupid NVidia update a couple years ago that got into Auto Update somehow. I know for sure that it completely fubared your graphics setting and gave you one option: 640x480, 16 colors.
That might be the problem. I've seen quite a few instances where auto-updates applied an update that then completely takes a system down. I've seen systems come up but fail to ever get past a login screen. Hell, I've watched servers that were updated manually get severely messed up and cause downtime thanks to a Windows "Update".
Long story short- Automatic updates are just asking for trouble. I use auto-download, but manual install. At least that way I know if I'm getting a stupid Windows Driver update, a system update, or some other piece of junk update, and if the system bails on me I have a baseline to know if it was from an update or not.
The reason these attacks spread is that the binary code is essentially a monoculture crop -- all clones of each other. Why not take the SID of a system, or some GUID, and use it to morph all the binary images on a system in a unique way for that system?
That's all reversible information, though. Somewhere, for an executable to work, this information would need to be stored, and on the disk. Considering that nothing stored on disk is completely secure, I don't see this as a viable option.
Consider the GUID option: That GUID is going to have to be known so that everytime a new DLL or EXE or other executable code file is copied, on an OS level, to the system, that it be modified to include the correct jump points. It would be trivial to write a hack that grabs this GUID stored somewhere. Knowing that this GUID is used to jumble the locations of a process, the whole thing could be "undone". Even if you were to generate the GUID on the fly (with each execution) the problem arises that the original executable code is still on the disk somewhere- and that you can get at that file. The only security this creates would be fleeting, because it depends on the method of "encrypting" the file with the GUID be secret or that the method the GUID is created with be secret. Otherwise, it's all easily repeatable by anyone who takes the time to determine how the GUID is generated.
Even in a best-case scenario, in which the GUID is generated based on some known information and some pseudo-random information, applied on execution of the file on the OS level, and then the file is run from memory, could still fall prey to some easy hacks: Patterns. If the file is ever stored on the disk, it can be analysed, patterns generated from it, and memory locations could be determined from that.
Basically, any executable stored is vulnerable to this unless the code is secure to begin with. Instead of patching the entire system with a solution that is more of a cold medicine-style fix, the key is to have both have engineers design good specs and to have programmers write better code.
You laugh, but my PS1 memory card failed on me the first time I made it to the last cavern in FFVII. This was after I had gotten the gold chocobo, Knights of the Round, etc., etc.
I agree with your sentiment, but I think the point RMS is making is that every computer needs a graphics chip of some form to drive the display, and that nVidia is a major player. 802.11 is a wireless spec and not necessary in the sense that graphics chips are. Most people could get away with a regular 10/100 NIC, and the wireless is just a convenience.
Granted, I love my wireless, but not having wireless wouldn't stop me from using the computer. Having no display adapter would.
Considering the shortage of nurses here in the States, I'd say that that the news wouldn't care if the nurse was male, female, or a tranny, as long as they were qualified nurses.
I wasn't trying to imply that Creative's patent was valid- just dispell this myth that they only started working on MP3 devices after the iPod came out. I think it is a stupid patent.
I haven't seen the actual patent, and don't have time to look it up at the moment, but the original Nomad used a series of nested menus for navigation- and was released well before the iPod.
Not everyone has a mail service that supports 50-100 MB attachments. I send and receive files through an IM client regularly that are larger than my mail service (gmail) supports in a single message. Why bother splitting up a large file when I can send it in one fell swoop through AIM (or MSN, or ICQ, or whatever)?
No, it is not warez or pr0n, either. Sometimes it's a database that I want someone to take a look at. Other times it's just the quick way of sending a portion of a directory structure- zip the whole bastard up and send that, then direct them to the correct files.
Hell, I've even sent ISOs to people. Sending the ISO to a live Ubuntu disc was the only way for them to get it when their web browser took a crap and wouldn't load.
In short, just because you don't need it, doesn't mean nobody needs it.
If GTA is literature, it's the Dean Koontz of literature.
At least pick something that has a little more depth to it. Fable is literature. GTA is pulp fiction.
I guess I don't see the problem with accidental art. It is not the "artist" who makes it art- it is the response of the people who experience it. A piece that is created with intent but speaks to nobody is not art, but a piece that was created "because I felt like it" might- it all comes down to the response, not the creator.
Calvin and Hobbes is art, but Watterson has said that he didn't set out to make it that way- he just wanted to make a good cartoon strip.
I disagree that intent is required. I can create a picture with the intent of conveying a message, but that doesn't mean people will get the message. This might be due to my lack of talent (admitted- I can't draw stick figures to save my life, I don't dare touch anything more complicated) or it might be due to an inability to find the right pressure point to push with the picture.
More important, I would think, would be the desire to share an experience or emotion with someone. Take A Clockwork Orange, for example. Many consider it art. It tells a story, of a troubled youth, and it is both entertainment and art. It draws the viewer into this world that is familiar and yet different, and takes them on an emotional ride. It was one of Kubrick's better works, IMHO.
Now, as another point, take, for example, Final Fantasy 7. It tells the story of a troubled youth (Cloud) in an interactive manner. I would consider it art- it touched me on several levels- Aeris' death, realization of Cloud's past, his interactions with others as he came into himself- these were all art. That game played my emotions like a fiddle. I don't think they intended to convey a message, and I definitely doubt they intended to convey a particular message. Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, and what one person gets out of it might be vastly different than someone else.
News story from the event. The article is light on the details, and at one point refers to "pirated copies" while at another refers to "more installations than licenses".
Having seen both many a time in a corporate environment, this is not always a company decision- users are to blame on occasion as well.
The reason for the shift matters, but the fact that they shifted successfully says a lot, especially to smaller organizations that might not be able to afford enough licenses. If those style shops start switching over to avoid being out of compliance, things could start to get real interesting.
I'm going to leave the rest of your post alone- suffice it to say you make some good points, even if I don't necessarily agree. However:
You would have about as much choice about your fate as you have in your current life. Quite likely you'd know the risks and you'd have the opportunity to turn back. (and some other player would botch the spell...) If you want to create the history of your character yourself, well, create the past before the game as you wish. But the only real fame you have is the one you've gained through the actions in the world. If you've proven yourself a coward, no amount of storytelling about your invented past will reverse it.
And if you hate the fame you earned with what you just did, either hide it well (never admit, slay witnesses) or you can always create a new character.
I thought we were playing a game? You know, something which we do for entertainment? I wouldn't bother trying to hide it or create a new character- I'd leave that game behind, and find something else. That's why I enjoy these games as they are- I can gain noteriety or fame through my actions, but it is always from a decision I made- Do I take on those two 24 elites with my 23 Druid? Can I? If I fail and people laugh at it, oh well- I made the choice to try. Or do I succeed, and gain the respect of my group and guild? The concept of the spell backfiring is one of deus ex machina, and that is never a good idea in gaming. The player needs to feel like their character is in their control.
All of my characters in WoW have had their own "personalities", from the bitchy priest to the can-do druid. They've all done a different series of quests, as I decide where I'm going to explore and what quests I want to do. I don't need scripted events to make that happen- the different interactions I've made provide it for me.
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If you mean pattern matching such as using regexes in code, there's a module that does so. It's named "re", I believe (haven't touched python in a couple months, and I have a horrible memory for module names), and while not as quick to use as Perl's, has many features.
I wasn't trolling. I stated my opinion, what I thought the problem was, and you'll notice that I even stated that my turn-off from the graphics would make me think less of the game, so I wasn't going to play it and then bitch about a game that didn't deserve it gameplay-wise. Did you even read the post, or did you just see I mentioned Wind Waker and rip into me?
My hatred of Java and VB aside, however, I would add this: Once you get a good grasp of how to program in Python, it would be time to cut your teeth on a lower-level language. C or C++ would work here. It's going to be a little rough, as you get used to the different requirements, but you'll learn a lot more about Comp Sci.
Also, and this could possibly go before you learned C or C++, you may wish to take a look at design patterns once you get the basics down. Addison Wesley has an excellent book on patterns here (No, there is no referer BS in the link) which I encourage you to look at.
Giving a young person a stout is not a sure way of turning them off from beer. I had to cut my teeth on stouts and porters from local breweries because I couldn't stand the flavor of piss-water (Read: Budweiser and their ilk) and I was looking for something to that was a decent, drinkable beer. I wanted to find something I could enjoy with friends while we were playing poker or whatever.
Amazingly, I've developed a taste for beer in general now, and I can appreciate good pilsners now as well (Budweiser, Coors, etc. are still not good pilsner. I'm talking Pilsner Urquel, etc.)
Renamed "summons" between VII and VIII- Oooo, now their "Guardian Forces!". I can't learn spells, and I don't equip items to get them this time...I have to Draw them! Oh, and in IX, I get to learn them BY equipping items!
Honestly, as far as Gameplay, Squaresoft (and later, Square Enix) realized that it's not INNOVATIVE gameplay that keeps a franchise going- it's familiar yet innovative gameplay that does it. And that's why I'll keep buying the games- I have a good idea of what I'm getting.
Nintendo suffers from the opposite problem- too much innovation and change between games, and a constantly irritated fanbase. I know I'm not alone in skipping Wind Waker. I don't care how great of a game it is- I don't like how it looks, and I'm not going to force myself to play it. That would take a potentially "Great" game and make it mediocre. Super Mario Sunshine? Great game. I still wanted the familiar "mario" game for that system, though. Something that I could feel nostalgic about, but that had enough change in it to not feel like Super Mario World all over again.
Considering TFA says they're running Solaris, I'm not quite seeing anything here other than a blatent zealot's assumption that if it's not Linux, it must be Windows, and Evil.
I had a wired NIC problem with Ubuntu and my old Sony Vaio notebook. It came down to doing a little googling on another box to find the right driver to select, because for some reason the install couldn't figure it out. I didn't have to install drivers, but I did have to know which one to use, so it technically didn't work "out of the box".
Honestly, where are you going to find ten names for that?
I seem to recall some stupid NVidia update a couple years ago that got into Auto Update somehow. I know for sure that it completely fubared your graphics setting and gave you one option: 640x480, 16 colors.
That might be the problem. I've seen quite a few instances where auto-updates applied an update that then completely takes a system down. I've seen systems come up but fail to ever get past a login screen. Hell, I've watched servers that were updated manually get severely messed up and cause downtime thanks to a Windows "Update".
Long story short- Automatic updates are just asking for trouble. I use auto-download, but manual install. At least that way I know if I'm getting a stupid Windows Driver update, a system update, or some other piece of junk update, and if the system bails on me I have a baseline to know if it was from an update or not.
That's all reversible information, though. Somewhere, for an executable to work, this information would need to be stored, and on the disk. Considering that nothing stored on disk is completely secure, I don't see this as a viable option.
Consider the GUID option: That GUID is going to have to be known so that everytime a new DLL or EXE or other executable code file is copied, on an OS level, to the system, that it be modified to include the correct jump points. It would be trivial to write a hack that grabs this GUID stored somewhere. Knowing that this GUID is used to jumble the locations of a process, the whole thing could be "undone". Even if you were to generate the GUID on the fly (with each execution) the problem arises that the original executable code is still on the disk somewhere- and that you can get at that file. The only security this creates would be fleeting, because it depends on the method of "encrypting" the file with the GUID be secret or that the method the GUID is created with be secret. Otherwise, it's all easily repeatable by anyone who takes the time to determine how the GUID is generated.
Even in a best-case scenario, in which the GUID is generated based on some known information and some pseudo-random information, applied on execution of the file on the OS level, and then the file is run from memory, could still fall prey to some easy hacks: Patterns. If the file is ever stored on the disk, it can be analysed, patterns generated from it, and memory locations could be determined from that.
Basically, any executable stored is vulnerable to this unless the code is secure to begin with. Instead of patching the entire system with a solution that is more of a cold medicine-style fix, the key is to have both have engineers design good specs and to have programmers write better code.
You laugh, but my PS1 memory card failed on me the first time I made it to the last cavern in FFVII. This was after I had gotten the gold chocobo, Knights of the Round, etc., etc.
I agree with your sentiment, but I think the point RMS is making is that every computer needs a graphics chip of some form to drive the display, and that nVidia is a major player. 802.11 is a wireless spec and not necessary in the sense that graphics chips are. Most people could get away with a regular 10/100 NIC, and the wireless is just a convenience.
Granted, I love my wireless, but not having wireless wouldn't stop me from using the computer. Having no display adapter would.
Considering the shortage of nurses here in the States, I'd say that that the news wouldn't care if the nurse was male, female, or a tranny, as long as they were qualified nurses.
I wasn't trying to imply that Creative's patent was valid- just dispell this myth that they only started working on MP3 devices after the iPod came out. I think it is a stupid patent.
I haven't seen the actual patent, and don't have time to look it up at the moment, but the original Nomad used a series of nested menus for navigation- and was released well before the iPod.
I'm not sure if it matters who wins. In the end, we all lose.
Well, unless they find the sticks that are up their collective asses first, and remove them. We might be able to mitigate some of the damages then.
Not everyone has a mail service that supports 50-100 MB attachments. I send and receive files through an IM client regularly that are larger than my mail service (gmail) supports in a single message. Why bother splitting up a large file when I can send it in one fell swoop through AIM (or MSN, or ICQ, or whatever)?
No, it is not warez or pr0n, either. Sometimes it's a database that I want someone to take a look at. Other times it's just the quick way of sending a portion of a directory structure- zip the whole bastard up and send that, then direct them to the correct files.
Hell, I've even sent ISOs to people. Sending the ISO to a live Ubuntu disc was the only way for them to get it when their web browser took a crap and wouldn't load.
In short, just because you don't need it, doesn't mean nobody needs it.
I'll bring the chocolate and graham crackers. Anyone else wanna do the hotdogs?
Ummm...
In pretty much every model of continental theory, Australia is it's own continent.
Just an FYI.
If GTA is literature, it's the Dean Koontz of literature. At least pick something that has a little more depth to it. Fable is literature. GTA is pulp fiction.
I guess I don't see the problem with accidental art. It is not the "artist" who makes it art- it is the response of the people who experience it. A piece that is created with intent but speaks to nobody is not art, but a piece that was created "because I felt like it" might- it all comes down to the response, not the creator.
Calvin and Hobbes is art, but Watterson has said that he didn't set out to make it that way- he just wanted to make a good cartoon strip.
I disagree that intent is required. I can create a picture with the intent of conveying a message, but that doesn't mean people will get the message. This might be due to my lack of talent (admitted- I can't draw stick figures to save my life, I don't dare touch anything more complicated) or it might be due to an inability to find the right pressure point to push with the picture.
More important, I would think, would be the desire to share an experience or emotion with someone. Take A Clockwork Orange, for example. Many consider it art. It tells a story, of a troubled youth, and it is both entertainment and art. It draws the viewer into this world that is familiar and yet different, and takes them on an emotional ride. It was one of Kubrick's better works, IMHO.
Now, as another point, take, for example, Final Fantasy 7. It tells the story of a troubled youth (Cloud) in an interactive manner. I would consider it art- it touched me on several levels- Aeris' death, realization of Cloud's past, his interactions with others as he came into himself- these were all art. That game played my emotions like a fiddle. I don't think they intended to convey a message, and I definitely doubt they intended to convey a particular message. Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, and what one person gets out of it might be vastly different than someone else.
News story from the event. The article is light on the details, and at one point refers to "pirated copies" while at another refers to "more installations than licenses".
Having seen both many a time in a corporate environment, this is not always a company decision- users are to blame on occasion as well.
The reason for the shift matters, but the fact that they shifted successfully says a lot, especially to smaller organizations that might not be able to afford enough licenses. If those style shops start switching over to avoid being out of compliance, things could start to get real interesting.
I'm going to leave the rest of your post alone- suffice it to say you make some good points, even if I don't necessarily agree. However:
I thought we were playing a game? You know, something which we do for entertainment? I wouldn't bother trying to hide it or create a new character- I'd leave that game behind, and find something else. That's why I enjoy these games as they are- I can gain noteriety or fame through my actions, but it is always from a decision I made- Do I take on those two 24 elites with my 23 Druid? Can I? If I fail and people laugh at it, oh well- I made the choice to try. Or do I succeed, and gain the respect of my group and guild? The concept of the spell backfiring is one of deus ex machina, and that is never a good idea in gaming. The player needs to feel like their character is in their control.All of my characters in WoW have had their own "personalities", from the bitchy priest to the can-do druid. They've all done a different series of quests, as I decide where I'm going to explore and what quests I want to do. I don't need scripted events to make that happen- the different interactions I've made provide it for me.