09.27.06
Posted in Programming, ALPHA at 11:49 am by Nick
Time: 1 hour
Total: 2 hours
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So, I realize I’ve been very relaxed about updating my ALPHA project. This is soon to change, as ALPHA is as much a class as anything else. I’ll work harder on updating it.
That said, I have quite a few assignments from CS III that I will post later tonight when I am at home. The teacher has seriously been pulling at some painful nerves for many people, but I must say I’ve learned a lot of Ada syntax and methodology quite quickly. The techniques are really nothing new (I’ll be excited if we do talk about newer stuff, I like learning new programming techniques), but we are incrementally learning how to use Ada.
Ada itself is a very lengthy programming language. Printing out text to the screen is no short function call (Ada -> Ada.Text_IO.Put_Line(”Look, text!”); C++ -> cout < < "Look, text!\n"; C -> printf( “Look, text!\n”); ) and is generally harder to type because of the capital letters and underscores. However, its strong typing and extreme flexibility (and lack of pointers to keep track of) is pretty nice. Arrays in Ada allow you to specify the index! This is amazing since in C/C++ all index’s start at 0, and they must be numbers. It is nice in Ada to be able to use any discrete data type for an index.
I still have a feeling I can emulate some of the strong data type features of Ada in C++ using classes and data types. It may not be as pretty, but it will be good none the less. Many errors occur from range checking on integers, so that will be one focal point. The goal here is to have C++ programmers program, but not use -any- built-in data types. Integers, Characters, Floats, Doubles, Shorts, Longs will all be recreated classes. I expect this will slow down just about all programs using it, but I doubt the actual speed loss will be signifcant nor noticable.
There is much planning to do yet. I also need to find a large block of free time to commit to this cause. Supposing this turns out well, I will use it to finally work on Kaladea, which will be a rather large scale test of it. Then again, Kaladea is a long project. Speaking of which, it is techinically part of this project I have some design specs I still need to work out. I’m also working on updating the KaladeaMUD web site, which will contain most KaladeaMUD developments. Which also reminds me I need to work on a MySQL inteface in C++ for KaladeaMUD. Chances are I need to look into getting Ruby to work with KaladeaMUD as well, or at least design an interface to call the script interpreters.
Since KaladeaMUD will be query for -ALL- information now (very little should be kept in memory) it allows me to leave out interaction between the server and the scripts (apart from calling the scripts) and the sharing of memory. This was a huge problem before (it is incredibly hard to share data between programs), but now it should all be peachy if implemented correctly.
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09.21.06
Posted in General at 11:53 pm by Nick
We are looking at the return of more personal blogs on here. I’ll probably start cross-posting stuff from Xanga on here again. I doubt I have all that many readers, and anything I throw out on Xanga applies just as much here anyway.
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Wow, this week actually moved pretty quick. I can only imagine how long my days will be when I actually start doing stuff for the play. Which reminds me, I really need to get on that. ::sigh:: Anywho, David and I did a homework session at Panera, which was nice. The atmosphere was very good for working on GB II stuff (The Prince), and I finished up my physics. Yay. The food is also amazing.
In any event, after some rain and a decent amount of doubt, David and I ran tonight. Everyone who said they would go canceled so we went a little faster and harder, and it was absolutely wonderful. The strong wind, the fair temperature, a decent amount of cars and a decent time. I’m impressed, but I think we can do better. We’ve decided to alternate running tracks (one hilly, one semi-hilly, one flat) during the week. We are also running tomorrow night if anyone wants to join in (9pm-ish).
I missed the prank today. I was kind of sad until I smelled the hallways. Sounds like it was amusing. Congrats to Andrew Doyle and Kate Henny for winning King/Queen. I wasn’t around to vote, but I’m guessing that might have been my balot anyway.
Life is moving fast. There is never enough time in the day to get everything done, and because of it my homework is suffering. Next week I really need to remedy this problem. My computers seem so lonely, pouring out music and idling all day until I come along to check my e-mail and hop on for an hour to poke around (unless, of course, I have a programming assignment to do).
The Prince is absolutely amazing. It is so incredibly applicable its almost mind boggling, and Demoss teaches it in a very interesting way (today I was scribe and I got to wear a sombraro all hour 
). I have a feeling when I have the money to do so I will invest in my own copy and reread it, and probably keep in on my shelf always. I do plan to run a business someday, and I plan to follow most of Machiavelli’s points.
I finally went to the post office and picked up the first Post Secret book. I think everyone needs to see it. It was absolutely amazing, and I would assume life changing for many people. It is so honest, and it displays so many sides to people its almost indescribable. I have the second one ordered (I ordered both many months ago when I won the MudMagic String Library challenge), and now I read there will be a third.
For the unknowing, Post Secret is project where people send in postcards with secrets on them. They are then displayed for the world to see, totally anonymous. It sounds so liberating, I plan to take part in it sometime soon when I have the time to make a few cards. Check out the web site (updated every Sunday) at http://postsecret.blogspot.com/.
I also found this touching (from http://postsecret.blogspot.com/):
—–Original Message—–
Subject: biography
Today I went to Barnes and Noble to purchase your PostSecret book. I had sent in secrets that had never appeared on the website, and now felt that looking at or buying the book was a secret in itself. I was having difficulty finding it, and was reluctant to ask for help. After about 20 minutes of searching, I finally caved and asked an associate to help me find it. The woman led me right to it - in the Biography section.
I was shocked.
How can this be considered a biography? A biography of who? It was written by hundreds of strangers - how is this biographical? I sat down with the book, and began to read. I slowly realized the answer to my question. I was reading a biography of myself. Of myself and everyone else I know, or have known. None of the secrets I sent in were published, but the secrets I was reading were mine nonetheless. I felt them, I felt their reality, I knew their depth and their strength. These secrets belong to everyone. This book is a biography of the human spirit, of human nature. It is the deepest, most true biography I have in fact ever read. Most biographies leave out the secrets, those small nuggets of stark reality that people keep inside themselves. This biography is nothing but that - and for that it is invaluable.
-Georgia
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It sounds kind of corny and dumb, but check out the site. Ask me and we’ll look at the book sometime. Everyone has something they can confess, and PostSecret is a good way to do that. Give it a chance, you may find yourself drawn back each week to see the new ones posted.
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09.17.06
Posted in Deep Thoughts at 8:57 pm by Nick
“Is Ignorance Bliss?”
(proposed by David J.)
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Is ignorance bliss? There are many ways to argue this one.
Yes, much of the time it is. If there were a giant meteor heading for the Earth and no one knew about it life would continue as normal. If we all knew, life as we know it would change drastically.
Cipher from the Matrix is a good example. People within the Matrix live normally, not knowing what the -real- world is truly like. When he was pulled from virtual reality and thrust into a completey different and far more depressing world, he wanted to go back. He didn’t want to know the -real- world. In fact, an actual quote from him from the movie is, “Ignorance is bliss.”
On the other hand, there are many who crave knowledge and despise ignorance. And the more you learn the more you realize the less we as a race know about everything. I would argue that the more you know the more content you are with your life. People who are constantly learning live longer, happier, and better lives. That is bliss.
Which way do you lean?
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09.10.06
Posted in Deep Thoughts at 9:23 pm by Nick
What is behind the proverb, “It takes money to make money”?
(pulled from the web)
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Does it take money to make money? Not always. I think the phrase should be “It takes money to make big money.”
When you are old enough you can go get a job and make money with little cost. Yes, there would be a little bit of money involved (gas (which means a car…), a uniform if applicable, etc), but thats not really the point. A person can make money with a very small investment on their part, but they wont be making huge sums. If that were possible, that whole market (no matter how secret) would be flooded and the big money would stop rolling.
However, how do all of these successful businesses start up? They require money. In fact, the giving of money to potential money making sources is itself a money making business (venture capital). A good example of needing money to make money can be seen in the web 1.0 and 2.0 companies that were actually successful. Amazon, Google, Yahoo, EBay, PayPal, Digg, and many others were small hits before they recieve serious money to flesh out their business. Now their creators are pretty much rolling on money.
Also, having money can make you money. Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, high yield saving accounts, and other types of investments might tie up your money, but (if you do it correctly) you will gain money out of it. Then, in turn, you can roll that money made and the money it was made with into more investments, and eventually gain rather significant sums of money… from your money.
There is truth behind the proverb, “It takes money to make money.” But if you have no money, don’t be discouraged. You don’t need much (if any) to start making money, just don’t expect to be pulling in the big bucks without serious effort.
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09.09.06
Posted in Programming, General, ALPHA, Computer Science at 11:42 pm by Nick
It has been very difficult to determine what I wanted to do this year. I’ve neglected my computer so much recently I’m sure it should be something computer related.
On that note, two things come to mind. One, my long running interest (and chance to become even minorly famous among computer sciene nerds) , would be to attempt to speed up or break A*. This would be difficult, but I believe it can be done. Alternatively, I wanted to save such a thing for my undergraduate thesis.
Second, create a basic typing library for C++ to emulate strong typing conventions and subtypes like those used in Ada. This would certainly be helpful, and with a little work and dynamic approach could even become popular. 88% of programming errors come from integers with large domains that end up with unexpected values according to McCormick. Thus, it would be nice to find a way to limit this.
Using templates, STL, classes and inheritance I think I could create a good library to accomplish the said goals in C++. This would make for less errors and more compiler help (rather than runtime errors). Yay.
The only other option would be to create a very lightweight MySQL library in Ruby for use with Kaladea. And, for that matter, I should finish answerings Gammon’s questions on Kaladea, and finish reading the material posted in the BabbleMUD wiki. ::sigh:: So much to do, so little time. Further that note, I need to finish reading the script for the play and finding the sounds, and the robotics team starts up this tuesday.
There’s a thought. Maybe the robots programming can be my project? Chances are it will be like last year: a broad collection of programs of varying degrees of difficulty with the only point being to try new things.
We shall see.
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