I swear I'm spending more time writing the 1500 word paper I'm putting together now than I did the 5600+ word paper I submitted last week. It seems like I had just started writing the damn thing and i hit the word limit. Now I need to try and pull stuff out even though I want to write more. Maybe I should use caveman-speak.
We make thing. Thing good. Thing make other thing better.
It'd still be clearer than some journal articles I've read :)
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Shadow of the Colossus
Well, I finally finished this terrific game. And for a game with almost no story, it sure draws you in. I was amazed at how, even though there are less than half a dozen cutscene/story sequences over the entire game, I was completely enthralled during the ending. The crux of the game is that you need to beat these 16 colossi (basically massively huge monsters) in order to have a wish granted. In between the colossi there are no battles, no gold to find, no items to buy, and no interactions with other characters in the world. Hell, unless you're fighting one of the colossi there isn't even any music. Just the sound of you spurring on your horse. It becomes a very desolate game, and you begin to feel extremely isolated. Yet you keep fighting these battles because they are so damn engrossing. Imagine standing on the back of a winged bird that's got the wingspan of a football field while it's flying around a thousand feet in the air. You try and walk around on its back when it suddenly flips over and starts flying upside down while you hang on to the edge of it's wing hoping the thing will flip back over before you lose your grip and plummet to your death, or standing next to a creature who's toes are taller than you and having to find a way to defeat him, or running away from one of these things while riding your horse, all the while trying to shoot arrows behind you and the thing. The fights are so damn intense that whenever I finished one I would notice that I was on the edge of my chair, and I'd have to slump back and take a deep breath.
The nice thing about the story being so disconnected is that you can go without playing for weeks, even months, and still know exactly what your next goal is. Hell, I bought this game a year and a half ago and am just now finishing it. Now I get to go back and do the "time attack" mode, which lets you fight any of the colossi over again trying to beat a certain time. Which is cool, because I don't remember all of the colossi and am intrigued to go back and see if I remember how to beat them. It's so rare that a game lives up to the hype, and a 9.7 rating from IGN is major hype, but this game was as much art as it was entertainment.
Check out the first colossus:
The nice thing about the story being so disconnected is that you can go without playing for weeks, even months, and still know exactly what your next goal is. Hell, I bought this game a year and a half ago and am just now finishing it. Now I get to go back and do the "time attack" mode, which lets you fight any of the colossi over again trying to beat a certain time. Which is cool, because I don't remember all of the colossi and am intrigued to go back and see if I remember how to beat them. It's so rare that a game lives up to the hype, and a 9.7 rating from IGN is major hype, but this game was as much art as it was entertainment.
Check out the first colossus:
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
A bit of relief
A few months ago I had a bit of panic set in when I sat down with my supervisor and compared the amount of work I had left to do with the amount of time I had left to do it. We paced out how long each task would take, and it had me finishing in mid-late June, not leaving much time for thesis writing and the inevitable spillover.
Since then I've been a bit more focused on my work, and it's definitely paid off. I presented what I've done so far to my fellow lab-mates and my supervisor, and at the end he said that he saw no issue with me finishing on time (by August). There had been some concern that I would end up spilling over into an extra term.
So as of right now I could probably have the rest of my thesis work done in about a month of work, not including the writing I have to do. Now that may not seem like much considering I still have about 6 months to go. However, I've got 3 publications to work on (2 of which I'm the lead on) that are due between now and April 15th, a presentation for one of those publications in May, two weeks in Halifax in June (including some demo prep work I have to do before hand and a poster to create), along with actually writing my thesis, doing GA work, and finishing my thesis work, I don't think I'll have any problems filling my time between now and the end of August.
But the good news is that I finally see light at the end of the tunnel, and am now energized about getting things done again.
Since then I've been a bit more focused on my work, and it's definitely paid off. I presented what I've done so far to my fellow lab-mates and my supervisor, and at the end he said that he saw no issue with me finishing on time (by August). There had been some concern that I would end up spilling over into an extra term.
So as of right now I could probably have the rest of my thesis work done in about a month of work, not including the writing I have to do. Now that may not seem like much considering I still have about 6 months to go. However, I've got 3 publications to work on (2 of which I'm the lead on) that are due between now and April 15th, a presentation for one of those publications in May, two weeks in Halifax in June (including some demo prep work I have to do before hand and a poster to create), along with actually writing my thesis, doing GA work, and finishing my thesis work, I don't think I'll have any problems filling my time between now and the end of August.
But the good news is that I finally see light at the end of the tunnel, and am now energized about getting things done again.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Some thoughts on programming
In the last several months I've had the "pleasure" of working with several different programming languages for the software I'm developing for my thesis. In a given day I may spend time working with Java, Visual Basic (and VBA), SQL, and XSLT (for XML manipulation).
Sometimes I need to call a Java program from a Visual Basic program, or use Visual Basic to perform XSLT functions. In the near future I'm also going to be working with CLIPS, which rounds out the 5 programming "languages" I've used in my thesis. In past projects I've also worked with SWI-Prolog, LISP, Python, and of course C. The different languages all have their utility, some moreso than others.
A language like Java is great because it makes building off other people's code a snap (assuming it's well documented), and using abstraction and interfaces makes things so much better when trying to manage a complex system (why they don't stress this stuff in CS here at Windsor blows my mind...it was all crammed into the last 2-3 lectures, when it deserves it own course).
A language like XSLT is great at doing XML transformations, but not much else. Having to write all of your code in XML format is really annoying, but it does its job and does it well.
To me, these are the two ways that programming languages should exist. A language should either be general purpose enough to do most things rather well, or specific enough to do a couple of things very well. Bridges between languages are getting better and better, so working in a multiple language framework is becoming less of an issue. This way we can use the broad languages (Java, C, etc.) for most things, then make use of specific technologies like SQL and XSLT when we have a task that suits them.
So what's my point in all of this? Well, it's a roundabout way of me saying this:
Visual Basic 6 sucks, and it sucks hard.
VB is a broad language, designed to be able to do everything. And granted, it does do pretty much anything you ask it to do, but it does it in a way that lends itself to bad code. Everything from the smallest details to big obvious things fail me on a daily basis. And the thing that annoys me is that these things happen by design.
Here are some examples:
You can't comment out multiple lines at once using a block comment (like /* ... */ in C/Java), you can only comment out individual lines at a time...this is insanely annoying while trying to debug your code or do any major documentation
The Visual Studio editor is the worst IDE I've ever used. Notepad is more useful as a programming tool. It does so many little things that bother me. For example, if you're in the middle of typing a line of code, and you try to move the cursor off of that line before the line is done, it gives you a warning message that you have to dismiss before you can continue. It happens all the time where I'll be writing a line, then realize I can just cut and paste a long variable name, or I notice a mistake in another part of the code that I want to go and fix. And invariably the damn thing will bark at me.
Brackets? Who needs brackets? Look through some VB code and the first thing you'll notice (especially if you're used to Java/C style code) is the lack of brackets used in the code. They're used in method signatures, and are sometimes used when you call functions. There is nothing worse in a programming language than having it behave differently in situations that are seemingly the same. When you call a function in VB, you generally don't need to include brackets around the arguments, unless you want to do something like have access to the function's return value. If you want to call a function you can just ignore the return value by not using brackets, even though the function explicitly returns a value.
And of course, Visual Basic does not include any ability to do abstraction or interfaces. Pretty much the most powerful feature of object-oriented programming is left out of visual basic. This is just plain obnoxious.
I think the idea is that VB is designed to be more of an entry-level programming environment, and I tend to get annoyed because I know there are a bunch of way better alternatives out there that I'd prefer to use. But since I'm working with a system that was built on Visual Basic, I'm forced to toil away in it.
Damn, that felt good to moan about :)
Sometimes I need to call a Java program from a Visual Basic program, or use Visual Basic to perform XSLT functions. In the near future I'm also going to be working with CLIPS, which rounds out the 5 programming "languages" I've used in my thesis. In past projects I've also worked with SWI-Prolog, LISP, Python, and of course C. The different languages all have their utility, some moreso than others.
A language like Java is great because it makes building off other people's code a snap (assuming it's well documented), and using abstraction and interfaces makes things so much better when trying to manage a complex system (why they don't stress this stuff in CS here at Windsor blows my mind...it was all crammed into the last 2-3 lectures, when it deserves it own course).
A language like XSLT is great at doing XML transformations, but not much else. Having to write all of your code in XML format is really annoying, but it does its job and does it well.
To me, these are the two ways that programming languages should exist. A language should either be general purpose enough to do most things rather well, or specific enough to do a couple of things very well. Bridges between languages are getting better and better, so working in a multiple language framework is becoming less of an issue. This way we can use the broad languages (Java, C, etc.) for most things, then make use of specific technologies like SQL and XSLT when we have a task that suits them.
So what's my point in all of this? Well, it's a roundabout way of me saying this:
Visual Basic 6 sucks, and it sucks hard.
VB is a broad language, designed to be able to do everything. And granted, it does do pretty much anything you ask it to do, but it does it in a way that lends itself to bad code. Everything from the smallest details to big obvious things fail me on a daily basis. And the thing that annoys me is that these things happen by design.
Here are some examples:
You can't comment out multiple lines at once using a block comment (like /* ... */ in C/Java), you can only comment out individual lines at a time...this is insanely annoying while trying to debug your code or do any major documentation
The Visual Studio editor is the worst IDE I've ever used. Notepad is more useful as a programming tool. It does so many little things that bother me. For example, if you're in the middle of typing a line of code, and you try to move the cursor off of that line before the line is done, it gives you a warning message that you have to dismiss before you can continue. It happens all the time where I'll be writing a line, then realize I can just cut and paste a long variable name, or I notice a mistake in another part of the code that I want to go and fix. And invariably the damn thing will bark at me.
Brackets? Who needs brackets? Look through some VB code and the first thing you'll notice (especially if you're used to Java/C style code) is the lack of brackets used in the code. They're used in method signatures, and are sometimes used when you call functions. There is nothing worse in a programming language than having it behave differently in situations that are seemingly the same. When you call a function in VB, you generally don't need to include brackets around the arguments, unless you want to do something like have access to the function's return value. If you want to call a function you can just ignore the return value by not using brackets, even though the function explicitly returns a value.
And of course, Visual Basic does not include any ability to do abstraction or interfaces. Pretty much the most powerful feature of object-oriented programming is left out of visual basic. This is just plain obnoxious.
I think the idea is that VB is designed to be more of an entry-level programming environment, and I tend to get annoyed because I know there are a bunch of way better alternatives out there that I'd prefer to use. But since I'm working with a system that was built on Visual Basic, I'm forced to toil away in it.
Damn, that felt good to moan about :)
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Music, Music, and more Music!
I just came across another web-based music service that's Pandora-esque, the difference being this one lets you build playlists from songs that you choose. Check it out:
FineTune
The only restrictions are that there must be at least 45 songs on your playlist, and there can be no more than 3 songs from a given artist.
Check out my first playlist on the right. It's good listening.
FineTune
The only restrictions are that there must be at least 45 songs on your playlist, and there can be no more than 3 songs from a given artist.
Check out my first playlist on the right. It's good listening.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Prince + Foo Fighters = Wrong
Did anyone else watch Prince butcher a Foo Fighters song at the Super Bowl halftime show? That was freaking ridiculous. Who does a cover at the freaking Super Bowl halftime show?
It's not that I'm a Prince fan by any means, I'm completely indifferent to him and his music. It's just that when a "guy" has a chance to sing four songs to a gigantic audience (170+ countries), I think he should sing four of his own songs. Instead, he sings two of his own songs (at least I think so, I've never heard that last song he did before) bookended around a Foo Fighters cover and a Tina Turner cover (seriously).
On the other hand, we were provided with these:
It's not that I'm a Prince fan by any means, I'm completely indifferent to him and his music. It's just that when a "guy" has a chance to sing four songs to a gigantic audience (170+ countries), I think he should sing four of his own songs. Instead, he sings two of his own songs (at least I think so, I've never heard that last song he did before) bookended around a Foo Fighters cover and a Tina Turner cover (seriously).
On the other hand, we were provided with these:
Friday, January 26, 2007
Note To Self...
If using Skype to take part in a teleconference with several professors and industry partners, be sure to turn off your e-mail sounds. Otherwise everyone in the conference call will hear
"Hens love roosters, geese love ganders, everyone else loves Ned Flanders."
"Not me"
"Everyone who counts loves Ned Flanders."
when you get an e-mail.
At least it provided some comic relief.
"Hens love roosters, geese love ganders, everyone else loves Ned Flanders."
"Not me"
"Everyone who counts loves Ned Flanders."
when you get an e-mail.
At least it provided some comic relief.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Dichotomy
Technology used for good:
Cool Touchscreen GUI (I know this one's been around a while now, but they seem to have made some cool improvements...including the new giant screen)
Technology used for evil (sort of):
New US Military Heat Ray: this thing heats it's targets skin to an 'uncomfortable' 130F. Ouch.
Cool Touchscreen GUI (I know this one's been around a while now, but they seem to have made some cool improvements...including the new giant screen)
Technology used for evil (sort of):
New US Military Heat Ray: this thing heats it's targets skin to an 'uncomfortable' 130F. Ouch.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Shocking!
This is from the Wall Street Journal:
"Half of all children are below average in intelligence"
Well, thanks for the tip Captain Obvious. Did you know that 25% of people in Canada make up a quarter of the Country's population? I bet you didn't.
Link (found on Fark)
(BTW, I'm aware that technically average!=median, but still, it doesn't matter how smart the kids are...even if the average IQ among school children was 250, half of the kids would still be below average.)
No wonder Bush wants to ask the question "Is our children learning?"
"Half of all children are below average in intelligence"
Well, thanks for the tip Captain Obvious. Did you know that 25% of people in Canada make up a quarter of the Country's population? I bet you didn't.
Link (found on Fark)
(BTW, I'm aware that technically average!=median, but still, it doesn't matter how smart the kids are...even if the average IQ among school children was 250, half of the kids would still be below average.)
No wonder Bush wants to ask the question "Is our children learning?"
Friday, January 12, 2007
A 'Good' Post
I'm guessing this is another one of those things that bothers me and no one else on the planet (I should really start a list), but does it bother anyone else when people misuse quotation marks?
Here's an example of what I mean. It's a story about a new police dog in Essex County. The first line of the story is:
Leave it to me to find fault in a 4 line story.
Here's an example of what I mean. It's a story about a new police dog in Essex County. The first line of the story is:
There's a new 'dog' in Essex County.Why is dog in quotation marks? Shouldn't it just say "There's a new dog in Essex County."? What makes this canine a 'dog' instead of a dog? Is it really a cat in a dog collar? Can it fly? Is it part horse? Does it shoot lasers out of it's mouth when it barks? If not, then it's a dog, not a 'dog'.
Leave it to me to find fault in a 4 line story.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Brrrrrrrr
It's teetering around 0 degrees right now, and the university has the freakin' AIR CONDITIONING ON!
I'm wearing a sweater and a jacket and my hands and feet are freezing. Seriously, wouldn't it save the school money to not be air conditioning the school in the beginning of January? This is why I laugh when people from other departments complain about the bad conditions in their buildings, we don't even have control over the temperature anywhere in the building!
I'm wearing a sweater and a jacket and my hands and feet are freezing. Seriously, wouldn't it save the school money to not be air conditioning the school in the beginning of January? This is why I laugh when people from other departments complain about the bad conditions in their buildings, we don't even have control over the temperature anywhere in the building!
Friday, January 05, 2007
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Happy New Year!
I just wanted to wish everyone a prosperous and happy new year. I'd also like to share the following video gem Matt and I were shown (thanks Joe!) on New Year's Eve (via the Church of Bob Saget):
Rollin With Saget (audio is not safe for work)
Rollin With Saget (audio is not safe for work)
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Sometimes the simplest solutions are right in front of you
See, studying pure math isn't as hard as people think it is. When you come up against a question you can't solve, just make up the answer.
Basically, some guy invented a number (which he calls 'nullity') to represent what happens when you divide by zero.
First, if you're going to invent a number at least give it a cool name.
Second, I'm no math genius, but I fail to see how this is beneficial. He hasn't solved anything that I can see. All he's done is given a centuries-old problem a new name.
Of course, I haven't looked at the research, so I really have no idea what I'm talking about.
But this guy has inspired me to invent my own number: Giggity!
From now on, this number represents all numbers, to an infinite level of precision. That's right, all numbers from +infinity to -infinity are represented in this single, handy, easy-to-use number. Don't know the answer to a problem? It doesn't matter anymore. Just use Giggity and you'll be fine. Since it represents all numbers, you can't be wrong!
How long will your trip to Spain take? Giggity hours.
How far is it from Moscow to Anchorage? Giggity kilometers.
6+4? Giggity.
Speed of light? Giggity m/s^2.
In a first year physics lab I managed to prove that gravity pushed things up at 14 m/s^2 (seriously). My lab instructor wouldn't believe my math, and there was no way my math could have been wrong (I got a D- for crying out loud, how could I have been wrong?). Had I used Giggity he would have had to believe me.
Giggity!
Basically, some guy invented a number (which he calls 'nullity') to represent what happens when you divide by zero.
First, if you're going to invent a number at least give it a cool name.
Second, I'm no math genius, but I fail to see how this is beneficial. He hasn't solved anything that I can see. All he's done is given a centuries-old problem a new name.
Of course, I haven't looked at the research, so I really have no idea what I'm talking about.
But this guy has inspired me to invent my own number: Giggity!
From now on, this number represents all numbers, to an infinite level of precision. That's right, all numbers from +infinity to -infinity are represented in this single, handy, easy-to-use number. Don't know the answer to a problem? It doesn't matter anymore. Just use Giggity and you'll be fine. Since it represents all numbers, you can't be wrong!
How long will your trip to Spain take? Giggity hours.
How far is it from Moscow to Anchorage? Giggity kilometers.
6+4? Giggity.
Speed of light? Giggity m/s^2.
In a first year physics lab I managed to prove that gravity pushed things up at 14 m/s^2 (seriously). My lab instructor wouldn't believe my math, and there was no way my math could have been wrong (I got a D- for crying out loud, how could I have been wrong?). Had I used Giggity he would have had to believe me.
Giggity!
Monday, December 04, 2006
Incubus: Light Grenades
I just finished listening to the new Incubus album Light Grenades, and was thinking of giving an opinion on each track. Then I had a brainstorm that all the former Purple Raiders can relate to:
Oh veg chart, how I've missed you. :)
As for the album, I was a little underwhelmed, but that's normal for me with Incubus albums. In a month I'll be listening to it non stop.
Oh veg chart, how I've missed you. :)As for the album, I was a little underwhelmed, but that's normal for me with Incubus albums. In a month I'll be listening to it non stop.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
NaNoWriMoNoGo
Okay, something tells me I'm not going to get this novel finished by the end of the day. I find I write at a pace of about 1000+ words per hour at my best, so it would take me about 37 hours of nonstop writing to actually get to 50000 words, and since there are only 8.5 hours left, I don't think that's going to work.
At least I got a good start on it though, and that's what I was hoping for most. And I'm not going to stop writing it either, I'm just going to work on it at a much more leisurely pace (read: when I feel like it). You can't force creativity, that much I know.
A few things really hampered me from getting this done:
1) Final Fantasy XII, I've spent time playing this game that I should have spent writing.
2) The 2 and a half week stretch that I spent not doing any writing at all. Had I done a reasonable amount during that time I probably could have finished.
3) I'm not willing to sacrifice quality when I write. One of the important things the NaNo people say is that you shouldn't worry if what you are writing is good, just keep writing. I simply can't do that. I do a lot of technical writing and I've trained myself to write at a reasonable level of quality at all times. If I don't like it then I'm not going to write it, and I ended up spending way more time refactoring my novel than I did actually writing new content. It may take longer, but I'll be much happier with the result.
4) I like to practice word economy. What most people need a paragraph to say, I say in one or two sentences. This goes against the whole "write a lot of words" philosophy. I also get right to the point, if a character in a story enters a room I don't need 4 pages telling me what shade of green the plant in the corner is. It's green, be done with it.
Overall, it was an interesting experience. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't finish, but it was an insane goal to begin with. I will finish it though, it's a great way to hash out the story for the game version :)
At least I got a good start on it though, and that's what I was hoping for most. And I'm not going to stop writing it either, I'm just going to work on it at a much more leisurely pace (read: when I feel like it). You can't force creativity, that much I know.
A few things really hampered me from getting this done:
1) Final Fantasy XII, I've spent time playing this game that I should have spent writing.
2) The 2 and a half week stretch that I spent not doing any writing at all. Had I done a reasonable amount during that time I probably could have finished.
3) I'm not willing to sacrifice quality when I write. One of the important things the NaNo people say is that you shouldn't worry if what you are writing is good, just keep writing. I simply can't do that. I do a lot of technical writing and I've trained myself to write at a reasonable level of quality at all times. If I don't like it then I'm not going to write it, and I ended up spending way more time refactoring my novel than I did actually writing new content. It may take longer, but I'll be much happier with the result.
4) I like to practice word economy. What most people need a paragraph to say, I say in one or two sentences. This goes against the whole "write a lot of words" philosophy. I also get right to the point, if a character in a story enters a room I don't need 4 pages telling me what shade of green the plant in the corner is. It's green, be done with it.
Overall, it was an interesting experience. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't finish, but it was an insane goal to begin with. I will finish it though, it's a great way to hash out the story for the game version :)
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Why Canadian Politics is more interesting than American Politics
Actual (abbreviated) transcript from yesterday's question period in Parliament:
Bill Graham: "Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the Prime Minister on his photo op. He was spectacular in that gown he was wearing."
Stephen Harper: "I can add in terms of photo ops that there is a tradition at APEC to do pictures in traditional garb. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, I had to wear the silk on the outside."
Bill Graham: "Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Prime Minister that I have just as many embarrassing pictures of myself as they do on that side."
Stephen harper: "Also I can say in regard to my well-known agenda to control the press, I will work closely with the Leader of the Opposition to keep those photos of him out of the media."
Seriously
I'm not making this up
Canada's awesome.
Bill Graham: "Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the Prime Minister on his photo op. He was spectacular in that gown he was wearing."
Stephen Harper: "I can add in terms of photo ops that there is a tradition at APEC to do pictures in traditional garb. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, I had to wear the silk on the outside."
Bill Graham: "Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Prime Minister that I have just as many embarrassing pictures of myself as they do on that side."
Stephen harper: "Also I can say in regard to my well-known agenda to control the press, I will work closely with the Leader of the Opposition to keep those photos of him out of the media."
Seriously
I'm not making this up
Canada's awesome.
Originality at its Finest
Imagine being the DJ for this station. "And now here's the new one from Walk Away, called Walk Away. You can hear it on their new album Walk Away."
And now, a gratuitous cute cat picture:
Monday, November 20, 2006
Me Brain No Worky
So it turns out that when you completely shut your brain down for an entire weekend, it's hard to get started on Monday.
Frankly I'm surprised at the amount of work I've accomplished today in my pseudo-sleepwalking state. Let me give you a rundown of what I "did" this weekend:
Friday night:
Frankly I'm surprised at the amount of work I've accomplished today in my pseudo-sleepwalking state. Let me give you a rundown of what I "did" this weekend:
Friday night:
- 5:30pm: drove out to Wheatley
- 7:00pm: Watched Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh (that Sabres team is scary good)
- Slept until almost 11am
- installed a ceiling fan (with a remote!)
- 12:00: Minnesota vs. Iowa
- 3:30pm: Michigan vs. Ohio State (damn that was a great game)
- 7:00pm: Leafs vs. Devils
- 10:00pm: Red Wings vs. Edmonton (I made it through the second period before I damn near passed out)
- 1:00pm: Pittsburgh vs. Cleveland
- 4:00pm: Detroit vs. Arizona (the Lions are freakin' terrible)
- 6:30pm: Grey Cup: B.C. vs. Montreal
- 9:45pm: Drive home from Wheatley
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