Prepare for random.
So I was sitting in Physics II lecture yesterday - boring lecture since he basically repeated what he said last lecture. I saw someone walk out the door. That got me thinking: I wonder how those people have the balls to do that. Just walk out on someone as they're talking. I, for one, am the type of person who can't really walk out of a lecture out of respect for the professor - even if the professor doesn't deserve it. I either show up, or don't show up - walking out on a class is extremely rude to me. In any case, it got me thinking... What if it was possible to just disappear out of the class. What if you could run out of the class so fast, that no one could see you do it. (mind you, maybe it was too early for me to thinking about teleporting out of the class, but rather, I thought about moving extremely fast).
Superman could do that right? He does do that in comics and movies and other forms of media, right? HALT! my brain shouted at me. There's no way you could open that door and close it in a split second. Well, is that so? (This is me contemplating the possibility of opening and closing a door in a very short amount of time). I guess I was also being influenced by the fact that I was sitting in a physics lecture: The door would have to travel a finite distance in a very very very short amount of time. Therefore, it's velocity would be extremely high. By the same token, it would reach this velocity in a very very short time, and thus acceleration would be extremely high as well.
Consequently, if you think about the two step processes of leaving a room, there is the opening, and then the closing of the door. Meaning that the same magnitude of insane velocity and acceleration will be observed - only in the opposite direction. This extremely fast change in acceleration from one direction to the other will cause an insane amount of jerk. Thus, my brain told me: if Superman were to leave a physics lecture without being noticed, he would blow the door to bits and pieces while trying to open+close it.
Then I questioned myself - made sure my inferences were correct - which I'm still not certain if this would happen. I'm pretty sure it would. And then I realized I'm a total dork.
NEXT SUBJECT!
Flat and sharp can have the same meaning. I found this thought amusing because in music they definitely don't. Flat - lower pitch, Sharp - higher pitch. How much more opposite can you get than that? b < #. Sorry 'b', but '#' is greater than you. You will never be able to win the race. But you can tie! In a round-about manner... I suppose. I'll be there at 9 o'clock sharp - which is in 3 hours 35 minutes 44 seconds flat. See there buddy! You're equal to sharp! Yay!
NEXT!
Gatorade, Powerade, and the like disturb me. Have you ever seen those guys in the university cafeteria's - dining halls if ya wanna be fancy - who have the two glasses of Gatorade? It's not hard to find them: Just follow the neon glow of their trays. What's up with that anyway? These drinks disturb me because I feel like I'm drinking radioactively infected water or something. They even have electrolytes! Super! Another term that makes me feel like they first put it through shock treatment, and then exposed it to a nuclear reactor. Do the colors need to be vibrant!? I always found it amusing that people would have one glass of blue neon water, another glass of red neon water, oh, and throw in another glass of yellow neon too! I know that the contents of [blank]ade is not that color... It's just not natural. I can understand cranberry juice being deep red. I cannot understand manufactured sports "thirst quenchers" to come out looking like that. Unless... they do treat it with nuclear byproducts!
I'm not ignorant, honest! You're simply picking up random thoughts that come to my mind.
30 August 2007
24 August 2007
nfinite anger
Beware of rant that follows, if you don't like rants, don't read. I just want to type this sh*t out. I don't know why I'm *ing out profanity, it doesn't really make a difference when you read it. Maybe it's just to retain a little bit of my decency and maybe sanity. In either case, I usually don't use profanity; when I do, you can be damn sure that they are necessary to express my anger.
Last year we were required to buy these PRS (Personal Response System) transmitters. These retarded f*ckers were something like $25 or $30 to buy at the store. There was no option of buying used ones because each IR transmitter had its unique serial number that went along with it. This transmitter was necessary for ONE (1) class - Chemistry. There were in-class quizzes that required us to transmit our answer in order to receive participation points. Ok, Ok, I had to buy it because it was for my grade. Fine.
This semester, they (I don't know who this 'they' is, but someone decided to do it) decided to switch to an RF transmitting scheme. One that required a totally new line of PRS units. Their rationale for this switch was that RF transmitters are omnidirectional (an improvement over the directional IR transmitters) and that you receive feedback right on the unit itself since these new units have a built in LCD display. Whoop-dee-f*cking-doo. Price on these new units? $50. Well sh*t. And the only class I need this new retarded unit is in Physics II. Yet again, another mandatory piece of junk that's required for a portion of my grade. Why don't I just pay off the school to give me an A? It'd probably cost as much as I'm paying for books and sh*t right?!
Oh, *whew*, at least the Barnes and Noble of my university is allowing me to get a refund for my previous unit. They at least have some compassion, right?
But wait, of course they're not going to let me go that easily, now are they? How much do batteries cost? Bear with me, this is pertinent.
Ok, $0.15 according to Froogle for some very generic pack of 2 AAA batteries.
The lady at the cashier makes sure that the PRS transmitter works, but of course, I took the batteries out already. She says that I won't get fully refunded for my PRS since the batteries are missing. At first I was outraged by this, but then I thought to myself, I guess that's somewhat reasonable since I bought the thing with generic crap batteries, they should get their full product contents back. So I replied, that's fine. She said, "You won't be getting two dollars back."
Last year we were required to buy these PRS (Personal Response System) transmitters. These retarded f*ckers were something like $25 or $30 to buy at the store. There was no option of buying used ones because each IR transmitter had its unique serial number that went along with it. This transmitter was necessary for ONE (1) class - Chemistry. There were in-class quizzes that required us to transmit our answer in order to receive participation points. Ok, Ok, I had to buy it because it was for my grade. Fine.
This semester, they (I don't know who this 'they' is, but someone decided to do it) decided to switch to an RF transmitting scheme. One that required a totally new line of PRS units. Their rationale for this switch was that RF transmitters are omnidirectional (an improvement over the directional IR transmitters) and that you receive feedback right on the unit itself since these new units have a built in LCD display. Whoop-dee-f*cking-doo. Price on these new units? $50. Well sh*t. And the only class I need this new retarded unit is in Physics II. Yet again, another mandatory piece of junk that's required for a portion of my grade. Why don't I just pay off the school to give me an A? It'd probably cost as much as I'm paying for books and sh*t right?!Oh, *whew*, at least the Barnes and Noble of my university is allowing me to get a refund for my previous unit. They at least have some compassion, right?
WRONG.
No school supply company ever gives a damn about their students. They're only interested in the $$$ and think Rape the kids for all their moneys' worth... and then some! So today I had some free time in between classes to take a trip to the Barnes and Selfish on campus to buy the new PRS and get a refund for my old PRS (because, well, I have to for my grade). So I get the unit (which, by the way has been out of stock since the beginning of the week, and I called to make sure they had a new shipment of the damned units) and I walk to the register - which can also be thought of as an ugly prostitute: f*cks you for all of your money, and you don't feel any bit better when the deed is done. The transaction needs to be done in two parts. First, I buy the $50 blasted piece of plastic. Then I get money (but of course not all) back for the old PRS. Fine. Fine.But wait, of course they're not going to let me go that easily, now are they? How much do batteries cost? Bear with me, this is pertinent.
Ok, $0.15 according to Froogle for some very generic pack of 2 AAA batteries. ...
nfinite's brain
...
nfinite's brain
...
Wait, 2 f*cking dollars! Did I hear this lady right? TWO WHAT? TWO CENTS? No I'm pretty sure she just said DOLLARS. TWO DOLLARS? ONE AAA BATTERY IS NOW ONE DOLLAR? HOLY SH*T! I'm getting f*cked and I can't do a damn thing about it. Maybe I should have given her dead batteries. Wait, no, that won't work. She'd say the PRS is broken and can't refund me. I can't make a big deal out of this since Barnes and Retard could just as easily decide not to refund my PRS.
...
back to reality
...
back to reality
...
I mutter this is ridiculous under my breath, but I say "... o...kay". I can't get mad at the cashier because she is just the messenger. I always see other people blow up in the cashier's face over something that's not the cashier's fault, and I feel sorry for the cashier. So I needed to be nice. After getting raped in the a$$, I walked away from the cashier and proceeded to bike back to the apartment.
Fifteen cents for two AAA batteries. 7.5cents for 1 AAA battery. They said 2 dollars for 2AAA batteries. 1 dollar for 1 AAA Battery.
Fifteen cents for two AAA batteries. 7.5cents for 1 AAA battery. They said 2 dollars for 2AAA batteries. 1 dollar for 1 AAA Battery.
1/.075 = 13.33
They're making a 1233% increase in profit - at the student's expense.
My bank account was raped, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. Rape is such an appropriate description: helpless throughout the entire process.
They're making a 1233% increase in profit - at the student's expense.
My bank account was raped, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. Rape is such an appropriate description: helpless throughout the entire process.
23 August 2007
settled in
So it's been over a week since I last posted, sorry for the delay. I'm finally moved in and settled (almost, I still have a few textbooks to go before I'm truly settled, but I'll get to that in a bit) into my apartment room on campus. It's a pretty sweet place; having a room to myself is awesome and the commons area in the middle is pretty spacious - it even has a nice bay window overlooking into the grassy quad area. Pictures of just my room here: Before and After shots as well.
Classes this week have been pretty slim. I haven't had to go to any of my three labs since it's the first week of classes. But I can tell that after this week, it's going to be quite a workload with three lab courses. Instead of worrying about labs this first week, I get the enjoyment of textbooks raping my back pocket. My credit card, check card, and wallet are all crying out in pain over the exodus of dollars from their grasp. It's seriously disheartening to see receipt statements that say:
Seriously! What the balls! 8% tax! I thought it was only 6% tax. But it seems they are further shafting us poor college students for all our money's worth. That's only 2.5 of my classes! I still have 3 more classes. (Yes if you add it together, that makes 5.5 classes, since one of them I have to buy an extra digital circuits kit - another $45 hit to my bank account). Enough of this, I know a lot of you are in the same situation and possibly even worse.
Speaking of getting shafted, why does being good in games always means you get screwed? Take for example: The Jedi Knight games (the ones where you had to choose if you wanted to be light side or dark side - mainly Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy though). The light side always got screwed with crappy force powers whereas the dark side had all the kickass skills. Light side had skills that would just absorb dark attacks, protect from laser fire, and see through walls. What's the fun in that?! Where's the incentive to be good when you could go around gripping baddies and throwing them against walls, force lightning the balls out of them, and going into a rage that made you super fast and strong at the same time! Light side really gets shafted in games. It's almost as if the games want you to follow the dark path. Tsk tsk on them, teaching kids that evil > good.
The only reason I thought about this was because I've been playing BioShock. (Okay okay, so maybe I haven't been that busy as to not get around to blogging...) I finally got my hands on BioShock at school (after waiting a week at home) for the 360. It's so frickin' awesome! But like I said, these games seem to tailor themselves toward evil being the cooler path. You have to make a choice to save these little monsters (*cough girls) or harvest them for the slugs that lie in their brains. (Pretty intense eh?) Well, you only get 80 Adam for saving them, and 160 Adam for harvesting them. The Adam is used for buying upgrades for yourself. Why wouldn't you want the full amount of Adam for the work you did to kill the little girl's body guard. Plot points? Blah, I guess I'll have to go back and play the game again once I beat it and be a good boy. *sigh, being good is so boring.
Time to go to math class. The professor looks like he's fresh out of college... from China. His accent's a little hard to understand (and thankfully I'm Asian and more accustomed to accents than others) and I still haven't figured out if he will be a good professor or not. He's really really young looking. Anyway, that's my short post for now. I'll try and be more active with posting.
Classes this week have been pretty slim. I haven't had to go to any of my three labs since it's the first week of classes. But I can tell that after this week, it's going to be quite a workload with three lab courses. Instead of worrying about labs this first week, I get the enjoyment of textbooks raping my back pocket. My credit card, check card, and wallet are all crying out in pain over the exodus of dollars from their grasp. It's seriously disheartening to see receipt statements that say:
Seriously! What the balls! 8% tax! I thought it was only 6% tax. But it seems they are further shafting us poor college students for all our money's worth. That's only 2.5 of my classes! I still have 3 more classes. (Yes if you add it together, that makes 5.5 classes, since one of them I have to buy an extra digital circuits kit - another $45 hit to my bank account). Enough of this, I know a lot of you are in the same situation and possibly even worse.Speaking of getting shafted, why does being good in games always means you get screwed? Take for example: The Jedi Knight games (the ones where you had to choose if you wanted to be light side or dark side - mainly Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy though). The light side always got screwed with crappy force powers whereas the dark side had all the kickass skills. Light side had skills that would just absorb dark attacks, protect from laser fire, and see through walls. What's the fun in that?! Where's the incentive to be good when you could go around gripping baddies and throwing them against walls, force lightning the balls out of them, and going into a rage that made you super fast and strong at the same time! Light side really gets shafted in games. It's almost as if the games want you to follow the dark path. Tsk tsk on them, teaching kids that evil > good.
The only reason I thought about this was because I've been playing BioShock. (Okay okay, so maybe I haven't been that busy as to not get around to blogging...) I finally got my hands on BioShock at school (after waiting a week at home) for the 360. It's so frickin' awesome! But like I said, these games seem to tailor themselves toward evil being the cooler path. You have to make a choice to save these little monsters (*cough girls) or harvest them for the slugs that lie in their brains. (Pretty intense eh?) Well, you only get 80 Adam for saving them, and 160 Adam for harvesting them. The Adam is used for buying upgrades for yourself. Why wouldn't you want the full amount of Adam for the work you did to kill the little girl's body guard. Plot points? Blah, I guess I'll have to go back and play the game again once I beat it and be a good boy. *sigh, being good is so boring.
Time to go to math class. The professor looks like he's fresh out of college... from China. His accent's a little hard to understand (and thankfully I'm Asian and more accustomed to accents than others) and I still haven't figured out if he will be a good professor or not. He's really really young looking. Anyway, that's my short post for now. I'll try and be more active with posting.
14 August 2007
streaming from the nfinite
I realize that I have not posted in some time. What's today, August 14th, 2007; last post: August 06th, 2007. I'm behind on my schedule it seems. But I have a valid excuse this time! (Not really, but it's a better excuse than usually). It's been a hectic weekend.
Friday:
Finished my co-op term for the summer.
Packed my things after work and through until sleep time.
Saturday:
Drove/sat in a van for 10 hours driving home from Virginia to Georgia.
Got home Saturday night at 8:30ish.
Unloaded.
Ate.
Slept.
Sunday:
Moved some of the stuff I could into the apartment at school.
Got back at 11pm.
Slept.
Monday:
Organize.
Anticipate the night.
Meet with my special someone.
Get home at 1:30ish.
Tuesday:
Oh that's today.
Blogging.
Thinking that this blog will essentially be a stream of thoughts from my head.
There is no real structure to this post, no fore-planning nor ideas to talk about.
Friday:
Finished my co-op term for the summer.
Packed my things after work and through until sleep time.
Saturday:
Drove/sat in a van for 10 hours driving home from Virginia to Georgia.
Got home Saturday night at 8:30ish.
Unloaded.
Ate.
Slept.
Sunday:
Moved some of the stuff I could into the apartment at school.
Got back at 11pm.
Slept.
Monday:
Organize.
Anticipate the night.
Meet with my special someone.
Get home at 1:30ish.
Tuesday:
Oh that's today.
Blogging.
Thinking that this blog will essentially be a stream of thoughts from my head.
There is no real structure to this post, no fore-planning nor ideas to talk about.
So to distract you for a few moments while I think of something to type about. Here are three pictures that I took in the van driving home. I thought the mountain landscape was pretty. Unfortunately, they plant trees to hide the view. When we actually got into the mountains to go down (on the Z-Axis) and down (the Y-Axis), it was my turn to drive. I didn't find it prudent to drive down a mountain and take pictures at the same time. But it was really pretty, looking off the mountain-side into the city below. I wish I had been passenger so that I could have taken pictures of the view.
I really enjoyed the clouds that day. They were very natural (if that makes any sense at all, because clouds should always be natural...).
It's very fun driving down a mountain. You only have to worry about one pedal. No, not the accelerator. But also, our van we rented had one of those consoles that showed various informations - odometer, heading, temperature, and (my favorite) the mileage meter thingy. (I wonder if it's called kilometerage when talking about kilometers per liter in standard units. Anyway, mileage in miles per gallon was fun to toy around with. It was especially fun on the mountain side; the reason: reset the tool while you're coasting down the mountain side. I wish I could have taken pictures of the console - I was doing like 900MPG! That's some good mileage. I could've made it home with that kind of efficiency in one gallon! Oh well. I averaged 26.9MPG in that van lugging all my housely possessions, so I guess I did OK.
Trip was ~700miles. Divide by 27. 26 gallons. Price for gas: ~$2.85/gal. = ~$75 for the trip home. Monkeys, gas prices stink.
Speaking of gasoline, that reminds me of this stuff that my parents put in my food for me to try yesterday. No, they didn't put petrol in my food. But it did smell a lot like methanol or some similar alcohol. The thing is, it's housed in this tiny bottle and applied to food with a dropper. Not only this, but the box that it's in states only to use 2-3 drops. Those 2-3 drops are rreeeeeeally potent. Because all I could taste after 2 drops was the stuff. So I asked what it was (after it was already put in my food of course). It's an extract from a bug. Cà cuống. That's all they could tell me - my dad clarified, the bug is in the same family as a cicada. The box says "Mangdana Essence" along with a lot of Thai characters.
All I could come up in my mind, though, was the Mandragor mobs from Guild Wars... Close enough right? So I looked it up on Wikipedia - Ca cuong.
*Skimmed it. [...Giant Water Bug...] ... [...bug's essence...] ... [...small glass containers...] ... [...bug is scarce...] ... [...demand...high...] ... [...mostly imitation...] ... [...is in fact a pheromone...] ... [...males...] ... [...attract mates...] ...
So basically, this meant three things to me:
In regards to my DS project that I've been brainstorming about, I believe I shall attempt to design some clone of either R-Type or Ikaruga. I think I'm leaning towards an R-Type clone. The thing is, I'm still brainstorming on how to creatively use the touch screen. Cloning a game is (relatively) easy. Reinventing game-play by using the DS's capabilities, however, is something that is truly difficult, but is the only way to make an impact in the community. Only time will tell if I can actually pull through with this "project". Art direction might be an issue for me since I'm artistically retarded. Maybe I'll give nien a nudge if this project gets anywhere.
I leave you with two pictures. This is all I need to survive - minus clothes and food and a house to put this stuff in.
Just the boxes, and stuff; the shelves and things are not my stuff that I moved.
Take cares! and enjoy the time left of your summer. For school starts in under a week for me! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I really enjoyed the clouds that day. They were very natural (if that makes any sense at all, because clouds should always be natural...).
It's very fun driving down a mountain. You only have to worry about one pedal. No, not the accelerator. But also, our van we rented had one of those consoles that showed various informations - odometer, heading, temperature, and (my favorite) the mileage meter thingy. (I wonder if it's called kilometerage when talking about kilometers per liter in standard units. Anyway, mileage in miles per gallon was fun to toy around with. It was especially fun on the mountain side; the reason: reset the tool while you're coasting down the mountain side. I wish I could have taken pictures of the console - I was doing like 900MPG! That's some good mileage. I could've made it home with that kind of efficiency in one gallon! Oh well. I averaged 26.9MPG in that van lugging all my housely possessions, so I guess I did OK.
Trip was ~700miles. Divide by 27. 26 gallons. Price for gas: ~$2.85/gal. = ~$75 for the trip home. Monkeys, gas prices stink.
Speaking of gasoline, that reminds me of this stuff that my parents put in my food for me to try yesterday. No, they didn't put petrol in my food. But it did smell a lot like methanol or some similar alcohol. The thing is, it's housed in this tiny bottle and applied to food with a dropper. Not only this, but the box that it's in states only to use 2-3 drops. Those 2-3 drops are rreeeeeeally potent. Because all I could taste after 2 drops was the stuff. So I asked what it was (after it was already put in my food of course). It's an extract from a bug. Cà cuống. That's all they could tell me - my dad clarified, the bug is in the same family as a cicada. The box says "Mangdana Essence" along with a lot of Thai characters.
*Skimmed it. [...Giant Water Bug...] ... [...bug's essence...] ... [...small glass containers...] ... [...bug is scarce...] ... [...demand...high...] ... [...mostly imitation...] ... [...is in fact a pheromone...] ... [...males...] ... [...attract mates...] ...
So basically, this meant three things to me:
- It came from a bug.
- The Thai text that we can't understand probably says something like: Imitation. This is actually methanol. (I knew it)
- I'm putting sex liquid in my food.
In regards to my DS project that I've been brainstorming about, I believe I shall attempt to design some clone of either R-Type or Ikaruga. I think I'm leaning towards an R-Type clone. The thing is, I'm still brainstorming on how to creatively use the touch screen. Cloning a game is (relatively) easy. Reinventing game-play by using the DS's capabilities, however, is something that is truly difficult, but is the only way to make an impact in the community. Only time will tell if I can actually pull through with this "project". Art direction might be an issue for me since I'm artistically retarded. Maybe I'll give nien a nudge if this project gets anywhere.
I leave you with two pictures. This is all I need to survive - minus clothes and food and a house to put this stuff in.
Just the boxes, and stuff; the shelves and things are not my stuff that I moved.
Take cares! and enjoy the time left of your summer. For school starts in under a week for me! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
....man I started this post at 11:01, and its now 6:00; interrupted by dentist appointment and kitchen work - fail.
HHHHHHHHHHHHH!
06 August 2007
time flies
...when you're having fun. Was your summer fun? I hope it was. My summer was pretty good. I was very productive this summer - which is a change from the norm. I'm starting to feel cocky with my programming skills. Why you may wonder? So my co-op job has me dealing with code for pretty much the entire workday - with pauses to ask questions of co-workers about concepts that the code is implementing. The entire summer I've dealt with mainly JAVA and C code and I've learned a ridiculous amount about both languages. It's true what they say: real world experience and practical application is so much better than a classroom environment.
Classrooms may be nice for theory and stuff (that kind of thing is fine and all, I believe it's important to know how the language works) but you only really get to know the language once you sit down and code things that are useful. This may sound as if I know already what all classroom environments are like; but I only speak from the experience of two programming courses - both of which were tailored pretty much for n00bs. Those tasks they teach in class aren't useful. (Hmm, I've noticed this has turned into somewhat of a rant... so if you want to avoid being bored, skip down to the paragraph with Nintendo DS in it: no promises for excitement there either, but have at it anyway!).
Ok, so I had introductory courses in MATLAB and C. I'm only speaking for these introductory classes - it may very well be different in higher level classes. The examples and assignments they give in this class are ridiculously stupid. Let's introduce structures: Well, let's say a structure represents a person. This person has a boss. Let's say you were coding a program that looks for the hierarchy of bosses. Do it. I know I know it's meant to teach you what structures are and how to access them... but honestly, can't you come up with better and more realistic examples? It can't be that hard. Here, I'll think up one on the spot: You are making a character stats calculator for [Insert RPG]. Have the user input data for various stats: name, class, hp, str, agi, etc... And display this information back to the user in a suitable manner. The user is able to make multiple characters this way. Granted, it's not the best example. But hey, it's interesting and this would be a viable solution should you ever want to make a character stat calculator. But whatever, I digress a lot.
I started off the summer with very little JAVA experience and no object-oriented knowledge. My most recent task was generating an automated test application that interacts with hardware, and parses the debug messages received from the hardware in semi-realtime - in a JAVA app. Works like a charm! Maybe classes should take this approach. Class time should be devoted to the quirks of the language - things that are special and specific to the language, concepts, and general usage of things. And homework should be projects that are fun and challenging. There should be no guidelines for the projects, so long that it works decently. I hated the test scripts that the classes used to grade homework - it was too nitpicky. It pretty much tested for what the person who made the script wanted. It didn't matter that you got the code to work in a different manner, it was wrong if it wasn't they way they wanted it. I say BS.
This is a horribly unorganized post, so I shall attempt to redeem myself:
By wooing you with a picture of my DS bwahhahaha. Well, I just got a Nintendo DS. And this sweet little machine is the reason why I started this post. I was about to post my friend code for Pokemon, but uh... I decided it's better if you message me for it if you want it - don't want freaks friending me on Pokemon or something, being like, "Let's fight! Loser has to cyber"... or something... Nevermind.
So anyway, I also bought a Slot1 Flash Cart for my lovely pocket gaming device and I've been reading up on homebrew stuff. It looks like the language of choice (and the tools tailored towards) making homebrew stuff is C. This is where my cockiness comes in. So with all this newfound job experience in coding, I'm thinkin': piece of cake, I could write a DS app or even a game. With that thought in mind, I now wish to write something for the DS. The problem is: I'm horribly uncreative. And I have no idea what to design.
I want to do something not already done before, something that, should I succeed well with it, I can actually release to the outside world and say: Look at how cool I am, this is cool.
The problem is I have no ideas. Please help! If you could leave suggestions of things that you think would be interesting/fun/useful! Maybe in half a year I might actually finish doing it...
Anyway, this concludes my very boring post. Thanks!
Classrooms may be nice for theory and stuff (that kind of thing is fine and all, I believe it's important to know how the language works) but you only really get to know the language once you sit down and code things that are useful. This may sound as if I know already what all classroom environments are like; but I only speak from the experience of two programming courses - both of which were tailored pretty much for n00bs. Those tasks they teach in class aren't useful. (Hmm, I've noticed this has turned into somewhat of a rant... so if you want to avoid being bored, skip down to the paragraph with Nintendo DS in it: no promises for excitement there either, but have at it anyway!).
Ok, so I had introductory courses in MATLAB and C. I'm only speaking for these introductory classes - it may very well be different in higher level classes. The examples and assignments they give in this class are ridiculously stupid. Let's introduce structures: Well, let's say a structure represents a person. This person has a boss. Let's say you were coding a program that looks for the hierarchy of bosses. Do it. I know I know it's meant to teach you what structures are and how to access them... but honestly, can't you come up with better and more realistic examples? It can't be that hard. Here, I'll think up one on the spot: You are making a character stats calculator for [Insert RPG]. Have the user input data for various stats: name, class, hp, str, agi, etc... And display this information back to the user in a suitable manner. The user is able to make multiple characters this way. Granted, it's not the best example. But hey, it's interesting and this would be a viable solution should you ever want to make a character stat calculator. But whatever, I digress a lot.
I started off the summer with very little JAVA experience and no object-oriented knowledge. My most recent task was generating an automated test application that interacts with hardware, and parses the debug messages received from the hardware in semi-realtime - in a JAVA app. Works like a charm! Maybe classes should take this approach. Class time should be devoted to the quirks of the language - things that are special and specific to the language, concepts, and general usage of things. And homework should be projects that are fun and challenging. There should be no guidelines for the projects, so long that it works decently. I hated the test scripts that the classes used to grade homework - it was too nitpicky. It pretty much tested for what the person who made the script wanted. It didn't matter that you got the code to work in a different manner, it was wrong if it wasn't they way they wanted it. I say BS.
This is a horribly unorganized post, so I shall attempt to redeem myself:
By wooing you with a picture of my DS bwahhahaha. Well, I just got a Nintendo DS. And this sweet little machine is the reason why I started this post. I was about to post my friend code for Pokemon, but uh... I decided it's better if you message me for it if you want it - don't want freaks friending me on Pokemon or something, being like, "Let's fight! Loser has to cyber"... or something... Nevermind.So anyway, I also bought a Slot1 Flash Cart for my lovely pocket gaming device and I've been reading up on homebrew stuff. It looks like the language of choice (and the tools tailored towards) making homebrew stuff is C. This is where my cockiness comes in. So with all this newfound job experience in coding, I'm thinkin': piece of cake, I could write a DS app or even a game. With that thought in mind, I now wish to write something for the DS. The problem is: I'm horribly uncreative. And I have no idea what to design.
I want to do something not already done before, something that, should I succeed well with it, I can actually release to the outside world and say: Look at how cool I am, this is cool.
The problem is I have no ideas. Please help! If you could leave suggestions of things that you think would be interesting/fun/useful! Maybe in half a year I might actually finish doing it...
Anyway, this concludes my very boring post. Thanks!
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