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  • Implementing a wheeled character controller

    - by Lazlo
    I'm trying to implement Boxycraft's character controller in XNA (with Farseer), as Bryan Dysmas did (minus the jumping part, yet). My current implementation seems to sometimes glitch in between two parallel planes, and fails to climb 45 degree slopes. (YouTube videos in links, plane glitch is subtle). How can I fix it? From the textual description, I seem to be doing it right. Here is my implementation (it seems like a huge wall of text, but it's easy to read. I wish I could simplify and isolate the problem more, but I can't): public Body TorsoBody { get; private set; } public PolygonShape TorsoShape { get; private set; } public Body LegsBody { get; private set; } public Shape LegsShape { get; private set; } public RevoluteJoint Hips { get; private set; } public FixedAngleJoint FixedAngleJoint { get; private set; } public AngleJoint AngleJoint { get; private set; } ... this.TorsoBody = BodyFactory.CreateRectangle(this.World, 1, 1.5f, 1); this.TorsoShape = new PolygonShape(1); this.TorsoShape.SetAsBox(0.5f, 0.75f); this.TorsoBody.CreateFixture(this.TorsoShape); this.TorsoBody.IsStatic = false; this.LegsBody = BodyFactory.CreateCircle(this.World, 0.5f, 1); this.LegsShape = new CircleShape(0.5f, 1); this.LegsBody.CreateFixture(this.LegsShape); this.LegsBody.Position -= 0.75f * Vector2.UnitY; this.LegsBody.IsStatic = false; this.Hips = JointFactory.CreateRevoluteJoint(this.TorsoBody, this.LegsBody, Vector2.Zero); this.Hips.MotorEnabled = true; this.AngleJoint = new AngleJoint(this.TorsoBody, this.LegsBody); this.FixedAngleJoint = new FixedAngleJoint(this.TorsoBody); this.Hips.MaxMotorTorque = float.PositiveInfinity; this.World.AddJoint(this.Hips); this.World.AddJoint(this.AngleJoint); this.World.AddJoint(this.FixedAngleJoint); ... public void Move(float m) // -1, 0, +1 { this.Hips.MotorSpeed = 0.5f * m; }

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  • What to do when you inherit an unmaintainable codebase?

    - by GordonM
    I'm currently working at a company with 2 other PHP developers aside from me, and 1 junior developer. The senior developer who originally built the system we're all working on has resigned and will only be here for a matter of weeks. The other developer, who is the only other guy who knows anything about the system, is unhappy here and is looking for a new job. I'm very real danger of being left behind as the only experienced developer on this codebase. Since I've joined this company I've tried to push for better coding standards, project documentation, etc and I do think I've made some headway, but the vast majority of the code is simply unmaintainable and uncommented. A lot of this has to do with the need to get things done fast at points in the project before I joined, but now the technical debt is enormous, even with the two developers who do understand the system on board. Without them, it will simply be impossible to do anything with it. The senior developer is working on trying to at least comment all his code before he leaves but I think the codebase is simply too vast to properly document in the remaining time. Besides, when he does comment it still doesn't make things as clear as it could. If the system was better organized and documented I could probably start refactoring it incrementally, but the whole thing is so tightly coupled that it's very difficult to make any changes in one module without having unintended knock-on effects in other modules. Naturally, there's no unit tests either, and I honestly don't think this codebase could possibly be unit tested anyway given how it's implemented. There also never seems to be enough time to get things done even with 3 developers and 1 junior developer. With one developer and one junior, neither of which had significant input into the early design of the system, I don't see how we could possibly get anything done with keeping the current system working, implementing new features as needed and developing a replacement for the current codebase that is better organized. Is there an approach I can take to cope with this situation, or should I be getting my own CV in order as well at this point? If it was just me and the junior designer who would be left I'd go for the latter option almost without question. However, there's a team of front-end developers and content managers as well, and I'm worried what would become of them if I left and put them in a position where there would be no developers at all. The department might just be closed down altogether under such circumstances, and then I'd have their unemployment on my conscience as well!

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  • Why is my arrow texture being drawn in odd places?

    - by tyjkenn
    This is a script I wrote that places an arrow on the screen, pointing to an enemy off-screen, or, if the enemy is on-screen, it places an arrow hovering above the enemy. Everything seems to work, except for some odd reason, I see random arrows floating around, often skewed and resized (which I really don't understand, because I only rotate and place in this script). Even when I only have one enemy in the scene, I still see these random arrows. It should only be drawing one per enemy. Note: when all enemies are removed, no arrows appear. var arrow : Texture; var cam : Camera; var dim : int = 30; function OnGUI() { var objects = GameObject.FindGameObjectsWithTag("Enemy"); for(var ob : GameObject in objects) { var pos = cam.WorldToViewportPoint(ob.transform.position); if(gameObject.GetComponent(FollowCamera).target != null){ var tar = gameObject.GetComponent(FollowCamera).target.parent; } if(pos.z>1 && ob.transform != tar){ var xDiff = (pos.x*cam.pixelWidth)-(cam.pixelWidth/2); var yDiff = (pos.y*cam.pixelHeight)-(cam.pixelHeight/2); var angle = Mathf.Rad2Deg*Mathf.Atan(yDiff/xDiff)+180; if(xDiff>0) angle += 180; var dist = Mathf.Sqrt(xDiff*xDiff + yDiff*yDiff); var slope = yDiff/xDiff; var camSlope = cam.pixelHeight/cam.pixelWidth; var theX = -1000.0; var theY = -1000.0; var mult = 0; var temp; if(Mathf.Abs(xDiff)>(cam.pixelWidth/2)||Mathf.Abs(yDiff)>(cam.pixelHeight/2)){ //touching right if(slope<camSlope && slope>-camSlope) { if(xDiff>(cam.pixelWidth/2)) { theX = cam.pixelWidth - (dim/2); mult = -1; }else if(xDiff<-(cam.pixelWidth/2)) { theX = (dim/2); mult = 1; } temp = ((cam.pixelWidth/2)*yDiff)/xDiff; theY =(cam.pixelHeight/2)+(mult*temp); } else{ if(yDiff>(cam.pixelHeight/2)) { theY = (dim/2); mult = 1; }else if(yDiff<-(cam.pixelHeight/2)) { theY = cam.pixelHeight - (dim/2); mult = -1; } temp = ((cam.pixelHeight/2)*xDiff)/yDiff; theX =(cam.pixelWidth/2)+(mult*temp); } } else { angle = -90; theX = (cam.pixelWidth/2)+xDiff; theY = (cam.pixelHeight/2)-yDiff-dim; } GUIUtility.RotateAroundPivot(-angle, Vector2(theX, theY)); Graphics.DrawTexture(Rect(theX-(dim/2),theY-(dim/2),dim,dim),arrow,null); GUIUtility.RotateAroundPivot(angle, Vector2(theX, theY)); } } }

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  • ArchBeat Link-o-Rama for 10-24-2012

    - by Bob Rhubart
    Play Oracle Vanquisher Here's a little respite from whatever it is you normally spend your time on. Oracle Vanquisher is an online diversion that makes a game of data center optimization. According to the description: "Armed with a cool Oracle vacuum pack suit and a strategic IT roadmap, you will thwart threats and optimize your data center to increase your company’s stock price and boost your company's position." Mainly you avoid electric shock and killer birds. The current high score belongs to someone identified as "TEN." My score? Never mind. Book: DevOps for Developers | The Java Source The subject of DevOps has come up in a couple of recent OTN ArchBeat Podcasts, so it's somewhat serendipitous that Tori Weildt's recent blog post offers an overview of Java Champion Michael Hutterman's new book, DevOps for Developers, now available from Apress. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) : Context is everything… | The ORACLE-BASE Blog BOYD is a factor in the evolution of IT, but in what context? "The real IT work in companies is still being done on PCs," says Oracle ACE Director Tim Hall. "Yes, you can use a cloud service on your phone, but look around the office and you will see those cloud services are actually being used by people on PCs." Oracle in the Cloud: Oracle EBusiness Suite sizing | Tom Laszewski Cloud expert Tom Laszewski shares several technical resources that will be helpful for sizing of Oracle EBusiness Suite. Setting Up, Configuring, and Using an Oracle WebLogic Server Cluster Author and expert Yuli Vasiliev shows you how take advantage of multiple Oracle WebLogic Server instances grouped into a cluster to maximize scalability and availability. Webcast: Reduce Costs with Oracle's Database Storage Management Watch this! Join Oracle experts Kevin Jernigan and Margaret Hamburger for an interactive webcast in which you'll learn how Oracle's Database Storage Management can reduce storage costs and management complexity while improving query performance to meet service-level agreements and compliance requirements. Event Date: Tuesday, November 6, 2012 Event Time: 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET Thought for the Day "Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves." — Alan Kay Source: softwarequotes.com

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  • following a moving sprite

    - by iQue
    Im trying to get my enemies to follow my main-character of the game (2D), but for some reason the game starts lagging like crazy when I do it the way I want to do it, and the following-part dosnt work 100% either, its just 1/24 enemies that comes to my sprite, the other 23 move towards it but stay at a certain point. Might be a poor explenation but dont know how else to put it. Code for moving my enemies: private int enemyX(){ int x = 0; for (int i = 0; i < enemies.size(); i++){ if (controls.pointerPosition.x > enemies.get(i).getX()){//pointerPosition is the position of my main-sprite. x = 5; } else{ x=-5; } Log.d(TAG, "happyX HERE: " + controls.pointerPosition.x); Log.d(TAG, "enemyX HERE: " + enemies.get(i).getX()); } return x; } private int enemyY(){ int y = 0; for (int i = 0; i < enemies.size(); i++){ if (controls.pointerPosition.y > enemies.get(i).getY()){ y = 5; } else{ y=-5; } } return y; } I send it to the update-method in my Enemy-class: private void drawEnemy(Canvas canvas){ addEnemies(); // a method where I add enemies to my arrayList, no parameters except bitmap. for(int i = 0; i < enemies.size(); i++){ enemies.get(i).update(enemyX(), enemyY()); } for(int i = 0; i < enemies.size(); i++){ enemies.get(i).draw(canvas); } } and finally, the update-method itself, located in my Enemy-class: public void update(int velX, int velY) { x += velX; //sets x before I draw y += velY; //sets y before I draw currentFrame = ++currentFrame % BMP_COLUMNS; } So can any1 figure out why it starts lagging so much and how I can fix it? Thanks for your time!

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  • SFX Played Once per Collision or Hit

    - by David Dimalanta
    I have a question about using Box2D (engine for LibGDX used to make realistic physics). I observed on the code that I've made for the physics here below: @Override public boolean touchUp(int screenX, int screenY, int pointer, int button) { // TODO Touch Up Event if(is_Next_Fruit_Touched) { BodyEditorLoader Fruit_Loader = new BodyEditorLoader(Gdx.files.internal("Shape_Physics/Fruity Physics.json")); Fruit_BD.type = BodyType.DynamicBody; Fruit_BD.position.set(x, y); FixtureDef Fruit_FD = new FixtureDef(); // --> Allows you to make the object's physics. Fruit_FD.density = 1.0f; Fruit_FD.friction = 0.7f; Fruit_FD.restitution = 0.2f; MassData mass = new MassData(); mass.mass = 5f; Fruit_Body[n] = world.createBody(Fruit_BD); Fruit_Body[n].setActive(true); // --> Let your dragon fall. Fruit_Body[n].setMassData(mass); Fruit_Body[n].setGravityScale(1.0f); System.out.println("Eggs... " + n); Fruit_Loader.attachFixture(Fruit_Body[n], Body, Fruit_FD, Fruit_IMG.getWidth()); Fruit_Origin = Fruit_Loader.getOrigin(Body, Fruit_IMG.getWidth()).cpy(); is_Next_Fruit_Touched = false; up = y; Gdx.app.log("Initial Y-coordinate", "Y at " + up); //Once it's touched, the next fruit will set to drag. if(n < 50) { n++; }else{ System.exit(0); } } return true; } Now, I'm thinking which part o line should I implement for the sound effects. My objectives to make SFX played once for every collision (Or should I say "SFX played once per collision"?) on the following: SFX played once if they hit on the objects of its kind. (e.g. apple vs. apple) SFX played once on a different sound when it hit on the ground. (e.g. apple land on the mud) Take note that I'm using Box2D for the Java programming version thanks to LibGDX via Box2D engine and I edited the physics body using Physics Body Editor before I implement it to code. I tried to check every available methods for body, fixture definition, or body definition to code for the SFX when hit but it seems only for the gravity and weight. Is there possibly available on the document for SFX played when collision happens if possible?

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  • Training v. Teaching

    - by Chris Gardner
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/freestylecoding/archive/2014/05/28/training-v.-teaching.aspxAs some of you may know, I recently accepted a position to teach an undergraduate course at my alma mater. Yesterday, I had my first day in an academic classroom. I immediately noticed a difference with the interactions between the students. They don't act like students in a professional training or conference talk. I wanted to use this opportunity to enumerate some of those differences. The immediate thing I noticed was the lack of open environment. This is not to say the class was hostile towards me. I am used to entering the room, bantering with audience, loosening everyone a bit, and flowing into the discussion. A purely academic audience does not banter. At least, they do not banter on day one. I think I can attribute this to two factors. This first is a greater perception of authority. In a training or conference environment, I am an equal with the audience. This is true even if I am being a subject matter expert. We're all professionals. We're all there to learn from each other, share our stories, and enjoy the journey. In the academic classroom, there was a distinct class difference. I had forgotten about this distinction; I had the professional familiarity with the staff by the time I completed my masters. This leads to the other distinction. These was an expectation of performance. At conference and professional training, there is generally no (immediate) grading. This may be a preparation for a certification exam, but I'm not the one responsible for delivering the exam. This was not the case in the academic classroom. These students are battling for points, and I am the sole arbiter. These students are less likely to let the material wash over them, applying the material to their past experiences. They were down taking notes. I don't want to leave the impression that there was no interact in the classroom. I spent a good deal of time doing problems with the class on the whiteboard. I tried to get the class to help me work out the steps. This opened up a few of them. After every conference or training class, I always get a few people that will email me afterward to continue the conversation. I am very curious to see if anybody comes to my office hours tomorrow. However, that is a curiosity that will have to wait until tomorrow.

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  • How can I achieve a 3D-like effect with spritebatch's rotation and scale parameters

    - by Alic44
    I'm working on a 2d game with a top-down perspective similar to Secret of Mana and the 2D Final Fantasy games, with one big difference being that it's an action rpg using a 3-dimensional physics engine. I'm trying to draw an aimer graphic (basically an arrow) at my characters' feet when they're aiming a ranged weapon. At first I just converted the character's aim vector to radians and passed that into spritebatch, but there was a problem. The position of every object in my world is scaled for perspective when it's drawn to the screen. So if the physics engine coordinates are (1, 0, 1), the screen coords are actually (1, .707) -- the Y and Z axis are scaled by a perspective factor of .707 and then added together to get the screen coordinates. This meant that the direction the aimer graphic pointed (thanks to its rotation value passed into spritebatch) didn't match up with the direction the projectile actually traveled over time. Things looked fine when the characters fired left, right, up, or down, but if you fired on a diagonal the perspective of the physics engine didn't match with the simplistic way I was converting the character's aim direction to a screen rotation. Ok, fast forward to now: I've got the aimer's rotation matched up with the path the projectile will actually take, which I'm doing by decomposing a transform matrix which I build from two rotation matrices (one to represent the aimer's rotation, and one to represent the camera's 45 degree rotation on the x axis). My question is, is there a way to get not just rotation from a series of matrix transformations, but to also get a Vector2 scale which would give the aimer the appearance of being a 3d object, being warped by perspective? Orthographic perspective is what I'm going for, I think. So, the aimer arrow would get longer when facing sideways, and shorter when facing north and south because of the perspective. At the same time, it would get wider when facing north and south, and less wide when facing right or left. I'd like to avoid actually drawing the aimer texture in 3d because I'm still using spritebatch's layerdepth parameter at this point in my project, and I don't want to have to figure out how to draw a 3d object within the depth sorting system I already have. I can provide code and more details if this is too vague as a question... This is my first post on stack exchange. Thanks a lot for reading! Note: (I think) I realize it can't be a technically correct 3D perspective, because the spritebatch's vector2 scaling argument doesn't allow for an object to be skewed the way it actually should be. What I'm really interested in is, is there a good way to fake the effect, or should I just drop it and not scale at all? Edit to clarify without the help of a picture (apparently I can't post them yet): I want the aimer arrow to look like it has been painted on the ground at the character's feet, so it should appear to be drawn on the ground plane (in my case the XZ plane) which should be tilted at a 45 degree angle (around the X axis) from the viewing perspective. Alex

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  • Unable to find good parameters for behavior of a puck in Farseer

    - by Krumelur
    EDIT: I have tried all kinds of variations now. The last one was to adjust the linear velocity in each step: newVel = oldVel * 0.9f - all of this including your proposals kind of work, however in the end if the velocity is little enough, the puck sticks to the wall and slides either vertically or horizontally. I can't get rid of this behavior. I want it to bounce, no matter how slow it is. Retitution is 1 for all objects, Friction is 0 for all. There is no gravity. What am I possibly doing wrong? In my battle to learn and understand Farseer I'm trying to setup a simple Air Hockey like table with a puck on it. The table's border body is made up from: Vertices aBorders = new Vertices( 4 ); aBorders.Add( new Vector2( -fHalfWidth, fHalfHeight ) ); aBorders.Add( new Vector2( fHalfWidth, fHalfHeight ) ); aBorders.Add( new Vector2( fHalfWidth, -fHalfHeight ) ); aBorders.Add( new Vector2( -fHalfWidth, -fHalfHeight ) ); FixtureFactory.AttachLoopShape( aBorders, this ); this.CollisionCategories = Category.All; this.CollidesWith = Category.All; this.Position = Vector2.Zero; this.Restitution = 1f; this.Friction = 0f; The puck body is defined with: FixtureFactory.AttachCircle( DIAMETER_PHYSIC_UNITS / 2f, 0.5f, this ); this.Restitution = 0.1f; this.Friction = 0.5f; this.BodyType = FarseerPhysics.Dynamics.BodyType.Dynamic; this.LinearDamping = 0.5f; this.Mass = 0.2f; I'm applying a linear force to the puck: this.oPuck.ApplyLinearImpulse( new Vector2( 1f, 1f ) ); The problem is that the puck and the walls appear to be sticky. This means that the puck's velocity drops to zero to quickly below a certain velocity. The puck gets reflected by the walls a couple of times and then just sticks to the left wall and continues sliding downwards the left wall. This looks very unrealistic. What I'm really looking for is that a puck-wall-collision does slow down the puck only a tiny little bit. After tweaking all values left and right I was wondering if I'm doing something wrong. Maybe some expert can comment on the parameters?

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  • root issues in softwarecenter, synaptic and update manager

    - by user188977
    i have a notebook samsung ativ 2 and ubuntu 12.04 precise, cinnamon desktop. after logging in today my update manager, synaptic and ubuntu softwarecenter stopped working. synaptic i can only launch from terminal the others from panel.when choosing to update, nothing happens. same thing when trying to install programms from syn. or softw.center.when launching softwarec. from terminal i get: marcus@ddddddddd:~$ software-center 2013-11-10 22:30:46,206 - softwarecenter.ui.gtk3.app - INFO - setting up proxy 'None' 2013-11-10 22:30:46,217 - softwarecenter.db.database - INFO - open() database: path=None use_axi=True use_agent=True (software-center:4772): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: softwarecenter.css:34:20: Not using units is deprecated. Assuming 'px'. (software-center:4772): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: softwarecenter.css:34:22: Not using units is deprecated. Assuming 'px'. (software-center:4772): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: softwarecenter.css:56:20: Not using units is deprecated. Assuming 'px'. (software-center:4772): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: softwarecenter.css:56:22: Not using units is deprecated. Assuming 'px'. (software-center:4772): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: softwarecenter.css:60:20: Not using units is deprecated. Assuming 'px'. (software-center:4772): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: softwarecenter.css:60:22: Not using units is deprecated. Assuming 'px'. 2013-11-10 22:30:46,977 - softwarecenter.backend.reviews - WARNING - Could not get usefulness from server, no username in config file 2013-11-10 22:30:47,320 - softwarecenter.ui.gtk3.app - INFO - show_available_packages: search_text is '', app is None. 2013-11-10 22:30:48,057 - softwarecenter.db.pkginfo_impl.aptcache - INFO - aptcache.open() 2013-11-10 22:31:00,646 - softwarecenter.fixme - WARNING - logs to the root logger: '('/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/utils.py', 201, 'get_title_from_html')' 2013-11-10 22:31:00,645 - root - WARNING - failed to parse: '<div style="background-color: #161513; width:1680px; height:200px;">  <div style="background: url('/site_media/exhibits/2013/09/AAMFP_Leaderboard_700x200_1.jpg') top left no-repeat; width:700px; height:200px;"></div> </div>' ('ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xa0' in position 70: ordinal not in range(128)) 2013-11-10 22:31:02,268 - softwarecenter.db.update - INFO - skipping region restricted app: 'Comentarios Web' (not whitelisted) 2013-11-10 22:31:02,769 - softwarecenter.db.update - INFO - skipping region restricted app: 'reEarCandy' (not whitelisted) 2013-11-10 22:31:04,821 - softwarecenter.db.update - INFO - skipping region restricted app: 'Flaggame' (not whitelisted) 2013-11-10 22:31:05,622 - softwarecenter.db.update - INFO - skipping region restricted app: 'Bulleti d'esquerra de Calonge i Sant Antoni ' (not whitelisted) 2013-11-10 22:31:08,352 - softwarecenter.ui.gtk3.app - INFO - software-center-agent finished with status 0 2013-11-10 22:31:08,353 - softwarecenter.db.database - INFO - reopen() database 2013-11-10 22:31:08,353 - softwarecenter.db.database - INFO - open() database: path=None use_axi=True use_agent=True 2013-11-10 22:33:32,319 - softwarecenter.backend - WARNING - _on_trans_error: org.freedesktop.PolicyKit.Error.Failed: ('system-bus-name', {'name': ':1.72'}): org.debian.apt.install-or-remove-packages 2013-11-10 22:36:01,818 - softwarecenter.backend - WARNING - daemon dies, ignoring: <AptTransaction object at 0x48e4b40 (aptdaemon+client+AptTransaction at 0x645aaa0)> exit-failed 2013-11-10 22:36:01,820 - softwarecenter.db.pkginfo_impl.aptcache - INFO - aptcache.open()

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  • Second Monitor stays black/in power save mode

    - by Rob
    I'm using two Monitors, a Belinea o.display 1 (Recognized as a Rogen Tech Distribution Inc 20" by Ubuntu, but working fine) on the DVI-Output (connected via DVI-to-VGA-adapter) as my primary Monitor and a Dell 19" (Recognized correctly) on the HDMI-output (via HDMI-to-DVI adapter) as secondary monitor. The graphics controller is a GeForce 9500 GS. I'm running a fully updated Ubuntu 13.04 with nouveau 1:1.0.7-0ubuntu1. The problem is that the second monitor (Dell) never seems to come out of standby during boot: the screen stays black and the status led on the monitor stays orange (it's green when it's on). It is correctly recognized an the size of the desktop is set accordingly, it just stays black. Changing any setting via xrandr/arandr/etc. does nothing. The on-screen-menu of the monitor reports it to be in power save mode. When using the proprietary NVIDIA-Drivers, the second monitor works just find. But these drivers cause a lot of other problems on my system, so i would really like to avoid them. On Ubuntu 12.10 i had found a workaround: When moving the relative position of the second monitor slightly down and the up again, it would turn on and function normally: xrandr --output DVI-I-1 --mode 1680x1050 --pos 1280x0 --rotate normal --output HDMI-1 --mode 1280x1024 --pos 0x88 --rotate normal sleep 2 xrandr --output DVI-I-1 --mode 1680x1050 --pos 1280x0 --rotate normal --output HDMI-1 --mode 1280x1024 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal This workaround stop working after the update to 13.04, and now i'm looking for a new solution. Has anyone experienced something similarity? xrandr output: Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2960 x 1050, maximum 8192 x 8192 DVI-I-1 connected 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 433mm x 270mm 1680x1050 60.0*+ 1280x1024 75.0 60.0 1280x960 60.0 1152x864 75.0 1024x768 75.1 72.0 70.1 60.0 832x624 74.6 800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2 640x480 72.8 75.0 66.7 60.0 720x400 70.1 HDMI-1 connected 1280x1024+1680+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 376mm x 301mm 1280x1024 60.0*+ 75.0 1152x864 75.0 1024x768 75.1 60.0 800x600 75.0 60.3 640x480 75.0 60.0 720x400 70.1 lshw -c video: *-display Beschreibung: VGA compatible controller Produkt: G96 [GeForce 9500 GS] Hersteller: NVIDIA Corporation Physische ID: 0 Bus-Informationen: pci@0000:01:00.0 Version: a1 Breite: 64 bits Takt: 33MHz Fähigkeiten: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom Konfiguration: driver=nouveau latency=0 Ressourcen: irq:16 memory:fa000000-faffffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff memory:f8000000-f9ffffff ioport:df00(Größe=128) memory:fb000000-fb07ffff Thanks for your help!

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  • Why does my ID3DXSprite appear to be incorrectly scaled?

    - by Bjoern
    I am using D3D9 for rendering some simple things (a movie) as the backmost layer, then on top of that some text messages, and now wanted to add some buttons to that. Before adding the buttons everything seemed to have worked fine, and I was using a ID3DXSprite for the text as well (ID3DXFont), now I am loading some graphics for the buttons, but they seem to be scaled to something like 1.2 times their original size. In my test window I centered the graphic, but it being too big it just doesnt fit well, for example the client area is 640x360, the graphic is 440, so I expect 100 pixel on left and right, left side is fine [I took screenshot and "counted" the pixels in photoshop], but on the right there is only about 20 pixels) My rendering code is very simple (I am omitting error checks, et cetera, for brevity) // initially viewport was set to width/height of client area // clear device m_d3dDevice->Clear( 0, NULL, D3DCLEAR_TARGET|D3DCLEAR_STENCIL|D3DCLEAR_ZBUFFER, D3DCOLOR_ARGB(0,0,0,0), 1.0f, 0 ); // begin scene m_d3dDevice->BeginScene(); // render movie surface (just two triangles to which the movie is rendered) m_d3dDevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_ALPHABLENDENABLE,false); m_d3dDevice->SetSamplerState( 0, D3DSAMP_MAGFILTER, D3DTEXF_LINEAR ); // bilinear filtering m_d3dDevice->SetSamplerState( 0, D3DSAMP_MINFILTER, D3DTEXF_LINEAR ); // bilinear filtering m_d3dDevice->SetTextureStageState( 0, D3DTSS_COLORARG1, D3DTA_TEXTURE ); m_d3dDevice->SetTextureStageState( 0, D3DTSS_COLORARG2, D3DTA_DIFFUSE ); //Ignored m_d3dDevice->SetTextureStageState( 0, D3DTSS_COLOROP, D3DTOP_SELECTARG1 ); m_d3dDevice->SetTexture( 0, m_movieTexture ); m_d3dDevice->SetStreamSource(0, m_displayPlaneVertexBuffer, 0, sizeof(Vertex)); m_d3dDevice->SetFVF(Vertex::FVF_Flags); m_d3dDevice->DrawPrimitive(D3DPT_TRIANGLELIST, 0, 2); // render sprites m_sprite->Begin(D3DXSPRITE_ALPHABLEND | D3DXSPRITE_SORT_TEXTURE | D3DXSPRITE_DO_NOT_ADDREF_TEXTURE); // text drop shadow m_font->DrawText( m_playerSprite, m_currentMessage.c_str(), m_currentMessage.size(), &m_playerFontRectDropShadow, DT_RIGHT|DT_TOP|DT_NOCLIP, m_playerFontColorDropShadow ); // text m_font->DrawText( m_playerSprite, m_currentMessage.c_str(), m_currentMessage.size(), &m_playerFontRect, DT_RIGHT|DT_TOP|DT_NOCLIP, m_playerFontColorMessage ) ); // control object m_sprite->Draw( m_texture, 0, 0, &m_vecPos, 0xFFFFFFFF ); // draws a few objects like this m_sprite->End() // end scene m_d3dDevice->EndScene(); What did I forget to do here? Except for the control objects (play button, pause button etc which are placed on a "panel" which is about 440 pixels wide) everything seems fine, the objects are positioned where I expect them, but just too big. By the way I loaded the images using D3DXCreateTextureFromFileEx (resizing wnidow, and reacting to lost device, etc, works fine too). For experimenting, I added some code to take an identity matrix and scale is down on the x/y axis to 0.75f, which then gave me the expected result for the controls (but also made the text smaller and out of position), but I don't know why I would need to scale anything. My rendering code is so simple, I just wanted to draw my 2D objects 1;1 the size they came from the file... I am really very inexperienced in D3D, so the answer might be very simple...

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  • How employable am I as a programmer?

    - by dsimcha
    I'm currently a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in computational biology and am starting to think about what I want to do after graduate school. I feel like I've accumulated a lot of programming skills while in grad school, but taken a very non-traditional path to learning all this stuff. I'm wondering whether I would have an easy time getting hired as a programmer and could fall back on that if I can't find a good job directly in my field, and if so whether I would qualify for a more prestigious position than "code monkey". Things I Have Going For Me Approximately 4 years of experience programming as part of my research. I believe I have a solid enough grasp of the fundamentals that I could pick up new languages and technologies pretty fast, and could demonstrate this in an interview. Good math and statistics skills. An extensive portfolio of open source work (and the knowledge that working on these projects implies): I wrote a statistics library in D, mostly from scratch. I wrote a parallelism library (parallel map, reduce, foreach, task parallelism, pipelining, etc.) that is currently in review for adoption by the D standard library. I wrote a 2D plotting library for D against the GTK Cairo backend. I currently use it for most of the figures I make for my research. I've contributed several major performance optimizations to the D garbage collector. (Most of these were low-hanging fruit, but it still shows my knowledge of low-level issues like memory management, pointers and bit twiddling.) I've contributed lots of miscellaneous bug fixes to the D standard library and could show the change logs to prove it. (This demonstrates my ability read other people's code.) Things I Have Going Against Me Most of my programming experience is in D and Python. I have very little to virtually no experience in the more established, "enterprise-y" languages like Java, C# and C++, though I have learned a decent amount about these languages from small, one-off projects and discussions about language design in the D community. In general I have absolutely no knowledge of "enterprise-y" technlogies. I've never used a framework before, possibly because most reusable code for scientific work and for D tends to call itself a "library" instead. I have virtually no formal computer science/software engineering training. Almost all of my knowledge comes from talking to programming geek friends, reading blogs, forums, StackOverflow, etc. I have zero professional experience with the official title of "developer", "software engineer", or something similar.

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  • What Counts for a DBA: Passion

    - by drsql
    One of my first questions, when interviewing for a DBA/Programmer position, is always: “Why do you want this job?” The answers I receive range from cheesy hyperbole (“I want to enhance your services with my vast knowledge”) to deadpan realism (“I have N kids who all have a hole in the front of their face where food goes"). Both answers are fine in their own way, at least displaying some self-confidence, humour and honesty, but once in a while, I'll hear the answer that is music to me ears... “I LOVE DATABASES!” Whenever I hear it, my nerves tingle in hopeful anticipation; have I found someone for whom working with database isn't just a job, but a passion? Inevitably, I'm often disappointed. What initially seemed like passion turns out to be rather shallow enthusiasm; the person is enthusiastic about working with databases in the same way he or she might be about eating a bag of Cajun spiced kettle chips; enjoyable, but not something to think about too deeply or take too seriously. Enthusiasm comes, and enthusiasm goes. I've seen countless technical forum users burst onto the scene in a blaze of frantic question-answering, only to fade away within days, never to be heard from again. Passion, however, is more of a longstanding commitment. The biographies of the great technologists and authors of the recent past are full of the sort of passion and engrossment that lead a person to write a novel non-stop for a fortnight with no sleep and only dog food to eat (Philip K. Dick), or refuse to leave the works of the first tunnel under the Thames, even though it was flooded (Brunel). In a similar (though more modest) way, my passion for working with databases has led me to acts that might cause someone for whom it was "just a job" to roll their eyes in disbelief. Most evenings you're more likely to find me reading a database book than watching TV. I've spent hundreds of hours of my spare time writing blogs and articles (some of which are only read by tens of people); I've spent hundreds of dollars travelling to conferences, paying my own flight and hotel expenses, so that I can share a little of what I know, and mix with some like-minded people. And I know I'm far from alone in this, in the SQL Server community. Passion isn't everything, of course, and it isn't always accompanied by any great skill, but in almost every case, that skill can be cultivated over time. If you are doing what you are passionate about, work turns into more than just a way to feed your kids; it becomes your hobby, entertainment, and preoccupation. And it is this passion that gives a DBA the obsessive stubbornness, the refusal to be beaten by even the most difficult problem, which is often so crucial. A final word of warning though: passion without limits can turn weird. Never let it get in the way of your wife, kids, bills, or personal hygiene.

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  • Top down space game control problem

    - by Phil
    As the title suggests I'm developing a top down space game. I'm not looking to use newtonian physics with the player controlled ship. I'm trying to achieve a control scheme somewhat similar to that of FlatSpace 2 (awesome game). I can't figure out how to achieve this feeling with keyboard controls as opposed to mouse controls though. Any suggestions? I'm using Unity3d and C# or javaScript (unityScript or whatever is the correct term) works fine if you want to drop some code examples. Edit: Of course I should describe FlatSpace 2's control scheme, sorry. You hold the mouse button down and move the mouse in the direction you want the ship to move in. But it's not the controls I don't know how to do but rather the feeling of a mix of driving a car and flying an aircraft. It's really well made. Youtube link: FlatSpace2 on iPhone I'm not developing an iPhone game but the video shows the principle of the movement style. Edit 2 As there seems to be a slight interest, I'll post the version of the code I've used to continue. It works good enough. Sometimes good enough is sufficient! using UnityEngine; using System.Collections; public class ShipMovement : MonoBehaviour { public float directionModifier; float shipRotationAngle; public float shipRotationSpeed = 0; public double thrustModifier; public double accelerationModifier; public double shipBaseAcceleration = 0; public Vector2 directionVector; public Vector2 accelerationVector = new Vector2(0,0); public Vector2 frictionVector = new Vector2(0,0); public int shipFriction = 0; public Vector2 shipSpeedVector; public Vector2 shipPositionVector; public Vector2 speedCap = new Vector2(0,0); void Update() { directionModifier = -Input.GetAxis("Horizontal"); shipRotationAngle += ( shipRotationSpeed * directionModifier ) * Time.deltaTime; thrustModifier = Input.GetAxis("Vertical"); accelerationModifier = ( ( shipBaseAcceleration * thrustModifier ) ) * Time.deltaTime; directionVector = new Vector2( Mathf.Cos(shipRotationAngle ), Mathf.Sin(shipRotationAngle) ); //accelerationVector = Vector2(directionVector.x * System.Convert.ToDouble(accelerationModifier), directionVector.y * System.Convert.ToDouble(accelerationModifier)); accelerationVector.x = directionVector.x * (float)accelerationModifier; accelerationVector.y = directionVector.y * (float)accelerationModifier; // Set friction based on how "floaty" controls you want shipSpeedVector.x *= 0.9f; //Use a variable here shipSpeedVector.y *= 0.9f; //<-- as well shipSpeedVector += accelerationVector; shipPositionVector += shipSpeedVector; gameObject.transform.position = new Vector3(shipPositionVector.x, 0, shipPositionVector.y); } }

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  • How should I land my next consulting gig? [closed]

    - by MrOodles
    For the last couple of years, I've been working on speculative projects, expanding my skillset with side work, and paying the bills while having a blast consulting for startups. However, for a number of personal reasons, I need to spend the next 6-9 months maximizing my cash income. I want to put this into effect starting in early August. So that means I have one month to put the necessary client list/portfolio/resume together to start making this happen. As a programmer, I am very proficient in building Django web apps. I can write the necessary SQL, python, javascript, and css to build every part of a Django app, and then do the system administration necessary to deploy on AWS using EC2. I can also rig up a CDN to work seemlessly with the app using S3 and Cloudfront. I have built GIS applications using GeoDjango and PostGIS, and I have constructed social video apps by implementing Encoding.com as a service to prepare raw video files for consumption on the web. I am also moderately proficient in programming PHP, Java, and C#. I have built web apps in PHP, and desktop apps in Java and C#. I have dabbled with Android applications and iPhone apps, but nothing I would show off. I have experience doing SEO, social media marketing, and content marketing. Many of my clients have needed their apps promoted after they were built, and I was always happy to oblige when I could. I have also worked with biometrics technology including fingerprints for government contractors. This was as much a business analyst role as it was a programming gig, as I had to help answer RFPs, make checklists, and work around reems and reems of regulations to build applications that met very large bureaucratic requirements. I only have two real requirements for my next gig(s): 1) Work remotely. I live in North East Ohio, and I don't plan on leaving, but I wouldn't mind traveling one or two weeks out of every month to service clients who need on-site help. 2) $60.00hr-$∞ USD contracting rate. So what should I do for the next 30 days to achieve this? Should I target some large company and learn the requisite buzzwords to impress them? Should I learn some new language or technology? Polish some skill that I already have? Should I build something using my current skillset, or with some new technology? Should I put a website for my consultancy together to market myself? Should I do that using latest technology x, y, and z? Or should I just slap something up on Tumblr? I'm willing to do anything (moral) over the next 4 weeks to put myself into a position to maximize my income, and I'm open to all and every idea Programmers users may have. Let me hear them.

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  • Running a program on boot without login, using the screen

    - by configurator
    Preface: I have a server running on an old laptop. The screen is always on with a login prompt, but because its keyboard is in pretty bad shape, I use it exclusively via ssh. The screen is in a good position, though; I want to use it to display a clock and some stats about what my server is doing. I have scripts to display all those things, but I want to always show them on the monitor screen. My question is, how do I get my script (called HUD) to run on /dev/tty1, instead of the login prompt. Hopefully, it should be possible to accept keyboard input as well as display its output, so that it can use the keyboard to show more info where needed in a future version. I'd also like tty2 etc. to remain active as login screens, in face I actually do need to login locally. For a start, I tried creating a script that I can run from ssh to start the HUD. It goes something like this: ( flock -n 9 watch --interval 0.2 --precise --color --notitle --exec /path/to/script & disown ) 9> /var/lock/hud > /dev/tty1 2> /dev/tty1 < /dev/tty1 (I had to use & disown instead of nohup because nohup recognized the tty and redirects output to nohup.out instead.) This sort-of works. However, it has a few issues: It doesn't steal the terminal's keyboard input, so you can't ctrl+c to get out of it (nor change the script to actually use the keyboard input), and if you press enter it show it and scrolls the display, never refreshing it correctly afterwards. Oddly, if I disconnect the ssh session which created it, it stops working and shows a message: exec: No such file or directory. If I reconnect to ssh, it resumes functioning properly. It feels hackish. Is there a better way to do this? How?

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  • Best system for creating a 2d racing track

    - by tesselode
    I am working a 2D racing game and I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to define the track. At the very least, I need to be able to create a closed circuit with any amount of turns at any angle, and I need vehicles to collide with the edges of the track. I also want the following things to be true if possible (but they are optional): The code is simple and free of funky workarounds and extras I can define all of the parts of the track (such as turns) relative to the previous parts I can predict the exact position of the road at a certain point (that way I can easily and cleanly make closed circuits) Here are my options: Use a set of points. This is my current system. I have a set of turns and width changes that the track is supposed to make over time. I have a point which I transform according to these instructions, and I place a point every 5 steps or so, depending on how precise I want the track to be. These points make up the track. The main problem with this is the discrepancy between the collisions and the way the track is drawn. I won't get into too much detail, but the picture below shows what is happening (although it is exaggerated a bit). The blue lines are what is drawn, the red lines are what the vehicle collides with. I could work around this, but I'd rather avoid funky workaround code. Beizer curves. These seem cool, but my first impression of them is that they'll be a little daunting to learn and are probably too complicated for my needs. Some other kind of curve? I have heard of some other kinds of curves; maybe those are more applicable. Use Box2D or another physics engine. Instead of defining the center of the track, I could use a physics engine to define shapes that make up the road. The downside to this, however, is that I have to put in a little more work to place the checkpoints. Something completely different. Basically, what is the simplest system for generating a race track that would allow me to create closed circuits cleanly, handle collisions, and not have a ton of weird code?

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  • Where does a "Technical Programmer" fit in, and what does the title mean? [closed]

    - by Mike E
    Was: "What is a 'Technical Programmer'"? I've noticed in job posting boards a few postings, all from European companies in the games industry, for a "Technical Programmer". The job description was similar, having to do with tools development, 3d graphics programming, etc. It seems to be somewhere between a Technical Artist who's more technical than artist or who can code, and a Technical Director but perhaps without the seniority/experience. Information elsewhere on the position is sparse. The title seems redundant and I haven't seen any American companies post jobs by that name, exactly. One example is this job posting on gamedev.net which isn't exactly thorough. In case the link dies: Subject: Technical Programmer Frictional Games, the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the Penumbra series, are looking for a talented programmer to join the company! You will be working for a small team with a big focus on finding new and innovating solutions. We want you who are not afraid to explore uncharted territory and constantly learn new things. Self-discipline and independence are also important traits as all work will be done from home. Some the things you will work with include: 3D math, rendering, shaders and everything else related. Console development (most likely Xbox 360). Hardware implementations (support for motion controls, etc). All coding is in C++, so great skills in that is imperative. Revised Summarised Question: So, where does a programmer of this nature fit in to software development team? If I had these on my team, what tasks am I expecting them to complete? Can I ask one to build a new level editor, or optimize the rendering engine? It doesn't seem to be a "tools programmer" which focuses on producing artist tools, often in high-level languages like C#, Python, or Java. Nor does it seem to be working directly on the engine, nor a graphics programmer, as such. Yet, a strong C++ requirement, which was mirrored in other postings besides this one I quoted. Edited To Add As far as it being a low-level programmer, I had considered that but lacking from the posting was a requirement of Assembly. Instead, they tend to require familiarity with higher-level hardware APIs such as DirectX, or DirectInput. I wasn't fully clear in my original post. I think, however, that Mathew Foscarini has it right in his answer, so barring someone who definitely works with or as a "Technical Programmer" stepping in to provide a clearer explanation, I'll go with that. A generalist, which also fits the description of a more-technical-than-artist TA.

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  • Help with calculation to steer ship in 3d space

    - by Aaron Anodide
    I'm a beginner using XNA to try and make a 3D Asteroids game. I'm really close to having my space ship drive around as if it had thrusters for pitch and yaw. The problem is I can't quite figure out how to translate the rotations, for instance, when I pitch forward 45 degrees and then start to turn - in this case there should be rotation being applied to all three directions to get the "diagonal yaw" - right? I thought I had it right with the calculations below, but they cause a partly pitched forward ship to wobble instead of turn.... :( Here's current (almost working) calculations for the Rotation acceleration: float accel = .75f; // Thrust +Y / Forward if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.I)) { this.ship.AccelerationY += (float)Math.Cos(this.ship.RotationZ) * accel; this.ship.AccelerationX += (float)Math.Sin(this.ship.RotationZ) * -accel; this.ship.AccelerationZ += (float)Math.Sin(this.ship.RotationX) * accel; } // Rotation +Z / Yaw if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.J)) { this.ship.RotationAccelerationZ += (float)Math.Cos(this.ship.RotationX) * accel; this.ship.RotationAccelerationY += (float)Math.Sin(this.ship.RotationX) * accel; this.ship.RotationAccelerationX += (float)Math.Sin(this.ship.RotationY) * accel; } // Rotation -Z / Yaw if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.K)) { this.ship.RotationAccelerationZ += (float)Math.Cos(this.ship.RotationX) * -accel; this.ship.RotationAccelerationY += (float)Math.Sin(this.ship.RotationX) * -accel; this.ship.RotationAccelerationX += (float)Math.Sin(this.ship.RotationY) * -accel; } // Rotation +X / Pitch if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.F)) { this.ship.RotationAccelerationX += accel; } // Rotation -X / Pitch if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.D)) { this.ship.RotationAccelerationX -= accel; } I'm combining that with drawing code that does a rotation to the model: public void Draw(Matrix world, Matrix view, Matrix projection, TimeSpan elsapsedTime) { float seconds = (float)elsapsedTime.TotalSeconds; // update velocity based on acceleration this.VelocityX += this.AccelerationX * seconds; this.VelocityY += this.AccelerationY * seconds; this.VelocityZ += this.AccelerationZ * seconds; // update position based on velocity this.PositionX += this.VelocityX * seconds; this.PositionY += this.VelocityY * seconds; this.PositionZ += this.VelocityZ * seconds; // update rotational velocity based on rotational acceleration this.RotationVelocityX += this.RotationAccelerationX * seconds; this.RotationVelocityY += this.RotationAccelerationY * seconds; this.RotationVelocityZ += this.RotationAccelerationZ * seconds; // update rotation based on rotational velocity this.RotationX += this.RotationVelocityX * seconds; this.RotationY += this.RotationVelocityY * seconds; this.RotationZ += this.RotationVelocityZ * seconds; Matrix translation = Matrix.CreateTranslation(PositionX, PositionY, PositionZ); Matrix rotation = Matrix.CreateRotationX(RotationX) * Matrix.CreateRotationY(RotationY) * Matrix.CreateRotationZ(RotationZ); model.Root.Transform = rotation * translation * world; model.CopyAbsoluteBoneTransformsTo(boneTransforms); foreach (ModelMesh mesh in model.Meshes) { foreach (BasicEffect effect in mesh.Effects) { effect.World = boneTransforms[mesh.ParentBone.Index]; effect.View = view; effect.Projection = projection; effect.EnableDefaultLighting(); } mesh.Draw(); } }

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  • Merging the Executive Committees

    - by Patrick Curran
    As I explained in this blog last year, we use the Process to change the Process. The first of three planned JSRs to modify the way the JCP operates (JSR 348: Towards a new version of the Java Community Process) completed in October 2011. That JSR focused on changes to make our process more transparent and to enable broader participation. The second JSR was inspired by our conviction that Java is One Platform and by our expectation that Java ME and Java SE will become more aligned over time. In anticipation of this change JSR 355: JCP Executive Committee Merge will merge the two Executive Committees into one. The JSR is going very well. We have reached consensus within the Executive Committees, which serve as the Expert Group for process-change JSRs. How we intend to make the transition to a single EC is explained in the revised versions of the Process and EC Standing Rules documents that are currently posted for Early Draft Review. Our intention is to reduce the total number of EC seats but to keep the same ratio (2:1) of ratified and elected seats. Briefly, the plan will be implemented in two stages. The October 2012 elections will be held as usual, but candidates will be informed that they will serve only a one-year term if elected. The two ECs will be merged immediately after this election; at the same time, Oracle's second permanent seat and one of IBM's two ratified seats will be eliminated. The initial merged EC will therefore have 30 members. In the October 2013 elections we will eliminate three more ratified seats and two elected seats, thereby reducing the size of the combined EC to 25 members (16 ratified seats, 8 elected seats, plus Oracle's permanent seat.) All remaining seats, including those of members who were elected in 2012, will be up for re-election in 2013; that election should be particularly interesting. Starting in 2013 we will change from a three-year to a two-year election cycle (half of all EC members will be up for re-election each year.) We believe that these changes will streamline our operations, and position us for a future in which the distinctions between desktop and mobile devices become increasingly blurred. Please take this opportunity to review and comment on our proposed changes - we appreciate your input. Thank you, and onward to JCP.next.3!

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  • Dark Sun Dispatch 001.5 (a review of City Under The Sand)

    - by Chris Williams
    City Under The Sand - a review I'm moderately familiar with the Dark Sun setting. I've read the other Dark Sun novels, ages ago and I recently started running a D&D 4.0 campaign in the Dark Sun world, so I picked up this book to help re-familiarize myself with the setting. Overall, it did accomplish that, in a limited way. The book takes place in Nibenay and a neighboring expanse of desert that includes a formerly buried city, a small town and a bandit outpost. The book does a more interesting job of describing Nibenese politics and the court of the ruling Sorcerer King, his templars and the expected jockeying for position that occurs between the Templar Wives. There is a fair amount of combat, which was interesting and fairly well detailed. The ensemble cast is introduced and eventually brought together over the first few chapters. Not a lot of backstory on most of the characters, but you get a feel for them fairly quickly. The storyline was somewhat predictable after the first third of the book. Some of the reviews on Amazon complain about the 2-dimensional characterizations, and yes there were some... but it's easy to ignore because there is a lot going on in the book... several interwoven plotlines that all eventually converge. Where the book falls short... First, it appears to have been edited by a 4th grader who knows how to use spellcheck but lacks the attention to detail to notice the frequent occurence of incorrect words that often don't make sense or change the context of the entire sentence. It happened just enough to be distracting, and honestly I expect better from WOTC. Second, there is a lot of buildup to the end of the story... the big fight, the confrontation between good and evil, etc... which is handled in just a few pages and then the story basically just ends. Kind of a letdown, honestly. There wasn't a big finish, and it wasn't a cliffhanger, it just wraps up neatly and ends. It felt pretty rushed. Overall, aside from the very end, I enjoyed it. I really liked the insight into that region of Athas and it gave me some good ideas for fleshing out my own campaign. In that sense, the book served its purpose for me. If you're looking for a light read (got a 5-6 hour flight somewhere?) or you want to learn more about the Dark Sun setting, then I'd recommend this book.

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  • Point line collision reaction

    - by user4523
    I am trying to program point line segment collision detection and reaction. I am doing this for fun and to learn. The point moves (it has a velocity, and can be controlled by the user), whilst the lines are strait and stationary. The lines are not axis aligned. Everything is in 2D. It is quite straight forward to work out if a collision has occurred. For each frame, the point moves from A to B. AB is a line, and if it crosses the line segment, a collision has occurred (or will occur) and I am able to work out the point of intersection (poi). The problem I am having is with the reaction. Ideally I would like the point to be prevented from moving across the line. In one frame, I can move the point back to the poi (or only alow it to move as far as the poi), and alter the velocity. The problem I am having with this approach (I think) is that, next frame the user may try to cross the line again. Although the point is on the poi, the point may not be exactly on the line. Since it is not axis aligned, I think there is always some subtle rounding issue (A float representation of a point on a line might be rounded to a point that is slightly on one side or the other). Because of this, next frame the path might not intersect the line (because it can start on the other side and move away from it) and the point is effectively allowed to cross the line. Firstly, does the analysis sound correct? Having accepted (maybe) that I cannot always exactly position the point on the line, I tried to move the point away from the line slightly (either along the normal to the line, or along the path vector). I then get a problem at edges. Attempting to fix one collision by moving the point away from the line (even slightly) can cause it to cross another line (one shape I am dealing with is a star, with sharp corners). This can mean that the solution to one collision inadvertently creates another collision, which is ignored. Again, does this sound correct? Anyway, whatever I try, I am having difficulty with edges, and the point is occasionally able to penetrate the polygons and cross lines, which is undesirable. Whilst I can find a lot of information about collision detection on the web (and on this site) I can find precious little information on collision reaction. Does any one know of any good point line collision reaction tutorials? Or is my approach too flawed/over complicated?

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  • How can I cleanly and elegantly handle data and dependancies between classes

    - by Neophyte
    I'm working on 2d topdown game in SFML 2, and need to find an elegant way in which everything will work and fit together. Allow me to explain. I have a number of classes that inherit from an abstract base that provides a draw method and an update method to all the classes. In the game loop, I call update and then draw on each class, I imagine this is a pretty common approach. I have classes for tiles, collisions, the player and a resource manager that contains all the tiles/images/textures. Due to the way input works in SFML I decided to have each class handle input (if required) in its update call. Up until now I have been passing in dependencies as needed, for example, in the player class when a movement key is pressed, I call a method on the collision class to check if the position the player wants to move to will be a collision, and only move the player if there is no collision. This works fine for the most part, but I believe it can be done better, I'm just not sure how. I now have more complex things I need to implement, eg: a player is able to walk up to an object on the ground, press a key to pick it up/loot it and it will then show up in inventory. This means that a few things need to happen: Check if the player is in range of a lootable item on keypress, else do not proceed. Find the item. Update the sprite texture on the item from its default texture to a "looted" texture. Update the collision for the item: it might have changed shape or been removed completely. Inventory needs to be updated with the added item. How do I make everything communicate? With my current system I will end up with my classes going out of scope, and method calls to each other all over the place. I could tie up all the classes in one big manager and give each one a reference to the parent manager class, but this seems only slightly better. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! If anything is unclear, I'm happy to expand on things.

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  • Variable number of GUI Buttons

    - by Wakaka
    I have a generic HTML5 Canvas GUI Button class and a Scene class. The Scene class has a method called createButton(), which will create a new Button with onclick parameter and store it in a list of buttons. I call createButton() for all UI buttons when initializing the Scene. Because buttons can appear and disappear very often during rendering, Scene would first deactivate all buttons (temporarily remove their onclick, onmouseover etc property) before each render frame. During rendering, the renderer would then activate the required buttons for that frame. The problem is that part of the UI requires a variable number of buttons, and their onclick, onmouseover etc properties change frequently. An example is a buffs system. The UI will list all buffs as square sprites for the current unit selected, and mousing over each square will bring up a tooltip with some information on the buff. But the number of buffs is variable thus I won't know how many buttons to create at the start. What's the best way to solve this problem? P.S. My game is in Javascript, and I know I can use HTML buttons, but would like to make my game purely Canvas-based. Create buttons on-the-fly during rendering. Thus I will only have buttons when I require them. After the render frame these buttons would be useless and removed. Create a fixed set of buttons that I'm going to assume the number of buffs per unit won't exceed. During each render frame activate the buttons accordingly and set their onmouseover property. Assign a button to each Buff instance. This sounds wrong as the buff button is a part of the GUI which can only have one unit selected. Assigning a button to every single Buff in the game seems to be overkill. Also, I would need to change the button's position every render frame since its order in the unit's list of buffs matter. Any other solutions? I'm actually quite for idea (1) but am worried about the memory/time issues of creating a new Button() object every render frame. But this is in Javascript where object creation is oh-so-common ({} mainly) due to automatic garbage collection. What is your take on this? Thanks!

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