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  • What makes a game a game vs something else like a puzzle or a toy?

    - by Shannon John Clark
    Famously the Sims and similar games have been described by some designers as Toys and not "really" games. I'm curious if there is a good answer to what makes something a game. For example many companies sell Sudoku games - EA has an iPhone one, IronSudoku offers a great web based one, and there are countless others on most platforms. Many newspapers publish Sudoku puzzles in their print editions and often online. What differentiates a game from a puzzle? (or are all Sudoku "games" misnamed?) I'm not convinced there is a simple or easy answer - but I'd love to be proven wrong. I've seen some definitions and emphasize "rules" as core to something being a game (vs. "real life") but puzzles have rules as well - as do many other things. I'm open to answers that either focus only on computer games (on any platform) or which expand to include games and gameplay across many platforms. Here to I'm not fully convinced the lines are clear - is a "game" of D&D played over a virtual tabletop with computer dice rollers, video & audio chat a computer game or something else? (I'd lean towards something else - but where do you draw that line?)

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  • Is there a rule of thumb for what a bing map's zoom setting should be based on how many miles you want to display?

    - by Clay Shannon
    If a map contains pushpins/waypoints that span only a couple of miles, the map should be zoomed way in and show a lot of detail. If the pushpins/waypoints instead cover vast areas, such as hundreds or even thousands of miles, it should be zoomed way out. That's clear. My question is: is there a general guideline for mapping (no pun intended) Bing Maps zoom levels to a particular number of miles that separate the furthest apart points? e.g., is there some chart that has something like: Zoom level N shows 2 square miles Zoom level N shows 5 square miles etc.?

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  • Can anybody recommend C#/XAML Windows Store Development aggregator sites?

    - by Clay Shannon
    I used to have a couple of sites bookmarked that were Windows development article/blog post aggregators. I can't recall what they were called. What I want to do now is to keep up with all relevant C#/XAML "Windows Store" app development info, whether it be blog posts, new "Metro"-specific channel 9 videos, etc., without spending lots of time surfing about. Can anybody recommend any "C#/XAML Windows Store new information aggregators"?

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  • Does BizSpark preclude you from accepting funding elsewhere?

    - by Clay Shannon
    I am going to embark very soon on a software venture (have been a consultant and employee up until now). I see advantages in signing up for Microsoft's BizSpark. However, I wonder if doing so would preclude me from accepting funding from some equity-esque arrangements potentially available via crowdfunding. I know BizSpark's legal agreement probably spells this out, but it's about a gazillion pages long, so I'm hoping somebody here has existing knowledge of this so I don't have to spend a lot of time reading legalese.

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  • What are the advantages of a $ SKU of VS2012 over Express?

    - by Clay Shannon
    I will be using Visual Studio only for creating C#/XAML Windows Store apps. Is there any reason for me to purchase a "Professional" SKU of VS 2012 rather than just using the Express (free) "Metro apps with C#/XAML" version? The only thing I can think of is that I won't be able to use Resharper in the Express version (which I've already purchased a license for, but I use it at work, so that won't be a waste of money if I can't use it at home) - plus, I believe that even the Express SKU of VS 2012 will have similar code quality utility built in.

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  • Do web crawlers/spiders index azure web sites?

    - by Clay Shannon
    For somebody who wants their web site to be as discoverable as possible (and who doesn't?), are Microsoft's Azure web sites (azurewebsites.net) a feasible domain to host sites? I have a site that is both on an azurewebsites.net and hosted under a completely different name by discountasp.net Both of these sites are exactly the same, except for the URL; whenever I update the code, I republish the site to/in both places. So obviosuly, they both have the same H1 and H2 elements. Searching for the value/content in my H1 tag, I find my .com site listed #3 on google and #2 on both Bing and Yahoo; OTOH, my azurewebsites.net site doesn't show up on the first page at all, in any of them. This makes me wonder if azurewebsites.net should only be used for Web API hosting and such-like, not for generic/commercial "public" sites. Are my conclusions valid?

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  • Can I release complementary Windows 8 and WP8 apps on their respective stores?

    - by Clay Shannon
    I am creating a pair of apps, one to run preferably on tablets, but also laptops and PCs, and the other for WP8. These apps are complementary - having one is of no use without the other. I know there is a Windows Store, and a Windows Phone store, so one would be released on one, and one on the other. My question is: as these apps are useless by themselves (although in most cases it won't be the same people running both apps), will there be a problem with offering these useless-when-used-alone apps? IOW: Person A will use the Windows 8 app to interact with some people that have the WP8 app installed; those with the WP8 app will interact with a person or people who have the Windows 8 app installed. What I'm worried about is if these apps go through a certification process where they must be useful "standalone" - is that the case?

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  • Copy only folders not files?

    - by Shannon
    Is there a way to copy an entire directory, but only the folders? I have a corrupt file somewhere in my directory which is causing my hard disks to fail. So instead of copying the corrupt file to another hard disk, I wanted to just copy the folders, because I have scripts that search for hundreds of folders, and I don't want to have to manually create them all. I did search the cp manual, but couldn't see anything (I may have missed it) Say I have this structure on my failed HDD: dir1 files dir2 files files dir4 dir3 files All I a want is the directory structure, not any files at all. So I'd end up with on the new HDD: dir1 dir2 dir4 dir3 Hoping someone knows some tricks!

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  • Is it possible to procure venture capital based on in-progress ideas? [migrated]

    - by Clay Shannon
    I hope this is not the wrong forum for this question, but I can't find one in the Stack Exchange "family" that would be more appropriate. I have ideas for two web sites which I think will be quite popular (they are totally unrelated to each other). I am a programmer, and a "creative" (photographer, author, musician). So I have the "vision" as well as the technical know-how to bring these websites into being. My "problem" is that I'm champing at the bit to complete them, and don't have much time to work on them (being employed fulltime, etc.) If I continue to work on them in my so-called spare time, it will probably be a year or more before they are both done. If I was in a position to work on them fulltime (IOW, if I had a "silent partner" willing to invest enough money that I could quit my job), I could have them complete in about three months. I would be willing to partner with somebody or some group who would back me financially in this way. My vision/work combined with their monetary investment could bring about "great things" or at least moderately great things. I know you can "crowd fund" startups and so on, but for that you need to expose your idea. My ideas are not something I would want to make public, as somebody might "steal" them. I'm willing to discuss them with serious individual potential investors, though (provided they were willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement). Does anybody have any recommendation on how I might find a suitable partner[s] for this/these ventures?

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  • Update Manager error 12.04

    - by Shannon Marisa
    I'm using Ubuntu 12.04. When attempting to run my Update Manager, it doesn't allow any of the updates to be loaded. Under "details" all it says is "patch". It won't even load anything when the Partial Upgrade option comes up. I thought that this Error in Update Manager would help me, but when I followed the instruction and looked for the "PUBKEY" in Terminal, there was none, it said "BADSIG" and "failed to fetch 11.10" instead and my Update Manager still doesn't update anything. I'm still new to the finer points of Ubuntu and could really use some advice. Did I do something wrong? Or I need to do a fresh install?

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  • Does IE have more strict Javascript parsing than Chrome?

    - by Clay Shannon
    This is not meant to start a religio-technical browser war - I still prefer Chrome, at least for now, but: Because of a perhaps Chrome-related problem with my web page (see https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?can=2&start=0&num=100&q=&colspec=ID%20Pri%20M%20Iteration%20ReleaseBlock%20Cr%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20OS%20Modified&groupby=&sort=&id=161473), I temporarily switched to IE (10) to see if it would also view the time value as invalid. However, I didn't even get to that point - IE stopped me in my tracks before I could get there; but I found that IE was right - it is more particular/precise in validating my code. For example, I got this from IE: SCRIPT5007: The value of the property '$' is null or undefined, not a Function object ...which was referring to this: <script src="/CommonLogin/Scripts/jquery-1.9.1.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> // body sometimes becomes white???? with jquery 1.6.1 $("body").css("background-color", "#405DA7"); < This line is highlighted as the culprit: $("body").css("background-color", "#405DA7"); jQuery is referenced right above it - so why did it consider "$" to be undefined, especially when Chrome had no problem with it...ah! I looked at that location (/CommonLogin/Scripts/) and saw that, sure enough, the version of jQuery there was actually jquery-1.6.2.min.js. I added the updated jQuery file (1.9.1) and it got past this. So now the question is: why does Chrome ignore this? Does it download the referenced version from its own CDN if it can't find it in the place you specify? IE did flag other errs after that, too; so I'm thinking perhaps IE is better at catching lurking problems than, at least, Chrome is. Haven't tested Firefox diesbzg yet.

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  • Programming Languages

    - by Shannon
    I realize this will be a very vague question, but please bear with me. I have a concept for an open-world game, hand to hand combat, with a fairly open storyline, but there is an issue. I'm not sure which programming language to use, as I'm fairly new to programming. I am considering c++, but I would like to hear your opinions on which language you believe would support this type of game most efficiently. Pros and cons would be appreciated.

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  • How can I view the binary contents of a file natively in Windows 7? (Is it possible.)

    - by Shannon Severance
    I have a file, a little bigger than 500MB, that is causing some problems. I believe the issue is in the end of line (EOL) convention used. I would like to look at the file in its uninterpreted raw form (1) to confirm the EOL convention of the file. How can I view the "binary" of a file using something built in to Windows 7? I would prefer to avoid having to download anything additional. (1) My coworker and I opened the file in text editors, and they show the lines as one would expect. But both text editors will open files with different EOL conventions and interpret them automagically. (TextEdit and Emacs 24.2. For Emacs I had created a second file with just the first 4K bytes using head -c4096 on a linux box and opened that from my windows box. I attempted to use hexl-mode in Emacs, but when I went to hexl-mode and back to text-mode, the contents of the buffer had changed, adding a visible ^M to the end of each line, so I'm not trusting that at the moment. I believe the issue may be in the end of line character(s) used. The editors my coworker and I tried (1) just automagically recognized the end of line convention and showed us lines. And based on other evidence I believe the EOL convention is carriage return only. (2) return only. are able to recognize and To know what is actually in the file, I would like to look at the binary contents of the file, or at least a couple thousand bytes of the file, preferablely in Hex, though I could work with decimal or octal. Just ones an zeros would be pretty rough to look at.

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  • How to configure Ubuntu for X11 client only?

    - by Shannon Severance
    I have Ubuntu 10.04 LTS server running within a VM (VMware Fusion) Currently I can only access the machine via character mode console. I would like to install whatever I need to install to run X11 client software on Ubuntu, without installing a full X11 Server. (I'll be using the X11 server within OS X, and ssh -X) What should I do?

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  • Is there a smarter Find files utility for Windows 8 than Windows key + F?

    - by Clay Shannon
    Is there any utility for Windows 8 that will basically do the same thing the old "Find" dialog in Explorer did? Often times (many times a day) I need to find a particular file, and I don't know the name of it or where it is, but I can remember a phrase in it, and approximately when it was written, e.g., it has the phrase "Duckbilled Platypus" in it and was written sometime in the last week. The Find Files functionality in Windows 8 is lame by comparison; I know there are probably geeky ways to jump through hoops and do it, but I don't want to have to write GREP expressions, I want something easy like the old functionality...

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  • Website visitors are still being redirected after "fixing" the damage from a conditional redirect website attack

    - by Shannon
    BACKGROUND A website of mine was recently the target of a conditional redirect attack. PHP code was added to my pages to redirect visitors. The .htaccess file was edited to redirect visitors. I've re-uploaded my website so the compromised PHP and .htaccess code have both been removed. My site is mostly handwritten php and static HTML content. I don't use page comments or any third party libraries. THE PROBLEM After removing the compromised php and htaccess files, visitors are still being re-directed. What could be the reason that visitors are still being redirected? Are there any tools to check where/how redirects are taking place so I can debug the problem? UPDATE - PROBLEM FIXED As suggested in the comments, I cleared my Firefox cache and that fixed the problem (for me anyway). Visitors with old cache data will obviously still be re-directed.

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  • Is there a way to get att.net email to stay connected?

    - by Clay Shannon
    My att.net account at home (wireless connection) has been bad for the last several days: I have to hit F5 quite a few times to "unfreeze" it (I can read an email or two, then it freezes, etc.). At work (company LAN) it's even worse: I can connect to the site and see that I have email, but can't open any of the emails - and the screen constantly refreshes (every couple of seconds) with a "Connecting..." message. It apparently connects and disconnects over and over again, but never stays connected long enough to actually access the email. Is there a way either to fix this OR forward my att.net (from home) to my work email address (accessible via MS Outlook)? Or set it up from work using Outlook to pull in my att.net email? I have Outlook 2003 at work.

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  • Recommendation for a touch-enabled dev laptop

    - by Clay Shannon
    I don't keep up with hardware much, so would appreciate any tips on what would be a good touch-enabled laptop that I could use for both development and testing of Windows 8 ("Metro"/Store) apps. Is there even such an animal (a touch-centric laptop)? Or will I need to use a laptop for development (in which case I might be able to upgrade my RC version of Windows 8 on my existing laptop to RTM) and purchase a tablet for testing?

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  • Is Defrag "invisible" in Windows 8?

    - by Clay Shannon
    After (buzzard's luck) installing Visual Studio 2013 RC a couple of days ago, and then Visual Studio 2013 RTM yesterday, I thought I should defrag, what with all that install/uninstall activity going on. So I mashed the Window key and typed Defrag, and up came the "Defrag" search result. I mashed the Enter key and ... nothing ... Is Defrag working behind the scenes? I see no icon on the task bar ... Is there a trick to defragging beyond what I did?

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  • creating a Menu from SQLite values in Java

    - by shanahobo86
    I am trying to create a ListMenu using data from an SQLite database to define the name of each MenuItem. So in a class called menu.java I have defined the array String classes [] = {}; which should hold each menu item name. In a DBAdapter class I created a function so the user can insert info to a table (This all works fine btw). public long insertContact(String name, String code, String location, String comments, int days, int start, int end, String type) { ContentValues initialValues = new ContentValues(); initialValues.put(KEY_NAME, name); initialValues.put(KEY_CODE, code); initialValues.put(KEY_LOCATION, location); initialValues.put(KEY_COMMENTS, comments); initialValues.put(KEY_DAYS, days); initialValues.put(KEY_START, start); initialValues.put(KEY_END, end); initialValues.put(KEY_TYPE, type); return db.insert(DATABASE_TABLE, null, initialValues); } It would be the Strings inserted into KEY_NAME that I need to populate that String array with. Does anyone know if this is possible? Thanks so much for the help guys. If I implement that function by Sam/Mango the program crashes, am I using it incorrectly or is the error due to the unknown size of the array? DBAdapter db = new DBAdapter(this); String classes [] = db.getClasses(); edit: I should mention that if I manually define the array: String classes [] = {"test1", "test2", "test3", etc}; It works fine. The error is a NullPointerException Here's the logcat (sorry about the formatting). I hadn't initialized with db = helper.getReadableDatabase(); in the getClasses() function but unfortunately it didn't fix the problem. 11-11 22:53:39.117: D/dalvikvm(17856): Late-enabling CheckJNI 11-11 22:53:39.297: D/TextLayoutCache(17856): Using debug level: 0 - Debug Enabled: 0 11-11 22:53:39.337: D/libEGL(17856): loaded /system/lib/egl/libGLES_android.so 11-11 22:53:39.337: D/libEGL(17856): loaded /system/lib/egl/libEGL_adreno200.so 11-11 22:53:39.357: D/libEGL(17856): loaded /system/lib/egl/libGLESv1_CM_adreno200.so 11-11 22:53:39.357: D/libEGL(17856): loaded /system/lib/egl/libGLESv2_adreno200.so 11-11 22:53:39.387: I/Adreno200-EGLSUB(17856): <ConfigWindowMatch:2078>: Format RGBA_8888. 11-11 22:53:39.407: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Mapped buffer base:0x5c66d000 size:36593664 offset:32825344 fd:65 11-11 22:53:39.417: E/(17856): Can't open file for reading 11-11 22:53:39.417: E/(17856): Can't open file for reading 11-11 22:53:39.417: D/OpenGLRenderer(17856): Enabling debug mode 0 11-11 22:53:39.477: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Mapped buffer base:0x5ecd3000 size:40361984 offset:36593664 fd:68 11-11 22:53:40.507: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Mapped buffer base:0x61451000 size:7254016 offset:3485696 fd:71 11-11 22:53:41.077: I/Adreno200-EGLSUB(17856): <ConfigWindowMatch:2078>: Format RGBA_8888. 11-11 22:53:41.077: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Mapped buffer base:0x61c4c000 size:7725056 offset:7254016 fd:74 11-11 22:53:41.097: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Mapped buffer base:0x623aa000 size:8196096 offset:7725056 fd:80 11-11 22:53:41.937: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Mapped buffer base:0x62b7b000 size:8667136 offset:8196096 fd:83 11-11 22:53:41.977: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Unmapping buffer base:0x61c4c000 size:7725056 offset:7254016 11-11 22:53:41.977: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Unmapping buffer base:0x623aa000 size:8196096 offset:7725056 11-11 22:53:41.977: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Unmapping buffer base:0x62b7b000 size:8667136 offset:8196096 11-11 22:53:42.167: I/Adreno200-EGLSUB(17856): <ConfigWindowMatch:2078>: Format RGBA_8888. 11-11 22:53:42.177: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Mapped buffer base:0x61c5d000 size:17084416 offset:13316096 fd:74 11-11 22:53:42.317: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Mapped buffer base:0x63853000 size:20852736 offset:17084416 fd:80 11-11 22:53:42.357: D/OpenGLRenderer(17856): Flushing caches (mode 0) 11-11 22:53:42.357: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Unmapping buffer base:0x5c66d000 size:36593664 offset:32825344 11-11 22:53:42.357: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Unmapping buffer base:0x5ecd3000 size:40361984 offset:36593664 11-11 22:53:42.367: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Unmapping buffer base:0x61451000 size:7254016 offset:3485696 11-11 22:53:42.757: D/memalloc(17856): /dev/pmem: Mapped buffer base:0x5c56d000 size:24621056 offset:20852736 fd:65 11-11 22:53:44.247: D/AndroidRuntime(17856): Shutting down VM 11-11 22:53:44.247: W/dalvikvm(17856): threadid=1: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x40ac3210) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate activity ComponentInfo{niall.shannon.timetable/niall.shannon.timetable.menu}: java.lang.NullPointerException 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1891) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1992) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:127) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1158) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4441) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:823) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:590) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.content.ContextWrapper.openOrCreateDatabase(ContextWrapper.java:221) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper.getWritableDatabase(SQLiteOpenHelper.java:157) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at niall.shannon.timetable.DBAdapter.getClasses(DBAdapter.java:151) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at niall.shannon.timetable.menu.<init>(menu.java:15) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at java.lang.Class.newInstanceImpl(Native Method) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:1319) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.app.Instrumentation.newActivity(Instrumentation.java:1023) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1882) 11-11 22:53:44.257: E/AndroidRuntime(17856): ... 11 more 11-11 22:53:46.527: I/Process(17856): Sending signal. PID: 17856 SIG: 9

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  • A Guided Tour of Complexity

    - by JoshReuben
    I just re-read Complexity – A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell , protégé of Douglas Hofstadter ( author of “Gödel, Escher, Bach”) http://www.amazon.com/Complexity-Guided-Tour-Melanie-Mitchell/dp/0199798109/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339744329&sr=8-1 here are some notes and links:   Evolved from Cybernetics, General Systems Theory, Synergetics some interesting transdisciplinary fields to investigate: Chaos Theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory – small differences in initial conditions (such as those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely diverging outcomes for chaotic systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible. System Dynamics / Cybernetics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Dynamics – study of how feedback changes system behavior Network Theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_theory – leverage Graph Theory to analyze symmetric  / asymmetric relations between discrete objects Algebraic Topology - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_topology – leverage abstract algebra to analyze topological spaces There are limits to deterministic systems & to computation. Chaos Theory definitely applies to training an ANN (artificial neural network) – different weights will emerge depending upon the random selection of the training set. In recursive Non-Linear systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_system – output is not directly inferable from input. E.g. a Logistic map: Xt+1 = R Xt(1-Xt) Different types of bifurcations, attractor states and oscillations may occur – e.g. a Lorenz Attractor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_system Feigenbaum Constants http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feigenbaum_constants express ratios in a bifurcation diagram for a non-linear map – the convergent limit of R (the rate of period-doubling bifurcations) is 4.6692016 Maxwell’s Demon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon - the Second Law of Thermodynamics has only a statistical certainty – the universe (and thus information) tends towards entropy. While any computation can theoretically be done without expending energy, with finite memory, the act of erasing memory is permanent and increases entropy. Life & thought is a counter-example to the universe’s tendency towards entropy. Leo Szilard and later Claude Shannon came up with the Information Theory of Entropy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(information_theory) whereby Shannon entropy quantifies the expected value of a message’s information in bits in order to determine channel capacity and leverage Coding Theory (compression analysis). Ludwig Boltzmann came up with Statistical Mechanics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_mechanics – whereby our Newtonian perception of continuous reality is a probabilistic and statistical aggregate of many discrete quantum microstates. This is relevant for Quantum Information Theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_information and the Physics of Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_information. Hilbert’s Problems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert's_problems pondered whether mathematics is complete, consistent, and decidable (the Decision Problem – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entscheidungsproblem – is there always an algorithm that can determine whether a statement is true).  Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorems  proved that mathematics cannot be both complete and consistent (e.g. “This statement is not provable”). Turing through the use of Turing Machines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine symbol processors that can prove mathematical statements) and Universal Turing Machines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Turing_machine Turing Machines that can emulate other any Turing Machine via accepting programs as well as data as input symbols) that computation is limited by demonstrating the Halting Problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem (is is not possible to know when a program will complete – you cannot build an infinite loop detector). You may be used to thinking of 1 / 2 / 3 dimensional systems, but Fractal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal systems are defined by self-similarity & have non-integer Hausdorff Dimensions !!!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fractals_by_Hausdorff_dimension – the fractal dimension quantifies the number of copies of a self similar object at each level of detail – eg Koch Snowflake - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_snowflake Definitions of complexity: size, Shannon entropy, Algorithmic Information Content (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_information_theory - size of shortest program that can generate a description of an object) Logical depth (amount of info processed), thermodynamic depth (resources required). Complexity is statistical and fractal. John Von Neumann’s other machine was the Self-Reproducing Automaton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine  . Cellular Automata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton are alternative form of Universal Turing machine to traditional Von Neumann machines where grid cells are locally synchronized with their neighbors according to a rule. Conway’s Game of Life http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life demonstrates various emergent constructs such as “Glider Guns” and “Spaceships”. Cellular Automatons are not practical because logical ops require a large number of cells – wasteful & inefficient. There are no compilers or general program languages available for Cellular Automatons (as far as I am aware). Random Boolean Networks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_network are extensions of cellular automata where nodes are connected at random (not to spatial neighbors) and each node has its own rule –> they demonstrate the emergence of complex  & self organized behavior. Stephen Wolfram’s (creator of Mathematica, so give him the benefit of the doubt) New Kind of Science http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_New_Kind_of_Science proposes the universe may be a discrete Finite State Automata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite-state_machine whereby reality emerges from simple rules. I am 2/3 through this book. It is feasible that the universe is quantum discrete at the plank scale and that it computes itself – Digital Physics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_physics – a simulated reality? Anyway, all behavior is supposedly derived from simple algorithmic rules & falls into 4 patterns: uniform , nested / cyclical, random (Rule 30 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_30) & mixed (Rule 110 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_110 localized structures – it is this that is interesting). interaction between colliding propagating signal inputs is then information processing. Wolfram proposes the Principle of Computational Equivalence - http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrincipleofComputationalEquivalence.html - all processes that are not obviously simple can be viewed as computations of equivalent sophistication. Meaning in information may emerge from analogy & conceptual slippages – see the CopyCat program: http://cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu/rgoldsto/courses/concepts/copycat.pdf Scale Free Networks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale-free_network have a distribution governed by a Power Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_law - much more common than Normal Distribution). They are characterized by hubs (resilience to random deletion of nodes), heterogeneity of degree values, self similarity, & small world structure. They grow via preferential attachment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential_attachment – tipping points triggered by positive feedback loops. 2 theories of cascading system failures in complex systems are Self-Organized Criticality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-organized_criticality and Highly Optimized Tolerance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_optimized_tolerance. Computational Mechanics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_mechanics – use of computational methods to study phenomena governed by the principles of mechanics. This book is a great intuition pump, but does not cover the more mathematical subject of Computational Complexity Theory – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_complexity_theory I am currently reading this book on this subject: http://www.amazon.com/Computational-Complexity-Christos-H-Papadimitriou/dp/0201530821/ref=pd_sim_b_1   stay tuned for that review!

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