It's not just in game development, but is prevalent in the entire software community. "Crunch time" or, as the article calls it, "Death March" is plain foolishness. I don't doubt that there are times to put in overtime, but to make it S.O.P. is wrong. I think we need some explaining to do.http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/05/the-death-march-the-problem-of-crunch-time-in-game-development.ars
Software patents. They seem to be handed out like candy. They can be used like a nuclear bomb.As a software developer, I approach the idea of software patents cautiously. I wonder if they are a good or bad idea. My gut feeling is that they are a bad idea — stifling innovation, mainly. In-app upgrades?! Sometimes they seemingly obvious in their implementation that you believe a monkey could've come up with that. One-click shopping?! Software patents are around because the patent office is lazy. They can't be bothered to find a prior implementation of most pending patent submittals.Software is fuzzy. Patents on it seem to be too general to be of value. The patent system needs to be fixed.http://patentabsurdity.com/
Loved reading today’s link about issues with text editors for OS X.
I did recently take a look at TextMate and found it striking that it was released some time ago. I am surprised to see that it hasn’t been updated for a while.
As a software engineer, I live by the text editor. I did like BBEdit, but I can’t stand the small font it uses. I am an emacs kind of guy (the ctrl-k, ctrl-v comes from there! Try it in OS X as an alternative to open-apple-X, open-apple-C) so I am looking for something along the same lines. But no vi. No to vi.
It turns out I really like TextPad on Windows. Like it better than any text editor I’ve used. It’s because I know how to use it. Wish I can find one for OS X. I think I’ve done this post before.
http://chipotle.tumblr.com/post/5207966724/text-editor-intervention
“I think they started out with the goal of being open, but they are learning that this approach doesn’t work in the world of phones where tight tolerances on user experience require much more coordination between hardware and software.”
iOS versus Android: OS Footprint is not a Proxy for Application Footprint
Real men ship [software|code|programs].
Anonymous industry maxim
At work, I had to take a training class on writing good requirements. Although, not directly involved with writing requirements, my software functional manager believed that it would help us lowly software engineers to identify terrible requirements that make our lives difficult. Once done the training class, I am now able to identify good requirements.
Good requirements are succinct, feasible, and unambiguous. Tron: Legacy makes a case for good requirements. Flynn says to CLU, “Let’s make the perfect world!” Those are terrible requirements. And from there, you have the downfall of the Grid.
Like the seed, I too am not totally bowled over by Tron: Legacy. The seed notes that the narrative was thin at times. It’s like they had the idea of making Tron 2, but never got around to understanding they needed a story for it. If you’ve seen the original, you’ve seen most of the latest iteration. Get sucked into the Grid. Check! Play games to the death. Check! Ride light cycles. Check! Hot computer chick. Check! Go to i/o! Check!
Lots of story beats from the original movie showed up in this movie. Problems arose when it tried to find its own way to tell the story. Is this an adventure film? Is this a father-son reunion film? Is this the Matrix? It’s all and none and the audience is left to marvel at awesome action set pieces, but can’t fathom the main story line. In the original, Tron there was a thread of a plot: get out of the Grid while attempting to find out the mysteries of Encom power. This movie pulled at one too many threads and didn’t place one in the forefront. Is this about the Grid or about the younger Flynn finding his father. Is this about father Flynn and his creation? Is this about playing Grid games? It’s all and none.
I am a fan of the original. This one gives us something short. Its not as innovative as the original. It needed a better story. I wish we had gotten one.
3 of 5 stars.
I do not like this development at all.It will bring junk to the Mac. Look at the mobile AppStore. Plus, that split is bothering me. Why should I get permission to put an application out for others to download to their own computer.Don't like this development one bit.
I was confused about what the “multi-tasking” in the iPhone OS was all about. Are these apps terminated? Are they suspended? If they don’t ever terminate, how do you truly quit the app? The hold “home-power” quit?
Here’s a link, via Daring Fireball, that covers some of the basics of this new feature. Now I understand.
I currently am mired in self-loathing because of my job. I fucking hate it so much that I wish weekends were six days long. I fucking hate it so much that I don't want to get out of bed. I fucking hate it so much that I can't do any work at all so I spend my days surfing the web. (Shh. Don't tell my managers. Ha ha, fuck 'em.)Anyway check out the latest Windows Mobile 7 screen shots. http://www.winsupersite.com/mobile/wp7_rc_shots.aspNow, my current assignment has me working in Java (Damn you), writing interface code using Swing (Damn you), and being my own UX expert. If I know one thing, I am not a UX expert. The one thing about this Windows Mobile 7 screenshot: it looks as shoddy as the work I am doing now. I suck. And yet, so do the Windows Mobile 7 do too. WTF!
You will LOL.
Except if you’ve never considered anything about programming languages.
I figure that’s most all of you.
I guess I’m the only one LOL’ing.
I’m terribly geeky.
http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html
