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games

Burn the Diskpacks

November 12, 2012 8:04:55.000

Alan Kay was right all those years ago:

Nathan Adams from Mojangs says that this will be no small task as it requires the studio to change Minecraft's basic infrastructure. He says in order to build an official mod API the studio has to rewrite the client side of the game from scratch this means it might be a few months before an early version of the API can be seen.

It's one thing to build something that works; it's something else again to deal with changing requirements once you have the thing that works :)

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posted by James Robertson

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ST 4U 308: Pharo Software Update

November 12, 2012 12:21:19.466

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at the online update feature of Pharo. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:

Auto Update

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

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Mass Effect Futures

November 12, 2012 12:29:25.581

Polygon Reports:

"The other thing I can tell you is that, while it will be very respectful of the heritage built over the course of the first three games, with the original trilogy now concluded and the switch over to a new engine, we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts," Roy wrote. "You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling."

I'm not sure that BioWare really understands what the ME audience wants. We don't need a better 3rd person shooter; if that's what we wanted, we'd just keep playing Gears of War. What we want is the classic BioWare story, along with the classic branching dialog choices. The choices you make as a player have to mean something, rather than be boiled down to 3 possible endings (or, as in DA2, one possible ending). We aren't watching a movie - to a very large extent, time spent on cinematics is time wasted.

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JS 4U 221: Map Layers

November 13, 2012 9:39:29.609

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You looks at adding different layers to a map with a simple example. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube.

Join the Facebook Group to discuss the tutorials. You can view the archives here.

To watch now, click on the image below:

map layers

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

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itNews

Math is Hard

November 14, 2012 8:44:37.275

If you're AT&T, it's so hard that it's a proprietary trade secret:

As many of you know, AT&T has implemented caps on DSL usage. When this was implemented, I started getting emails letting me know my usage as likely to exceed the cap. After consulting their Internet Usage web page, I felt the numbers just weren't right. With the help of Tomato on my router, I started measuring my usage, and ended up with numbers substantially below what AT&T was reporting on a day-to-day basis. Typically around 20-30% less. By the way, this usage is the sum of inbound and outbound. At this point, I decided to contact AT&T support to determine what exactly they were defining as usage, as their web pages never really define it. Boy, did I get a surprise. After several calls, they finally told me they consider the methodology by which they calculate bandwidth usage to be proprietary. Yes, you read that right; it's a secret.

I've noticed the same differential on my "usage" tab on my iPhone and the text messages AT&T sends out.

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posted by James Robertson

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ST 4U 309: Code Abbreviations in VA Smalltalk

November 14, 2012 10:07:52.219

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at the abbreviation (keyboard shortcuts) support in VA Smalltalk - it's a nice companion to the code completion support. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:

abbreviations.

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:


We've already looked at code completion support in VA Smalltalk, but there's another tool that can help you get code written more quickly - abbreviation support. If you go to the options menu of the launcher, and pull that down, you'll see it:

abbreviations

This support is separate from code completion; to get any of the existing abbreviations working, simply type one in, then hit <shift> <space>. It's easy enough to add your own as well - say you want one for #ifNil:

abbreviations

Need more help? There's a screencast for other topics like this which you may want to watch. Questions? Try the "Chat with James" Google gadget over in the sidebar.

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JS 4U 222: Map Layers 2

November 15, 2012 8:22:52.022

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You goes back into map layers - adding a new layer that supports a click event. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube.

Join the Facebook Group to discuss the tutorials. You can view the archives here.

To watch now, click on the image below:

layers

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

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Pharo Has a User Association

November 15, 2012 11:28:23.679

Pharo continues to take strides towards a sustainable funding mechanism:

The goal of the Pharo User Association is to support Pharo development and promotion.

There are two individual memberships

  • Individual Pharo Association Member: Yearly fee 40 Euros
  • Golden Individual Pharo Association Member: Yearly fee 99 Euros

You will get

  • reduction access to pharo conferences,
  • reduction for training and access to teaching material,
  • be part of the pharoAssociation-individual-members mailing-list,
  • an account at the pharo association web site.

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posted by James Robertson

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Whither Microsoft?

November 15, 2012 18:30:42.176

This article is a bit over the top in the "Microsoft is Doomed" category - but I suspect that MS is just about at the point IBM reached in the late 70's, before it all came apart.

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posted by James Robertson

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ST 4U 310: Unix Processes in VA Smalltalk

November 16, 2012 12:06:13.156

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at Unix/Linux Process support in VA Smalltalk. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:

UnixProcess.

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:


Today we'll have a look at the support for Unix/Linux processes in VA Smalltalk. To start out, we'll have to open up the editions (application) browser:

editions

Load the only version, and then browse the application. Have a look at class UnixProcess (class side) - notice the APIs for starting a shell or a process? If you examine UNixEnvironment, you'll see APIs for dealing with the environment:

UnixProcess

Need more help? There's a screencast for other topics like this which you may want to watch. Questions? Try the "Chat with James" Google gadget over in the sidebar.

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Cincom Smalltalk Platform Survey

November 16, 2012 12:29:05.353

Cincom is asking interested parties to tell the what platforms they care about. Especially if you depend on one of the lesser used platforms listed, you should let them know.

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posted by James Robertson

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Instantiations Updating the VA Installer

November 17, 2012 12:43:23.576

Whenever the next major iteration of VA Smalltalk hits, a new installer will be out:

We are changing the install process for VA Smalltalk V8.6 (or whatever the next release gets called) to provide a more natural (and faster) install on all platforms. At the moment, we have released a BETA version for Windows only.

The new installer simplifies product installation by:

  • installing both client and manager as the typical installation
  • complying with Windows installation conventions and security measures (UAC)
  • facilitating local installation of documentation as a separate install package
  • providing tooling to create and manage development environments after product installation

Follow the link for all the details

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Amber and Google Charts

November 18, 2012 13:20:36.484

Via Torsten, how to use Google Charts with Amber Smalltalk

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posted by James Robertson

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IM 103: Continuous Integration

November 18, 2012 18:14:16.808

Welcome to episode 103 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck.

This week we have another recording from the STIC 2012 conference - Maikel VanDorpe talking about continuous integration. If you would rather watch the video, head on over to the STIC website.

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.

To listen now, you can either download the mp3 edition, or the AAC edition. The AAC edition comes with chapter markers. You can subscribe to either edition of the podcast directly in iTunes; just search for Smalltalk and look in the Podcast results. You can subscribe to the mp3 edition directly using this feed, or the AAC edition using this feed using any podcatching software. You can also download the podcast in ogg format.

If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Troublemaker for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!

If you have feedback, send it to jarober@gmail.com - or visit us on Facebook - you can subscribe in iTunes using this iTunes enabled feed.. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!

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IM 103: Continuous Integration (AAC)

November 18, 2012 18:14:31.901

Welcome to episode 103 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck.

This week we have another recording from the STIC 2012 conference - Maikel VanDorpe talking about continuous integration. If you would rather watch the video, head on over to the STIC website.

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.

To listen now, you can either download the mp3 edition, or the AAC edition. The AAC edition comes with chapter markers. You can subscribe to either edition of the podcast directly in iTunes; just search for Smalltalk and look in the Podcast results. You can subscribe to the mp3 edition directly using this feed, or the AAC edition using this feed using any podcatching software. You can also download the podcast in ogg format.

If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Troublemaker for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!

If you have feedback, send it to jarober@gmail.com - or visit us on Facebook - you can subscribe in iTunes using this iTunes enabled feed.. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!

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posted by James Robertson

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ST 4U 311: Configurations in Pharo

November 19, 2012 9:35:47.926

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at configurations in Pharo - the tool level, not how they work. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:

Configurations

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

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posted by James Robertson

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