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games

Dishonored in Parallels

October 13, 2012 14:38:26.960

I was a little wary about getting Dishonored for my Windows 7 VM (I have a 13" Macbook pro, 2011 vintage). The minimum specs for the game call for a 3.0 Ghz Core Duo, and this machine has 2.4 Ghz Core Duo - and it's a VM, after all. Then again, the game uses Unreal 3, just like Mass Effect 3 does - and ME3 ran just fine for me. So I pulled the trigger on Steam, and tried it out - and it runs fine (better than Deus Ex: HR, actually). With that out of the way, I can enjoy the game as I travel away from my Xbox :)

posted by James Robertson

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sports

Good News: A-Rod Benched for Game 5

October 12, 2012 16:34:27.416

As good as A-Rod is in the regular season, he's awful in the post - he's never been able to come up with the clutch hits in playoff games. So this news - Girardi benching him for game 5 - is good stuff.

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posted by James Robertson

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st4u

ST 4U 295: Large and Small Integers in Smalltalk

October 12, 2012 11:30:43.184

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at integer math in Smalltalk - noting that you don't ever need to worry (outside of database issues, of course) about the small/large integer divide. 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:

Integer Math.

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 look at how integer math works in Smalltalk - specifically, the fact that you don't ever need to worry about "big ints". As a simple example, let's calculate a small factorial 10.

Small Integer

Now let's try something big, and add a small number to it:


1000 factorial + 1

Display the result gives you a LargeInteger object - demonstrating that you simply do not need to worry about this level of "type" information in Smalltalk - it's handled for you:

LargeInteger

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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posted by James Robertson

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js4u

JS 4U 212: Animated Map Markers

October 11, 2012 9:13:23.881

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You looks at adding animated map markers to a map. 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:

animated markers

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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ST 4U 294: Custom Seeds for Random Numbers in VA Smalltalk

October 10, 2012 10:10:58.628

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at customizing the seeds used in random number generation 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:

Seeds.

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 look at customizing the seeds used in random number generation by class EsRandom in VA Smalltalk. First, have a look at the #new method:


new

	"Use linear congruential generator, with a shuffling array.

	 Reference: Numerical Recipes in C, The Art of Scientific Computing
				Press et al., Cambridge University Press 1990, pp. 211, 212"

	| randomStream |
	randomStream := super new.
	randomStream
		seed2: Time millisecondClockValue asFloat;
		basicNext;
		shuffleArray: (Array new: randomStream shuffleSize).
	1 to: randomStream shuffleSize do: [ :index |
		randomStream shuffleArray at: index put: randomStream basicNext].

	randomStream seed1: randomStream seed2.

	^randomStream

Notice how the seeds are set? That's likely good enough for most uses, but if you wanted to customize, all you need to do is replace those seeds - maybe like the following:


	| randomStream |
	randomStream := EsRandom new.
	randomStream
		seed2: AbtTimestamp now asMicroseconds asFloat;
		basicNext;
		shuffleArray: (Array new: randomStream shuffleSize).
	1 to: randomStream shuffleSize do: [ :index |
		randomStream shuffleArray at: index put: randomStream basicNext].

	randomStream seed1: randomStream seed2.

	Transcript show: (randomStream nextInt: 100) printString.
	Transcript cr.
	Transcript show: (randomStream nextInt: 10) printString.
	Transcript cr

That will work fine - try it out for yourself. That's really all there is to it!

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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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Phobos: XULRunner Framework for Smalltalk

October 10, 2012 8:18:45.565

Spotted in Planet Squeak

I would like to introduce you Phobos - the XULRunner based Smalltalk framework for development of native GUI with standard look&feel for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. It is based on Zinc, WebSockets and Seaside continuations. For more information including more screenshots see the project page

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posted by James Robertson

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js4u

JS 4U 211: Enable/Disable Map Overlays

October 9, 2012 11:46:08.831

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You looks at enabling/disabling a graphic overlay on a google map. 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:

overlays

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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st4u

ST 4U 293: Getting Started with ObjectStudio

October 8, 2012 12:14:25.428

Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a high level, starting out view of ObjectStudio 8. 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:

Logging

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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podcastAAC

IM 97: Legacy Data Access in a New ObjectStudio App (AAC)

October 7, 2012 18:58:58.725

Welcome to episode 97 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 - Mark Grinnell and Andreas Hiltner of Cincom talking about legacy data access in new applications using ObjectStudio. 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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podcast

IM 97: Legacy Data Access in a New ObjectStudio App

October 7, 2012 18:58:03.153

Welcome to episode 97 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 - Mark Grinnell and Andreas Hiltner of Cincom talking about legacy data access in new applications using ObjectStudio. 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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books

The Problem with SHTF Fiction

October 7, 2012 10:41:21.843

I admit to a weakness for post-apocalyptic fiction - I love a good "SHTF" book. The thing to keep in mind though, is this: most of these books are highly unrealistic. There are a few scenarios I can think of where things really would collapse in terrible ways:

  • Some kind of super bug that wipes out a high percentage of the population (much worse than the black death, say)
  • An extinction level asteroid/comet strike
  • A "Carrington Event" type of solar blast that took out a large percentage of the world's transformers

What a lot of these books posit is some kind of economic collapse that leads to chaos after the value of the dollar implodes. The problem with that kind of thing is simple: we have real life examples of developed nations hitting a financial collapse (Argentina, and now, Greece). Are there problems? Yes. Do they lead to a collapse of the grid and some kind of Hobbesian war of all against all? Not so much.

I'll probably keep reading this kind of thing because they are a guilty pleasure for me. I just won't end up being one of those prepper types stockpiling two years of food, water, and ammo in my basement because of it.

posted by James Robertson

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