Irmen's blog - Spinsels op het web

Destroying Economies 101

irmen@xs4all.nl — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:31:00 GMT

How to destroy an economy!

8 mei: Diablo 3 gold dupe - door een integer overflow bug. Economy kaputt.

19 mei: Neverwinter gold dupe - door het kunnen invullen van een negatieve prijs op de auction house. Economy kaputt. (hmm, blijkbaar had STO ook ooit dezelfde bug, en die was ook van Cryptic... wel vrij beroerd dat dezelfde type bug nu weer de kop op steekt)

Leuk, die real-money auction houses! :-S Who's next?

Permanente cmd.exe aliases (windows) - waarom wist ik dit niet eerder?

irmen@xs4all.nl — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:40:00 GMT

Een belangrijke reden voor mij om 4Nt / take command te gebruiken in plaats van de standaard cmd.exe, is dat je eenvoudig aliases kunt definiëren in 4NT. Deze zijn simpel permanent te maken door ze in een 4start.cmd scriptje te zetten samen met alle andere commando's die bij het openen van een nieuwe command prompt moeten worden uitgevoerd.

Wat blijkt, je kunt dit foefje ook voor elkaar krijgen in de standaard cmd.exe:

aliases maak je met doskey (info)
startup-script moet je inregelen met een AutoRun entry in de registry

Met dank aan http://darkforge.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/permanent-windows-command-line-aliases.html

Tale (20): release 1.1

irmen@xs4all.nl — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:46:00 GMT

Previous installments.

Version 1.1: While I promised to actually start writing a comprehensive story/adventure, I found that I had too little inspiration to actually do this. Instead, I've tweaked some more stuff and ironed out some bugs that I wasn't happy with.

Tale Release 1.1: what has changed?

Money-less game is now possible by setting config.money_type to None.
Fixed various unit test and build/package related issues.
Fixed some colorama issues with the latest colorama version (for colored console output). Unfortunately this new version still has a few bugs on windows so most monkeypatching that I do has to remain.
Removed dependency on the blinker library; replaced it with a very simple pubsub module that is now part of Tale itself. This got rid of the wiretap bug on Python 3.3.
Added a few more commands, and command aliases are now shown separately in the help instead of a single huge list of commands.
<monospaced> ... </monospaced> style tags added. !events and the story banner are now printed in monospaced (in Gui mode)

Monty Hall probleem (drie-deuren quiz paradox)

irmen@xs4all.nl — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 23:33:00 GMT

Quiz met 3 deuren. Achter 1 deur zit de auto, achter 2 andere zit de mispoes. Je mag 1 deur kiezen van de Quizmaster. Deze opent vervolgens een andere deur, waar -altijd- een mispoes (geit) achter zit.

De quizmaster vraagt dan of je je deur keuze wilt wisselen of dat je bij je oorspronkelijke keuze blijft.

VRAAG: moet je wisselen of niet? (Heb je meer kans op de auto als je halverwege wisselt, of maakt het niet uit?)

Je zou zeggen dat het niks uitmaakt, maar dat is dus niet waar ^_^ Dit staat bekend als het 3-deuren probleem, ook wel het Willem-Ruis-probleem of het Monty-Hall-problem genoemd.

Empirisch bewijs volgt hieronder als Java programmaatje die duizenden quizzes simuleert en de winstresultaten daarna print. En daarmee aantoont dat het inderdaad een grotere kans op de auto oplevert als je wel van deur wisselt.

Ook de "green visitor" (alien) zit er in: die halverwege de quiz komt binnenvallen zonder dus weet te hebben van de eerste deurkeuze, en een willekeurige deur kiest van de overgebleven twee deuren.

Argumenten tegen DRM

irmen@xs4all.nl — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:46:00 GMT

Iemand op Slashdot somt een aantal argumenten tegen DRM op. (naar aanleiding van het bericht dat Netflix nu ook in HTML5 werkt op een Chromebook, omdat daarin kennelijk de DRM-feature aanwezig is)

Arbitrary region blocks
Distribution agreements
Fragmentation
Gouging (or Collusion)
The never-ending "copyright"
It stifles innovation
[loss of] Freedom

(automated) unit testing insights

irmen@xs4all.nl — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 20:22:00 GMT

Via Ars Technica:

"The Way of Testivus: Less Unit Testing Dogma. More Unit Testing Karma." http://www.agitar.com/downloads/TheWayOfTestivus.pdf

"[Google] Guide on writing testable code" http://misko.hevery.com/code-reviewers-guide/

Unicode, y u so silly

irmen@xs4all.nl — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:25:00 GMT

👽 ← U+1F47D: EXTRATERRESTRIAL ALIEN

Onderdeel van het Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs block. Als je een blije Safari gebruiker bent op OS X kun je al deze characters in fullcolour bewonderen.

Wat ons onvermijdelijk brengt bij U+1F4A9: PILE OF POO → 💩

Unicode, y u so silly?

routing table WTF

irmen@xs4all.nl — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:34:00 GMT

$ traceroute 216.81.59.173

traceroute to 216.81.59.173 (216.81.59.173), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
 1  fritz.box (192.168.178.1)  1.089 ms  0.512 ms  0.318 ms
 2  lo1.dr9.d12.xs4all.net (194.109.5.203)  22.000 ms  21.442 ms  21.115 ms
 3  1419.ae3.xr4.1d12.xs4all.net (194.109.7.69)  16.630 ms  16.826 ms  16.999 ms
 4  0.ge-0-2-0.xr1.sara.xs4all.net (194.109.5.2)  17.356 ms  19.239 ms  17.339 ms
 5  10gigabitethernet3-3.core1.ams1.he.net (216.66.84.57)  17.108 ms  25.150 ms  17.259 ms
 6  10gigabitethernet2-1.core1.par2.he.net (184.105.213.102)  27.733 ms  27.273 ms  37.091 ms
 7  10gigabitethernet7-1.core1.ash1.he.net (184.105.213.93)  112.213 ms  105.988 ms  107.284 ms
 8  10gigabitethernet1-2.core1.atl1.he.net (184.105.213.110)  130.653 ms  117.638 ms  117.787 ms
 9  216.66.0.26 (216.66.0.26)  118.768 ms  118.572 ms  118.878 ms
10  * * *
11  episode.iv (206.214.251.1)  158.049 ms  155.791 ms  155.849 ms
12  a.new.hope (206.214.251.6)  154.679 ms  161.841 ms  154.892 ms
13  it.is.a.period.of.civil.war (206.214.251.9)  156.770 ms  159.382 ms  154.420 ms
14  rebel.spaceships (206.214.251.14)  157.908 ms  153.719 ms  156.457 ms
15  striking.from.a.hidden.base (206.214.251.17)  157.257 ms  157.934 ms  156.494 ms
16  have.won.their.first.victory (206.214.251.22)  153.483 ms  155.971 ms  157.648 ms
17  against.the.evil.galactic.empire (206.214.251.25)  157.213 ms  156.524 ms  155.498 ms
18  during.the.battle (206.214.251.30)  155.799 ms  155.974 ms  154.652 ms
19  rebel.spies.managed (206.214.251.33)  154.898 ms  156.944 ms  154.871 ms
20  to.steal.secret.plans (206.214.251.38)  154.612 ms  153.506 ms  155.478 ms
21  to.the.empires.ultimate.weapon (206.214.251.41)  155.197 ms  159.887 ms  158.887 ms
22  the.death.star (206.214.251.46)  161.606 ms  156.708 ms  164.279 ms
23  an.armored.space.station (206.214.251.49)  155.318 ms  156.212 ms  157.626 ms
24  with.enough.power.to (206.214.251.54)  173.963 ms  158.288 ms  154.391 ms
25  destroy.an.entire.planet (206.214.251.57)  170.724 ms  154.478 ms  162.215 ms
26  pursued.by.the.empires (206.214.251.62)  153.982 ms  153.945 ms  154.191 ms
27  sinister.agents (206.214.251.65)  157.693 ms  159.989 ms  154.737 ms
28  princess.leia.races.home (206.214.251.70)  160.384 ms  158.901 ms  155.774 ms
29  aboard.her.starship (206.214.251.73)  154.477 ms  158.659 ms  154.492 ms
30  custodian.of.the.stolen.plans (206.214.251.78)  154.978 ms  152.484 ms  154.888 ms
31  that.can.save.her (206.214.251.81)  156.776 ms  157.006 ms  160.899 ms
32  people.and.restore (206.214.251.86)  155.508 ms  158.990 ms  154.588 ms
33  freedom.to.the.galaxy (206.214.251.89)  157.901 ms  156.394 ms  156.511 ms
34  0-------------------0 (206.214.251.94)  160.905 ms  160.690 ms  156.016 ms
35  0------------------0 (206.214.251.97)  154.798 ms  157.469 ms  154.819 ms
36  0-----------------0 (206.214.251.102)  156.536 ms  156.157 ms  158.813 ms
37  0----------------0 (206.214.251.105)  159.345 ms  158.595 ms  159.564 ms
38  0---------------0 (206.214.251.110)  155.565 ms  162.505 ms  160.172 ms
39  0--------------0 (206.214.251.113)  155.677 ms  163.190 ms  159.674 ms
40  0-------------0 (206.214.251.118)  153.535 ms  155.291 ms  158.400 ms
41  0------------0 (206.214.251.121)  157.851 ms  157.543 ms  154.445 ms
42  0-----------0 (206.214.251.126)  155.284 ms  160.898 ms  160.647 ms
43  0----------0 (206.214.251.129)  161.056 ms  160.262 ms  156.710 ms
44  0---------0 (206.214.251.134)  156.319 ms  165.527 ms  156.727 ms
45  0--------0 (206.214.251.137)  156.441 ms  159.785 ms  159.115 ms
46  0-------0 (206.214.251.142)  156.693 ms  161.161 ms  159.534 ms
47  0------0 (206.214.251.145)  157.190 ms  158.754 ms  158.613 ms
48  0-----0 (206.214.251.150)  160.277 ms  157.211 ms  156.939 ms
49  0----0 (206.214.251.153)  156.999 ms  161.768 ms  156.661 ms
50  0---0 (206.214.251.158)  165.318 ms  157.272 ms  160.906 ms
51  0--0 (206.214.251.161)  157.396 ms  158.016 ms  154.912 ms
52  0-0 (206.214.251.166)  154.935 ms  160.123 ms  155.325 ms
53  00 (206.214.251.169)  160.472 ms  159.182 ms  164.504 ms
54  i (206.214.251.174)  158.444 ms  155.786 ms  167.219 ms
55  by.ryan.werber (206.214.251.177)  155.994 ms  160.741 ms  154.925 ms
56  when.ccies.get.bored (206.214.251.182)  161.416 ms  158.865 ms  159.611 ms
57  read.more.at.beaglenetworks.net (206.214.251.185)  159.341 ms  159.254 ms  158.832 ms
58  fin (206.214.251.190)  155.287 ms * *

$

o_o

Image uploads by drag/drop or clipboard paste, without java and flash

irmen@xs4all.nl — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:49:00 GMT

Uploading images on a website by drag/drop or pasting from the clipboard:

http://joelb.me/blog/2011/code-snippet-accessing-clipboard-images-with-javascript/

This doesn't use Java or Flash :) Used on this site: http://pasteboard.co

I've got to replace my image upload applet by this.... %-|

Tale (19): release 1.0

irmen@xs4all.nl — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 15:16:00 GMT

Tale has reached version 1.0 :-)

Previous installments.

Version 1.0: this means that I now think the actual framework features and API have reached a state where it should be possible to build a nice story on. That will be my main focus for the time to come: creating an actual interactive fiction to play.

There are still a lot of ideas and todo's (mentioned in the ideas.txt file in the distribution archive), but they are now more or less all "nice to have in a future version". While developing a proper story, I do expect to find problems and silly or cumbersome choices in Tale. I'll probably fix the nastiest ones immediately, but the focus now is first on creating a story with what we have.

Tale Release 1.0: what has changed?

GUI improvements

The gui now has text styling as well as a command-history. [[!!! BAD LINK: plaatjes/tale_gui2.png !!!]]

Other new stuff

can use smartypants module to automatically create typographically pleasing quotes, dashes and a few other characters. (optional)
soul now understands pronouns to refer to earlier items/persons (hug it/her/him/them)
embedded a tiny demo story in the library (python -m tale.demo.story)
some internal API improvements (Exits, Hint system, deferreds)
improved the API sphinx docs
bugfixes

IntellijIdeaRulezzz

irmen@xs4all.nl — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:16:00 GMT

Eh.... where did that come from? I sure as hell didn't type that in my project... (it's a true assessment though)

[[!!! BAD LINK: plaatjes/intellijidearulezzz.png !!!]]

Tale (18): GUI

irmen@xs4all.nl — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 19:11:00 GMT

A big visible change this time: Tale now also has a GUI, for if you don't like the text console interface :-)

Previous installments.

Tale Release 0.9: what has changed?

GUI !

Tale's internal I/O handling has been completely rewritten. There are now "I/O adapters" that implement the actual input and output. Because of this, it had become fairly easy to create an I/O adapter that does its input and output by means of a graphical user interface, rather than text-based console.

[[!!! BAD LINK: plaatjes/tale_gui.png !!!]]

There are still a couple of rough edges (no text styling, some text layout issues) but it is working quite nicely already. The dark red lines ("e", "examine rat") are user-entered commands.

Better text wrapping

Mainly for the text console interface: the text wrapping algorithm no longer gets confused by the embedded style tags in the text. It now ignores them and this means the text wrapping is no longer showing lines that are wrapped too early.

What's next?

Improve the GUI (really needs proper text formatting/styling).

The overview effect

irmen@xs4all.nl — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 12:15:00 GMT

40 jaar geleden maakten de astronauten aan boord van de Apollo-17 deze foto, "The Blue Marble":

Nu is het 40 jaar later en is deze korte film gemaakt over The overview effect. (Vimeo)

Indrukwekkend en inspirerend.

"You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch. "

-- Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell

Pioneer anomaly verklaard

irmen@xs4all.nl — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 22:55:00 GMT

Pioneer anomaly verklaard. Omdat er geen samenvatting bij staat:

We think there is no exotic cause for the Pioneer anomaly: The puzzling deceleration was produced by the asymmetric radiation of waste heat created onboard the spacecraft.

:-/ Was toch leuker geweest als het aliens, of dark matter, was...

edit: meanwhile, on the Voyager 1: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/508496/voyager-1-hits-rumble-strips-at-the-edge-of-the-solar-system/

Tale (17): pubsub and optimizations

irmen@xs4all.nl — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:05:00 GMT

It has been a while since I worked at Tale, my Mud/Interactive Fiction framework. I thought it would be nice to pick it up again. Main focus for now were some technical improvements.

Previous installments.

Tale Release 0.8: what has changed?

pubsub using blinker

I've started to use the third party library blinker as synchronous notification library. It provides decoupled signaling (or pub-sub if you wish). For now, it is used for the wiretap function in Tale, but could potentially be used for other synchronous notifications as well. Asynchronous notification must still be done using Deferreds.

VFS

Tale now has a simple virtual filesystem that provides data load and store functionality. Data is still being loaded as resources from the Tale package location itself. It is being written to the OS's user data folder (Tale uses the appdirs package for that). Savegames are also stored using the VFS now, so they end up in that location as well, and no longer inside the story's directory. This paves the way for a fully read-only story directory structure (and possibly for loading stories from a zip archive or similar).

other technical improvements

The command functions no longer get a dictionary ctx argument: now they get it as an object with proper attributes. (less error-prone, and IDEs provide auto-completion for this).

The wait command has been improved, you can now wait for a specific time as well, instead of just a given duration:

>> wait 1 hour and 20 minutes

  Time passes.  You've waited 1 hour and 20 minutes.

>> wait 1 h 10 m

  Time passes.  You've waited 1 hour and 10 minutes.

>> wait till sunset

  You can't wait more than two hours at once, who knows what might
  happen in that time?

>> time

  The game time is: 2012-04-19 16:30:00
  Real time is: 2012-12-04 00:04:17

>> wait till 18:00

  Time passes.  You've waited 1 hour and 30 minutes.

>> wait for myself

  You wait for arch wizard Irmen.

>>

And last but not least, a lot of bugfixes have been done, especially to the 'move' command and when doing stuff on exits.