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• The right way to start out in game development/design [closed]

  - by Marco Sacristão

  Greetings everyone I'm a 19 year old student looking for some help in the field of game development. This question may or may not seem a bit overused, but the fact is that game development has been my life long dream, and after several hours of search I've realized that I've been going in circles for the past three or four months whilst doing such research on how to really get down and dirty with game development, therefor I decided to ask you guys if you could help me out at all. Let me start off with some information about me and things i've already learned about GameDev which might help you out on helping me out (wordplay!): I'm not an expert programmer, but I do have knowledge on how to program in several languages including C and Java (Currently learning Java in my degree in Computer Engineering), but my methodology might not be most correct in terms of syntax (hence my difficulty in starting out, i'm afraid that the starting point might not be the most correct, and it would deploy a wrongful development methodology that would be to corrected later on, in terms of game development or other projects). I have yet to work in a project as large as a game, never in my learning curve of programming I've done a project to the scale of a video game, only very small software (PHP Front-ends and Back-ends, with some basic JQuery and CSS knowledge). I'm not the biggest mathematician or physicist, but I already know that is not a problem, because there are several game engines already available for use and integration with home-made projects (Box2D, etc). I've also learned about some libraries that could be included in said projects, to ease out some process in game development, like SDL for example. I do not know how sprites, states, particles or any specific game-related techniques work. With that being said, you can see that I have some ideas on game development, but I have absolutely no clue on how to design and produce a game, or even how game-like mechanics work. It does not have to be a complex game just to start out, I'd rather learn the basic of game design (Like 2D drawing, tiling, object collision) and test that out in a language that I feel comfortable in which could be later on migrated to other platforms, as long that what I've learned is the correct way to do things, and not just something that I've learned from some guy on Youtube by replicating that code on the video. I'm sorry if my question is not in the best format possible, but I've got so many questions on my mind that are still un-answered that I don't know were to start! Thank you for reading.

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• 5 Mac Applications For Web And Graphic Design

  - by Jyoti

  In this article free applications useful and effective for the development and creation of websites with your Mac computer. Without further ado, here are 5 Excellent Mac Application for Web and Graphic Design. Fotoflexer : Fotoflexer claims to be “The world’s most advanced online image editor”. It offers completely free access to numerous features such as [...]

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• how to evaluate own project

  - by gruszczy

  I am working on a open source project in pure C, that I have started some time ago, but only recently found time to add some features. I can clearly some weaknesses of my old design, so I am trying to refactor my old code. I have no idea however, how to evaluate properly my new code. Do you know about any techniques or tools for code evaluation? I am pretty good with object oriented design, but for about three years I had no contact with purely structural one. Therefore I don't have enough experience, to be able to discern between good and bad design choices.

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• monkey patching time.time() in python

  - by user84584

  Hello guys, I've an application where, for testing, I need to replace the time.time() call with a specific timestamp, I've done that in the past using ruby (code available here: http://github.com/zemariamm/Back-to-Future/blob/master/back_to_future.rb ) However I do not know how to do this using Python. Any hints ? Cheers, Ze Maria

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• Rule of thumb for enemy art design in 2D platformer

  - by Terrance

  I'm at the early stages of developing a 2D side scrolling open ended platformer (think Metroidvania) and am having a bit of difficulty at enemy design inspiration for something of a scifi, nature, fantasy setting that isn't overly familar or obvious. I haven't seen too many articles, blogs or books that talk about the subject at great length. Is there a fair rule of thumb when coming up with enemy art with respect to keeping your player engaged?

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• Why is permadeath essential to a roguelike design?

  - by Gregory Weir

  Roguelikes and roguelike-likes (Spelunky, The Binding of Isaac) tend to share a number of game design elements: Procedurally generated worlds Character growth by way of new abilities and powers Permanent death I can understand why starting with permadeath as a premise would lead you to the other ideas: if you're going to be starting over a lot, you'll want variety in your experiences. But why do the first two elements imply a permadeath approach?

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• Unable to sync time using `ntpdate`, error: "no server suitable for synchronization found"

  - by William Ting

  My ntp.conf file: user@pc[0][07:37:40]:/etc$ cat /etc/ntp.conf idriftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift server 0.pool.ntp.org server 1.pool.ntp.org server 2.pool.ntp.org server pool.ntp.org Command output: user@pc[0][07:37:24]:/etc$ sudo ntpdate -dv pool.ntp.org 18 Jun 07:37:35 ntpdate[10737]: ntpdate [email protected] Tue Apr 19 07:15:05 UTC 2011 (1) Looking for host pool.ntp.org and service ntp host found : conquest.kjsl.com transmit(198.137.202.16) transmit(216.45.57.38) transmit(64.6.144.6) transmit(198.137.202.16) transmit(216.45.57.38) transmit(64.6.144.6) transmit(198.137.202.16) transmit(216.45.57.38) transmit(64.6.144.6) transmit(198.137.202.16) transmit(216.45.57.38) transmit(64.6.144.6) transmit(198.137.202.16) transmit(216.45.57.38) transmit(64.6.144.6) 198.137.202.16: Server dropped: no data 216.45.57.38: Server dropped: no data 64.6.144.6: Server dropped: no data server 198.137.202.16, port 123 stratum 0, precision 0, leap 00, trust 000 refid [198.137.202.16], delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000 transmitted 4, in filter 4 reference time: 00000000.00000000 Thu, Feb 7 2036 0:28:16.000 originate timestamp: 00000000.00000000 Thu, Feb 7 2036 0:28:16.000 transmit timestamp: d1a71a93.1f16c1e3 Sat, Jun 18 2011 7:37:39.121 filter delay: 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 filter offset: 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000 offset 0.000000 server 216.45.57.38, port 123 stratum 0, precision 0, leap 00, trust 000 refid [216.45.57.38], delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000 transmitted 4, in filter 4 reference time: 00000000.00000000 Thu, Feb 7 2036 0:28:16.000 originate timestamp: 00000000.00000000 Thu, Feb 7 2036 0:28:16.000 transmit timestamp: d1a71a93.524a05dd Sat, Jun 18 2011 7:37:39.321 filter delay: 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 filter offset: 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000 offset 0.000000 server 64.6.144.6, port 123 stratum 0, precision 0, leap 00, trust 000 refid [64.6.144.6], delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000 transmitted 4, in filter 4 reference time: 00000000.00000000 Thu, Feb 7 2036 0:28:16.000 transmitted 4, in filter 4 reference time: 00000000.00000000 Thu, Feb 7 2036 0:28:16.000 originate timestamp: 00000000.00000000 Thu, Feb 7 2036 0:28:16.000 transmit timestamp: d1a71a93.524a05dd Sat, Jun 18 2011 7:37:39.321 filter delay: 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 filter offset: 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000 offset 0.000000 server 64.6.144.6, port 123 stratum 0, precision 0, leap 00, trust 000 refid [64.6.144.6], delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000 transmitted 4, in filter 4 reference time: 00000000.00000000 Thu, Feb 7 2036 0:28:16.000 originate timestamp: 00000000.00000000 Thu, Feb 7 2036 0:28:16.000 transmit timestamp: d1a71a93.857c6fbd Sat, Jun 18 2011 7:37:39.521 filter delay: 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 filter offset: 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000 offset 0.000000 18 Jun 07:37:40 ntpdate[10737]: no server suitable for synchronization found

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• How important is Programming for a Level Designer?

  - by WryGrin

  I'm currently attending school in a Level Design program, and I was wondering how important programming really is in being a Level Designer? I'm apparently incapable of learning programming (despite my best efforts), and tend to do very well in all other courses 3D modelling, story/character design, narrative and dialogue writing, environmental and conceptual design etc. I'm wondering if my strengths in the other areas are enough (with practice) to let me become a Level Designer, or I'm wasting my time if I can't program? I really want to be a Designer, but I just can't seem to wrap my head around the "language" of programming in general (Java kicks my teeth in even with tutoring and additional work on my own).

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• Removing hard-coded values and defensive design vs YAGNI

  - by Ben Scott

  First a bit of background. I'm coding a lookup from Age - Rate. There are 7 age brackets so the lookup table is 3 columns (From|To|Rate) with 7 rows. The values rarely change - they are legislated rates (first and third columns) that have stayed the same for 3 years. I figured that the easiest way to store this table without hard-coding it is in the database in a global configuration table, as a single text value containing a CSV (so "65,69,0.05,70,74,0.06" is how the 65-69 and 70-74 tiers would be stored). Relatively easy to parse then use. Then I realised that to implement this I would have to create a new table, a repository to wrap around it, data layer tests for the repo, unit tests around the code that unflattens the CSV into the table, and tests around the lookup itself. The only benefit of all this work is avoiding hard-coding the lookup table. When talking to the users (who currently use the lookup table directly - by looking at a hard copy) the opinion is pretty much that "the rates never change." Obviously that isn't actually correct - the rates were only created three years ago and in the past things that "never change" have had a habit of changing - so for me to defensively program this I definitely shouldn't store the lookup table in the application. Except when I think YAGNI. The feature I am implementing doesn't specify that the rates will change. If the rates do change, they will still change so rarely that maintenance isn't even a consideration, and the feature isn't actually critical enough that anything would be affected if there was a delay between the rate change and the updated application. I've pretty much decided that nothing of value will be lost if I hard-code the lookup, and I'm not too concerned about my approach to this particular feature. My question is, as a professional have I properly justified that decision? Hard-coding values is bad design, but going to the trouble of removing the values from the application seems to violate the YAGNI principle. EDIT To clarify the question, I'm not concerned about the actual implementation. I'm concerned that I can either do a quick, bad thing, and justify it by saying YAGNI, or I can take a more defensive, high-effort approach, that even in the best case ultimately has low benefits. As a professional programmer does my decision to implement a design that I know is flawed simply come down to a cost/benefit analysis?

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• Design pattern for an ASP.NET project using Entity Framework

  - by MPelletier

  I'm building a website in ASP.NET (Web Forms) on top of an engine with business rules (which basically resides in a separate DLL), connected to a database mapped with Entity Framework (in a 3rd, separate project). I designed the Engine first, which has an Entity Framework context, and then went on to work on the website, which presents various reports. I believe I made a terrible design mistake in that the website has its own context (which sounded normal at first). I present this mockup of the engine and a report page's code behind: Engine (in separate DLL): public Engine { DatabaseEntities _engineContext; public Engine() { // Connection string and procedure managed in DB layer _engineContext = DatabaseEntities.Connect(); } public ChangeSomeEntity(SomeEntity someEntity, int newValue) { //Suppose there's some validation too, non trivial stuff SomeEntity.Value = newValue; _engineContext.SaveChanges(); } } And report: public partial class MyReport : Page { Engine _engine; DatabaseEntities _webpageContext; public MyReport() { _engine = new Engine(); _databaseContext = DatabaseEntities.Connect(); } public void ChangeSomeEntityButton_Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e) { SomeEntity someEntity; //Wrong way: //Get the entity from the webpage context someEntity = _webpageContext.SomeEntities.Single(s => s.Id == SomeEntityId); //Send the entity from _webpageContext to the engine _engine.ChangeSomeEntity(someEntity, SomeEntityNewValue); // <- oops, conflict of context //Right(?) way: //Get the entity from the engine context someEntity = _engine.GetSomeEntity(SomeEntityId); //undefined above //Send the entity from the engine's context to the engine _engine.ChangeSomeEntity(someEntity, SomeEntityNewValue); // <- oops, conflict of context } } Because the webpage has its own context, giving the Engine an entity from a different context will cause an error. I happen to know not to do that, to only give the Engine entities from its own context. But this is a very error-prone design. I see the error of my ways now. I just don't know the right path. I'm considering: Creating the connection in the Engine and passing it off to the webpage. Always instantiate an Engine, make its context accessible from a property, sharing it. Possible problems: other conflicts? Slow? Concurrency issues if I want to expand to AJAX? Creating the connection from the webpage and passing it off to the Engine (I believe that's dependency injection?) Only talking through ID's. Creates redundancy, not always practical, sounds archaic. But at the same time, I already recuperate stuff from the page as ID's that I need to fetch anyways. What would be best compromise here for safety, ease-of-use and understanding, stability, and speed?

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• Design Patterns for Coordinating Change Event Listeners

  - by mkraken

  I've been working with the Observer pattern in JavaScript using various popular libraries for a number of years (YUI & jQuery). It's often that I need to observe a set of property value changes (e.g. respond only when 2 or more specific values change). Is there a elegant way to 'subscribe' the handler so that it is only called one time? Is there something I'm missing or doing wrong in my design?

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• Design Patterns: What is a type

  - by contactmatt

  A very basic question, but after reading the "Design Patterns: Elements of reusable OO Software" book, I'm a little confused. The book states, "An object's type only refers to its interface-the set of request to which it can respond. An object can have many types, and objects of different classes can have the same type." Could someone please better explain what a Type is? I also don't understand how one object can have multiple types...unless the book is speaking of polymorphism....

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• Choosing the right Design Pattern

  - by Carl Sagan

  I've always recognized the importance of utilizing design patterns. I'm curious as to how other developers go about choosing the most appropriate one. Do you use a series of characteristics (like a flowchart) to help you decide? For example: If objects are related, but we do not want to specify concrete class, consider Abstract When instantiation is left to derived classes, consider Factory Need to access elements of an aggregate object sequentially, try Iterator or something similar?

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• Object Oriented Design of a Small Java Game

  - by user2733436

  This is the problem i am dealing with. I have to make a simple game of NIM. I am learning java using a book so far i have only coded programs that deal with 2 classes. This program would have about 4 classes i guess including the main class. My problem is i am having a difficult time designing classes how they will interact with each other. I really want to think and use a object oriented approach. So the first thing i did was design the Pile CLASS as it seemed the easiest and made the most sense to me in terms of what methods go in it. Here is what i have got down for the Pile Class so far. package Nim; import java.util.Random; public class Pile { private int initialSize; public Pile(){ } Random rand = new Random(); public void setPile(){ initialSize = (rand.nextInt(100-10)+10); } public void reducePile(int x){ initialSize = initialSize - x; } public int getPile(){ return initialSize; } public boolean hasStick(){ if(initialSize>0){ return true; } else { return false; } } } Now i need help in designing the Player Class. By that i mean i am not asking for anyone to write code for me as that defeats the purpose of learning i was just wondering how would i design the player class and what would go on it. My guess is that the player class would contain method for choosing move for computer and also receiving the move human user makes. Lastly i am guessing in the Game class i am guessing the turns would be handeled. I am really lost right now so i was wondering if someone can help me think through this problem it would be great. Starting with the player class would be appreciated. I know there are some solutions for this problem online but i refuse to look at because i want to develop my own approach to such problems and i am confident if i can get through this problem i can solve other problems. I apologize if this question is a bit poor but in specific i need help in designing the Player class.

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• Help me to find a better approach-Design Pattern

  - by DJay

  I am working on an ASP.Net web application in which several WCF services are being used. At client level, I am creating channel factory mechanism to invoke service operations. Right now, I have created an assembly having classes used for channel factory creation code for every service. As per my assumption this is some sort of facade pattern. Please help me to find a better approach or any design pattern, which I can use here.

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• What's the difference between these design pattern books? [on hold]

  - by BSara

  I'm currently looking for a good reference/guide for design patterns and in my search I've found the following three books highly recommended: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software Pattern Hatching: Design Patterns Applied Design Patterns Explained: A New Perspective on Object-Oriented Design I can't decide which book (if any) to purchase. So, my question is this: What are the fundamental differences between these books?

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• Normalized class design and code first

  - by dc7a9163d9

  There are the following two classes. public class Employee { int EmployeeId { get; set; } public string FirstName { get; set; } public string LastName { get; set; } public string Street { get; set; } public string Street2 { get; set; } public string City { get; set; } public string State { get; set; } public string Zip { get; set; } } public class Company { int CompanyId { get; set; } public string Name { get; set; } public string Street { get; set; } public string Street2 { get; set; } public string City { get; set; } public string State { get; set; } public string Zip { get; set; } } In a DDD seminar, the speaker said the better design should be, class PersonName { public string FirstName { get; set; } public string LastName { get; set; } } class Address { public string Street { get; set; } public string Street2 { get; set; } public string City { get; set; } public string State { get; set; } public string Zip { get; set; } } public class Employee { int EmployeeId { get; set; } public PersonName Name { get; set; } [ForeignKey("EmployerAddress")] public int EmployerAddressId { get; set; } public virtual Address EmployerAddress { get; set; } } public class Company { int CompanyId { get; set; } public string Name { get; set; } [ForeignKey("CompanyAddress")] public int CompanyAddressId { get; set; } public virtual Address CompanyAddress { get; set; } } Is it the optimized design? How the code first generate the PersonName table and link it to Employee?

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• How to back up a network volume to my Time Capsule?

  - by Mike

  I have a Time Capsule that I'm using for my backups. I have a network volume (coincidentally on the same time capsule) that I'd like to back up as well. How can I tell Time Machine to back up network volumes in addition to my main laptop hard drive? PS: yes, I know this setup isn't ideal. It'll incur 2x network overhead when backing up the network volume, plus my data won't be safe in the event of a drive failure since both copies will be on the same disk. However, it will give me some small amount of safety in the event I accidentally delete files on the network volume, among other things.

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• Strict Pomodoro and other time management Chrome extensions

  - by kerry

  I have recently begun using the Pomodoro Technique to increase my productivity. However, I still find myself getting sucked in to the vortex of useless information that is the internet. With that in mind I began searching for a useful chrome extension to replace the Android Pomodoro app I have been using to manage my ‘doros. I even considered writing it myself. Luckily, I stumbled on one that had a similar featureset to what I was looking for. Strict Pomodoro is an excellent Chrome extension for practicing Pomodoro. Though lacking a few key features, such as the ability to set the duration of your pomodoros and breaks, it still has a key feature that helps me stay on task. It blocks time sucking websites. You can set filter lists and it will keep you from accessing them during a Pomodoro. Effectively reminding you to stay on task. Also, the author readily admits that it was quickly put together and new features may be added down the road. For now, it is still an excellent option. For those of you who do not practice Pomodoro but are trying to stay on task. The StayFocusd extension will effectively manage the amount of time you spend on useless (non-productive) sites. It also has a rich feature set that may be better for your work habits. OK, breaks over. Time to get back to work. 25 minutes at a time.

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• How to code Time Stop or Bullet Time in a game?

  - by David Miler

  I am developing a single-player RPG platformer in XNA 4.0. I would like to add an ability that would make the time "stop" or slow down, and have only the player character move at the original speed(similar to the Time Stop spell from the Baldur's Gate series). I am not looking for an exact implementation, rather some general ideas and design-patterns. EDIT: Thanks all for the great input. I have come up with the following solution public void Update(GameTime gameTime) { GameTime newGameTime = new GameTime(gameTime.TotalGameTime, new TimeSpan(gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.Ticks / DESIRED_TIME_MODIFIER)); gameTime = newGameTime; or something along these lines. This way I can set a different time for the player component and different for the rest. It certainly is not universal enough to work for a game where warping time like this would be a central element, but I hope it should work for this case. I kinda dislike the fact that it litters the main Update loop, but it certainly is the easiest way to implement it. I guess that is essentialy the same as tesselode suggested, so I'm going to give him the green tick :)

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• Database model for keeping track of likes/shares/comments on blog posts over time

  - by gage

  My goal is to keep track of the popular posts on different blog sites based on social network activity at any given time. The goal is not to simply get the most popular now, but instead find posts that are popular compared to other posts on the same blog. For example, I follow a tech blog, a sports blog, and a gossip blog. The tech blog gets waaay more readership than the other two blogs, so in raw numbers every post on the tech blog will always out number views on the other two. So lets say the average tech blog post gets 500 facebook likes and the other two get an average of 50 likes per post. Then when there is a sports blog post that has 200 fb likes and a gossip blog post with 300 while the tech blog posts today have 500 likes I want to highlight the sports and gossip blog posts (more likes than average vs tech blog with more # of likes but just average for the blog) The approach I am thinking of taking is to make an entry in a database for each blog post. Every x minutes (say every 15 minutes) I will check how many likes/shares/comments an entry has received on all the social networks (facebook, twitter, google+, linkeIn). So over time there will be a history of likes for each blog post, i.e post 1234 after 15 min: 10 fb likes, 4 tweets, 6 g+ after 30 min: 15 fb likes, 15 tweets, 10 g+ ... ... after 48 hours: 200 fb likes, 25 tweets, 15 g+ By keeping a history like this for each blog post I can know the average number of likes/shares/tweets at any give time interval. So for example the average number of fb likes for all blog posts 48hrs after posting is 50, and a particular post has 200 I can mark that as a popular post and feature/highlight it. A consideration in the design is to be able to easily query the values (likes/shares) for a specific time-frame, i.e. fb likes after 30min or tweets after 24 hrs in-order to compute averages with which to compare against (or should averages be stored in it's own table?) If this approach is flawed or could use improvement please let me know, but it is not my main question. My main question is what should a database scheme for storing this info look like? Assuming that the above approach is taken I am trying to figure out what a database schema for storing the likes over time would look like. I am brand new to databases, in doing some basic reading I see that it is advisable to make a 3NF database. I have come up with the following possible schema. Schema 1 DB Popular Posts Table: Post post_id ( primary key(pk) ) url title Table: Social Activity activity_id (pk) url (fk) type (i.e. facebook,twitter,g+) value timestamp This was my initial instinct (base on my very limited db knowledge). As far as I under stand this schema would be 3NF? I searched for designs of similar database model, and found this question on stackoverflow, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11216080/data-structure-for-storing-height-and-weight-etc-over-time-for-multiple-users . The scenario in that question is similar (recording weight/height of users overtime). Taking the accepted answer for that question and applying it to my model results in something like: Schema 2 (same as above, but break down the social activity into 2 tables) DB Popular Posts Table: Post post_id (pk) url title Table: Social Measurement measurement_id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp Table: Social stat stat_id (pk) measurement_id (fk) type (i.e. facebook,twitter,g+) value The advantage I see in schema 2 is that I will likely want to access all the values for a given time, i.e. when making a measurement at 30min after a post is published I will simultaneous check number of fb likes, fb shares, fb comments, tweets, g+, linkedIn. So with this schema it may be easier get get all stats for a measurement_id corresponding to a certain time, i.e. all social stats for post 1234 at time x. Another thought I had is since it doesn't make sense to compare number of fb likes with number of tweets or g+ shares, maybe it makes sense to separate each social measurement into it's own table? Schema 3 DB Popular Posts Table: Post post_id (pk) url title Table: fb_likes fb_like_id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp value Table: fb_shares fb_shares_id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp value Table: tweets tweets__id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp value Table: google_plus google_plus_id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp value As you can see I am generally lost/unsure of what approach to take. I'm sure this typical type of database problem (storing measurements overtime, i.e temperature statistic) that must have a common solution. Is there a design pattern/model for this, does it have a name? I tried searching for "database periodic data collection" or "database measurements over time" but didn't find anything specific. What would be an appropriate model to solve the needs of this problem?

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• Daylight saving time: Annoying and pointless [closed]

  - by polemon

  Daylight saving time is a big annoyance for me. Not just from the standpoint, that I never know when we set our clocks an hour ahead or an hour back. Setting the clock ahead or back disturbs my time organization, and is responsible for my bad mood around that day. From the standpoint of a programmer, it's no less annoying. you always have to check whether it isn't "that date" in the year, when you have to work with local time. I hear people have the same views on this that I have. also, I don't see any benefits from it. The supposedly added "extra hour" of sunlight; I don't feel that. In case you live in a region where daylight savings is observed (like in Germany, where I live), please tell me how you manage the annoyances that come with it, and (if possible) how to get rid of it, once and for all...

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• MMORPG design for time-limited players

  - by Philipp

  I believe that there is a significant market of players who would enjoy the exploration and interaction aspects of MMORPGs, but simply don't have the time for the endless grinding marathons which are part of the average MMORPG. MMORPGs are all about interaction between players. But when different players have different amounts of time to invest into a game, those with less time to spend will soon lack behind their power-leveling friends and won't be able to interact with them anymore. One way to solve this would be to limit the progress a player can achieve per day, so that it simply doesn't make sense to play more than one or two hours a day. But even the busiest casual players sometimes like to spend a whole sunday afternoon playing a video game. Just stopping them after two hours would be really frustrating. It also creates a pressure to use the daily progress limit every day, because otherwise the player would feel like wasting something. This pressure would be detrimental for casual gamers. What else could be done to level the playing field between those players who play 40+ hours a week and those who can't play more than 10?

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• Office design and layout for agile development

  - by Adam Eberbach

  (moved from stackoverflow) I have found lot of discussions here on about which keyboard, desk, light or colored background is best - but I can't find one addressing the layout of the whole office. We are a company with about 20 employees moving to a new place, something larger. There are two main development practices going on here with regular combination, the back end people often needing to work with the mobile people to arrange web services. There are about twice as many back end people as mobile people. About half of the back end developers are working on-site at any time and while they are almost never all in the office at once at least 5-10 spaces need to be provided - so most of the time the two groups are about equal. We have the chance to arrange desks, partitions and possibly even walls to make the space good. There won't be cash for dot-com frills like catering or massages but now's the time to be planning to avoid ending up with a bunch of desks in a long line. Joel on Software's Bionic Office is an article I've remembered from way back and it has some good ideas but I* (and more importantly the company's owners) are not completely sold on the privacy idea in an environment where we are supposed to be collaborating. This is another great link - The Ultimate Software Development Office Layout - I hadn't even remembered enclosed meeting rooms until reading this. Does the private office stand in the way of agile development? Is the scrum enough forced contact and if you need to bug someone you should need to get up and knock on their door? What design layouts can you point to and why would you recommend them? *I'm not against closed offices at all but would be happy if some other solution can do just as well. If it can't... well, that's what this question is all about.

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• Real-time chat in Ruby on Rails

  - by Skydreamer

  First, I'm sorry because I know this question has been asked many times but I'm still looking forward to finding the answer to my problem. I'd want to implement a Real-time chat for my Rails app but I can't really host the server which handles the sockets. I've tried Faye but it needs a server. I've also heard of pusher but it's limited to 20 users at a time on the chat and I can't really be sure they won't be more. I've thought of irc but I think I can't really embed it into a rails app, maybe it needs sockets... So here's my problem, can I implement a real-time chat without owning a server ? What can you advice me ? Thank you for your answers.

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