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• Randomly generate directed graph on a grid

  - by Talon876

  I am trying to randomly generate a directed graph for the purpose of making a puzzle game similar to the ice sliding puzzles from Pokemon. This is essentially what I want to be able to randomly generate: http://bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Crunching_the_numbers:_Graph_theory. I need to be able to limit the size of the graph in an x and y dimension. In the example given in the link, it would be restricted to an 8x4 grid. The problem I am running into is not randomly generating the graph, but randomly generating a graph, which I can properly map out in a 2d space, since I need something (like a rock) on the opposite side of a node, to make it visually make sense when you stop sliding. The problem with this is that sometimes the rock ends up in the path between two other nodes or possibly on another node itself, which causes the entire graph to become broken. After discussing the problem with a few people I know, we came to a couple of conclusions that may lead to a solution. Including the obstacles in the grid as part of the graph when constructing it. Start out with a fully filled grid and just draw a random path and delete out blocks that will make that path work. The problem then becomes figuring out which ones to delete to avoid introducing an additional, shorter path. We were also thinking a dynamic programming algorithm may be beneficial, though none of us are too skilled with creating dynamic programming algorithms from nothing. Any ideas or references about what this problem is officially called (if it's an official graph problem) would be most helpful. Here are some examples of what I have accomplished so far by just randomly placing blocks and generating the navigation graph from the chosen start/finish. The idea (as described in the previous link) is you start at the green S and want to get to the green F. You do this by moving up/down/left/right and you continue moving in the direction chosen until you hit a wall. In these pictures, grey is a wall, white is the floor, and the purple line is the minimum length from start to finish, and the black lines and grey dots represented possible paths. Here are some bad examples of randomly generated graphs: http://i.stack.imgur.com/9uaM6.png Here are some good examples of randomly generated (or hand tweaked) graphs: i.stack.imgur.com/uUGeL.png (can't post another link, sorry) I've also seemed to notice the more challenging ones when actually playing this as a puzzle are ones which have lots of high degree nodes along the minimum path.

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• Isometric layer moving inside map

  - by gronzzz

  i'm created isometric map and now trying to limit layer moving. Main idea, that i have left bottom, right bottom, left top, right top points, that camera can not move outside, so player will not see map out of bounds. But i can not understand algorithm of how to do that. It's my layer scale/moving code. - (void)touchBegan:(UITouch *)touch withEvent:(UIEvent *)event { _isTouchBegin = YES; } - (void)touchMoved:(UITouch *)touch withEvent:(UIEvent *)event { NSArray *allTouches = [[event allTouches] allObjects]; UITouch *touchOne = [allTouches objectAtIndex:0]; CGPoint touchLocationOne = [touchOne locationInView: [touchOne view]]; CGPoint previousLocationOne = [touchOne previousLocationInView: [touchOne view]]; // Scaling if ([allTouches count] == 2) { _isDragging = NO; UITouch *touchTwo = [allTouches objectAtIndex:1]; CGPoint touchLocationTwo = [touchTwo locationInView: [touchTwo view]]; CGPoint previousLocationTwo = [touchTwo previousLocationInView: [touchTwo view]]; CGFloat currentDistance = sqrt( pow(touchLocationOne.x - touchLocationTwo.x, 2.0f) + pow(touchLocationOne.y - touchLocationTwo.y, 2.0f)); CGFloat previousDistance = sqrt( pow(previousLocationOne.x - previousLocationTwo.x, 2.0f) + pow(previousLocationOne.y - previousLocationTwo.y, 2.0f)); CGFloat distanceDelta = currentDistance - previousDistance; CGPoint pinchCenter = ccpMidpoint(touchLocationOne, touchLocationTwo); pinchCenter = [self convertToNodeSpace:pinchCenter]; CGFloat predictionScale = self.scale + (distanceDelta * PINCH_ZOOM_MULTIPLIER); if([self predictionScaleInBounds:predictionScale]) { [self scale:predictionScale scaleCenter:pinchCenter]; } } else { // Dragging _isDragging = YES; CGPoint previous = [[CCDirector sharedDirector] convertToGL:previousLocationOne]; CGPoint current = [[CCDirector sharedDirector] convertToGL:touchLocationOne]; CGPoint delta = ccpSub(current, previous); self.position = ccpAdd(self.position, delta); } } - (void)touchEnded:(UITouch *)touch withEvent:(UIEvent *)event { _isDragging = NO; _isTouchBegin = NO; // Check if i need to bounce _touchLoc = [touch locationInNode:self]; } #pragma mark - Update - (void)update:(CCTime)delta { CGPoint position = self.position; float scale = self.scale; static float friction = 0.92f; //0.96f; if(_isDragging && !_isScaleBounce) { _velocity = ccp((position.x - _lastPos.x)/2, (position.y - _lastPos.y)/2); _lastPos = position; } else { _velocity = ccp(_velocity.x * friction, _velocity.y *friction); position = ccpAdd(position, _velocity); self.position = position; } if (_isScaleBounce && !_isTouchBegin) { float min = fabsf(self.scale - MIN_SCALE); float max = fabsf(self.scale - MAX_SCALE); int dif = max > min ? 1 : -1; if ((scale > MAX_SCALE - SCALE_BOUNCE_AREA) || (scale < MIN_SCALE + SCALE_BOUNCE_AREA)) { CGFloat newSscale = scale + dif * (delta * friction); [self scale:newSscale scaleCenter:_touchLoc]; } else { _isScaleBounce = NO; } } }

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• Finding furthermost point in game world

  - by user13414

  I am attempting to find the furthermost point in my game world given the player's current location and a normalized direction vector in screen space. My current algorithm is: convert player world location to screen space multiply the direction vector by a large number (2000) and add it to the player's screen location to get the distant screen location convert the distant screen location to world space create a line running from the player's world location to the distant world location loop over the bounding "walls" (of which there are always 4) of my game world check whether the wall and the line intersect if so, where they intersect is the furthermost point of my game world in the direction of the vector Here it is, more or less, in code: public Vector2 GetFurthermostWorldPoint(Vector2 directionVector) { var screenLocation = entity.WorldPointToScreen(entity.Location); var distantScreenLocation = screenLocation + (directionVector * 2000); var distantWorldLocation = entity.ScreenPointToWorld(distantScreenLocation); var line = new Line(entity.Center, distantWorldLocation); float intersectionDistance; Vector2 intersectionPoint; foreach (var boundingWall in entity.Level.BoundingWalls) { if (boundingWall.Intersects(line, out intersectionDistance, out intersectionPoint)) { return intersectionPoint; } } Debug.Assert(false, "No intersection found!"); return Vector2.Zero; } Now this works, for some definition of "works". I've found that the further out my distant screen location is, the less chance it has of working. When digging into the reasons why, I noticed that calls to Viewport.Unproject could result in wildly varying return values for points that are "far away". I wrote this stupid little "test" to try and understand what was going on: [Fact] public void wtf() { var screenPositions = new Vector2[] { new Vector2(400, 240), new Vector2(400, -2000), }; var viewport = new Viewport(0, 0, 800, 480); var projectionMatrix = Matrix.CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView(MathHelper.PiOver4, viewport.Width / viewport.Height, 1, 200000); var viewMatrix = Matrix.CreateLookAt(new Vector3(400, 630, 600), new Vector3(400, 345, 0), new Vector3(0, 0, 1)); var worldMatrix = Matrix.Identity; foreach (var screenPosition in screenPositions) { var nearPoint = viewport.Unproject(new Vector3(screenPosition, 0), projectionMatrix, viewMatrix, worldMatrix); var farPoint = viewport.Unproject(new Vector3(screenPosition, 1), projectionMatrix, viewMatrix, worldMatrix); Console.WriteLine("For screen position {0}:", screenPosition); Console.WriteLine(" Projected Near Point = {0}", nearPoint.TruncateZ()); Console.WriteLine(" Projected Far Point = {0}", farPoint.TruncateZ()); Console.WriteLine(); } } The output I get on the console is: For screen position {X:400 Y:240}: Projected Near Point = {X:400 Y:629.571 Z:599.0967} Projected Far Point = {X:392.9302 Y:-83074.98 Z:-175627.9} For screen position {X:400 Y:-2000}: Projected Near Point = {X:400 Y:626.079 Z:600.7554} Projected Far Point = {X:390.2068 Y:-767438.6 Z:148564.2} My question is really twofold: what am I doing wrong with the unprojection such that it varies so wildly and, thus, does not allow me to determine the corresponding world point for my distant screen point? is there a better way altogether to determine the furthermost point in world space given a current world space location, and a directional vector in screen space?

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• How to handle encryption key conflicts when synchronizing data?

  - by Rafael

  Assume that there is data that gets synchronized between several devices. The data is protected with a symmetric encryption algorithm and a key. The key is stored on each device and encrypted with a password. When a user changes the password only the key gets re-encrypted. Under normal circumstances, when there is a good network connection to other peers, the current key gets synchronized and all data on the new device gets encrypted with the same key. But how to handle situations where a new device doesn’t have a network connection and e.g. creates its own new, but incompatible key? How to keep the usability as high as possible under such circumstances? The application could detect that there is no network and hence refuse to start. That’s very bad usability in my opinion, because the application isn’t functional at all in this case. I don’t consider this a solution. The application could ignore the missing network connection and create a new key. But what to do when the application gains a network connection? There will be several incompatible keys and some parts of the underlying data could only be encrypted with one key and other parts with another key. The situation would get worse if there would be more keys than just two and the application would’ve to ask every time for a password when another object that should get decrypted with another key would be needed. It is very messy and time consuming to try to re-encrypt all data that is encrypted with another key with a main key. What should be the main key at all in this case? The oldest key? The key with the most encrypted objects? What if the key got synchronized but not all objects that got encrypted with this particular key? How should the user know for which particular password the application asks and why it takes probably very long to re-encrypt the data? It’s very hard to describe encryption “issues” to users. So far I didn’t find an acceptable solution, nor some kind of generic strategy. Do you have some hints about a concrete strategy or some books / papers that describe synchronization of symmetrically encrypted data with keys that could cause conflicts?

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• 2D SAT Collision Detection not working when using certain polygons (With example)

  - by sFuller

  My SAT algorithm falsely reports that collision is occurring when using certain polygons. I believe this happens when using a polygon that does not contain a right angle. Here is a simple diagram of what is going wrong: Here is the problematic code: std::vector<vec2> axesB = polygonB->GetAxes(); //loop over axes B for(int i = 0; i < axesB.size(); i++) { float minA,minB,maxA,maxB; polygonA->Project(axesB[i],&minA,&maxA); polygonB->Project(axesB[i],&minB,&maxB); float intervalDistance = polygonA->GetIntervalDistance(minA, maxA, minB, maxB); if(intervalDistance >= 0) return false; //Collision not occurring } This function retrieves axes from the polygon: std::vector<vec2> Polygon::GetAxes() { std::vector<vec2> axes; for(int i = 0; i < verts.size(); i++) { vec2 a = verts[i]; vec2 b = verts[(i+1)%verts.size()]; vec2 edge = b-a; axes.push_back(vec2(-edge.y,edge.x).GetNormailzed()); } return axes; } This function returns the normalized vector: vec2 vec2::GetNormailzed() { float mag = sqrt( x*x + y*y ); return *this/mag; } This function projects a polygon onto an axis: void Polygon::Project(vec2* axis, float* min, float* max) { float d = axis->DotProduct(&verts[0]); float _min = d; float _max = d; for(int i = 1; i < verts.size(); i++) { d = axis->DotProduct(&verts[i]); _min = std::min(_min,d); _max = std::max(_max,d); } *min = _min; *max = _max; } This function returns the dot product of the vector with another vector. float vec2::DotProduct(vec2* other) { return (x*other->x + y*other->y); } Could anyone give me a pointer in the right direction to what could be causing this bug? Edit: I forgot this function, which gives me the interval distance: float Polygon::GetIntervalDistance(float minA, float maxA, float minB, float maxB) { float intervalDistance; if (minA < minB) { intervalDistance = minB - maxA; } else { intervalDistance = minA - maxB; } return intervalDistance; //A positive value indicates this axis can be separated. } Edit 2: I have recreated the problem in HTML5/Javascript: Demo

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• Software Tuned to Humanity

  - by Phil Factor

  I learned a great deal from a cynical old programmer who once told me that the ideal length of time for a compiler to do its work was the same time it took to roll a cigarette. For development work, this is oh so true. After intently looking at the editing window for an hour or so, it was a relief to look up, stretch, focus the eyes on something else, and roll the possibly-metaphorical cigarette. This was software tuned to humanity. Likewise, a user’s perception of the “ideal” time that an application will take to move from frame to frame, to retrieve information, or to process their input has remained remarkably static for about thirty years, at around 200 ms. Anything else appears, and always has, to be either fast or slow. This could explain why commercial applications, unlike games, simulations and communications, aren’t noticeably faster now than they were when I started programming in the Seventies. Sure, they do a great deal more, but the SLAs that I negotiated in the 1980s for application performance are very similar to what they are nowadays. To prove to myself that this wasn’t just some rose-tinted misperception on my part, I cranked up a Z80-based Jonos CP/M machine (1985) in the roof-space. Within 20 seconds from cold, it had loaded Wordstar and I was ready to write. OK, I got it wrong: some things were faster 30 years ago. Sure, I’d now have had all sorts of animations, wizzy graphics, and other comforting features, but it seems a pity that we have used all that extra CPU and memory to increase the scope of what we develop, and the graphical prettiness, but not to speed the processes needed to complete a business procedure. Never mind the weight, the response time’s great! To achieve 200 ms response times on a Z80, or similar, performance considerations influenced everything one did as a developer. If it meant writing an entire application in assembly code, applying every smart algorithm, and shortcut imaginable to get the application to perform to spec, then so be it. As a result, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool performance freak and find it difficult to change my habits. Conversely, many developers now seem to feel quite differently. While all will acknowledge that performance is important, it’s no longer the virtue is once was, and other factors such as user-experience now take precedence. Am I wrong? If not, then perhaps we need a new school of development technique to rival Agile, dedicated once again to producing applications that smoke the rear wheels rather than pootle elegantly to the shops; that forgo skeuomorphism, cute animation, or architectural elegance in favor of the smell of hot rubber. I struggle to name an application I use that is truly notable for its blistering performance, and would dearly love one to do my everyday work – just as long as it doesn’t go faster than my brain.

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• Per-pixel collision detection - why does XNA transform matrix return NaN when adding scaling?

  - by JasperS

  I looked at the TransformCollision sample on MSDN and added the Matrix.CreateTranslation part to a property in my collision detection code but I wanted to add scaling. The code works fine when I leave scaling commented out but when I add it and then do a Matrix.Invert() on the created translation matrix the result is NaN ({NaN,NaN,NaN},{NaN,NaN,NaN},...) Can anyone tell me why this is happening please? Here's the code from the sample: // Build the block's transform Matrix blockTransform = Matrix.CreateTranslation(new Vector3(-blockOrigin, 0.0f)) * // Matrix.CreateScale(block.Scale) * would go here Matrix.CreateRotationZ(blocks[i].Rotation) * Matrix.CreateTranslation(new Vector3(blocks[i].Position, 0.0f)); public static bool IntersectPixels( Matrix transformA, int widthA, int heightA, Color[] dataA, Matrix transformB, int widthB, int heightB, Color[] dataB) { // Calculate a matrix which transforms from A's local space into // world space and then into B's local space Matrix transformAToB = transformA * Matrix.Invert(transformB); // When a point moves in A's local space, it moves in B's local space with a // fixed direction and distance proportional to the movement in A. // This algorithm steps through A one pixel at a time along A's X and Y axes // Calculate the analogous steps in B: Vector2 stepX = Vector2.TransformNormal(Vector2.UnitX, transformAToB); Vector2 stepY = Vector2.TransformNormal(Vector2.UnitY, transformAToB); // Calculate the top left corner of A in B's local space // This variable will be reused to keep track of the start of each row Vector2 yPosInB = Vector2.Transform(Vector2.Zero, transformAToB); // For each row of pixels in A for (int yA = 0; yA < heightA; yA++) { // Start at the beginning of the row Vector2 posInB = yPosInB; // For each pixel in this row for (int xA = 0; xA < widthA; xA++) { // Round to the nearest pixel int xB = (int)Math.Round(posInB.X); int yB = (int)Math.Round(posInB.Y); // If the pixel lies within the bounds of B if (0 <= xB && xB < widthB && 0 <= yB && yB < heightB) { // Get the colors of the overlapping pixels Color colorA = dataA[xA + yA * widthA]; Color colorB = dataB[xB + yB * widthB]; // If both pixels are not completely transparent, if (colorA.A != 0 && colorB.A != 0) { // then an intersection has been found return true; } } // Move to the next pixel in the row posInB += stepX; } // Move to the next row yPosInB += stepY; } // No intersection found return false; }

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• Generating tileable terrain using Perlin Noise [duplicate]

  - by terrorcell

  This question already has an answer here: How do you generate tileable Perlin noise? 9 answers I'm having trouble figuring out the solution to this particular algorithm. I'm using the Perlin Noise implementation from: https://code.google.com/p/mikeralib/source/browse/trunk/Mikera/src/main/java/mikera/math/PerlinNoise.java Here's what I have so far: for (Chunk chunk : chunks) { PerlinNoise noise = new PerlinNoise(); for (int y = 0; y < CHUNK_SIZE_HEIGHT; ++y) { for (int x = 0; x < CHUNK_SIZE_WIDTH; ++x) { int index = get1DIndex(y, CHUNK_SIZE_WIDTH, x); float val = 0; for (int i = 2; i <= 32; i *= i) { double n = noise.tileableNoise2(i * x / (float)CHUNK_SIZE_WIDTH, i * y / (float)CHUNK_SIZE_HEIGHT, CHUNK_SIZE_WIDTH, CHUNK_SIZE_HEIGHT); val += n / i; } // chunk tile at [index] gets set to the colour 'val' } } } Which produces something like this: Each chunk is made up of CHUNK_SIZE number of tiles, and each tile has a TILE_SIZE_WIDTH/HEIGHT. I think it has something to do with the inner-most for loop and the x/y co-ords given to the noise function, but I could be wrong. Solved: PerlinNoise noise = new PerlinNoise(); for (Chunk chunk : chunks) { for (int y = 0; y < CHUNK_SIZE_HEIGHT; ++y) { for (int x = 0; x < CHUNK_SIZE_WIDTH; ++x) { int index = get1DIndex(y, CHUNK_SIZE_WIDTH, x); float val = 0; float xx = x * TILE_SIZE_WIDTH + chunk.x; float yy = y * TILE_SIZE_HEIGHT + chunk.h; int w = CHUNK_SIZE_WIDTH * TILE_SIZE_WIDTH; int h = CHUNK_SIZE_HEIGHT * TILE_SIZE_HEIGHT; for (int i = 2; i <= 32; i *= i) { double n = noise.tileableNoise2(i * xx / (float)w, i * yy / (float)h, w, h); val += n / i; } // chunk tile at [index] gets set to the colour 'val' } } }

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• Identifying which pattern fits better.

  - by Daniel Grillo

  I'm developing a software to program a device. I have some commands like Reset, Read_Version, Read_memory, Write_memory, Erase_memory. Reset and Read_Version are fixed. They don't need parameters. Read_memory and Erase_memory need the same parameters that are Length and Address. Write_memory needs Lenght, Address and Data. For each command, I have the same steps in sequence, that are something like this sendCommand, waitForResponse, treatResponse. I'm having difficulty to identify which pattern should I use. Factory, Template Method, Strategy or other pattern. Edit I'll try to explain better taking in count the given comments and answers. I've already done this software and now I'm trying to refactoring it. I'm trying to use patterns, even if it is not necessary because I'm taking advantage of this little software to learn about some patterns. Despite I think that one (or more) pattern fits here and it could improve my code. When I want to read version of the software of my device, I don't have to assembly the command with parameters. It is fixed. So I have to send it. After wait for response. If there is a response, treat (or parse) it and returns. To read a portion of the memory (maximum of 256 bytes), I have to assembly the command using the parameters Len and Address. So I have to send it. After wait for response. If there is a response, treat (or parse) it and returns. To write a portion in the memory (maximum of 256 bytes), I have to assembly the command using the parameters Len, Address and Data. So I have to send it. After wait for response. If there is a response, treat (or parse) it and returns. I think that I could use Template Method because I have almost the same algorithm for all. But the problem is some commands are fixes, others have 2 or 3 parameters. I think that parameters should be passed on the constructor of the class. But each class will have a constructor overriding the abstract class constructor. Is this a problem for the template method? Should I use other pattern?

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• Dynamic Bind9 + DHCP

  - by AcidRod75

  i have been working on setup a server for my internal network, so far i have a working isc-dhcp-server that can upgrade a chrooted BIND9 (on the same machine), i need to add some static entries on the DNS, so users can resolve the websites that resides in our DMZ. What i had tryed all ready was to modify the /etc/bind/named.conf.local with this info: // // Do any local configuration here // // Consider adding the 1918 zones here, if they are not used in your // organization //include "/etc/bind/zones.rfc1918"; key DHCP_UPDATER { algorithm HMAC-MD5.SIG-ALG.REG.INT; secret "MySuperSecretHash"; (this is not the real value BTW) }; zone "quality.internal" IN { type master; file "/var/lib/bind/quality.internal.db"; allow-update { key DHCP_UPDATER; }; }; zone "0.10.10.in-addr.arpa" { type master; file "/var/lib/bind/rev.10.10.0.in-addr.arpa"; allow-update { key DHCP_UPDATER; }; }; logging { channel query.log { file "/var/log/named/query.log"; severity debug 3; }; category queries { query.log; }; }; --- EOF ---- then i added this 2 entries: zone "ourserver.internal" IN { type master; file "/var/lib/bind/ourserver.internal.db"; }; zone "0.16.172.in-addr.arpa" { type master; file "/var/lib/bind/rev.172.16.0.in-addr.arpa"; }; ---- EOF ---- So.. i created the files ourserver.internal.db and rev.172.16.0.in-addr.arpa placed them BOTH in /var/lib/bind/ and changed the permisions so the bind user can access them, restated the service... when i do a NSLOOKUP www.ourserver.internal i get: Server: 127.0.0.1 Address: 127.0.0.1#53 ** server can't find www.ourserver.internal: NXDOMAIN BUT when i do a reverse lookup.... Server: 127.0.0.1 Address: 127.0.0.1#53 5.0.16.172.in-addr.arpa name = www.ourserver.internal I do not understand what's wrong. Some help with this will save me from installing a new DNS server at the DMZ JUST to host internal site names- TY in advance BTW: the server i'm using has Ubuntu Server 11.10 fully patched.

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• Learning by doing (and programming by trial and error)

  - by AlexBottoni

  How do you learn a new platform/toolkit while producing working code and keeping your codebase clean? When I know what I can do with the underlying platform and toolkit, I usually do this: I create a new branch (with GIT, in my case) I write a few unit tests (with JUnit, for example) I write my code until it passes my tests So far, so good. The problem is that very often I do not know what I can do with the toolkit because it is brand new to me. I work as a consulant so I cannot have my preferred language/platform/toolkit. I have to cope with whatever the customer uses for the task at hand. Most often, I have to deal (often in a hurry) with a large toolkit that I know very little so I'm forced to "learn by doing" (actually, programming by "trial and error") and this makes me anxious. Please note that, at some point in the learning process, usually I already have: read one or more five-stars books followed one or more web tutorials (writing working code a line at a time) created a couple of small experimental projects with my IDE (IntelliJ IDEA, at the moment. I use Eclipse, Netbeans and others, as well.) Despite all my efforts, at this point usually I can just have a coarse understanding of the platform/toolkit I have to use. I cannot yet grasp each and every detail. This means that each and every new feature that involves some data preparation and some non-trivial algorithm is a pain to implement and requires a lot of trial-and-error. Unfortunately, working by trial-and-error is neither safe nor easy. Actually, this is the phase that makes me most anxious: experimenting with a new toolkit while producing working code and keeping my codebase clean. Usually, at this stage I cannot use the Eclipse Scrapbook because the code I have to write is already too large and complex for this small tool. In the same way, I cannot use any more an indipendent small project for my experiments because I need to try the new code in place. I can just write my code in place and rely on GIT for a safe bail-out. This makes me anxious because this kind of intertwined, half-ripe code can rapidly become incredibly hard to manage. How do you face this phase of the development process? How do you learn-by-doing without making a mess of your codebase? Any tips&tricks, best practice or something like that?

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• Designing Snake AI

  - by Ronald

  I'm new to this gamedev stackechange but have used the math and cs sites before. So, I'm in a competition to create AI for a snake that will compete with 3 other snakes in 5 minute rounds where the rules are much like the traditional Nokia snake game except that there are 4 snakes, the board is 50x50 and there are a number of small obstacles on the field. Like the Nokia game, your snake grows when you get to the fruit and if you crash into yourself, another snake or the wall you die. The game runs with a 50ms delay between moves and the server sends the new game state every 50ms which the code must analyze and what not and output the next move. The winner is the snake who had the longest length at any point in the game. Tie breakers are decided by kills. So far what I have done is implemented an A* graph search from each snake to determine if my snake is the closest to the apple and if it is, it goes for the apple. Otherwise, I made a neat little algorithm to determine the emptiest area of the board, which my snake goes for, to anticipate the next apple. Other than this I have some small survivability checks to ensure my snake isn't walking into a trap that it can't get out and if it does get stuck, I have something to give it a better chance of getting out. ... Anyway, I've tested my snake on a test server and it does quite well. Generally, my strategy of only going for the apple when its a sure thing and finding space when its not makes it grow faster than any other snakes (some snakes do a similar thing but often just go to the middle or a corner) sometimes it wins these trial games but is more often than not beaten by the same snake who seems to have the edge on survivability(my snake grows quicker but then dies somehow and this other snake just plods slowly along and wins on consistency. So I was wondering about any ideas anyone has to try and improve my snake. Or maybe ideas at a new approach to take. My functions and classes are good so changes that might seem drastic shouldn't be too bad. I encourage all ideas. Any thoughts ??

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• Collision detection doesn't work for automated elements in XNA 4.0

  - by NDraskovic

  I have a really weird problem. I made a 3D simulator of an "assembly line" as a part of a college project. Among other things it needs to be able to detect when a box object passes in front of sensor. I tried to solve this by making a model of a laser and checking if the box collides with it. I had some problems with BoundingSpheres of models meshes so I simply create a BoundingSphere and place it in the same place as the model. I organized them into a list of BoundingSpheres called "spheres" and for each model I create one BoundingSphere. All models except the box are static, so the box object has its own BoundingSphere (not a member of the "spheres" list). I also implemented a picking algorithm that I use to start the movement. This is the code that checks for collision: if (spheres.Count != 0) { for (int i = 1; i < spheres.Count; i++) { if (spheres[i].Intersects(PickingRay) != null && Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input.ButtonState.Pressed == Mouse.GetState().LeftButton) { start = true; break; } if (BoxSphere.Intersects(spheres[i]) && start) { MoveBox(0, false);//The MoveBox function receives the direction (0) and a bool value that dictates whether the box should move or not (false means stop) start = false; break; } if (start /*&& Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input.ButtonState.Pressed == Mouse.GetState().LeftButton*/ && !BoxSphere.Intersects(spheres[i])) { MoveBox(0, true); break; } } The problem is this: When I use the mouse to move the box (the commented part in the third if condition) the collision works fine (I have another part of code that I removed to simplify my question - it calculates the "address" of the box, and by that number I know that the collision is correct). But when I comment it (like in this example) the box just passes trough the lasers and does not detect the collision (the idea is that the box stops at each laser and the user passes it forth by clicking on the appropriate "switch"). Can you see the problem? Please help, and if you need more informations I will try to give them. Thanks

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• Best way to determine surface normal for a group of pixels?

  - by Paul Renton

  One of my current endeavors is creating a 2D destructible terrain engine for iOS Cocos2D (See https://github.com/crebstar/PWNDestructibleTerrain ). It is in an infant stages no doubt, but I have made significant progress since starting a couple weeks ago. However, I have run into a bit of a performance road block with calculating surface normals. Note: For my destructible terrain engine, an alpha of 0 is considered to not be solid ground. The method posted below works just great given small rectangles, such as n < 30. Anything above 30 causes a dip in the frame rate. If you approach 100x100 then you might as well read a book while the sprite attempts to traverse the terrain. At the moment this is the best I can come up with for altering the angle on a sprite as it roams across terrain (to get the angle for a sprite's orientation just take dot product of 100 * normal * (1,0) vector). -(CGPoint)getAverageSurfaceNormalAt:(CGPoint)pt withRect:(CGRect)area { float avgX = 0; float avgY = 0; ccColor4B color = ccc4(0, 0, 0, 0); CGPoint normal; float len; for (int w = area.size.width; w >= -area.size.width; w--) { for (int h = area.size.height; h >= -area.size.height; h--) { CGPoint pixPt = ccp(w + pt.x, h + pt.y); if ([self pixelAt:pixPt colorCache:&color]) { if (color.a != 0) { avgX -= w; avgY -= h; } // end inner if } // end outer if } // end inner for } // end outer for len = sqrtf(avgX * avgX + avgY * avgY); if (len == 0) { normal = ccp(avgX, avgY); } else { normal = ccp(avgX/len, avgY/len); } // end if return normal; } // end get My problem is I have sprites that require larger rectangles in order for their movement to look realistic. I considered doing a cache of all surface normals, but this lead to issues of knowing when to recalculate the surface normals and these calculations also being quite expensive (also how large should the blocks be?). Another smaller issue is I don't know how to properly treat the case when length is = 0. So I am stuck... Any advice from the community would be greatly appreciated! Is my method the best possible one? Or should I rethink the algorithm? I am new to game development and always looking to learn new tips and tricks.

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• How to deal with fellow programmer who likes to delegate task with lack any support from boss [closed]

  - by Rudy

  I have a problem with my fellow programmer. We are currently working together in a small project that need to be shipped every 2 weeks. She has a tendency to ask for help for every issues that she is facing. Whether it's a compile error, algorithm problem or even sync/merge issue that caused by herself. She does not even bother to check Google or try to find out by herself. I can be asked to help her for 5-10 times a day. Everyday her husband keeps calling (4-6 times a day), and most of the code that has been delivered by her are actually incorrect. Today she framed me for sending the wrong delivery product. She went home after lunch on the delivery day without telling PM and other team member on that day and her code she commited does not work at all. It's not even tested. I have no choice to roll back her code and cleaning her code just for sake to able to run the product. I have warned her about her defective codes for almost 3 iterations. She said when she was not around I should be able to test her module for her. I snapped and yelled that I am not her slave and directly reported to my boss. However, my boss is not a person that can manage and care about software quality. What is the most important thing to my boss is delivery of product, whether it tested or not. He can even asked us to deliver something that not even tested by QA to the client, on the next day. Most of our suggestion is not followed by him. He even asked me to apologize to her because I snapped. I am tired of the whole situation. This kind of thing keeps repeated. I do have saving to be able to survive for 6 months and the idea of resigning is keep haunting. There is nothing else that can be learned in my current job and I had been in a better environment than this. What should I do with the situation?

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• How to avoid oscillation by async event based systems?

  - by inf3rno

  Imagine a system where there are data sources which need to be kept in sync. A simple example is model - view data binding by MVC. Now I intend to describe these kind of systems with data sources and hubs. Data sources are publishing and subscribing for events and hubs are relaying events to data sources. By handling an event a data source will change it state described in the event. By publishing an event the data source puts its current state to the event, so other data sources can use that information to change their state accordingly. The only problem with this system, that events can be reflected from the hub or from the other data sources, and that can put the system into an infinite oscillation (by async or infinite loop by sync). For example A -- data source B -- data source H -- hub A -> H -> A -- reflection from the hub A -> H -> B -> H -> A -- reflection from another data source By sync it is relatively easy to solve this issue. You can compare the current state with the event, and if they are equal, you don't change the state and raise the same event again. By async I could not find a solution yet. The state comparison does not work by async event handling because there is eventual consistency, and new events can be published in an inconsistent state causing the same oscillation. For example: A(*->x) -> H -> B(y->x) -- can go parallel with B(*->y) -> H -> A(x->y) -- so first A changes to x state while B changes to y state -- then B changes to x state while A changes to y state -- and so on for eternity... What do you think is there an algorithm to solve this problem? If there is a solution, is it possible to extend it to prevent oscillation caused by multiple hubs, multiple different events, etc... ? update: I don't think I can make this work without a lot of effort. I think this problem is just the same as we have by syncing multiple databases in a distributed system. So I think what I really need is constraints if I want to prevent this problem in an automatic way. What constraints do you suggest?

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• 2D collision resolving

  - by Philippe Paré

  I've just worked out an AABB collision algorithm for my 2D game and I was very satisfied until I found out it only works properly with movements of 1 in X and 1 in Y... here it is: public bool Intersects(Rectanglef rectangle) { return this.Left < rectangle.Right && this.Right > rectangle.Left && this.Top < rectangle.Bottom && this.Bottom > rectangle.Top; } public bool IntersectsAny(params Rectanglef[] rectangles) { for (int i = 0; i < rectangles.Length; i++) { if (this.Left < rectangles[i].Right && this.Right > rectangles[i].Left && this.Top < rectangles[i].Bottom && this.Bottom > rectangles[i].Top) return true; } return false; } and here is how I use it in the update function of my player : public void Update(GameTime gameTime) { Rectanglef nextPosX = new Rectanglef(AABB.X, AABB.Y, AABB.Width, AABB.Height); Rectanglef nextPosY; if (Input.Key(Key.Left)) nextPosX.X--; if (Input.Key(Key.Right)) nextPosX.X++; bool xFree = !nextPosX.IntersectsAny(Boxes.ToArray()); if (xFree) nextPosY = new Rectanglef(nextPosX.X, nextPosX.Y, nextPosX.Width, nextPosX.Height); else nextPosY = new Rectanglef(AABB.X, AABB.Y, AABB.Width, AABB.Height); if (Input.Key(Key.Up)) nextPosY.Y--; if (Input.Key(Key.Down)) nextPosY.Y++; bool yFree = !nextPosY.IntersectsAny(Boxes.ToArray()); if (yFree) AABB = nextPosY; else if (xFree) AABB = nextPosX; } What I'm having trouble with, is a system where I can give float values to my movement and make it so there's a smooth acceleration. Do I have to retrieve the collision rectangle (the rectangle created by the other two colliding)? or should I do some sort of vector and go along this axis until I reach the collision? Thanks a lot!

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• reference list for non-IT driven algorithmic patterns

  - by Quicker

  I am looking for a reference list for non-IT driven algorithmic patterns (which still can be helped with IT implementations of IT). An Example List would be: name; short desc; reference Travelling Salesman; find the shortest possible route on a multiple target path; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_salesman_problem Ressource Disposition (aka Regulation); Distribute a limited/exceeding input on a given number output receivers based on distribution rules; http://database-programmer.blogspot.de/2010/12/critical-analysis-of-algorithm-sproc.html If there is no such list, but you instantly think of something specific, please 'put it on the desk'. Maybe I can compile something out of the input I get here (actually I am very frustrated as I did not find any such list via research by myself). Details on Scoping: I found it very hard to formulate what I want in a way everything is out that I do not need (which may be the issue why I did not find anything at google). There is a database centric definition for what I am looking for in the section 'Processes' of the second example link. That somehow fits, but the database focus sort of drifts away from the pattern thinking, which I have in mind. So here are my own thoughts around what's in and what's out: I am NOT looking for a foundational algo ref list, which is implemented as basis for any programming language. Eg. the php reference describes substr and strlen. That implements algos, but is not what I am looking for. the problem the algo does address would even exist, if there were no computers (or other IT components) the main focus of the algo is NOT to help other algo's chances are high, that there are implementions of the solution or any workaround without any IT support out there in the world however the algo could be benefitialy implemented/fully supported by a software application = means: the problem of the algo has to be addressed anyway, but running an algo implementation with software automates the process (that is why I posted it on stackoverflow and not somewhere else) typically such algo implementations have more than one input field value and more than one output field value - which implies it could not be implemented as simple function (which is fixed to produce not more than one output value) in a normalized data model often times such algo implementation outputs span accross multiple rows (sometimes multiple tables), whereby the number of output rows depends on the input paraters and rows in the table(s) at start time - which implies that any algo implementation/procedure must interact with a database (read and/or write) I am mainly looking for patterns, not for specific implementations. Example: The Travelling Salesman assumes any coordinates, however it does not say: You need a table targets with fields x and y. - however sometimes descriptions are focussed on examples with specific implementations very much - no worries, as long as the pattern gets clear

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• Multi-threaded JOGL Problem

  - by moeabdol

  I'm writing a simple OpenGL application in Java that implements the Monte Carlo method for estimating the value of PI. The method is pretty easy. Simply, you draw a circle inside a unit square and then plot random points over the scene. Now, for each point that is inside the circle you increment the counter for in points. After determining for all the random points wither they are inside the circle or not you divide the number of in points over the total number of points you have plotted all multiplied by 4 to get an estimation of PI. It goes something like this PI = (inPoints / totalPoints) * 4. This is because mathematically the ratio of a circle's area to a square's area is PI/4, so when we multiply it by 4 we get PI. My problem doesn't lie in the algorithm itself; however, I'm having problems trying to plot the points as they are being generated instead of just plotting everything at once when the program finishes executing. I want to give the application a sense of real-time display where the user would see the points as they are being plotted. I'm a beginner at OpenGL and I'm pretty sure there is a multi-threading feature built into it. Non the less, I tried to manually create my own thread. Each worker thread plots one point at a time. Following is the psudo-code: /* this part of the code exists in display() method in MyCanvas.java which extends GLCanvas and implements GLEventListener */ // main loop for(int i = 0; i < number_of_points; i++){ RandomGenerator random = new RandomGenerator(); float x = random.nextFloat(); float y = random.nextFloat(); Thread pointThread = new Thread(new PointThread(x, y)); } gl.glFlush(); /* this part of the code exists in run() method in PointThread.java which implements Runnable */ void run(){ try{ gl.glPushMatrix(); gl.glBegin(GL2.GL_POINTS); if(pointIsIn) gl.glColor3f(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); // red point else gl.glColor3f(0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); // blue point gl.glVertex3f(x, y, 0.0f); // coordinates gl.glEnd(); gl.glPopMatrix(); }catch(Exception e){ } } I'm not sure if my approach to solving this issue is correct. I hope you guys can help me out. Thanks.

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• How to implement a multi-part snake with smooth movement? [closed]

  - by Jamie

  Sorry that i couldnt answer on my previous post but it got closed. I couldnt answer because i had to prepair for my finals. As there were problems with understanding of what im trying to achieve, im going to describe a little bit more in depth. Im creating a game in which you steer a snake. I assume everybody knows how that works. But in my case the snake isnt just propagating in an array element by element. Imagine a 2Dgrid on which the snake moves. Its 10x10 tiles. Lets say one tile is 4x4 meters. The snakes head spawns in the middle of the (3,2) tile (beginning with (0,0)), so its position is (4*3+2,4*2+2)(the 2's are so that the snake is in the middle of the 4x4 tile). And heres where the fun begins. when the snake moves, it doesnt jump to next tile. Instead it moves a fraction of the way there. So lets say the snake is heading to tile (4,2). After it moved once, its position is (4*3+2+0.1,4*2+2), where 0.1 is the fraction of the way it moved. This is done to achieve smooth movement. So now im adding the rest of the body. The rest is supposed to move along the exact same path as the head did. I implemented it so that each part of the body has its own position and direction. Then i apply this algorithm: 1.Move each part in its direction. 2.If a part is in the middle of the tile(which implies all of them are), change each parts direction to the direction of the part proceeding it. As i said before i could make this work, but i cant stop thinking that im overlooking a much easier and cleaner solution. So this is my question. Is there any easier/better/faster way to do this?

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• Threads slowing down application and not working properly

  - by Belgin

  I'm making a software renderer which does per-polygon rasterization using a floating point digital differential analyzer algorithm. My idea was to create two threads for rasterization and have them work like so: one thread draws each even scanline in a polygon and the other thread draws each odd scanline, and they both start working at the same time, but the main application waits for both of them to finish and then pauses them before continuing with other computations. As this is the first time I'm making a threaded application, I'm not sure if the following method for thread synchronization is correct: First of all, I use two global variables to control the two threads, if a global variable is set to 1, that means the thread can start working, otherwise it must not work. This is checked by the thread running an infinite loop and if it detects that the global variable has changed its value, it does its job and then sets the variable back to 0 again. The main program also uses an empty while to check when both variables become 0 after setting them to 1. Second, each thread is assigned a global structure which contains information about the triangle that is about to be rasterized. The structures are filled in by the main program before setting the global variables to 1. My dilemma is that, while this process works under some conditions, it slows down the program considerably, and also it fails to run properly when compiled for Release in Visual Studio, or when compiled with any sort of -O optimization with gcc (i.e. nothing on screen, even SEGFAULTs). The program isn't much faster by default without threads, which you can see for yourself by commenting out the #define THREADS directive, but if I apply optimizations, it becomes much faster (especially with gcc -Ofast -march=native). N.B. It might not compile with gcc because of fscanf_s calls, but you can replace those with the usual fscanf, if you wish to use gcc. Because there is a lot of code, too much for here or pastebin, I created a git repository where you can view it. My questions are: Why does adding these two threads slow down my application? Why doesn't it work when compiling for Release or with optimizations? Can I speed up the application with threads? If so, how? Thanks in advance.

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• Wi-Fi triangulation using android smartphone

  - by user1887020

  How to make application for wifi triangulation using android platform? This project will be implemented inside the building. No GPS needed. Just using wifi only and doing triangulation to get the current position of the user inside the building. I got minimum 3 access point to implement it. But how to start code in android and integrate triangulation inside android coding? I got the algorithm to do it.. but is there any chance that I can get it done? Because this project is actually want to replace the floor directory board into a smartphone floor directory so that user can find their way to their room for example to the lab. public class Triangulation { public Triangulation() { int dist_1, dist_2, dist_3; //variable for the distances int x1, x2, x3; //coordinates of x int y1, y2, y3; //coordinates of y int final_dist1, final_dist2; //final distance after calc dist_1 = 1; dist_2 = 2; dist_3 = 3; x1 = 5; //test inputs x2 = 2; x3 = 4; y1 = 2; y2 = 2; y3 = 5; final_dist1 = ((dist_1 * dist_1) - (dist_2 * dist_2) – (x1 * x1) + (x2 * x2) - (y1 * y1) + (y2 * y2)) / 2; final_dist2 = ((dist_2 * dist_2) - (dist_3 * dist_3) – (x2 * x2) + (x3 * x3) - (y2 * y2) + (y3 * y3)) / 2; initial_a1 = x1 - x2; initial_a2 = x2 - x3; initial_b1 = y1 - y2; initial_b2 = y2 - y3; //-----------------------STEP 1-------------------------------------- int a1 = initial_a1 / initial_a1; int a2 = initial_a2 / initial_a1; int b1 = initial_b1 / initial_a1; int b2 = initial_b2 / initial_a1; final_dist1 /= initial_a1; final_dist2 /= initial_a1; //-----------------------STEP 2-------------------------------------- a2 = a2 -a2; final_dist2 = -(initial_a2) * final_dist1 + final_dist2; //-----------------------STEP 3-------------------------------------- a2 /= b2; final_dist2 = final_dist2 / b2; b2 /= b2; //-------------------------STEP 4----------------------------------- b1 = b1 - b1; final_dist1 = -(initial_b1) * final_dist2 + final_dist1; } }

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• Configuring default gateway returned by dhcp server

  - by comp1mp

  Hello, I have a machine which connects via ethernet to a private LAN, and wireless to a network which provides internet connectivity. The private LAN uses a wireless router to perform DHCP. The problem is that the wireless and NIC adapters have different default gateways. The default gateway for the private LAN has a lower adapter metric, and is thus chosen by the routing algorithm. I am thus unable to browse the internet when connected to both adapters. The following link has a solution for manually setting the adapter metric to a high number. http://superuser.com/questions/77822/how-to-tell-windows-7-to-ignore-a-default-gateway I was hoping to find a different solution. Does any one know of a router that allows you to configure its DHCP server to return an empty default gateway? I cannot find such an option for my linksys wrt300n. Configuring a static ip address with no default gateway does work, however I would like to use DHCP if possible. Does anyone know of a different way to specify a default gateway for a windows 7 machine with multiple network adapters without mucking with the adapter metric? Thanks, Matthew

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• Unexpected behaviour when dynamically add node in HAproxy server

  - by Anand Soni

  I wanted to use HAProxy for my web app for load balancing purpose. I am trying to add a new rabbitmq node dynamically in HAProxy server using command : haproxy -p /var/run/haproxy.pid -sf $(cat /var/run/haproxy.pid). I am doing tcp connection mode with leastconn balance algorithm in load balancing. What is expected is when there is 3 connection in one rabbitmq, I add a new rabbit server in HAProxy server. so the next connection would pass to 2nd rabbitmq server which is not happening in my case. It distributes the connection in haphazardly manner. Here is my config file: defaults log global mode http option httplog option dontlognull retries 3 option redispatch maxconn 2000 contimeout 5000 clitimeout 5000 srvtimeout 5000 listen rabbitmq 0.0.0.0:5672 mode tcp stats enable balance leastconn option tcplog server rabbit01 xx.xx.xx.xx:5672 check server rabbit02 xx.xx.xx.xx:5672 check listen tomcatq 0.0.0.0:80 mode http stats enable balance roundrobin stats refresh 10s stats refresh 10s stats uri /lb?stats stats auth admin:admin option httplog What is the problem causing this behavior? Any suggestion will appreciated.

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• big speed difference on a network link with and without VPN tunnel

  - by xirtyllo

  Scenario: We have a network link between two offices. The link is provided by a third party company through a VLAN on their network, but to us it is totally transparent -as if we had a simple ethernet cable going from one location to the other-. We have one router at each side of the link, with 3 VPN tunnels in between the two. The test: When I test the speed of the network link with the routers in place, with one laptop directly connected to the router on each side, I consistently get ~30/35Mbps. But if I take out the routers and I test the link connecting the laptops directly to the ethernet cable at each side, I consistently get ~85/88Mbps. It's quite a big performance hit, and I would tend to think that the VPN tunnels are responsible for the slow down. Is it normal that this configuration (two routers with three VPN tunnels between them) takes away so much bandwidth? More info: The encryption algorithm used for the VPN tunnels is AES128. The routers model is Zyxel USG200 and Zyxel USG1000, and their CPU, memory, and storage use is well within normal limits. The nominal bandwidth of the network link is 100Mbps. The network link in question is supplied by a third party company (the building in between our two offices). Basically it passes through their network as a VLAN, but the VLAN is completely transparent to us (e.g. no configuration required on our side, just like one single cable from end to end). Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I cannot directly test different routers configurations as I'm not the person in charge of it.

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