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• Change CSS EMs to Percentage Automatically.

  - by Zachary Brown

  I cheated on a small site I was working on and used a site builder (Web Dwarf by Virtual Mechanics) to save time. I didn't realize it at the time, but this builder specifies the width, height and positions using CSS EMs. Is there an automated tool out there that will read through the CSS and convert each EM to a percentage so it will display correctly on wide screens as well? Any help would be great! Thanks. Here is the CSS: http://pastebin.de/14055

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• How closely can a game resemble another game without legal problems

  - by Fuu

  The majority of games build on successes of other games and many are downright clones. So where is the limit of emulating before legal issues come into play? Is it down to literary or graphic work like characters and storyline that cause legal problems, or can someone actually claim to own gameplay mechanics? There are so many similar clone games out there that the rules are probably very slack or nonexistent, but I'd like to hear the views of more experienced developers / designers.

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• Oracle to SQL Server: Crossing the Great Divide, Part 1

  When a SQL expert moves from Oracle to SQL Server, he can spot obvious strengths and weaknesses in the product that aren't obvious to the SQL Server DBA. Jonathan Lewis is that man, as he records his train of thought whilst he investigates the mechanics of the database engine. The result makes interesting reading.

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• Post 12.04 Update, stuck on splash screen

  - by Lawrence

  I updated to 12.04 a couple of weeks ago and I haven't started up Ubuntu until now. On start up the computer gets stuck on the splash screen. I am a beginner in all of this linux mechanics. I've seen many people post about relatively the same problem but I have a hard time following. I am using Wubi and running it along side Windows Starter on a Toshiba netbook. Thanks for bearing with my unfamiliarity haha,

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• Oracle to SQL Server: Crossing the Great Divide, Part 1

  When a SQL expert moves from Oracle to SQL Server, he can spot obvious strengths and weaknesses in the product that are too familiar to be apparent to the SQL Server DBA. Jonathan Lewis is one such expert: In this article he records his train of thought whilst investigating the mechanics of the SQL Server database engine. The result makes interesting reading.

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• MMORPG game balancing

  - by Gary Paluk

  I've seen a couple of examples of some game balancing techniques in books yet they are not comprehensive and not particularly aimed at MMORPGs but I'm looking for practical examples of game balancing techniques for MMORPGs. I am interested to know if anyone has documented the techniques used in popular games with proven success in this area. Ideally, any resource would cover most common types of stats and include layman mathematical models or techniques used to balance game mechanics found in advanced MMORPGs (I know it's a cliché, but WoW style) Any help would be great!

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• Ideas for time-keeping in a webbased RPG?

  - by ashy_32bit

  I'm assigned a task of doing the preliminary research stuff for a web-based MMO RPG. Now my buggiest problem here is "web based" vs "MMO RPG". I did some research about time keeping systems and I'm totally confused as how exactly something as real-time as an MMO-RPG can work on some pull-only (unidirectional) platform like HTTP. I know there is also a turn-based alternative to time keeping but can it work in an MMO setting ? EDIT: Take a battle for example, player A (human) wants to attack Player B (also human) in the open. How does it work when when player A issues the "attack" command on player B ? how do I inform player B that he is being attacked ? and then how exactly the battle goes on between the two in an HTTP based communication channel? To my knowledge this is impossible unless you resort to another technology (HTML is 1-way, that is you can just ask server and get response, server can't update you unless being asked to. this is very well-known and simply explained). So I though maybe I can somehow change the whole timekeeping model from real-time to a more non-real-time model (towards a turn based RPG for example) and somehow work around the whole problem of "interactivity". EDIT2: It is not that I don't wanna use any server side technologies. For sure it is not gonna work client-side-only even for the most trivial of the multi-player games, let alone an RPG. So sure there would be a (probably complex) server side component to it (the so called Game Engine I suppose). The problem is not the technology that implements the logic (game mechanics) bits but the communication technology and how it limits the game mechanics abilities (like how real-time or turn based it is gonna be). HTTP is a request-response protocol meaning you get served only if you ask for it (explicitly send a GET or POST request to the server). HTTP server can not inform you if anything of interest happens in the game world unless you refresh the page (as some suggested) or you use some bi-directional tech (totally different animals) like Flash, WebSock, HTML5 etc etc. So maybe the question is: Is it possible to implement a MMORPG using only HTML5/PHP and no periodic page refreshes? if so what would be rules to make it an MMO-RPG? Can't explain it any clearer. Sorry :D

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• Book Readers As Envisioned Circa 1935

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  This early 20th century sketch showcases the future of books; thankfully the actual delivery of the concept proved to be a bit more lap-friendly. The sketch is from the April, 1935 issues of Everyday Science and Mechanics and presents a vision of book consumption that, thankfully, came to pass in a much more compact fashion that doesn’t require swapping rolls of film. [via Boing Boing] How To Properly Scan a Photograph (And Get An Even Better Image) The HTG Guide to Hiding Your Data in a TrueCrypt Hidden Volume Make Your Own Windows 8 Start Button with Zero Memory Usage

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• A Checklist of Current SEO Techniques

  Search engine optimization entail fine tuning a website's code alongside a thorough linking architecture and just like mechanics, use a checklist to track down what has already been accomplished and how to measure the effect of each step on all other variables. The following is a basic overview of the steps you should take to ensure you leave nothing to chance, anything that can have a positive effect on your website's ranking thus improve the amount of traffic.

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• Explaining odd sound effects during BSOD

  - by bizzz

  Hello, over the years of using Microsoft operating systems, I many times encountered the situation that I only now want to understand. When you get BSOD while listening to music, there is a short period of time (1-2 sec), when screen freezes and the last part of music is repeated several times, before everything falls into blue abyss. Today I became very curious about mechanics behind this situation - what makes that certain part of audio to loop? I beg you, kind sirs, to satisfy my curiosity.

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• *Why* does using /dev/null in find/grep display the file name?

  - by Jonathan

  find . -name "*.java" -exec grep "foo" {} \; This just prints matches, no file name. find . -name "*.java" -exec grep "foo" /dev/null {} \; But this prints file name as well. Why? What are the mechanics of find/grep that cause file name to print when /dev/null is inserted into the mix? PS - yes, I know I can do "grep -H"

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• Do Not Optimize Without Measuring

  - by Alois Kraus

  Recently I had to do some performance work which included reading a lot of code. It is fascinating with what ideas people come up to solve a problem. Especially when there is no problem. When you look at other peoples code you will not be able to tell if it is well performing or not by reading it. You need to execute it with some sort of tracing or even better under a profiler. The first rule of the performance club is not to think and then to optimize but to measure, think and then optimize. The second rule is to do this do this in a loop to prevent slipping in bad things for too long into your code base. If you skip for some reason the measure step and optimize directly it is like changing the wave function in quantum mechanics. This has no observable effect in our world since it does represent only a probability distribution of all possible values. In quantum mechanics you need to let the wave function collapse to a single value. A collapsed wave function has therefore not many but one distinct value. This is what we physicists call a measurement. If you optimize your application without measuring it you are just changing the probability distribution of your potential performance values. Which performance your application actually has is still unknown. You only know that it will be within a specific range with a certain probability. As usual there are unlikely values within your distribution like a startup time of 20 minutes which should only happen once in 100 000 years. 100 000 years are a very short time when the first customer tries your heavily distributed networking application to run over a slow WIFI network… What is the point of this? Every programmer/architect has a mental performance model in his head. A model has always a set of explicit preconditions and a lot more implicit assumptions baked into it. When the model is good it will help you to think of good designs but it can also be the source of problems. In real world systems not all assumptions of your performance model (implicit or explicit) hold true any longer. The only way to connect your performance model and the real world is to measure it. In the WIFI example the model did assume a low latency high bandwidth LAN connection. If this assumption becomes wrong the system did have a drastic change in startup time. Lets look at a example. Lets assume we want to cache some expensive UI resource like fonts objects. For this undertaking we do create a Cache class with the UI themes we want to support. Since Fonts are expensive objects we do create it on demand the first time the theme is requested. A simple example of a Theme cache might look like this: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Drawing; struct Theme { public Color Color; public Font Font; } static class ThemeCache { static Dictionary<string, Theme> _Cache = new Dictionary<string, Theme> { {"Default", new Theme { Color = Color.AliceBlue }}, {"Theme12", new Theme { Color = Color.Aqua }}, }; public static Theme Get(string theme) { Theme cached = _Cache[theme]; if (cached.Font == null) { Console.WriteLine("Creating new font"); cached.Font = new Font("Arial", 8); } return cached; } } class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { Theme item = ThemeCache.Get("Theme12"); item = ThemeCache.Get("Theme12"); } } This cache does create font objects only once since on first retrieve of the Theme object the font is added to the Theme object. When we let the application run it should print “Creating new font” only once. Right? Wrong! The vigilant readers have spotted the issue already. The creator of this cache class wanted to get maximum performance. So he decided that the Theme object should be a value type (struct) to not put too much pressure on the garbage collector. The code Theme cached = _Cache[theme]; if (cached.Font == null) { Console.WriteLine("Creating new font"); cached.Font = new Font("Arial", 8); } does work with a copy of the value stored in the dictionary. This means we do mutate a copy of the Theme object and return it to our caller. But the original Theme object in the dictionary will have always null for the Font field! The solution is to change the declaration of struct Theme to class Theme or to update the theme object in the dictionary. Our cache as it is currently is actually a non caching cache. The funny thing was that I found out with a profiler by looking at which objects where finalized. I found way too many font objects to be finalized. After a bit debugging I found the allocation source for Font objects was this cache. Since this cache was there for years it means that the cache was never needed since I found no perf issue due to the creation of font objects. the cache was never profiled if it did bring any performance gain. to make the cache beneficial it needs to be accessed much more often. That was the story of the non caching cache. Next time I will write something something about measuring.

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• Python rpg adivce? [closed]

  - by nikita.utiu

  I have started coding an text rpg engine in python. I have basic concepts laid down, like game state saving, input, output etc. I was wondering how certain scripted game mechanics(eg. debuffs that increase damage received from a certain player or multiply damage by the number of hits received, overriding of the mobs default paths for certain events etc) are implemented usually implemented. Some code bases or some other source code would be useful(not necessarily python). Thanks in advance.

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• HR Executive's Article on Oracle Fusion HCM

  - by jay.richey

  Curious about Fusion? Didn't make it to the HR Technology Conference in Chicago this past fall to hear Gretchen Alarcon and Bill Kutik discuss it in a candid one-on-one session? Human Resource Executive has posted the transcript of that session in an online article entitled "Fusion Unveiled". Gretchen, Vice President of Fusion HCM Applications Strategy, sat down with Bill to both discuss the mechanics of how Fusion was developed and how it works, and the benefits organizations will realize, along with a live demo of the software. Read more at http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=533326589 And learn more about Oracle Fusion Applications at http://www.oracle.com/fusion

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• Enumerating the Future With Reactive Extensions

  Iterating over a collection of items seems like a pretty straightforward mundane concept. I dont know about you, but I dont spend the typical day thinking about the mechanics of iteration, much like I dont spend a lot of time thinking about how a roll of toilet paper is made. At least I didnt until watching Elmo Potty Time with my son. Now I think about it all the time, but I digress. Historically, Ive always thought of iteration as an action over a static set of items. You have this collection...Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Editor's Notebook: Of Slobber Pots and Flux Capacitors

  - by user462779

  Just wrapping up the contents of the November 2012 issue of Profit... I found this snippet of an interview I did with Team Oracle mechanics Clyde Greene and Chad Colberg when I was in Gary, IN this summer working on a photo shoot about Team Oracle for the current issue. We were standing around in a hangar as the Team prepared for the Chicago Air and Water Show, chatting about the engineering and design of the Oracle Challenger III aerobatic plane. Pick up a copy of Profit's November 2012 and read what Team Oracle pilot Sean D. Tucker has to say about the Oracle Challenger III and get a closer look at the plane. I'll drop a link into this blog entry as soon as the story is available. Your editor, greasy and stooped after a red eye flight, talks with Sean D. Tucker about stunt flying.

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• Any enlightenment for understanding Object Oriented Programming? [closed]

  - by ????

  I studied computer science near the end of 1980s, and wasn't taught OOP that formally. With Pascal or C, when I understand the top-down design of functions, and the idea of black box, then everything just seem to make sense, as if there is a "oh I get it!" -- some kind of totally getting it and enlightenment feeling. But with OOP, all I know was the mechanics: the class, instance, method, inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation. It was like, I knew all the "this is how it is", but never had the feeling of "I totally get it", the enlightened feeling. Would somebody be able to describe it, or point to a chapter in some book or paper which talks about OOP so that the reader can feel: "I totally get it!" on OOP?

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• If Apple made Cars [closed]

  - by benhowdle89

  There was a joke going round a few months(?) ago that if the GM industry kept up with the computer industry that we'd all be better off (in relation to driving and costs). There was also a counter joke that if Microsoft made Cars you would, for example, have to squeeze the wing mirror, honk the horn and move the gearstick the reboot the car (CTRL + ALT + DEL) This got me thinking in terms of Apple's recent iPad 2 release, if Apple made cars what would they be like? What sort of technological advancements would software developers and programmers be able to implement if you built a car in a similar fashion to building an iPhone app. Xcode is you Mechanics garage, as it were. What would a car look like if it was designed by Apple Chief of Design: Jonothan Ive?

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• How do I go from a simple html5 tic tac toe game to an online 2 player game?

  - by phi1o

  I've been working on an online 2 player Tic Tac Toe solution for blackberries. both old and new. And so far I have html5 code that has a 3 x 3 layout that switches between x and o for the game mechanics. I believe I'm still missing a check for win function but my question is about the server side of this game. I'm not sure how to go about learning what exactly I want. how do you take what I have now, and make this into a functioning online game? I've been told WAMP is a good solution, as well as IIS. and its all really over my head, so i'm hoping to get a little more clarity as far as what I should focus on to bring this game to life.

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• Why using the word "mechanism" in CS?

  - by Nick Rosencrantz

  I'm not sure about the usage of the word "mechanism" when in fact most of the time what is meant is an algorithm. For instance there's talk about Java's "thread-scheduling mechanism" - why not call it an algorithm and why borrow a term from mechanics where relations sometimes are the opposites than of computer science? I'm aware that an algorithm is considered a "mechanical solution" but is this really the case in fact when a lot of algorithm don't have mechanical representations for instance a file-sharing network that gets quicker and faster as the usage grows, that would be the reverse of a mechanical structure that would go slower when usage grows.

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• Logitech M515 does not work after upgrade to 12.04

  - by user877329

  After upgrading to 12.04, my Logitech M515 does not work here is some output from the terminal: lsusb Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0411:002a BUFFALO INC. (formerly MelCo., Inc.) Bus 001 Device 004: ID 055d:3021 Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. Bus 002 Device 002: ID 413c:2005 Dell Computer Corp. RT7D50 Keyboard Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0582:0074 Roland Corp. EDIROL UA-25 Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver dmesg | grep Logitech [ 30.470528] logitech-djreceiver 0003:046D:C52B.0004: hiddev0,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Device [Logitech USB Receiver] on usb-0000:00:1d.3-2/input2 The cursor does not move. Also the mouse was working in 11.10 and is working in Windows NT 5.1.2600.

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• Creating my own kill cam

  - by DalexL

  I plan on creating my own kill cam system for a sandbox tool set. After thinking about the mechanics of the kill cam itself, however, I'm quite lost. I'm trying to recreate the ones commonly seen in call of duty games that show, from the view of the killer, the actual killing scene. My Thoughts: -I can't just keep in memory when people kill others because I wouldn't know when to start the 'recording process'. There is on way for me to accurately determine when somebody is 'about' to kill someone. -My only real idea so far is to have a complete duplicate of everything loaded off to the side copying all the movement from the original world but with a 10 second delay. That way, all the kill cams would be 10 seconds long and the persons camera would just be moved to the second world of their killer. My Questions: Is there already an accepted way to do this? Does anybody have any good ideas for something like this? Thanks if you can!

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• what knowledge would I need to make a good simulation games

  - by Skeith

  I have an idea for a game like theme park but don't know how simulation games are made. I am not some noob on his first game so I appreciated constructive answers instead of "its hard, don't do it". What I want is to know how simulation game mechanics are put together. I figure it would be heaver on the AI than normal games and not knowing much about AI would like to know some programming techniques I should look into for this style game. specific techniques please not just a book on ai. what sort of architecture would be used? I guess it would have some sort of probability engine with pre designed events that are triggered based on the AI state. Would it use a FSM or be purely event driven ? Any information on how a sims game functions would be cool.

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• Open source management game in java

  - by jcw

  I am trying to find an open source sport management game, much like the link below, but am failing to do so. There are two links provided in the below question that are both fine,'except for one minor problem - I only know java! Is there an open source sports manager project? After some googling, I have been unsuccessful in finding a sports management game that is written in java. I am do not particullarly care about the type of sport, becuase I am mostly interested in mechanics. Does anyone know of any such projects or am I out of luck on java?

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• How is Basic Physics applied in CS/SE?

  - by Wulf

  What basic physics principles do software engineers and/or computer scientists use to help solve specific or common problems? The first one that came to my head was creating a Physics engine for a game; physics is involved, as it requires knowledge of: Forces and Motion: Kinematics, Dynamics, Circular Motion However, I need another example, but haven't come across one that involves basic physics. Please consider the following basic physics (grade 12 level) concepts: Energy and Momentum: Work and Energy, Momentum and Collisions, Gravitational and Celestial Mechanics Electric, Gravitational & Magnetic Field: Electric Charges and Electric Field, Magnetic Fields and Electomagnetism The Wave Nature of Light: Waves and Light, Wave Effects of Light Matter-Energy Interface: Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, Waves, Photons and Matter, Radioactivity and Elementary Particles I will be happy with any response; Keywords for google, names of methods like raycasting, etc.

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