Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Tag: programming Page 3 of 4

WoW: Add-ons and LUA

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On November 2, 2012

In World of Warcraft

I can get a little add-on crazy with WoW sometimes. I know there are a lot of people out there that like to troll about using add-ons but I say to each their own. I currently have 25 add-ons installed (I don’t really know if that is a lot or little compared to what others are running). I recently downloaded an add-on that hasn’t been updated since March 2011 and the author has said that he won’t be updating it anymore because of changes in life, which is understandable.

Remarkably the add-on still worked great but there were a couple of idiosyncrasies that I wished could be tweaked. I thought, well, I’m a programmer by trade so I opened up the code and, in about 10 minutes, figured out what I could do to change the add-on.

So it got me thinking, would it be worth perhaps taking over this add-on and/or perhaps venturing into my own add-on endeavors. I don’t know if there is a suggested method or IDE for writing and debugging add-ons other then clicking save and launching the game to see if you get any LUA errors. Perhaps its something I will start researching. Has anyone else out there spent some time messing around with LUA and writing/maintaining add-ons?

App Development Dry Spell

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On October 24, 2012

In Programming, Technology

When I was working my way, diligently, through a book that explained app development I was really enjoying it. Now that I have finished that book, long ago, I am constantly finding myself in a dry spell. Now that I know how to develop iOS apps, I don’t know what I want to develop. Apple keeps releasing iOS updates and new devices with new dimensions. I feel like I keep falling farther and farther behind with each new iteration of the iPhone/iPad/iPod.

It’s rather ironic, really. In a post I made a while back to other aspiring iOS developers I strongly suggested that while you are training yourself on the technology to start working on ideas of apps you want to develop. It seems I did not heed my own advice, as I’m still stuck in a rut. It’s really unfortunate because now I think I may have to go back and review several of the chapters from the book to remind myself how everything works again.

I feel like the pressure is mounting not only from the additional devices and new formats but also because I have officially purchased my developer license from Apple. I feel pressure now to develop something that I can market and hope to earn back the money I spent on the license. I feel like I first need to perhaps develop one or two free apps just to get the ball rolling and then move into trying to sell an app.

Anyone have any app ideas out there, no matter how small, that you wouldn’t mind tossing my way?

Biggs On: Dress In The Workplace

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On October 10, 2012

In Biggs On

There is some subjectivity to this topic. Obviously what you wear to work will depend on what your job entails. I’m going to be speaking from the perspective of the day-to-day programmer. I’d say probably about 15 years ago (give or take) you would typically see programmers dress anywhere from business casual to business professional (i.e. dress shoes, button down shirt and a tie). Currently I wear business casual which is a nice collared shirt, khaki’s and nice shoes, but that is because it is the dress code of my firm and I will adhere to those policies. Personally, I don’t buy into “the better you dress the better you work”.

I could never wear a suit and/or a tie to work everyday and be as productive as I am when I wear jeans or even lounge pants. Honestly the more comfortable I dress the easier it is for me to focus on writing code. When my brain isn’t distracted by the attempted asphyxiation of a tie or the constricted nature of some dress shoes, that extra energy can be directed toward problem solving and writing code.

Honestly, I think that is one of the reasons why I am actually more productive on the days when I need to work from home. Some may argue that working at home presents more opportunities for distractions, but that isn’t the case for me. The fact that I am sitting in a far more comfortable office chair and wearing far more comfortable clothes is a better environment for my brain to focus. After all, it is the same desk and chair that I use when I do any kind of extra curricular programming at home.

I do understand the rationale for wearing professional clothing. In fact in college I had a course on conflict resolution and negotiation and we actually had an exercise over this exact topic and I was on the side that defended professional dress. I did the research on professional dress but, despite what I found, I still believe that the more comfortable you dress the easier it is to be more productive.

/cheers

Developing for iOS

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On June 20, 2012

In Apple, Programming

So I have completed reading a book, cover-to-cover, on iOS development (as an aside, I highly recommend Head First iPhone & iPad Development) and now I am faced with the next big challenge: ideas. I have hit a dry spell in my efforts to develop apps and that is figuring out what I want to develop. I’ve thought about just developing random apps that don’t have a lot of functionality just to spark some ideas. Generally if I start on a small project I usually think of more features along the way.

My advice for anyone that is also just starting to develop iOS apps (or apps for any device) is while you are in the process of learning how to do it, start thinking about what you want to develop. I suggest this for a couple of reasons.

  1. You might find some neat trick or tool that could be very useful for the app you want to develop. Make sure you explore all the possibilities of that control or tool so you know its limits and how to implement it. Sometimes the best part of programming is extending a control to make it do things beyond its normal intended functionality.
  2. Its important to have some ideas to start building on immediately after you finish any kind of tutorial or technical manual. Unfortunately since I took such a long break between finishing the labs in the Head First book to trying to start my first app that I have forgotten a great many things to get me started. I will probably go back and revisit several chapters to refresh myself.
  3. It’s ok to re-invent the wheel. Just because there is an app out there that already does most of what you wanted your own app to do, create it anyway. I once had a professor that said to always re-invent the wheel because you might be able to do it better.
  4. Make a plan and set some deadlines for yourself. If you are already a programmer then you know what its like developing as a professional. You have a project manager (and perhaps a product owner) that is setting deadlines and expectations. Become your own project manager/product owner. Commit to a timeline and a set of features you want to have completed as your first iteration.
  5. I would think about setting up some kind of version control for yourself, especially if you plan on submitting any of your apps to the Apple Store. There are quite a few free version control solutions out on the Internet for you to use and XCode provides an option to use Git when you create a new project. If you want to read up on version control a bit, check out this website/book: Version Control by Example.

Hopefully my dry spell will end soon and I will be back in the zone writing iOS apps. You can be sure that once my app is approved to be on the Apple Store that I will be telling you all about it here. In fact I will probably create a new section on the site for each app I develop.

I hope someone finds the things I have said here to be useful and it helps you with your iOS development endeavors. Good luck!

Cheers!

Soapbox: Gamers Lack Appreciation

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On June 19, 2012

In Gaming, Soapbox

I was reading through a post on WoW Insider about Cataclysm and the author was discussing the things he liked and will miss about Cataclysm. Someone said something in the comments that, I think, explains why most gamers are spoiled, whining brats. Nobody appreciates the work and effort that goes into designing and developing these games. There will never be another MMO that will reach the number of users that World of Warcraft had because Blizzard has set the bar so high no game will ever satisfy that many gamers again. Gamers are so spoiled that now they expect every feature of WoW to be available at launch of any new MMO.

The mere thought of that last statement is hilarious almost to the point of absurdity. All games are developed in a closed source environment. Obviously Blizzard isn’t going to share its dungeon finder algorithm, for example, with Bioware or Trion. It doesn’t matter anymore that a majority of the features currently in World of Warcraft weren’t available at its launch, but apparently now they are a necessity for all new games. If a new game doesn’t have these features then its deemed “unfinished”.

The MMO gaming industry is cutthroat and volatile. The longer a company waits to deliver a new product the farther behind they will be so it becomes crucial from a profit and marketing philosophy to deliver something sooner rather than later. Nobody will ever release a product that is bug free and with every feature at launch. I remember how much grief players would give Blizzard on days when there were huge content patches that made the game almost unplayable. It was expected that nobody would be raiding on Tuesday nights because the game was incredibly unstable and buggy.

Perhaps the MMO genre has lost its edge. I see comments on posts (mostly on gaming news and blog sites) that they don’t like the “kill X number of Y” type of quests, or any kind of quest. I never see anyone offer alternative methods of leveling. Clearly they have a better idea for leveling then completing quests if they are complaining about it … or maybe they are just complaining because it makes them feel important.

I also see people complaining that Game X lacks any end game content when it actually has the same end game content all the other games have (i.e. raid, pvp, instances, dailies). What else do you want?!? If these games lack so many features, and clearly you know what features they should have, then submit your resume! I assure you that you will find out immediately why games take so long to make and what it takes to develop one.

I think the appalling lack of appreciation is lost because of blind ignorance!

/endsoapbox

Snippets: [jQuery] Highlight Rows with Checkbox

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On June 6, 2012

In Programming, Technology

It has been a while since I have posted a new jQuery snippet, mostly because I only get to play with jQuery once in a while (though I wish I could use it more). Recently I had to create an administration page for deleting multiple rows of data. I presented the data in a gridview using checkboxes as the control for selecting which items will be deleted. I wanted to make it clear which items were going to be deleted so, using jQuery, I wrote the following snippet to accomplish what I wanted.

Obviously you will need to define a CSS class called “highlight”. I think the best thing about this snippet of code is that it will work if you are using a standard HTML table to organize your data or you are using a GridView object in ASP .NET. This snippet will also ignore the row that contains the “Select All” checkbox; for my purposes the select all checkbox was in the header of the table/grid.


$('#SurveyGrid input:not(#selectAll)').click(function () {
if ($(this).attr("checked") == true) {
$(this).parent().parent().addClass('highlight');
} else {
$(this).parent().parent().removeClass('highlight');
}
});

I have posted this code on snipplr.com (as usual).

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