Makoto_the_Phoenix

Constitution? Oh boy, I sure hope this doesn't affect my trimmed cape in hitpoints or Constitution or what have you. Now I'm excited. Whew.

I'm a pretty big fan of most O'Reilly books out there, mostly concerning myself with the pocketbooks (their C++ pocketbook is terse enough to use as a reference), but the definitive book I've used to help with C++ is "Starting Out With C++, Early Objects, Sixth Edition" by Tony Gaddis et al. The Python books I've been looking into are "Beginning Python, Second Edition" by Magnus Lie Hetland (paperback), and "Dive Into Python 3" by Mark Pilgrim (available as a free e-book). There are also pretty good "phrasebooks" out there; the last one I bought was "Linux Phrasebook" by Scott Grannerman.

If you earn about 432 points per ten tasks with Kuradal (18*9 + 18*15), then, it's not an unreasonable measure to make it so that it takes 800 points to unlock - or twenty tasks in a row. Although personally I can live with 500, this isn't the kind of compromise I would've liked to see.

I don't much like the idea of compromising on Ice Strykewyrm tasks. Like most fights in this game, you have to be prepared for what Jad could throw at you, and when. Most of the arguments I've seen about not making the Fire Cape a requirement revolve around either the difficulty of killing Jad or a poor Internet connection. Tough to say it though, since I can see the other side of the argument plainly (for Gods' sake, I had pretty bad internet when I beat Jad), but I still hate the idea of compromising on this update. Borrowing the words from a post I had seen earlier, "either we have high level content or we don't." If it goes through (and it looks likely it might), I hope whatever compromise presents itself makes the idea of getting a Fire cape infinitely more appealing.

Typically when I train, I don't find any [severe] problems with overcrowding. For me, I go to a lot of different areas to train (Slayer does this to you), and the only time that it gets really overcrowded is when there's more than 4 people in the Temple of Light, killing Dark Beasts. The Runite issue is a whole 'nother battle, and adding more of that stuff would probably cause a huge fallout from the higher level miners. Someone also said it earlier, we have about three times the servers we need for all the resources (given a perfectly full world). Personally I can't see the issue with overcrowding all that much.

Wow. That was pretty good. It actually took me back to the days of Miss Cleo, and what you did was absolutely flawless. Best of luck. :)

LISP still has its practical uses. Admittedly, unless you're in academia, you won't see it very much if at all, but LISP is a great example of a functional programming languages.

It used to be listed, wonder why it isn't now...

Looks like a great Slayer update. Many Slayers have wanted a task-specific rare drop, and while they didn't *quite* get it, this is pretty decent anyway, since you have to be on task to actually get one of these items. I might have to wrap up my skilling craze earlier than I intended to complete my Slayer helm...

Institutionalize RWT? No happening way. It's a horrible idea from the start. Outside of some great points highlighted, I'd like to add the "legitimate player" factor in here as well. I personally like to earn things when I play a game. Having it all handed to me takes the fun right out of it. Letting others take the easy way out of it (i.e. buying gold, equipment, skills, etc) cheapens the game for me. Thus, I quit playing the game and move on to another one - one that takes a no-nonsense approach to RWT. Let's think about this - how many legitimate players exist? Well, exact numbers would be hard to find, but they outnumber the players that want to take the easy way out of things. I totally believe that. To wrap up - RWT in RuneScape would be a horrible idea. Easily one of the worst. And to the guy that rationalized RWT because Jagex made millions: How fast would that stockpile of cash evaporate if all you had were the players that wanted to cheat and get ahead in the game (who would ultimately quit after 3 months), and you didn't have any new members coming in (since the appeal of buying cash is much greater than earning cash, and turns other players away)? Yeah, watch that $70 million fade to oblivion after their main money maker goes down the tubes.

Here's some C++ for you to use. #include <iostream> using namespace std; void first_func(); void second_func(); int main(int argc, char** argv) { first_func(); cout << "\n"; second_func(); cout << "\n"; return 0; } void first_func() { int f=1, i=2; while (++i<5) { cout << " i = " << i << ", f = " << f << "\n"; cout << "product = " << (f*=i) << "\n"; } cout << f; } void second_func() { int f=1, i=2; while (i++<5) { cout << " i = " << i << ", f = " << f << "\n"; cout << "product = " << (f*=i) << "\n"; } cout << f; } Also, here's an example of ARM assembly code. This is from an old project, so it has tons and tons of documentation (and I would assume that the code tag wouldn't know what this is). What the snippet actually does is explained in the snippet itself. BUILD MOV R0, R1 ; Move numbers into R0 SUB R2, R2, #1 ; Decrement R4 ADD R1, R1, #1 ; Increment R3 STR R0, [R3] ; Store the value from R0 into memory (only stores a 1) ADD R3, R3, #4 ; Increment the pointer by four bytes (definitely works) CMP R2, #0 ; Is this number in R0 equal to 32 (stopping point)? BNE BUILD ; Start all over again if they're still not equal. MOVEQ R11, R3 ; Hey, we have the end of the array, let's keep that. SUB R11, R11, #4 ; //Offset by 4, ran into this bug earlier. MOVEQ PC, R14 ; Return to main when finished. [EDIT] Tligon beat me to the punch! :P

In its current incarnation: It's a mixed blessing. It's great for those of us that enjoy panoramic shots of RS scenery, but it's not as great for using it for its intended purpose (movements are too jerky to bother recording, orienting the orb anywhere other than true North can make navigation tricky). What it gives machinima makers a chance to do is to get intense close-up shots, and allows for wider collaboration between players. What it gives everyone else is a really, really, really handy ocular device which can be used to scout potential enemies from quite a distance away. I didn't expect the tool to come out flawless from the gate; no programmed tool ever is, really. This first start of it is pretty good, and hopefully the team works to improve it quick - if they hope that the Orb will have any impact on machinima makers, that is. (It also seems that the movements of the camera directly correspond with the way the ground is drawn (including the -1 layer for water), and how we walk on it. This is why it's so shaky, and it could prove to be tricky to fix. Then again, I have no idea how they would plan to do it, anyway. :P)

Pretty good start to a guide, but there are some things that I'd have liked to include. 1) There are different types of loops across different types of languages. C/C++/Java/C#(?) make use of the standard three - for, while, and do-while, but other programming languages (including Java), such as Python and Bash have a different variant called the "enhanced for", or foreach. Quick Java example: ArrayList<Integer> myNums = new ArrayList<Integer>(30); int i = 0; while(i < myNums.length()) { myNums.add(i, (Integer)i); i++; } for(Integer num: myNums) { //Structure: For each Integer, internally referred to as num in the collection myNums System.out.println(num); } Python does the same thing with its "for" loop structure by default by use of the range() function: for x in range(0, 10): print x 2) A distinction between what an object and what a function actually are. I've seen CS students struggle with this one at first, and the best way to show them would be to plop down a textbook in front of them, and call that an object. 3) If you'd like I can dig up some examples of my old ARM projects, and show you some examples of low-level language code. 4) Quick correction to the Python code: def somefunction(): for i in range(1, 11): j = i + 1 if j/2 == i/2: print "i is even" else: print "i is odd" def main(): somefunction() if __name__ == '__main__': main() Overall it's pretty good! Keep it up :)

Actually, my language depends on what I'm up to. If I'm trying to move ~6,000 music files that have the extension .mp3 AND trying to use a converter to change them to Ogg Vorbis, Bash script is the way to go. If I'm working on something a bit more intense, such as a recursive algorithm or something that needs to be prototyped fairly quickly, then I'll use Python. I use Java a lot as well, but it isn't really the only language I use - some school projects are done in it, some personal projects are done in it. Also, C/C++ is a good choice for me when I do a touch of GTK+ interface programming. I even use Lisp for a bit of fun with list manipulation, and I'm trying to learn how a neural network works. Best language for that would be Lisp, so here I am... Personally I don't like C# because I can't see the reason for another Java-esque language in my repertoire at the moment. Most businesses really like that you use .NET, and I really don't like using .NET...but yeah, I think it's a matter of personal preference. I'll confess though, I *do* enjoy programming because of RuneScape. The language of choice depends totally what I'm doing at the moment.

Alright, so this is nothing new, since most everyone here has seen a snapshot of some dude standing around in RuneScape, holding a funky-looking camera, but this one is special. Reason: It was taken on 64-bit Linux. Yes, that's right - for the first time since RSHD came out, those that choose to use a 64-bit platform (and install 64-bit Java) can finally make use of RuneScape in all of its HD glory. What a fantastic update. (Now I don't have to worry about exorbitant amounts of lag, since the processor only does a share of the work now. My GPU on the other hand just finally got something to do.)

Here's an update that wasn't mentioned - RuneScape HD now works with 64-bit Java, which means it works for both 64-bit Linux implementations and those running a 64-bit Java on their Windows system. That alone makes this the best update ever. I was literally spinning in my chair when I found this out. Orb: Pretty nifty, should help with some top secret take-over-the-world projects design projects that I've wanted to do for a long time, but I couldn't get decent footage of anywhere in RS. Multiple Runes: Finally, an incentive for me to stop being scared of Runecrafting enough Deaths/Bloods for 98 Magic. Quest: Pretty nifty. Didn't have anything to do with the strange power though. Which is fine, since that would've been a letdown. Bullroarer update: Second best update today. Now I don't have to go through the GE, getting supplies to get pwned by Nomad fight Nomad, and turn Ambient sounds off. I can never remember to turn them on. Overall I'm enjoying this update. Should be pretty interesting to see the major update that's coming out soon (I'd say as early as next week).

1. Goes to BH code(10 minutes) 2. Selects+copies prot item code(20 mins) 3. Goes to Pvp world code...(20 minutes) 4. Finds prot item code(20 minutes) 5. Deletes PVP worlds prot item code and replaces with that of BH(1 minute) 6. Launches update(can go along other updates, no extra time involved) Total 1 hour and 11 minutes.. Stupid mod mmg tbh Yeah, because programming something like this (and testing it so it doesn't break other stuff) only takes an hour and 11 minutes. On-topic: I'll be at school for the time it's running (and likely in the middle of a lecture), but I'll have my laptop, too. Too bad, I kind of wanted to ask some questions about how he thought the year would turn out, or if it'd be better or worse than last year in his opinion. Should be fun to read the questions/answers he gets, though. :)

Interesting. This came up briefly in one of my OS classes today, too. Looks like it'd be fine for a niche market, it's just unlikely that we'd understand what the niche is until about six months or a year from now. For now it just seems like it's an oversized iPhone without the phone part. Although I'm stunned at the low prices for it (after all, it's a Mac), and I do appreciate the thin construction, it's unlikely to catch on like wildfire unless it could do tons more for the kinds of consumers that'd be using this - college students. I'll have to remain conservative though; looks like it *could* be a success, looks like it *could* be a big flop, too. Give it a few months and you'll know for certain. Btw: Does anyone else dislike the name? Thought they'd go with something much, much cooler than "pad". Allegedly it's prompting jokes around the Internet, too.

Oh, look at all of the posts against giving F2P anything. Geez. Why bother wasting valuable typing time replying to that side of the argument anyway... To be more direct, let them have the KBD. This would make it a much more respected and venerable boss NPC, and it would give F2P a boss that's actually a challenge. Naturally, giving them the D Med Helm would cause uproar (but gain more demand for it), so that might be a good thing for F2P/Members to beneifit from - more demand for a Dragon Medium, more players are willing to sell it instead of alch it. Also, this would imply that various potions would also have to go over, to deal with the KBD's multi-faceted attacks, such as poison and freezing. That's fine; give them antipoison, Attack, Defense, and Restore pots as well. Again, this would cause more demand for these seldom made/used/sold items, and as such, benefit Members as a whole, due to the increased demand.

Except that with a toy gun you know it is a toy gun. You never know what someone is thinking. I am sure Jagex don't report every single person who says somethign along these lines. They'll look at the context, as will the police. Even if you'd suspect that the context is a joke, it's still a lot safer and smarter to call the local authorities and get them to look at it, anyway. Besides, self-harm/suicide just isn't something you joke about, for any reason, ever.

This is a good thing. Know why? Suicide is pretty serious. And if you're joking about it, you either need a new sense of humor or a night in the slammer. [EDIT] Reading some of the other replies seem to be a bit sarcastic/sardonic. Are those that made those remarks that convinced that Jagex is a company heartless enough to save your life, only so you could be paying for their product? If so, please, get real.

I've been pretty busy IRL over the past month, and whenever I wasn't really busy, I did a lot of Mining. I'm now level 85 in the skill after staying a month in the LRC. My programming study group kind of fell apart (as no one showed up at the meeting), so I folded on it. I've got some better things to do in my spare time after all, like learn how to program GTK+ windows. Also, the news is all good from my Principles class - somehow I pulled a B in there (and some other classes got high grades too), so I walk out with a 3.02. I finally qualify for that internship over at VMWare... Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I'm trying not to run late for classes on the first day, and so far, so good. :) [EDIT] I know I promised to outline my open-source project here one day, but it got put on hold - I've got to do some research and figure out how ID3/Vorbis tags work first. Then I've got to register as a developer on Last.fm. Lastly, I have to figure out how to program in GTK+.

Wow. What a fight. Probably the only really hard fight I've had to do in RS. Anyway, I still haven't finished it, and some random experiments that I've had (that failed miserably): 1) Bad idea to just use an AGS. Bring it for the specs and then switch to the whip. 2) This fight almost craves rocktail, so bring some. It's cheaper than the Brew+Restore combo. 3) BoB familiars are almost a must at this point. 4) Those with Soul Split have the easiest time; those without it will be in for some dire straits. If you can't succeed, then your best bet is to stop before you run out of equipment. and go back to your cash cow for a while. 5) If you don't have Soul Split and you're not on curses, Piety is your best option. If you're on curses, then use your Sap spells (leech take a turn out of combat, or so it seems). 6) Explosives on the ground? Hightail it to a pillar and dodge him for a little while. 7) Think the pillar is safe? You stick around there too long and he'll heal himself up to max, ruining all of that hard work. 8) Relax. It's not an impossible task. Okay, that's all I've got. Major kudos to Jagex for this quest boss; easily the hardest one to date. I can only imagine what our next Grandmaster boss fight would be like...

Valid? Yes. Advantageous? Not really. Unless you have a Steel Titan or a Pak Yak loafing around. Even then, most players won't bother with the familiar (prayers take care of them) and they'll just focus all of their energy into pounding you. I've simply seen Summoning as a more PvE-centric combat style, more than likely due to the beasts of burden or the healers (Bunyip, Unicorn) that we make use of on a daily basis. Not until familiars can attack another player in single-way combat would I see Summoning as an equal partner with the other combat skills. [For the record, skills are becoming increasingly meaningless nowadays in PvP. So long as you have D Claws or an AGS, if you can boost your Strength/Attack over 99, then you can definitely win. Thought I'd throw that out there.]

Seems like the trailer reveals less than I had hoped it would. I kind of wanted to see the game play for it, and see whether or not it would be resource-centric (a la Starcraft/CnC) or map-centric (a la Armies of Gielinor). Still looks good. Did they say there were planning to launch it in January? That's what the trailer gave me the impression of, anyway.