I've been working on a wargaming library/framework off and on for over a year; along the way I've encountered a number of interesting problems to solve. This blog entry details one of them, fractal terrain generation.

I've been working on a wargaming library/framework off and on for over a year; along the way I've encountered a number of interesting problems to solve. This blog entry details one of them, fractal terrain generation.

“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.” – Buddha Too often it’s easy to spend hours days weeks far too long reading blogs and wilfing doing research.  Looking for that perfect tool.  Looking for a wonderful library.  Looking for a new technique.  Looking, looking, looking.  Almost like Hans...

“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.” – Buddha Too often it’s easy to spend hours days weeks far too long reading blogs and wilfing doing research.  Looking for that perfect tool.  Looking for a wonderful library.  Looking for a new technique.  Looking, looking, looking.  Almost like Hans...

jnp is a JBoss protocol which exposes jndi.  It is, by default, bound to port 1099.  I’d been using that port as a heartbeat, but “cheating” — I would open a socket and then close it immediately.  However, this caused problems.  jnp is chatty.  And it got upset at my not letting it say ‘hi’ [...]

jnp is a JBoss protocol which exposes jndi.  It is, by default, bound to port 1099.  I’d been using that port as a heartbeat, but “cheating” — I would open a socket and then close it immediately.  However, this caused problems.  jnp is chatty.  And it got upset at my not letting it say ‘hi’ [...]

Command line arguments can be a hassle to parse. Trollop makes them easier.

Command line arguments can be a hassle to parse. Trollop makes them easier.

On a particular, nameless, heterogenous project using ruby on rails, ant, and shell scripts, there was an instance where data was not being properly cleaned before going into the database (primarily due to user errors in property files which were used by ant to feed the database).   As a result, the database was filled with [...]

On a particular, nameless, heterogenous project using ruby on rails, ant, and shell scripts, there was an instance where data was not being properly cleaned before going into the database (primarily due to user errors in property files which were used by ant to feed the database).   As a result, the database was filled with [...]

One of the features of Ruby’s Kernel module (which is imported into Object, so it’s available in every class) is the binding.  The binding allows you to keep a pointer to the scope at a particular location in your application and then later evaluate code from that location. For example (and this came up as the [...]

One of the features of Ruby’s Kernel module (which is imported into Object, so it’s available in every class) is the binding.  The binding allows you to keep a pointer to the scope at a particular location in your application and then later evaluate code from that location. For example (and this came up as the [...]

#method_missing is a useful feature in ruby. However, there's something that many people miss when using it.

#method_missing is a useful feature in ruby. However, there's something that many people miss when using it.

Today’s lesson has to do with z-index and events. I’d had a png with transparant portions that I wanted to use as a mask, so that information from underneath would not show. However, buttons, links, and hovers were not working — the top level element was taking the events and eating them. [...]