Procedural Landscape Generation:

You're Speaking my Language, Baby. Part 2: Java

The first language I’m considering is Java. This is by far the language I’m most comfortable and proficient with. It was used for about 90% of my Bachelors degree, I wrote the entire codebase of my PhD using it, and it gets used here and there in my day job. I’m comfortable with Java, and find it to be quite a pleasant language to program in. Bi... Read more
10 Oct 2010 / 2 minute read / hacker

Procedural Landscape Generation:

You're Speaking my Language, Baby. Part 1: Introduction

If you’re about to start on a programming project of some sort (and I am), then the first choice you have to make is the main programming language you’re going to use. Now, if you’re carrying out this project on your employers time they probably have very specific views about that. I’m not doing this project on company time, though, so the world... Read more
09 Oct 2010 / 2 minute read / hacker

WoW oh WoW

Sooner or later, most people go looking for a bit of escapism every once in a while. There’s definitely a spectrum of how far people like to escape. Some can’t stand anything which steps outside the bounds of the possible, others practically require spaceships and dragons to co-exist with emotionally retarded vampires. Likewise, some people look... Read more
08 Oct 2010 / 6 minute read / geek

Procedural Landscape Generation:

What in the Name of all that's Holy is a Clockwork Aphid?

Clockwork Aphid is the name I’m giving to a side project I’ve had sitting at the back of head for a little while. I’m actually going to try and build it now. What it actually is is quite big and hard to explain, so I’m going to do it gradually, over time. This way I also get to maintain a little bit of mystery. Here’s what I will say up front, t... Read more
07 Oct 2010 / 1 minute read / hacker

It's Hestontastic!

Strangely, I don’t think my good lady actually thought I’d attempt to make any of the actual recipes when she bought me a copy of Heston Blumenthal’s “Further Adventures in Search of Perfection” for Christmas last year. Sometimes I worry about how little she appears to know me. A chili con carne recipe which takes three days to prepare is exactl... Read more
24 Aug 2010 / 2 minute read / foodie

Musical Arithmetic

Okay, so here’s the formula: (A - B) + C = D And here are the variables: A = Evanescence. More specifically: the original line up (as far as most of the world is concerned). I like Evanescence quite a bit, but that’s about 74.2% Amy Lee’s voice. The girl has one hell of a pair of lungs on her. I picked this particular song from t... Read more
15 Aug 2010 / 1 minute read / audiophile

Location Location Location

One of the few things I’ve missed since abandoning the good ship Windows PC for the Mac… er… Zeppelin (why not?) is magazines. I used to really enjoy reading the PC gaming and hardware mags. Oftentimes they were pitched at about the right level for me. I felt neither patronised nor confused. I’m afraid to say that this is not the case with Mac m... Read more
05 Aug 2010 / 2 minute read / geek

A couple more...

Further to my last post, here’s a couple more films which caught my eye, though one of them is a ways off yet. Faster (trailer) - I will go and see Dwayne Johnson in any film which doesn’t involve him wearing a tutu or fairy wings. Perhaps even then, and you can quote me on that. The guy has more charisma and physical presence than just about e... Read more
27 Jul 2010 / 1 minute read / cinephile

Looking Forwards

The Cineworld unlimited card is a wonderful thing, especially given that I no longer have a student card (I am still a student, technically. Don’t ask). It encourages you to take a much more “what the hell,” type attitude to heading to the cinema, and I love me some cinema. That being the case, I thought I’d write a (probably) quick post coverin... Read more
18 Jul 2010 / 3 minute read / cinephile

Identity

As you may or may not know, I’m currently in Australia. In fact, I’ve now been here for a little over a month. I’ll blog about it sooner or later, but not yet. This is largely because I don’t know what I’m going to say. This trip has been an alarming combination of coolness and frustration so far, and I don’t want to let too much of the later sl... Read more
19 Jun 2010 / 2 minute read / blogger, hacker