Sirius Cybernetics Corporation now make pizza

January 29, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Personal 

I had a frozen pizza today, Goodfellas Delicia. And much to my surprise their slogan is the same as the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation (from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).

Hitchhikers, H2G2, Share and Enjoy]]>

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AJAXy Scriptaculous goodness

January 27, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Computers, Galaxia, Games, Javascript, MPOGs, Programming, Ruby on Rails, Technology, Web Programming 

Scriptaculous is a Javascript library used for doing AJAX stuff and certain visual effects. It’s very well written, has excellent cross browser support and best of all there are cool functions in Ruby on Rails for using it.

One of the coolest features is drag and drop. I’ve already implemented it in Galaxia Ruby for adding ships to fleets :)

AJAX, Javascript, Scriptaculous, Ruby, Rails]]>

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Saddam Hussein to sue George Bush and Tony Blair

January 26, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Personal 

Saddam Hussein is trying to sue George Bush and Tony Blair for a range of offences related to the invasion of Iraq.

Some of the points seem valid, some are rather silly. To read more detail, check out the Washington Post.

Washington Post, law]]>

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Tree structures in Ruby on Rails

January 24, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Galaxia, Games, MPOGs, Programming, Ruby on Rails, Technology, Web Programming 

Rails that will seriously help Galaxia development.

You can use acts_as_tree in a model to make it, well, act as a tree. What this means is you add an extra field to the database called parent_id that tracks object’s parents. Rails automatically manages this for you and adds extra methods for dealing with trees (things for accessing parent, ancestors, children etc.). Just like the post on type, this is something I was already doing with Galaxia but managing myself.

OOP]]>

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Using “type” in Ruby on Rails

January 22, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Galaxia, Games, MPOGs, Programming, Ruby on Rails, Technology, Web Programming 

Imagine a forum system. A forum will have threads and replies. Threads and replies are different and have different functionality, but certainly share a lot of characteristics. So you might create a class message with two sub classes: replies and threads.

In Rails you can store all these in one messages table with a type field set to either reply" or thread. When you load a message it will actually create either a reply or thread object (in stead of a message object). When you create a new object it stores it in the messages table with the correct type.

This is ideal for Galaxia. In fact it's the model I used all along - I just had to write the functionality myself.

Single Table Inheritance, OOP, MVC, Ruby, Rails]]>

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Making the most of dial-up

January 17, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Technology 

Clever but not that useful :P

Internet, dial-up, WiFi, wireless, ICS]]>

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Ooh, birthday soon :)

January 15, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Personal 

Birthday]]>

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Dancing with Stars like Stacey Keibler

January 14, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Personal 

Stacey Keibler is apparently doing well on Dancing with Stars, the American version of Strictly Come Dancing.

WWE, wrestling, ballroom]]>

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Galaxia Ruby

January 14, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Galaxia, Games, MPOGs, PHP, Programming, Ruby on Rails, Technology, Web Programming 

This follows the tradition I've been recently following of learning new languages by writing bits of Galaxia in them. There is a real possibility I might get a version out this time :P

This version may even have AJAXy goodness and things. But don't hold your breath...

Galaxia, Galaxia Ruby, Ruby, Rails, Ruby on Rails, AJAX]]>

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Ruby on Rails may rock

January 12, 2006 by Oliver · Comments Off
Filed under: Programming, Ruby on Rails, Technology, Web Programming 

After reading around I don't think I'm really a fan of Ruby syntax per se (I'm definitely a fan of the punctuation heavy C-style syntax as opposed to the keyword heavy Basic-style syntax) but Rails seems to be an amazing framework.

Since I might be starting a job soon (and if not soon at least eventually) that will focus on PHP, starting to learn somethingnew might not be ideal. But if it really as good as it's fans say then things might be fine.

I suggest anyone involved in web development who hasn't checked it out yet do so. There is a good introductory article on ONLamp.com.

Ruby, Rails, Ruby on Rails, web development, PHP]]>

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