Bactroid.net (Page 9)

The Evolution of a Developer

Me from ten years ago: "I need to code this all from scratch so that I really understand how each piece fits together. The end result will be efficient and beautiful." Me now: "Is there a framework to do this? I'd like to do this

Programming

The Joys of Whiteboarding

My whiteboard says that it has been a busy week.

Gaming

What Sex Feels Like

There's no feeling in Magic quite like casting Rite of Replication (with the kicker) targeting Master of Waves. (Total of 96 elementals in play that were 6/5s.)

Gaming

Representation Matters

It may seem dumb to some of you, but the ability to play as one of my female soldiers in MGS5 really improves the experience for me. I like being able to see myself in my digital avatar, and it feels very empowering to see a woman being treated as

Programming

When I Forget to Turn Off Debug Mode

I know that feel. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When I forget to turn off debug mode [http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2015/09/07/when-i-forget-to-turn-off-debug-mode/] Art by Etienne Issartial, story and text by Thomas Gx, and translation by Mark Nighingale.

Gaming

An Important Update

Somewhere along the way, the Mass Effect universe has become one of my most favorite sci-fi properties. For a while now, I've told anyone who will listen to my fevered nerd gushings that I consider it second only to Star Trek, and honestly, I feel like the two

Gaming

Prediction

One of my favorite time-killing past-times is hitting the middle prediction in SwiftKey on my phone to see what it comes up with. For many months, it was "I think I'm going to pass on this." Now, it has shifted to "I just got the

Programming

Recursion

When your recursive function does exactly what it's supposed to do, for just a moment, you feel like the smartest human who has ever lived.

Gaming

Teenage Girls Are Playing Video Games. You Just Might Not Hear Them.

> About a quarter of the girls who play video games do play online at least once a month. Unlike boys who play video games online, however, teenage girls tend to turn off their mics. Only 28 percent of the girls who play video games online use voice chat to

Programming

Endocrine System

I wish I could somehow teach my endocrine system that the physiological reactions that might serve me well if I were being chased by a predator are not actually relevant to debugging faulty SSL connections from a Unix shell.

Programming

Semicolonic

I have coded in a mix of Java, Perl, PHP, and Javascript for over fifteen years now. Do you have any idea how hard it is to not put semicolons at the end of Python statements?

Gaming

Shared Digital Experiences

So I'm sitting here at work, and suddenly found myself thinking about this point that Jerry Holkins from Penny Arcade made a few years back. > I think that what happens is that, when you get, you know, enough people together who have a huge bank of shared

Gaming

Bioware Trash

I have been playing Bioware games since Baldur's Gate, and Mass Effect is one of my top two favorite sci-fi universes. If "Bioware trash" is a thing, I most definitely belong in that particular garbage can. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why BioWare’s games inspire a unique kind of

Sing A Dirge for Bottom Posting

Today I'm coming to realization my people have lost the great bottom-posting vs. top-posting email reply war. And—I swear to God—it's a grieving process I'm going through. This must be how the Betamax and HD-DVD people felt.

Gaming

Racism

Racism is an ugly thing.

Programming

NASA's Ten Coding Commandments

> A huge amount of arbitrary rules and inconsistent guidelines causes code quality of even the most critical applications to suffer, according JPL lead scientist Gerard J. Holzmann. That’s why the lab has released ten coding commandments to govern all NASA software: “The Power of Ten – Rules for Developing

Gaming

Shots Fired

Yesterday, I got tired of sitting in front of my computer. Conveniently, I've got my computer set up so that it can easily display to my TV. I got out my Xbox 360 controller, sat down on the couch, and fired up Fallout 3, a game I had

Gaming

Whoresons Don't Use Turn Signals

I've been reading the Witcher books and playing the first Witcher game, and I feel like it's really only a matter of time until someone cuts me off in traffic and I lash out verbally, declaring him to be a "whoreson".

Programming

Feels Good, Man

That moment when your external query over JDBC actually returns data after literally a month of bargaining and begging for resources, privileges, and whitelisting. #JustDeveloperThings #FeelsGoodMan

Feminism

Making Black Widow Truly Awesome

The comic series referenced in this article is one of my favorite comics ever written. If superheroes are ultimately power fantasies, this series was a proper power fantasy for women. And I loved every empowering page of it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How To Make Black Widow Truly Awesome, According To Richard K.

Programming

Third Verse? Same As the First!

I spent my day in front of a computer writing code for my job. I came home, made myself some dinner, and then promptly sat in front of my computer writing code for fun. I take this as a sign that I'm in the right line of work.

Programming

If Programming Languages Were Cabs

If Programming Languages Were Cabs [http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2015/02/27/if-languages-were-cabs/] Art by Etienne Issartial, story and text by Thomas Gx, and translation by Mark Nighingale.

Howl, but Star Wars

(With apologies to Allen Ginsberg.) I saw the best minds of my generation riddled with nostalgia, frothing, hysterical, desperate, dragging themselves away from Star Wars teaser trailers looking for a decent space adventure flick, middle-aged geeksters yearning for the nostalgic connection to hyperspace starfields in a galaxy far, far away,

Gaming

Parenting Done Right

Now this is parenting done right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I spoke at our PTA about games [https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2015/04/08/i-spoke-at-our-pta-about-games]

Gaming

Every Day I'm Shuffling

Since I only have one and half thumbs, I find it impossible to do a standard riffle shuffle of cards. In most games requiring card shuffling, I usually just give my cards to Allyson to shuffle on my behalf. When I started playing Magic, I needed to find a better