Just Jzz

Ants and AI, and more detoxification

2006-04-25T22:25:00.000+02:00

Ants should not be used when ant-communication via pheromone exchange is not needed or when there is little use for it. Nor should it be used, when two criteria you are trying to minimize are conflicting. Keep the target as simple as possible.
If you do want to push on with the ants, and there is a unique requirement on each ant, try to treat the ants as individual ants, for instance use past pheromonal information from ant a in time i to guide your ant a in time i+1.
ACS differs as it can use pheromones to exchange information between ants a and b... etc., in time i and also time i+1.
Beware of the cost of the global update rule, this can simply blow up. O(n*n) time for each solution iteration.

These are the most important lessons I have extracted from this last two months. Well that and read and reread, think and rethink, before committing to any ai strategy. Doing good research is half the work.
Well at least now I know how to start and finish an ai research project, well at least a small one.

bye

jzz

More Ants

2006-04-22T11:23:00.000+02:00

The computer simulated ant pheromonal behaviour applied from ACS on the tsp-problem generally work like this:

There are n number of nodes, n*(n-1) / 2 number of edges which connect the nodes (There can be less edges, but this might result in dead ends). The geography of the search space is defined by a graph consisting of these nodes and edges.
There are m number of ants deployed at random on a node on the graph.
The ants are given a random fractional value q between 0 and 1 to give them "incentive" to move, a parameter q0 is set at the start of the algorithm, if q < q0, the ant will choose an edge the most heavily laden with pheromone, otherwise the ant will choose the shortest edge.
When the ants move from node to node, a "local update" is performed on the edge, that means to say an ant deposits pheromones on the edge. When the ant has traversed an edge, the node where it arrives at is marked as "visited". Ants will only traverse edges which have unvisited end-points.
The sum of the total distance traversed by the m ants, is compared to the best distance until now. If there is an improvement, the old best solution is replaced by this new solution.
When the ants have visited all the nodes, a "global update" is performed on the graph. Edges which belong to the best solution known, are reinforced by adding more pheromones on them. Edges which don't belong to the best solution are evaporated.
Rinse and repeat f number of times. Until a good solution is produced by the ants.

The ants are very very very good at hitting the tsp problem this way. And they are quite good at attacking the single objective (distance) trivial vrptw problem.

But alas the problem is not scalable to tackle multiple-objectives, because of its innate tendency to choose shortest edges. Objectives which do not improve by getting the shortest route will conflict with ACS's desire to create the shortest route(s). This is where pure ACS fails.

But I believe that some type of bastard child between genetic algorithms and tsp are quite capable of tackling non-trivial vrptw problems, and are very scalable with relation to the number of objectives. Using inheritance, recombination and mutation and ants. But more research will have to be done in this field.

But now I'm taking a break with ants, and now I'm going to try simulated annealing with genetic algorithms. To pick myself up again.

Tah-tah

jzz

Sheer Utter Complete Disappointment and Disillusionment

2006-04-22T01:35:00.000+02:00

So, what have I been doing the past year?
I have been programming constantly, honing my C++ programming skills.

Let me get this off my chest first.
I have been working on a problem for 2 months now. The problem at hand is generally called "the vehicle routing problem with time windows" (vrptw). This specific problem that I have to solve is about a set of shops, a fleet of delivery trucks/persons, each truck and shop have certain working hours (i.e. they will not be available in the middle of the night), and moreover every shop has a different visiting priority (some are less urgent to visit), and every shop has a favourite deliverer. (preferred delivery agent)
A route must be charted for every agent on every agent's working day. The route consists of a string of feasible shops (shops that are open at the time of visit) which the agent must visit to complete her route. The goal is to create such routes and minimize the costs that are created by these routes.

This vrptw problem instance has been my first major ai programming challenge. I had lots of fun doing it. But the results weren't as rosy as I had hoped they would be.

The algorithm I chose to implement to tackle this problem is called Ant Colony System (ACS). ACS widely known for solving travelling salesperson type of problems. ACS is used in robotics (e.g. moving robotic limbs efficiently), routing (i.e. internet communication), because it effectively solves nearest neighbour type of problems.

One should not confuse ACS with Ant System (AS), AS is a precursor of ACS. AS is the first pheromone-based algorithm proposed by Dorigo (Dorigo, 1992).
ACS is the new and improved successor of AS, both are modelled after ant behaviour when foraging for food and whatnot.
It is known that ants leave traces of pheromones where they walk and other ants may choose to follow this pheromone trail (pheromone exploitation) or explore (random exploration) other paths. This collective behaviour is called "stigmergy", coined by some French ant geek (Pierre-Paul Grassé in 1959).
The union of pheromone trails from different ants on the same path create a strong pheromone trail (reinforcement), while infrequently traversed trails evaporate.

It is claimed that ACS can tackle the vrptw problem, little documentation can be found about ACS being used to tackle the vrptw problem. I have found one (Gambardella et al, 1999) document on the internet about this problem. The problem described there is quite trivial compared to the one I am tackling. That document describes how they minimized the actual number of agents needed to solve a trivial vrptw problem. It was more or less travelling salesperson with multiple agents. (trivial: without all preferred agent etc. stuff I mentioned before).

From my experience with ACS, I conclude that ACS is great when you tackle problems with uniform objects. Uniform nodes, uniform edges, uniform agents etc. In my actual vrptw problem every agent is unique. Every shop is unique and has unique requests. Very much like the real world. That's one of the reasons why my experiment failed... anyways, I'll go into the specifics tomorrow. Enough general data for now.

Tah-tah

jzz

References

Dorigo M. (1992). Optimization, Learning and Natural Algorithms. Ph.D.Thesis, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, in Italian.

Gambardella L.M., Taillard E., Agazzi G. (1999), MACS-VRPTW: A Multiple Ant Colony System for Vehicle Routing Problems with Time Windows , In D. Corne, M. Dorigo and F. Glover, editors, New Ideas in Optimization. McGraw-Hill.

Grote dikke memmen and stuff

2005-08-24T23:51:00.000+02:00

<cut&paste>
Rules:

Comment and I’ll respond with something random about you. I’ll respond in comments so you’ll have to check back.
I’ll tell you what song or movie reminds me of you.
I’ll pick a color/flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
I’ll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
I’ll tell you my first memory of you.
I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of.
I’ll ask you something I’ve always wondered about you.
If I do this for you, you must post this on your blog. You MUST. It is written.

</cut&paste>

Impressions of me from the wonderful inedible blogger SNE:

Random:
Song/Movie: Freddy got fingered, albeit just for that hospital scene!
Jello: You strike me as strawberry for some reason I can't quite figure out.
Only you and me: Thanks for "lending" me the bike!
First memory: "Wow! Actually someone shorter than me!"
Animal: Sloth!
Always wondered: Why don't you just do your work in school? It would make things so much easier on you!

Hmmm... dunno what to say about this...
except "MUHAHAHAHA..."

bubbye

jzz

Likes & Dislikes

2005-08-05T21:53:00.000+02:00

<cut&paste>Simply-not-edible tagged me. I’m to list a top 10 list of turn on’s & off’s. So, pretty much it’s 10 things I really like and don’t like… Here we go:</cut&paste>

Turn on
1. I do not like green eggs and ham. -- Dr. Seuss r00lz supreme.
2. books - billowfolds of information in those things, very amusing stories too.
3. games - eons of time procrastinated into these things... horrible devices of slothfulness, very fnu!
4. computers - infinitesimal complexity crammed into these things, gotta luv'em
5. ai - when will computers make the next paradigm shift?
6. music - layers and layers of temporal art, flooding into my consciousness cacofonically organized.
7. martial arts - kick ass with quick moves, being in the moment
8. loved ones - makes life worth the hassle
9. sex - hereditarilly yummy
10. nature - myriads of forms seeking a dynamic balance. Photosynthesis is very cool.

Turn off
1. Wysiwyg html editor that fudges my markup code
2. competitive games with no high-score
3. uninformative error messages
4. computer languages that are badly formatted i.e. (((lisp)(clips)))
5. yucky dishes my mom forces me to take home as left-over, which I force feed myself the next n days.
6. Prolonged rainy days, symptoms of monsoons and typhoons, nah, just general bad weather.
7. Closed source unstable software. Long live free software! A la liberté.
8. Close facial encounters with sweaty armpits in buses during the hot season.
9. Wet panties when I'm wearing them, I don't mind making panties wet... by suggestion.
10. indigestion.

I tag Faerie

toodles,

jzz

Quickie

2005-07-27T01:42:00.000+02:00

Getting the hang of programming and designing a website. Markup template done. Now programming database. Hooking up database, markup template with php. Using oop techniques.
Probably done in 3 days. Woohoo!

bye

jzz

Interview

2005-07-21T18:04:00.000+02:00

<cut&paste>
Okay, let's get the official things out of the way before going on to the rest of the day.

I’ll respond by asking you 5 questions, each person’s will be different, posted in my comments on this post- so check back..
You’ll update your blog with the answers to my questions..
You’ll include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post..
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you ask ‘em 5 questions.

Right, then. Now, in advance - don't make me think up too many questions. Please.
</cut&paste>

Questions posed by Faerie:

If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be? Please explain your answer.

If you had the money to go away on holiday, where would you most like to go?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Make a top three of your favorite meals.

Sweet & Sour pork from a real traditional Chinese cook... not exactly vegetarian
My mom's beef stew... not exactly vegetarian either
Sweet seasoned ribs... very dead too

If you were unjustly locked in prison, how would you escape? Use your imagination!

toodles,

jzz

More Design and Implementations...

2005-07-20T00:28:00.000+02:00

I designed a database last night. I think it's pretty good. It is simple and the implementation code in php comes to me easily (haven't coded it yet). I think I'll need a wrapper for the database connections etc. And I wonder if I need a new parser to handle the text etc...
At the moment I'm trying to figure out how mysql takes a dump, that way I can feed it to a new database that uses the same table structure. This would spare me eons of time. Which I don't have.
This coding stuff is pretty tiring. And it's not really good to my health either. Staying indoors, bathing in cathode-rays instead of sunlight isn't doing wonders to my complexion.
After I'm done with this database stuff, the only thing I would have to do is, code a graphical user interface for my clients, so they can update their own site. Less work for me. And make a parser for the database so it spews out good html or not (in case of *.pdf, *.doc... etc...).
Then comes the fun part! I get to design the xhtml/css and graphics. I was thinking of a single-column design, nothing fancy. First start with a base css. Then add browser bug squashing css support... I hate this part. Why don't they just build compliant browsers.
I love doing the arty part of websites. I'm actually a graphical artist at heart, but I'm generally bad at creating digital art, although I can nitpick with the best of them.

the plan for tomorrow:

create client-side maintenance login

create foto album generator

create database login wrapper

create text renderer

create html base template site-wide

design/implement css site-wide

... check for bugs and eventual security holes...

Too much to do in so little time. Can't slack off now. All I need is a good set of class interfaces I could recycle in each project. This would spare me seas of time. And it's a good thing I can rip-off code good gpl-licensed code from certain php websites.

sleepy time,

bye

jzz

Designing and Building

2005-07-19T01:50:00.000+02:00

Spent the whole day coding. I ripped off some php code to render my templates and wrapped it up with my own code for ease of use. It's finally finished. Now I can concentrate on designing the 3 websites and the databases that go with each site.
My girlfriend is at her parents and sister, I'm all alone at home, *sniff*. I hope she's having more fun than I am here. I'm sleepy but I don't feel like going to bed all alone. But I can't be in zombie-mode tomorrow when me luv gets home tomorrow.

bedtime

jzz

Finally Getting To Work

2005-07-17T00:27:00.000+02:00

After spending the whole day writing bash scripts, and other computer tweakage, I finally started to work on the websites I promised my parents.
At the moment I'm getting inspiration on how to design the three websites. One about my family tree, other two are work-related. The family tree one would be interesting.
It's kinda late now, so I'm not making much progress. I hope to make brilliant insights on php script design while reading this pdf on my puter screen. Very tiresome reading off the screen. All this squinting is probably not a good sign. Okay, first thing to remember: seperate html templates from the php code. 2nd thing to remember: store data in database. 3rd thing: wrap it all up in php object-oriented code... yadda yadda
Ugh, I'm bored too easily.

The distcc project went well. I think my laptop processor is taking some slack off my main compiling computer, I'm too lazy to investigate. One of these days I'm going to write a tutorial for newbies who want to attempt something like this. I shall make my scripts available too.

The latest system of a down album is sublime. Great album. I should try to make music one of these days. I kinda miss playing my instruments. I used to play guitar for hours, playing weird riffs, it was very cathartic for a young boy with raging hormones, it still is actually. I'm convinced that playing music reaches certain places where onanism couldn't. Just imagine how a guitar hero would wield his instrument in front of legions of followers, and jizz all over them with sweet sweet melodies. Yeah, I'm a guy. Hmmm... lemme think of a feminine analogy... golden shower... I wonder what's up with Aerosmith. Haven't heard anything fresh from them for a while.

sleepy time

bye

jzz

Obsession

2005-07-13T23:50:00.000+02:00

I have this tendency to get obsessed with things, and flagrantly dismiss other pressing issues at hand. Mostly it's computer problems that trigger this behaviour. I get completely bad-mooded when I don't get the time and peace to do my voodoo on some computer problem.
I wonder if this is typical nerd-behaviour.
Right now I'm trying to write a script to activate distcc daemons at boot time on my computers. I have to look up many programming stuff because I'm not a guru yet on that particular language I'm writing it in (bash).
Compiling programs means transcribing human readable code to machine code. The compiled machine code tells the machine to behave in a certain way or to do some task.

Note: distcc is a program that enables other computers on the same network to help one computer to compile programs. Huge programs with enormous complexity may take hours or even days to compile on one computer. distcc shares the computational task involved in compiling the program among many computers.
A software daemon is an agent in a computer that handles processes in a computer. It's a mini-manager.

sleep!

byebye

jzz

computer maintenance going great!

2005-07-11T00:14:00.000+02:00

I'm done troubleshooting my linux computer! The root of the instability was the kernel! I compiled the linux kernel version 2.6.12.1 on top of the linux kernel 2.4.29. The kernel that was causing the problem was the standard 2.6.10 kernel slackware that is bundled along as the test kernel.
I have tried fixing the problem in so many ways before I came to the conclusion that the kernel was malfunctioning. I reinstalled everything, then I recompiled stuff I thought were unstable, then I blasted away large parts of the installation, then reinstalled again etc. that specific build of the kernel was simply not doing my system a favour.

I slapped on a new version of M$ windows on my laptop and it's purring like a playful kitty.
I still have to revive the old stuff I have overridden during the reinstallation, but that won't be too hard. Lots of computer tweakage soon, then I get to start my programming stuff.

Today, between (GMT+1:00) 4am and 8am I was trying to figure out how to program a binary search tree in C++ using techniques I picked up along the way. It was quite interesting.
Polymorphism, template method pattern and inheritance. I'm planning on programming the minimax and alpha-beta pruning algorithms, and using it in a turn-based game soon.

Note: The main program in the computer that mediates everything between the software and the hardware is called the kernel.

Ah, now I can go to bed and sleep like a baby :)

nighty night

jzz

summer TODO list

2005-07-08T21:09:00.000+02:00

Busy summer. These are the things I have planned.
Hope I won't get completely stressed out before I have to go back to school.
So many things to do in so little time!

computer maintenance
1. linux: burn iso of slackware
2. linux: make essential backups
  - /home
  - /etc
  - /usr/local/bin/<bash scripts>
  - ~/websites
3. linux: list of files to destroy but check beforehand
  - /usr
  - /bin
  - /lib
  - ...
4. torch system files from bootcd, no need for formatting (extra safe, for his pleasure)

programming job
1. create inps website {css + scripts + database}
2. create sightsandsounds website {css + scripts + database}
3. create ... website {css + scripts + database}

game project Sh'mup Gaia
1. Brainstorm sessions with favourite neighbour
2. steal ideas from you-know-what...frvrdngr...
3. level design
4. creature design
5. game constraints
6. controls
7. ai
8. learn how to use crystal space
9. steal or create graphics

teaching job
1. teach kids the ins and outs of gamemaker (wait, you need
  to know the ins and outs yourself first...) they shouldn't
  know too much or you're out of a job
2. plan project huge game with kids
3. teach kids general programming with if-conditionals, for,
  while-loops in python
4. teach kids datastructures and object-oriented programming
  (inherent in python)

wxWidgets irc client project
1. learn to use svn
2. learn to use makefiles
3. mastery (i.e. basic skills) of multi-threading and socket programming in
  wxWidgets
4. learn stl and boost
5. learn to design software, attempt to use patterns
6. learn to use modules in software for extensibility
7. learn to use macros for compilation
8. cannibalize irssi, pick out the good and chuck out the bad
9. learn how to embed perl, lua, python etc. in software
10. write the damn software
11. learn serialization, could be fun

Onanismic Rantings

2005-07-05T23:49:00.000+02:00

I'm studying hard for exams at the moment. Very interesting subject really, datastructures, binary search trees and every incarnation of it. Red and Black Trees, AVL trees, (2,4)-Trees etc. fun fun fun! I should've started a century ago, but like history, I repeat my mistakes. Next Friday last exam.

I will start two software projects, one called wirssix (tell you more about it later) and the other called Sh'mup Gaia :) I'm starting this Saturday.

Time to pull out the dusty ai books from the shelves 'cuz my game will need it. My game will be übertoll. Sehr geile Spiel wurd es. Hihi, can't reveal too much info. Version 1.0 will be done before this year. I shall release in small version increments though. Too keep the masses happy. I dunno if I should license it under the gpl license or not. I'm talking as if I had written it already :) First release with minimal features will be 0.1. I've always had this fascination with biologically inspired optimalization algorithms and big wurds like stigmergy and patterns. I hope to combine some of these ideas in a game.

I came to the conclusion recently, that there aren't any many good gpl-licensed irc-clients out there on windows, (except BitchX or X-chat but the graphical user interface suck) with a gui. So I decided to start a project to port the irssi ¿irc? client into wxWidgets. Yes this shall bring me fame and fortune. (no fortune because I will release this under the gpl-license) :) But I can always attempt to sell the binaries and as my good friend Chris said: "Accidentally omit the makefiles..."

I'm sooooo happy I can work on fun stuff now! I still have to work on those websites I promised my parents a century ago. I have made stalling an artform. I smell the winds of change in the air.

hm... my gf looks mighty pretty tonight...

... I get easily distracted

... can't think of anything else to write now...

... there she goes again ... *whistles a song*

I have to go to bed now.

bye bye

Jzz

Blogxercitation

2005-06-19T23:42:00.000+02:00

Dissection

I took my cd-rom burner apart, and humpty-dumpty sat on a great wall... had a great dissection... never put together again...
yadda... yadda. The thing is dead. I need a new one. I need a dvd burner!
I barely have cash to eat, and I'm already planning on to splurge some money on something I don't need that badly. My girlfriend will not like this.

Parents

Whenever I pass by my parents, we get a load of food. I'm starting to think that my relationship with my parents is based on food. Food is the thing that binds us all... not really. Food is great, but I still like my parents with or without the food gifts.

Exams

Last week before exams! Horrible. I have to start studying hard and work on that damned expert system long due.
*Sigh*. I wished it was all over then I could resurrect my computer, and start hacking a new game.
Yes, do something creative with knowledge I received this past year.
Yes, a game that will bring fame and fortune! Or just a simple silly obscure game fun enough to grab some attention. SNE help me out here, what's that vertical scroller shooter we played a while ago? That was insanely well made, and super -ing difficult to master? Actually that's on my to-make-game list. I want to make something better than that. Then there's the game sne and I want to make... I have so many lists...

TODO (summer)list

Teach grunts to program stuff (see
teaching job)

Resurrect computer

Finish websites for parents, 3 sites, css, database support etc.

Start game production

time to rest,

Bubbye,

Just Jzz

gain and loss

2005-06-17T00:00:00.001+02:00

Loss

I completely borked my computer today. I managed to break my kernels, I forgot to install the modules for the ready-made kernels after I upgraded the kernels. And I somehow managed to break my backup ones too. So I have no easy way to fix the kernel than to reinstall with a cd. Good thing is that I have 2 other computers, and I could easily download an iso and burn it on a cd.
But that would take time I don't have. So I really really really have to prioritize. I have exams and deadlines coming up so I really have to do other stuff now. Temporary setback. No games programming from me in the next 3 weeks I think.

I use linux, and the specific distribution I use is slackware.
I recommend this to everyone that wants a linux distribution with an easy installation.
<rant>opensource/gnu/linux/bsd is the way to go for people who don't like being kept stupid by microsoft. Give it a try. Stop being stupid.</rant>
The slackware way is a good way to really learn to the internals of gnu software and linux. It's really a tweaker's/programmer's distribution. None of that unoptimized apt-getting or rpmming.

Gain

My girlfriend took a guitar from my room yesterday (Editor's note: her guitar) and actually removed it from the case. She started playing. She played this very cool song from Queens of the Stone Age, "the sky is falling". I haven't played for 2 years or something. Quite a while. I think I should start playing regularly again. I played a bit tonight and it was quite enjoyable.

I like staccato, weird rhythms, and eastern tonalities. I like to incorporate that into my music. Up 'til now, I have 4 songs written for this album I want to record some day. Eight more songs to go. I don't have good technique. I just play how it sounds like in my head, and more often than not I let the string vibrate with my finger on the right fret.

The piano has a horizontal layout of keys, I dig that. You can play as many notes as you have fingers simultaneously. The guitar has a vertical and horizontal layout, but you can't play more keys than there are strings, unless you're some kind of freaky tapper... so tone plays a really important role (without belittling the role of tone for a piano, which is quite important too but not as flexible as bare strings). You can't drag a piano as easily as you may drag a guitar around. I love to play both really. But I'm more expressive on... actually both.

Zen

It evens out. I lost time on a borked computer, and I lost time to program in the future, but I found my love for guitar-playing again.

bye

Just Jzz

Woohoo! Exam went well!

2005-06-14T22:00:00.000+02:00

The jiujitsu exam went well for my partner and I. We were in top shape. Incidentally, I think I broke my partners foot, and I accidentally punched her in the face too. (but the jab in the face wasn't so bad) She went for a rear choke, and I had to escape. So I jabbed her with my elbow and raised my leg to spiral down to attempt crush her foot with my heel and miss. I didn't miss. I'm not proud I hurt someone, but I have to vent some of this to the world to make myself feel better.

I have the 4th kyu in kyokushin karate, 6th kyu in aikido (assuming they start from 8th), 7th kyu in jiujitsu (assuming they start from the 8th).

Too bad we have one more lesson left before the summer holiday *sniff, sob*.

computer nerd sidenote: I'm going to try to compile the new linux kernel and see how that goes. version linux kernel 2.6.11.12 here we go. I want a decent kernel so I can finally run openGL with the native driver for my video card. I'm planning on to program a game simply-not-edible and I discussed. No, not the bukake game®. I'll probably use SDL for it.

nighty night,

Just Jzz

TODO list

2005-06-14T12:54:00.000+02:00

Things I plan to add to the blog in the future:

Write a series of blog entries about design patterns (from the GoF bible) and how they can be applied to game coding

Write a series of blog entries about my favourite martial arts techniques and how to perfect them (ie dim mak, joint manipulation, locks, throws)

Write a series of blog entries about algorithms, may they be search or optimalization or AI algorithms, or just getting something done, or just cooking ones

Write a series of blog entries about my blue underwear

bye

Just Jzz

Job, jiujitsu exam and life in general

2005-06-14T00:38:00.000+02:00

Job

While my good friend simply-not-edible is almost in-between jobs (we wish him lots of luck in finding something else), I'm teaching two boys, 15 and 17 to program games with gamemaker and the pay is very decent: €18,-/hour.
I just had my first teaching session. They're smart boys, I didn't need to explain many terms I used when explaining how a game is constructed. I'm very optimistic about it. I told them to make many tiny games to get used to gamemaker and make one big game using gamemaker. This is starting to look like a recommendation page for gamemaker.
I gave them a list of programs to install.

spybot (anti ad/spyware)

hijackthis(anti ad/spyware)

clamav (anti-virus)

firefox (browser ad/spyware resistant)

thunderbird (e-mail client ad/spyware/spam resistant)

tortoise svn (version control)

gamemaker (duh, hurhur, no it will not make you feel amorous towards people of your own gender, unless you are already inclined to do so, in that case, good for you :D)

I have to make time to prepare for my next lesson at home and I get paid for that too, so more mon€€€€€€€€€€€€€z for us!

Jiujitsu exam

I'm completely stressed out about the exam tomorrow, I know I'm good (blowing my own horn here) but I'm not sure if I can memorize all the choreography. Good luck to me. You'll hear more about this.

Life in general

Life is great, except those stressy bits dangly at the edges are quite tiresome. Break the patterns that harm you!

goodnight,

Just Jzz

how not to train in the martial arts

2005-06-08T00:05:00.000+02:00

Vengefully slapping the instructor during an instruction is generally a big no-no. Okay, she got struck slightly on the chin, touché, but slapping the instructor back with intention to take revenge is baaaaaaaad. Today the girl I was training with just did that. I was very shocked. Not slapping an instructor is one of those rules which you do not explicitly state in an official dojo document because it is a given. Thou shall not intentionally hurt anybody in a training situation, not even in a martial arts training situation.

Should instructors be put on a pedestal? Are they not of human flesh and blood? Duh.
Instructors aren't gods, they're just human beings. Instructors should be respected for attributes other than their level of skill. Kindness, sense of humor, patience etc.

Nighty night,

Just Jzz

Database hell

2005-06-07T00:10:00.000+02:00

How the hell am I going to fire a query at a database that doesn't have a specific relation between the tables I'm querying???!

Deadline in 13 hours.
Aaaargh.
*panics*

Just Jzz

Dead Objects

2005-06-05T16:40:00.000+02:00

AArgh. I have a shitload of dead objects in my computer. All because I switched compilers...
All the software dependent on the old gcc 3.4 broke down, because I'm using 3.3.
I will never make this mistake again. Ever.

On the bright side. There is none. Except my girlfriend is getting better. *woohoo!*

bye

Just Jzz

AAAAAAAAAAAAAargh!

2005-06-04T01:13:00.000+02:00

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!
Deleted my -ing blog entry again!!!!!!

Ah well it wasn't that interesting anyways.

g'night

Just Jzz

2005-06-04T00:19:00.000+02:00

Bah, the damn editor ate up my blog entry.

DAAAAAAMN!

Bah!

Just Jzz

Yawwwwn...

2005-06-02T22:17:00.000+02:00

I was gonna write something about aikido with the pretentious title: "martial poetry in motion", but I could produce more yawns accompanied by teary eyes than true inspiration.

*Sigh*, see ya.

Just Jzz

algorithmic spaghetti

2005-06-01T23:52:00.000+02:00

Yeck, trying to cram too many algorithms in your mind will give you a headache.
Well that's what you get for studying the toughest parts the day before the exam.

yuck,

Just Jzz

karate critique

2005-05-31T23:21:00.000+02:00

I have trained in kyokushin and shotokan karate, although I don't do karate as passionately as I did in the past. I have lost faith in karate for the following reasons:

Bashing someone randomly on a body part without knowing the consequences of your actions does not appeal to me anymore. You strike a certain bodypart to achieve a certain detrimental effect. You should not strike to strike alone, you should strike with a certain expectation in the back of your mind. Are you disabling the bodypart or are you going straight for the KO? Which points are relevant to the KO?

Prancing around acting out shadow fights by yourself (kata) without knowing the meaning behind the movements is absolutely ridiculous. You could as well learn a frivolous non-destructive dance like tango or some kind of ballroom type of dance.
Every kata has a story to tell, seek out what it is about.
Find out why these movements are or aren't relevant. People should try to find out what all the movements mean in a form or it will merely function as a dance.

The people who codified the martial forms in karate weren't omniscient martial gods, neither the people who followed and reinterpreted the kata. Do away with the superfluous movements and seek simpler, more effective forms. Investigate and question what you are told. Don't be a fool and believe in what you are told because it has simply always been done like this.

Do not develop a fixed mindset. You can always learn something new. There are myriads of variations upon variations. You can learn a lot by looking at other styles, forms, alien to the one you are practicing. Don't be too judgemental, you might miss something important.

Always use violence dispassionately to end violence.

bye

just jzz

power and beauty of css, and the pitfalls

2005-05-31T00:29:00.000+02:00

Actually I wanted to check out the css (cascade stylesheet) of the greenish template, and shamelessly steal the code. But it's too late now. I've been sucked in, by this self-epitomizing medium we call a blog. Yes, you shall feel the consequences now! MUHAHAHAHA...

Designing a site with css can be quite a pain. It can be a pain because the resulting webpage from the css is more often than not the one you pictured initially. But after some fine-tuning of the code and some fine-tuning of your expectations, it will more or less resemble the harmonious/dissonant picture you had in mind.

You gleefully check the css code against a officially approved css-code-checker. After it checks out, you then test the webpage out on other browsers. This is when things start to fall apart.
The perfectly positioned #header you spent half an hour on is not in right place. The color of that perfectly chosen hexadecimal code isn't as pretty as you thought. You then adjust the code to appease this faulty browser. One fix for one browser will break the other. Unless you're a css-guru. Which I am not. (yet)

The css has been "standardized" but there are plenty of browser developers/coders, who haven't quite caught on yet. (die MSIE, die, yea for Firefox!)
There are plenty of fixes (read: tiny bandaid for a deep festering flesh wound) elsewhere on the web, you can steal to suppress those quirks you may encounter with naughty browsers.
If you have a related css website you deem worthy to steal from, please send me the link.

I relish code that is transparent in relation to it's function. css is not what you
would call wysiwyg. (what you see is what you get - rtfm) It's actually wysiprobablywhatyoudesiretogetbutwithsometweakingthereisalwayshope.
css is something you use to influence the end result, css does not control the markup absolutely.
Despite this lack of absolute control, you still have enough influence to make excellent webpages.

I am a coder. I like to read code. I like to read code that is relevant to the code's function. I do not like reading code that is a mish-mash of content and markup, data and function.
Fortunately, the days of deeply nested are numbered... I hate layout-control with nasty nested tables a whole lot more than I hate fine-tuning css code to appease non-standard browsers.

There is a technique called code injection. This technique requires javascript or some script language to inject nasty nested tables on-the-fly in your code when it is rendered by the browser. So when you view the page markup, you won't see the nasty nested tables. This will not work if the viewing browser does not activate the script needed to inject the code.
There is another technique where you make the server identify the browser viewing your site then your server adds the css relevant to the viewing browser. This will not work if your server is deceived by a browser masquerading as another type of browser. Your code will not work.
There are also other known techniques and bits and pieces of standard css code that will be read by one type of browser and not another type which will enable you to code for specific types of browsers.

I propose a (insert grain of salt) coding-style called "canonical coding". Find the largest subset of css, that will work on the most used browsers. And create only code that comes from this subset.
tsss... if it were only that easy.

In my opinion the best way to learn is by playing. The best css playground on the web would be >> http://csszengarden.com << this is truly the path to css enlightenment.

bye Just Jzz

I have no idea what to write!

2005-05-31T00:26:00.000+02:00

Why the heck did I decide to create a blog?
Why do I assume people will want to read my most inner thoughts?
Why do I care that people will want to read my most inner thoughts?
Why do I ask too many questions?
Why do I like scratching the back of my ear when I run out of ideas?

Mindsterbation!