Living on Games, Music, and Code

      My thoughts on a variety of topics. Everything from Game Design to Led Zeppelin. I will try to keep it varied and interesting to a broad audience. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-21657695-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[lordvashi-blog]

Starcraft rage

Can't I get out of Bronze? >_> I'm so sick of games against idiots and jerks.  I'm so sick of mega-turtles and Terran base hiders. I can't believe nobody has the honor to just gg when they lose. I'm still a little weak at mechanics and all, but every time I have a 9 minute match that ends up lasting 40 mins I get kinda frustrated.  If people could play as well as they hide thier bases, they might have actually beaten me.

OMG >_>

Vashi

[lordvashi-blog]

"I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes"

The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger

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Introductory Programming, Java, and Objects (Part 1)

I started learning how to program when I was bored in math class. On the TI83/84 graphing calculator there is a simple BASIC-like language that can be used to make simple programs. Luckily for me, the manual that the calculator came with contained a pretty extensive list of all programming commands, and I was able to easily pick up the language and become proficient with it in a reasonable amount of time. I started with some smaller practical programs (such as an implementation of Heron's formula), and simple fun programs. For example, I made a program that would seem invisible on the calculator, but would cause slight changes to the answers given to any entries (i.e. 3+8 = 14, this was fun to use when people asked to borrow my calculator).  Eventually, I worked up to games (like snake!) and applications with GUI elements. After you finish with the TAKS test (texas yearly proficiency test) one time, I kept the calculator they gave me (I wasn't allowed to use my own) when I finished, and used the rest of the time to program a simple pong game. I enjoyed programming. It was fun and challenging.I was able to learn many things intuitively (like the concept of methods) even before I knew what they were conceptually.

My first year in high school, I took the computer science course offered.  There was a new teacher for the course, and lets just say that he was fairly new to programming himself (he was hired as the colorguard instructor). The school (like most) taught Java as the introductory programming language. I was new to Java, and Java was very different from my past programming experience. Truthfully, there were alot of times in that class where I had no idea how certain things worked. I hadn't been taught in such a way that I understood the internal structure of the language and everything seemed different and arbitrary. I continued through high school taking computer science, but being mainly self taught. It wasn't until my senior year of high school that everything really clicked. I finally understood things, and was extremely upset that nobody had told me everything in the first place. Things were really good after that point. I even got together a group for the computer science UIL competition.  Our first real year competing we placed first locally and got 6th place regionally.

Then I got to college. I was finally a computer science major! I decided that I should take computer science 1 even though I could have skipped to computer science 2. Again we were using Java, and for the most part it was the same slow-paced thing (which made me feel really bad for the student in the pre CS1, introductory programming course). The biggest problem I had with this course, was that some of the assignments were much more difficult (and convoluted) than they needed to be. The one that really bothers me, is one where you have to have three separate arrays and be able to sort them by all three fields such that they stay together. While not a bad problem in its own right, the problem lay in the fact that objects had not been taught yet, and for a language like Java, a solution involving an object that holds the different fields of information is the most logical. Since then I have worked as a computer science mentor and lab TA, where I have run into many students having problems that stemmed from the same source as my frustrations.

In my opinion, it is extremely difficult to understand a language like Java without a strong knowledge of objects. In Java, almost everything you work with (file reading, GUI, string parsing) is an object, so why not teach something like that early.  You start by learning "System.out.println("hello world");", without having any idea what System, out, or println() are. On top of that, objects are almost always taught and explained horribly (maybe in college classes they just figure "meh, they can figure it out on their own").

The problem with many computer science classes, is that they just aren't taught right. For the average person, programming isn't something you can just pick up, and I've seen far too many students who would make great programmers give up due to the frustration in these classes. In Part 2 I will further discuss my opinions on teaching programming. 

-Vashi

What do you think about introductory programming courses?  How should objects be handled when teaching object-oriented languages?

[flabaliki-deactivated20140103]

[lordvashi-blog]

My voice introduction in the wonderful Flabaliki's Minecraft series that I mentioned in my first post!

Also, check out the picture of my awesome treehouse!

Check out the series.  It is really pretty cool.

[lordvashi-blog]

What Bothers Me About Current Music

I wasn't planning on doing an entry tonight, but there is something I have been thinking about lately. Currently, I am sitting alone in the dark of my room writing this, with Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" album playing from my computer a little loudly for how early it is. It's a kind of sound you just don't get anymore. Every noise, every sound, is so deliberate. There are changes in mood as the album progresses and little touches of ambiance, all wrapped up under a connected theme. Pink Floyd music has an idea it is trying to deliver, a story it is trying to tell. Deliberate. Musicianship is highlighted and each song is bursting with a sort of pent up energy.

Listening to the rock and pop stations on the radio, you don't hear that, except for on occasion on the classic rock specific stations. What you do hear are songs that are catchy or clever. Possibly the song has one repeated riff that sounds really neat, maybe the lyrics are relevant or humorous, or maybe you are Linkin Park and you just stick to the same formula for every song (if you don't know about this, just google it). It isn't that I don't like catchy songs, and some of them are really, really catchy and deserve their popularity. The part that bothers me so much is that I know that the only reason I'm listening to the song, or humming it all day in my head, is because of that catch.

It is a genius move by all of today's bands and the recording industry as a whole, because it creates short, catchy, stuck-in-your-head-all-day songs that are easily replaceable. Next week you have a new popular song to buy. You will listen to it on your iPod for a while and then it will go into your "All" playlist, where you might hear it again months from now. The purchases and radio saturation hits strong early on before people get bored with the song or realize that the singer/artist/band has no real talent.

What is missing from all of this? The attempt to convey emotion in music, or the emotion in every song is "hey, we are playing music really loud." In high school, I had a band director who would ask what you do when you get to a crescendo, and the answer was to get more intense (intenscendo?), not just get louder. But then, he would ask what you do when you get to a desrescendo. The answer to this was also to get more intense. In order for the sound quality to hold, and the mood of the piece to be just right, you had to push and get more intense with every note you play. I like to call this sort of thing in music "energy." If I say a song or band has alot of energy, it means that by the end of the song, I'm pretty sure the guitarist with the extended wailing solo will have his eyeballs pop out from all of the intensity. If you want to know what I mean listen to "Won't Get Fooled Again" or "Love, Reign O'er Me" by The Who.

Another thing missing from music these days is the part where the musicians showcase their talent in their music. One of my favorite bands, Rush, has three absolutely amazing musicians, and their music gives ample time to put that talent to use. When talking about classic rock, there is always a great respect for certain guitarists, because of the talent they put into music. Hendrix and Clapton built a name for themselves off of talent, not some catchy riff. Music doesn't have enough of that anymore.

I just want talent and energy back on the radio. Catchy songs will always come and go. What is the point?

-Vashi

P.S. If you have some bands you like that you feel are very talented and have alot of energy, don't get angry at me and tell me I'm wrong. This is just the trend I'm noting, not the rule. I would love to hear other peoples opinions and hear what bands they think break the mold.

[lordvashi-blog]

Quick Microsoft Update

I made it to the next round!!! That is so cool!  Off to see the Microsoft HQ in Seattle sometime for the next interview.

[lordvashi-blog]

Conquering Starcraft

I suck at Starcraft.  I got Starcraft II for xmas, and it was fun and awesome and exciting.  I didn't really think about multiplayer at first and decided  to play through the Campaign on Normal (I know that is kind of weak, but I hadn't played any RTS in a while and just wanted to relax). It wasn't too difficult.  A simple ball of units with some heals on them works wonders on every mission.  I finished in a few days and figured I'd try a bit of multiplayer with my vast amount of knowledge I'd gained from the campaign.  This was almost laughably stupid...

See, my first adventures in the RTS realm started a while back with Command and Conquer: Red Alert and then Red Alert 2.  I was younger and I mostly played against my dad or did the first fer campaign missions over and over.  On occasion I would play a match against the computer AI, but I was pretty insecure and would convince myself that I was awesome because I could beat the computer on easy.  Then I picked up Command and Conquer: Generals.  At this point my dad didn't play anymore and it was really just me playing through the campaign.  I don't even think I finished the campaign.  This was the first time I played an RTS against real people over the internet.  I lost. Over and over and over and over, until I decided that the game was just broken and unfair, and never played it again. Ever.

And... my RTS evasion had lasted a good long while until Starcraft II came along.  I had kind of heard about the whole multiplayer scene, with the south korean pro gamers with their hand masseuses and all, but I figured that most of the players would be casuals like me and I would be pretty ok with my previous RTS experience. I lost bad. Really, really bad. After winding up in the bottom of the bronze league (the lowest tier) I was able to chat with my opponent after a particularly sad loss, where I found out that most people had been using "cheese" to win (I'm not such a noob that I thought this had to do with food).  He suggested that I check out some videos online in order to improve.

Now, this is the part where I'd like to admit that I did just that and now I'm awesome at the game... but I was chicken beyond that point.  I had had too many awful losses to really enjoy it anymore, and instead started playing custom games.  I had played some custom games on Starcraft I and Warcraft III before, but had never actually played any actual matches on those games.  A friend of mine introduced me to Nexus Wars (a popular Tug of War style game where units spawn over time based on buildings) and I played it like crazy. I liked it because It was cooperative and much more slow paced. It has a really good system of tradeoffs between economy and army size/strength and features strategies that change as you switch from early game to late game. This was pretty good practice for me, because it allowed me to think about spending money and building economy, something I was really week at in standard multiplayer matches.  After this I worked at similar games like battlecraft (which I'm kind of meh on) and Desert Strike (which I went from awful to awesome at).

Now I've been watching lots of Youtube videos about the game, watching pro match ups and tutorials.  I think I'm ready to try the normal multiplayer again, and try to improve and play stronger.  Why is this important?  Why am I writing about this.  Because the point is, I suck at Starcraft.  Just like there are alot of things that I suck at.  Multitasking and micromanaging are important skills, and being able to see the current and long term needs of anything (not just army and economy in Starcraft) is important.  I want to get good at Starcraft, because I am bad at it. This is the same reason I wrote 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month or decided to learn Japanese so that I could go to Tokyo last Summer.  Becoming better at your worst things is a good way to improve yourself all around.

-Vashi

TLDR: I want to be better at Starcraft because I suck and I believe it is good to improve on your weaknesses.

Update: I got on after writing this and I managed to win 2 out of 4 games!!  I guess all of that practice and studying is paying off.

[lordvashi-blog]

Microsoft interview and blogging

So.  I interviewed with Microsoft today.  It was just the first level interview, so I still have a long way to go.  With all of the internship hunting I've been doing, I have started thinking about my hobbies.  I think I need something new to add to my things I do.  My decision led to the creation of this blog.

Lately, I have been getting into watching YouTube videos.  Let me start out by saying that I watched a good amount of YouTube videos before, but I had never really payed attention to the people behind them and the community backing following those videos.  About a month ago this changed.  I was watching a few building tutorials for the sims 3, when I noticed that one of the people doing the tutorials also had a YouTube page about Minecraft ( http://www.youtube.com/user/Flabaliki ).  I started watching the series and really got into it, so I subscribed.  I had never actually subscribed to a YouTube channel before, so this was odd for me.  I started getting into this whole subscribing thing and even getting into the community behind Flabaliki's "Why Not Play Minecraft" series.  I even submitted an intro for one of his episodes (ep 34 I think).  I have talked to him a bit and even played on his Minecraft server.

The point in all of this, is that I have decided to start a blog.  Something to get my ideas out there, and maybe even gather a community of followers who care about what I write (lol, no way).  It is difficult for someone to truly get to know you from a 30 minute interview, or a chance encounter, but If they could read about your thoughts and feelings  somewhere, maybe they will get to see a lot more of you.  Hence, the blog. 

I'm not sure what to call it, and "My Blog About Stuff I Think About" sounds cliché and boring.  So I will be thinking about this.  Let me know if you actually end up reading this.

-Vashi

P.S. LordVashi is a name I generally use for stuff like games and the interwebs. So I figured I would use that for my blog.