Computer Science (intelligence Central)

Excellent points Moose and well made. Personal documents and privacy should be on the same level as safety. It is pretty alarming how easy it would be for any well coded AI to do the simplest jobs a human currently does. Sorting and packing is one example, As you already know, a computer's database is vast, and depending on the operation it needs to carry out, it can fetch and execute these commands in a mili-second. I personally feel that we are not quite at the level of stupidity as a species to put an AI in charge of peronal files and identity, but we still need to keep tabs on how much scientists are filling their memory banks with. They have their uses for sure, and some great advancements in technology have shown if treated in tandam, they can be a useful tool. However, they should never be at the level to overtake us in our day to day workings completely. That, as you rightly say, is where an element of control needs to be established and monitored.

 

After all the patches and updates, Vista was actually pretty good, but by then 7 was out and was akin to a newer version of XP so Vista was dead and gone by the time Microsoft fixed it. It didn't help matters that Windows "Longhorn" which was the codename for Vista had to be completely coded from scratch in C/C++/ASM because some bright spark thought it would be a brilliant idea to code an entire operating system in a managed language, C#. .NET was relatively new then, and due to it handling it's own memory (freeing and releasing it) it would of been painfully slow as the programmers of any applications for Vista had no control over the size of the memory pool (sharing, virtual or shadowed). I quite liked Vista but had it pretty late in it's life span. Although the UCI was still a mess despite numerous updates.

 

Ironic how most people are put off by Linux due to it's steep learning curve of how it's OS works, yet anyone can work Windows after a day or so with little to no problem. I have no problem with Linux personally, great OS and very, very stable. Windows has so many updates due to the bugs that need fixing. OSX (Mac) on the other hand - not my cup of tea. Never really been an "Apple" gal.

 

How does a player character fire a weapon in a game? This is a very rough and ready version of how it's done in general. Language and Game Engine will differ.

This is C++ (I hate this language with a passion)

Code:

class Player : GameEngine
{
public:
    Player();
    ~Player();

    GameEngine::fireGun(long);

private:
    long totalBullets;
};

Player::GameEngine::fireGun(long totalBullets)
{
      if (totalBullets > 0)
          fireGun.aimAtEnemy();
}

 

I can write a better example, but this is the jist of it.

Code:

--
-- two forum members having a slanging match
-- Rose, Skyla Apr'23
--

with Ada.Text_IO;
with Ada.Strings;
with Ada.Integer_Text_IO;
with Ada.Numerics.Discrete_Random;

procedure Main is
   
   function Random_Outcome return Integer; -- specifications do not work in Ada'95? why?
   
   function Random_Outcome return Integer is
      type Number_Range is new Positive range 1 .. 10;
      package The_Number is Ada.Numerics.Discrete_Random(Number_Range);
      use The_Number;
      Gen : Generator;
      Number : Number_Range;
     
    begin
         Reset(G);
         Number := random(Gen);
         return Integer(Number);
    end Random_Outcome;
   
   Member_One : Constant String := "wfcmemberone";
   Member_Two : constant String := "wfcmembertwo";
   Argument_Level : Positive range 1 .. Integer'Last;
   
begin
   Ada.Text_IO.Put(Item => "WFC Forums member: ");
   Ada.Text_IO.Put(Item => Member_One);
   Ada.Text_IO.Put_Line(Item => "Has an argument level of " & Random_Outcome());
   Ada.Text_IO.Put(Item => WFC Forums Member: ");
      Ada.Text_IO.Put(Item => Member_Two);
      Ada.Text_IO.Put_Line(Item => "Has an argument level of " & Random_Outcome());

      with Command_Line;
     
      if &Arg1 > &Arg2 then
         &Arg1 = True;
      else
         &Arg2 = True;
      end if;   
end Main;

 

I've heard of that language. It was created as a joke but the schematics for the interpreter are really, really complex. It's probably easier to write in pure binary than that actually. Kudos to anyone who can actually understand and write full applications using it. I've not seen the actual DLL code for the Interpreter it uses, but I would imagine the amount of ++ and << etc. correspond to "if" "else" "for" "while" etc. Really clever how it's written.

 

I'll work on a better one today as I have more time, I'll post it later so keep an eye out.

 

Ever wondered what a computer is doing when your video game is "loading"?

When a game is created, all default assetts are frontloaded into files that the Game Engine can access. One of the first things your system does when it begins to load the game is to fetch all these files, which are contained in files known as PAK and all DLL's listed with them and places them into it's RAM (Random Access Memory) that the Game Engine has instructed it to set aside for. Depending on the game in question, the frontloaded objects and files will contain information about basic setup, title screen splashes and company logo's. All this is pushed to back to the top of what is called a "stack", which is fancy term for how memory is orgnaised when a game runs. Whichever file is required in the loading squence is "popped" off the top of stack and placed into the primary memory location. When the file has been read, it is removed from the RAM and discarded. Several other PAK files will contain player data, enemy AI, graphics, sound and so on. Files that cannot be manipulated during the course of game are placed into the computer's ROM (Read Only Memory) which the CPU can only access but not change at any point, if it does, the game will usuaally throw a "seg fault" (memory failure) and crash the game back to the desktop. Several placeholders are put into the design of a game to ensure no file is read more than once, and files that remain unpacked (non read files) are removed from ROM when the game is switched off.

In the case of game saving, all files are WORO, which stands for "Write Once, Read Once". Such a file will allow the game to write the current data to it and then only access it when the player continues their game. At no point can any other file iteract with this file whilst the game is running. Autosave uses a similar file system, where only pre programmed segments are allowed access to save only partial data such as player progress etc.

 

COBOL is still used today and you are correct in the area - work in Banking, want to maintain their legacy systems? Learn COBOL. It's not used anywhere else nowasdays, and hasn't been taught as a teaching language for over 40 years. COBOL was replaced largely by FORTRAN which transisted eventually to R in modern day technologies. Ada, the language I code in, is a mixture of Pascal and Algol 69, is also used in a very niche' field. SpaceX, Air Traffic Control, Train signal systems and some smaller aviation software.

Trying to remember the code the Spectrum used - might of been 81x Assembley code to be fair.

Never used any of those languages as Internet and scripting languages have sort of been almost an anomoly to me personally. I understand they are useful, heck half of the Internet is coded in PHP and HTML. Never really considered SQL a language, it's more of a database query script. I know C pretty well, a some Java and a tiny bit of Visual Basic.NET. However in my work I code exclusively in Ada with a little SPARK when needed. Think C++ but easier to read and ten times more safe.

 

If you can find a competent COBOL programmer now, it's one of highest paid earners in the job scope. A COBOL programmer who can maintain old (1970's) banking system front ends would be massivly in demand. But, they are a very rare breed as you say.

 

To Err is to Error. A typical computer term for us all. Welcome to the club @I Blame Bassett

 

Oh I do see the benefit of SQL and like you said it certainly has its uses. Php to most is being overtaken by JavaScript (if you believe the coders possy on Tiobe Index. False - Php has and will always be king in the domain it's strongest in. Swift has always interested me but Mobile Phone development is a world away from what I code now, but it is something that peaks my interest now and then. Count yourself lucky you never learnt Objectiv-C. One of the most poorly designed languages ever created, and that was Apple's goto (see what I did there ) language for years.

Aww I was close then . I could never invision a PC on pure BASIC even back then, but it was probably the main stay because Bill Gates help develop the language. Press F12 on any old Acorn Computer and it goes straight into BBC BASIC where your brain turns to mush after reading "Syntax Error" with not a single clue where it is. I started learning Visual Basic 6.0 before Microsoft got all Dot Net with everything. Dropped it as "drag and drop" languages that do half the work for you seem lazy to me anyway.

 

Hello World in mutliple languages.

Python:

Code:

print ("hello world")

C:

Code:

int main (void) {
    printf("Hello World!");
    return 0;
}

C++:

Code:

int main (int argc, char* argv[])
{
    std::cout << "Hello World!" << endl;
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Java:

Code:

class HelloWorld
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        System.out.println("Hello World!");
    }
}

Ada:

Code:

procedure Main is
begin
    Ada.Text_IO.Put(Item => "Hello World!");
end Main;

BBC BASIC:

Code:

>: F12 'READ'
>: BBC BASIC (c)1984 British Broadcasting Corp. This software is free to use on BBC Micro Computers.
>: AUTO
>1 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
>2 ENDPROC
>3 END

 

So does mine a lot of the time believe me.

 

Nice to see the legacy of COBOL is still alive and well. I get what you mean though, there are way, way to many programming languages and some are just clones of others. C# and Java is a very good example. I get some are pretty vital to the ecosystem (C for example) and Python is becoming more and more dominant but even that has it's problems. It's slow as anything so can never be relied on for embedded software systems or Operating Systems. .NET was the "new thing" in 2000 and Microsoft have barely been able to port it to platforms outside of the Windows ecosystem. Give me a old fart language like COBOL, FORTRAN, C and Ada anyday.

 

Like I said before there is nothing wrong with older languges. Every language goes through specifications for this exact reason. C++ for example began life as a C with Classes before it was creditied by the ISO. Microsoft did not offically accept C++ until 1996 (Visual Studio 6.0) and even then provided a very outdated standard of the core language. FORTRAN (which as I am sure you aware is an acronym for FORMULA TRANSLATION even identifies what the language was designed to do. Matrix and scientific calculations. If your good at mathematics, you can learn most of FORTRAN easily within a year or so. Like you, I am bit of a hoader of old books. I have a shelf full of programming books and standards. When I first learnt Ada, I was learning Ada '83, which was 'non-standard' even then, and some of the literature was owned by the DoD. When Ada '95 was released it became much more readily available for mainstream. If either of us walked into a job interview today for a modern programming career, we would be laughed out the building if FORTRAN and Ada were our only vices. Today a modern coder needs to know at least three languages to even get into the field.

This, is worthless to most newbies.

 

Hmmm I think it's a systems and general purpose language which is based off Pascal/Ada with some of more complex stuff removed from it. It's not very widely used but it's one of those languages that fits inbetween two others. A bit like C# fits between C and C++, Modula2 would sit between Pascal and Ada. Not a terrible language by any means and it runs mainly on embeded software (can Interface with C) so it has it's uses.

Here's a small snippet.



I could probably re-write that in Ada and the difference would be minimal. I love procedural langauges though, leave the classes and objects for when it's needed.