Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Gaming Backlog

Wanted to write a little about my Steam backlog just to kind of put in writing which games I am intending to continue.  I will also rank them based on how much I enjoy them.  Hopefully you will find it useful if you are thinking of trying any of the games I have already tried. 

Will be playing again for sure:

1) Sid Meier's Civilization V - (66 hours sounds a little low) I played this quite a bit when I first got it.  I think I won starting on the low levels but have had trouble winning on King setting I believe.  This is my first time playing the Civilization series and feel that I have been really missing out.  Great game if you don't have it I definitely recommend it.

2) The Witcher: Enhanced Edition - (19 hours) I have been really enjoying this game.  The story is very good and I enjoy the fighting style.  I am playing on Easy (I think) and once and awhile I still die so I would imagine it is really challenging on the higher levels.  (Plan to play again)  

3) Dota 2 - (2 hours)Downloaded this during Beta but didn't have time to play.  The last couple of Wednesday nights (my game night) I have been getting through the tutorial missions and have been really enjoying it.  (Plan to play again)  

4) Counter-Strike - Play this a lot during my time at RIT 2002-2007.  I was introduced to it by my floor mates on Gleason 6.  Our floor pretty much always had the sounds of gunfire and screaming from room to room about kills and near kills.  (Plan to play again)

5) The Lord of the Rings Online(TM) - (13 hours via Steam but I played before Steam integration as well) I started playing this maybe in 2011 I think at the insistence of a friend of mine.  I really enjoyed it for awhile and plan to play again but am a little stuck currently as the guy who invited me to play quit.  So I'm currently in a state where without help I am having trouble staying alive where my quest are telling me to go :(.  I play on the  X server as X.

6 )DiRT Showdown - Played this briefly after I got it free when I purchased my Ibuypower computer.  Issue I currently have is my Xbox controller I use for my pc doesn't stay calibrated making it very difficult to drive.  

7) Total War: SHOGUN 2 - (10 hours) Came free with my PC I am finding that I like this I'm not addicted to it like I can get with other games.  I think it has something to do with the fact that I seem to stink at it.

8) Half-Life (I don't have remastered version) - I got this so that I could play Counter-Strike online.  I did try playing the single player games but I think I ended up having issues and giving up.  As this is considered one of the better games for PC I really should give it a try again.  

9) Age of Conan: Unchained - US version -(51 minutes) Downloaded this one day not really sure why as I have invested quite a bit of time into Lord of the Rings Online(TM).  I played it for maybe ten minutes and haven't touched it since.  I might try it again at some point but probably not anytime soon. 


 Probably won't try again:
  1. Uncharted Waters Online - (80 minutes) For some reason around the same time I downloaded Conan I tried this one as well.  The game is interesting but I really am thinking of staying away as I have enough other games to get through without trying to take on another MMORPG.  It was fun to set sail across the ocean though.  
  2. Day of Defeat - Haven't tried this but don't feel bad as it came with my copy of Half life.
  3. Deathmath Classic - Haven't tried this but don't feel bad as it came with my copy of Half life.
  4. Half-Life: Blue Shift - Haven't tried this but don't feel bad as it came with my copy of Half life.
  5. Half-Life: Opposing Force - Haven't tried this but don't feel bad as it came with my copy of Half life
  6. Ricochet - I played this one or twice.  
  7. Team Fortress Classic -  Haven't tried this but don't feel bad as it came with my copy of Half life. I did try Team Fortress 2 it didn't really pull me in maybe I'll try it again.








Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Code Complete Chapter 34 and 35.


Notes from reading:
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, Second Edition by Steve McConnell Link: Amazon 
I have been reading this try to improve my skills I figured I could jot down some notes which might help it sink in my brain and who know you might find it interesting.

McConnell makes a great point here: 
"The point of having coding conventions is also mainly to reduce complexity. When
you can standardize decisions about formatting, loops, variable names, modeling
notations, and so on, you release mental resources that you need to focus on more
challenging aspects of the programming problem. One reason coding conventions are
so controversial is that choices among the options have some limited aesthetic base
but are essentially arbitrary. People have the most heated arguments over their small-
est differences. Conventions are the most useful when they spare you the trouble of
making and defending arbitrary decisions. They’re less valuable when they impose
restrictions in more meaningful areas."
I wish everyone would just listen to conventions it would free up a lot of everyone's day.  Maybe always defining strings as constants isn't the best way but if everyone just did it we could get to real programming.  

" A professional programmer writes readable code, period." Awesome quote.

Wow there is a list of books at the end to help one go from begginer to pro at Steve's company  Construx Software.

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Code Complete Chapter 33 Personal Character



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Notes from reading:
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, Second Edition  
by Steve McConnell Link: Amazon 
I have been reading this try to improve my skills I figured I could jot down 
some notes which might help it sink in my brain and who know you might find it interesting.

McConnell has a great point early on in this "You can’t do anything about your intelligence, so the classical wisdom goes, but you can do something about your character. And it turns out that character is the more decisive factor in the makeup
 of a superior programmer." chapter.  Which is good as I don't think I am the 
smartest programmer I have every met but hopefully I can build up enough 
character to make up for it.   

Interesting chapter hopefully I can develop good programming personal character.
  
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