Syntax Coloring

So I decided to try my hand at web design.

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:09:24 -0500

So I decided to try my hand at web design.

The Problem with Unranked Elo

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:01:00 -0400

The Elo rating system works well for League of Legends ranked games. It provides a useful metric for seeing how good a player is, and it forms fair teams by picking people with similar scores.

Players also have separate Elo scores for unranked games, but these are hidden. They’re only used by the game itself to help with matchmaking. This means that good players lose the reward of being able to brag about their Elo, while retaining the penalty of always losing about half their games. Even if I suddenly became a really good player, the matchmaking system would soon force me back down to a 50% win rate and I wouldn’t have anything to show for it. I would have no feedback telling me I’ve improved. There are tools to estimate unranked Elo, but they only produce rough approximations. Players need concrete gratification for their skill - they need an incentive to try to do well, and a reward for succeeding. Higher Elo scores fill this role in ranked games, but unranked games, frustratingly, have no equivalent.

I don’t propose that unranked Elo be made visible - that would just make it the same as ranked. Instead, the Elo system should be removed entirely from unranked games. Some other metric, like total hours played, could be the chief matchmaking variable. Good players would be allowed to win more than bad ones, providing simple gratification and making unranked games less frustrating for those who spend the time to become good at League of Legends.

P.S. Elo is not an acronym. Don’t say ELO unless you’re referring to these guys.

Gentoo

Mon, 28 May 2012 17:44:00 -0400

>>> Emerging (1 of 219)

Angles and Approaches.

Sat, 19 May 2012 13:31:00 -0400

Angles and Approaches.

fualkner: leonsbuddydave: thedistanceinsidious: hackedy: script kiddies web developers taco...

Sat, 12 May 2012 17:16:48 -0400

fualkner:

leonsbuddydave:

thedistanceinsidious:

hackedy:

script kiddies

web developers

taco doritos

social media specialists

Enterprise consultants.

What did I do?

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:57:00 -0400

What did I do?

Max’s adventures with Box2D.

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:44:03 -0500

Max’s adventures with Box2D.

Google Code has a really nice Git branch visualizer.

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:49:00 -0500

Google Code has a really nice Git branch visualizer.

Atheism is not a religion. Religions are organized systems of...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:52:57 -0500

Atheism is not a religion.

Religions are organized systems of beliefs. Atheism is the lack of a single, very specific belief. There is no overlap.

1337

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:50:36 -0500

I’m a comedic genius.

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:11:54 -0400

I’m a comedic genius.

Hey, C Programmers!

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:40:52 -0400

Hey, C Programmers!:

Anyone want to review my 50-line C program?

I Have a Website!

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 23:33:08 -0400

I have a website now! :D

http://syntaxcoloring.com

This is where I’ll be hosting my personal programming projects. Right now, it has two online ones:

Grubber takes text and converts it to Homestuck trolls’ typing quirks.
Quickmeme Image Extractor lets you save images generated by Quickmeme.

More to come!

Ignoring File Extensions in Apache

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 06:32:33 -0400

Removing file extensions is an easy way to make your URLs look nicer.

http://foo/bar simply looks cleaner and more professional than http://foo/bar.aspx, wouldn’t you agree?

The easy way to ignore extensions is to use Apache MultiViews, but this luxury isn’t always available. GoDaddy’s shared hosting plan doesn’t seem to support it, for example.

After some tinkering, I managed to find a mod_rewrite alternative:

# Enable the URL rewriting engine.
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On

# If the request URI does not contain a period, append ".php" to it.
# You can, of course, change the extension to ".html," ".aspx," etc.
RewriteCond $0 !\.
RewriteRule (.+) $0.php # Match at least one character, to ignore the root.

Just put this in your .htaccess file, and URLs without extensions will be redirected to their respective files. Missing pages will return 404 errors as they normally would, and URLs that already have extensions are untouched.

In Which Jon Skeet Does Interpretive Dancing

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 07:22:16 -0400

In Which Jon Skeet Does Interpretive Dancing:

I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything substantial lately. I’ve been distracted by Skeet’s sweet moves.

wat

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:03:00 -0400

wat:

i dont

I Got a Response

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 01:03:17 -0400

The folks at Sour Patch applaud both my creativity and loyalty.

Yeah.

Sour Patch candy is very ambiguous, you know.

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:27:00 -0400

Sour Patch candy is very ambiguous, you know.

I'm curious about your post on atheism verses religion. Have you researched the evidence of an "intelligent creator?" The argument of religion is beyond trusting a book (though that is ultimately what it comes down to), it's belief is in "creationism." Some of the data for the chances of our world being created are astonishing. Have you seen it? (if not take time to research) What do you think of it?
Humbly yours,
Stevie

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:51:00 -0400

I have, though admittedly not as much as I probably should. Regardless, what I usually see happen with religion is that people start with a conclusion (i.e., that Earth was created by a divine being) and work backwards to find evidence. This often leads to contradictions. In science, people start with evidence (i.e., that something contains a certain amount of radioactive atoms) and work towards a conclusion (i.e., that the object is older than what creationists claim). The conclusion is mutable, and constantly evolves as more evidence is discovered for either side. In short, religion tries to prove it’s right, while science tries to become right.

Photo

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 03:33:01 -0400