This is not possible because nothing stops you from writing JS code that computes selectors dynamically which cannot be statically uglified for obvious reasons. Theoretically you could do code transformation such that anything that couldn't be processed statically gets uglified dynamically by inserting code that dynamically applies the mapping, but this defeats the whole purpose of uglification by giving away the mapping.

My server "stopped working" the other day. I have 2 urls working on one server. I let one expire, but it didn't seem to matter since I was able to reach it via IP:PORT.

A few days ago, I get the message from google bot that my pages on my live site can't be reached. Turns out that I can't get either IP:PORT to respond. I go into the server, reconfigure nginx (which means I commented out the dead server), and still no dice.

For some reason, one GNU Screen is disconnected. I open the other Screen and there is nothing running. I exit, nuke the screen, run the jar. file and no errors. I exit, create a new Screen, fire up the other .jar files, and no error.

Re-enable nginx and its all good.

Servers are so strange, man.

Uglifying selectors I would think is very tricky, and for what benefit?

Likewise, when I was an undergrad in the early 80s, they taught us 8-bit assembly for our low level language (6800 & 6809), and Pascal for our data structures and algorithms.

Once we had a strong grasp of both, they let us loose on C. That background was perfect for maintaining a disciplined approach while understanding the nuts and bolts of the C language.

Why is it when you search a website in Google it tells you the raw number of results, but will only show you 5-600 results?

For example, "site:oracle.com" returns 14.3 million results for me, but with 50 results per page it shows 8 pages, and when I click on page 8 I go to page 7 and it is the last page. Omitted results adds a whole 20 results to the query.

is there some way to open .sdf files with Visual Studio 2013?

disregard above question, found solution and can't edit anymore.

new question:

my prof has zipfiles of C++ projects from previous semesters on his website for download. when i try to open them in Visual Studio 2013 it says the code is from a previous version of VS and the code will be upgraded for 2013 version.

how can i tell which prior version it's using? and once i find out should i download that version as well and have 2 diff versions of VS on my computer?

This might be the silliest question (is it even a question?) of the month but I'm a bit lost...

task: take a picture of a house, use said picture for a mobile app/website (picture and/or thumbnail are needed)
tool: cell phone (it's all i got)
problem: lolbig file
solution...convert down in gimp somehow. So far the results have been...underwhelming. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

What's acceptable image size for websites/mobile anyways? Maybe I'm thinking it should be way smaller than it actually has to be.

I generally wouldn't worry *too* much about image sizes for mobiles, a lot of mobile networks serve them via an their own CDN and auto downsample them to save bandwidth (or something similar, my phone did this)

This shouldn't be a problem but if so ask your prof, seriously.

Only if you a problem building with VS 2013. You might need an earlier version if you use plugins that haven't evolved to a 2013 version (trying to refrain from using the word upgrade).

Yes it is, very expensive. Thus the appeal of tools like gcc, Qt, Eclipse, Boost, etc. VS Professional and up isn't cheap either in my view.

What's everyone's companies joel test scores? I showed it to my boss and we're at a 4. Yeah.

I wrote awhile ago that I've never really liked the Joel test and that I think its gotten worse with age.

I'd say we're a 7 (taking the spirit of the question rather than the actual question) with:

* Do you use source control?
* Can you make a build in one step?
* Do you make daily builds?
* Do you have a bug database?
* Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
* Do you use the best tools money can buy?
* Do new candidates write code during their interview?


I wouldn't want to answer yes (at least at our company size) to the following questions so I'm happy we're a no with:
* Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
* Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
* Do you have a spec?
* Do you have testers?

That only leaves the following which we've done a tiny bit of but we should do more.
* Do you do hallway usability testing?

Quote:

* Do you do hallway usability testing?

The above is kind of silly as a criteria. If you did this on the Microsoft campus for an app like Excel you are going to get feedback from a lot of devs which don't really represent your typical Excel user. Not all projects have a UI as a key component like say a kernel mode driver for Windows or Linux.

The list seems a little dated to me but could be convinced otherwise. Not sure this list really goes along with the Agile approach.

Where I work we'd get 11 out of 12 but the hallway test just doesn't apply to what we're doing.

10/12 here.

Lots of bugs end up on the TODO and FIXME list.

Hallway usability testing really wouldn't apply for what we are building.

I think the spirit of the hallway test question is valid. Whatever you're building has some form of client/user/customer. I take it to mean talking to those people to make sure the problems you're actually solving are the problems that actually matter.

well the class doesn't start until Wed, i just wanted to look ahead. i searched for VS 2013 plugins but didn't see anything, not sure if that's what you meant. i'm not good with computers

The plugins would be for earlier versions of VS. Your prof will tell you what you need.

This question ("which language to learn first?") exists literally thousands of times on the internet and I feel I've read most of the responses to it which all amount to "it depends" or "it doesn't matter", so here is my situation.

I want to become an indie games developer, I don't know any real programming yet. My options are c++, c# and java, for one of those I would take actual b&m classes. I don't need to earn any money from it in the foreseeable future, I have enough time and money to commit a year or two fulltime to this dream to see where it leads me. I'm not interested in getting hired or making graphics intensive games, definitely going for substance / gameplay over style. Interested in mobile games as well but fine with windows only for starters.

All 3 courses cost similar money and have a similar duration. My thinking / reasons on those that might be non standard:

Java: I've actually done a couple of tutorials online, seems pretty easy, so I have some super basic (~10 hours worth) knowledge already. I also know a good java guy who I have hired for stuff in the past and he'd be happy to help me with questions etc.

c#: Sounds easy as well, can use it for unity3d which many people use and was recommended to me, I don't need to become some programming king for the heck of it, an easy way to get my ideas to work sounds almost ideal to me.

c++: Seems to be the hardest of those 3 which doesn't need to be a bad thing - I'd get more knowledge per $ spent this way. Internet responses advocating this over the other 2 sound convincing to me, but might be overkill for what I have in mind?

Would really appreciate any help with this, my personal rankings aorn are c# > java > c++ but it's really close and I'm certain I'm not weighting the pros and cons of the standard arguments correctly at all.

Can't do two+ of them as the courses will run simultaneously. I'm good at learning stuff by myself via tutorials etc so I'm not worried about what to learn / do after I'm finished with the classes, just need to pick one to get started.

I would start by picking a game engine to learn and then learn the supporting language for it. You aren't going to want to program games from the ground up - especially if you are interested in substance/gameplay and not just doing it for some academic purpose.

The two obvious options, with the largest communities and easiest access to learning materials, are:

Unity3d (uses C#, as you noted)
Unreal Engine 4 (uses C++)

I'd lean towards Unity for a new developer. UE4 is still a bit premature and has a bit higher learning curve, IMO.

I'm sure you've been told this already (or read it a bunch) but I'd think seriously about the value of a Community College course. If you think you're good at learning stuff on your own there are lots of online resources that will give you as good of an education as a CC course.

Even if the money isn't a big deal you can learn much faster doing an online course by yourself then you can with a weekly course spread over a couple of months.

Depends on the games you want to build. I'm assuming regular old 3d games but if it's mobile the answer changes a lot. I agree with pick an engine, go from there.

We use Unity at work (I have only compiled stuff and looked at what other people built so far) mostly for VR/AR kind of stuff. C# is a good language and a good language to start with.

I think I'd consider UnityScript as well since it's essentially a strange JavaScript dialect. Mostly because I'm thinking JavaScript would be the language I'd recommend as a first language these days without the "want to build games" qualifier.
Age of the web/mobile etc.

For your case I think learn C# in a vacuum a bit (dome tutorials, get basic OOP down etc.) then use C#+Unity to build some testgame

What are your goals from becoming a game developer? Are you not interested in getting hired right now because you don't have the skills, but possibly interested in the future, or are you not interested in working for others in game development at all? This reads a little bit like:

I want to become an indie rock musician. I don't know how to sing, read music or play any instruments yet. My options are lead vocal, guitar, bass or drums. I don't need to earn any money from it in the foreseeable future, I have enough time and money to commit a year or two fulltime to this dream to see where it leads me. I'm not interested in signing with major labels and making commercial music with high production quality and/or fidelity, definitely going for musicality and message over style. Interested in hip hop and R&B as well but fine with rock music for starters.

The whole "enough time and money to commit a year or two fulltime" bit is what worries me here. What do you think happens at the end of those two years?

Just curious, are there enough free or cheap assets for these engines for someone to develop a game from scratch with minimal graphic design and 3d modeling skills? I've kind of wanted to play around with game design for a while but I'm bad even at basic 2d graphic design, let alone 3d modeling.

Thanks all, great answers so far! On mobile, so only responding to candybar for now:

Thanks for your concern. Two years or so is what I'm willing to invest up front so to speak. I own a business that doesn't take much work at all but there is no real possibility to expand so I want to do do something with my time, and making games has been a childhood dream (and amateur hobby) of mine. I definitely want to do something besides my current business in the future and this is what would be my number 1 thing to do, disregarding the money of course. With savings, current earnings and my gf's income I want to see if I can make that happen within a reasonable time, if the answer is no I'll do something else.

I don't want to work for someone else as long as I don't need to, which I fortunately don't, but might at some point in the future. In that case I'd still rank working in the video games industry very high.

The more conservative thing to do would be trying to get qualifications (I have none) or even work experience related to what I currently do but meh.