Sam Stokes on Research in your life and studies : XNA

Computer Archeology: The Smiley, where did it come from?

SoCal Sam — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:16:47 GMT

The Smiley, where did it come from? Here is the first instance of the Smiley:

401298269,0,0 19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-) From: Scott E Fahlman <Fahlman at Cmu-20c> I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers: :-) Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use :-(

You can see the whole bboard file from CMU in 1982 at:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/mbj/smiley/bboard_contents.html

Funny stuff… Who says research has to be unfunny? :-)

WTF#: Compelling demonstration

SoCal Sam — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:12:08 GMT

Email thread with my favorite manager today, we can’t agree if F# can make a compelling demo for an online talk. His criticism is correct, but I am sure I can do a compelling demo, unfortunately my favorite manager is often right, otherwise he is wrong. However, he has some experience he did a bunch of stuff with Iron Python, and I got to give him some points that he really gave it a shot. So he speaks from experience from my point of view.

I think that the burned lands demo is pretty good if I spiff it up, don’t know. Anybody got any ideas? Leave a comment. Be nice to work together on a demo that is compelling using F#. Not that I want to prove my manager wrong, I think that he would appreciate the collaboration.

Maybe something with XNA, Silverlight and then uses F# for the Physics, that would be cool. Better yet would it be possible to work with World of Warcraft? Nope, WOW uses Lua.

Any ideas?

Technorati Tags: F#,Demonstrations,Compelling

Silverlight games: Review of tutorials for Silverlight games

SoCal Sam — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:16:44 GMT

There is a fantastic tutorial out Anatomy of a Silverlight Game: Avoid Common Mistakes When Building Online Games, which is as up to date as you can find on the web. I have been going over a few of the tutorials and this is the best one I have encountered. Bill Reiss writes a good tutorial but it is somewhat out of date, and the flow breaks down a bit, but if you want to work through it, I found it useful.

For the most part the fact that Visual Web Developer 2008, the Express version of the ASP.NET tool in Visual Studio can work with Expression Blend 2 isn’t mentioned in most of these tutorials. This was a recent addition to the capabilities of the Visual Web Developer when you install the Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SDK.

I am reviewing the Anatomy of a Silverlight Game, and right now it is very exciting. So take a look at it, and if it is the level of training you are looking for, stick with it, if it isn’t I am working to make it more consumable for everyone else! I believe that game design should be as easy as using a Word Processor, but for now it isn’t and I don’t have time to create that level of tool.

So please stay tuned as I build up a process for more people to understand and design games! Games: The future of storytelling

Technorati Tags: XNA,XNA Express,Fun,Games,Silverlight

WTF#: Curriculum for F# part 1, thinking about curriculum for CS

SoCal Sam — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:56:46 GMT

No picture today, the Community server didn’t want to host it.

What the F#, umm, does that work? Oh well, I’ll stick with it for awhile. After all blogs like this are not broadly read, so I figure I can talk about anything I want to. Ok, on to curriculum and pedagogical discussions:

So what should a curriculum for a class that uses F# look like?
Should it be curriculum for Computer Scientists or can a new path be adopted?
If a new path is adopted then will it be accepted?
Should I care if it is accepted? (Answer: Yes)

After all, I have read most of Minsky’s papers and posts over the past 50 YEARS and he doesn’t seem to really care what other people think. Of course, he is a tenured professor and I have to think about profit and audience.

So what would be a source for representative curriculum? OCAML classes come to mind, the excellent work done at UCSD on OCAML might be a good source, but on thinking about it, why? F# and OCAML are very similar except that F# is tied to the .NET Framework and OCAML isn’t, the Light Syntax is the same.

But what about the structure of the class, if the market is to be engineers and scientist does the class have to be difficult, or should it be a fun way to re-attract the students to programming? A honeypot would be a class that is fun and informative, with an eye to the student getting a very positive experience out of the classroom.

In starting my curriculum development, I will review the “Seven Deadly Sins of Introductory Programming Language Design[i]”. Although neither F# or OCAML was designed to be a first language, for engineers and scientists, it might very well be the only programming language this group of students will deal with in the future. The domain knowledge for engineers and scientists, not to mention the large load of “general education” in the US, means that the undergraduate engineering and science students may only have one programming classes at many schools. So in developing the curriculum the rules in the Seven Deadly Sins need to be avoided.

1. Less is More:

Much of the problem solving that students do in the real world is procedural

2. More is More:

“..syntax vs semantics, static vs dynamic structure, process vs data, puts a big cognitive load on the student….”

3. Grammatical traps:

“…confusing syntactic and semantic constructs which are present in most introductory languages…”

4. Hardware dependence:

”… novice programmer is often forced to contend simultaneously with the constraints of the underlying hardware…”

5. Backwards Compatibility: “

…languages which attempt a significant degree of historical consistency inevitably perpetuate some problematical constructs.

6. Excessive Cleverness:

“…some languages (ABC, Haskell and Python, for instance) use indentation to specify scope. This eliminates the need for grouping constructs...”

7. Violations of Expectations:

In this case the beginning programming language may do something that is not expected or uses a non-institutive rule such as always sorting lists upon input or violating semantic rules

In a future post I will review how these rules impact F#, which could be a great first programming language for non-CS, the bulk of the rest of students would clearly benefit from a functional language similar to F#.

The big question is this: How do you motivate the students who only want the programming language to solve domain problems and aren’t into the programming for programming sake?

Technorati Tags: XNA,research,curriculum,first programming language

[i] Conway, D. and McIver, L. Seven Deadly Sins of Introductory Programming Language Design. Department of Computer Science, Monash University. <http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~damian/papers/PDF/SevenDeadlySins.pdf>.

Conway, D. and McIver, L. Seven Deadly Sins of Introductory Programming Language Design. Department of Computer Science, Monash University. <http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~damian/papers/PDF/SevenDeadlySins.pdf>.

Checking out the Microsoft Speech Server

SoCal Sam — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:02:00 GMT

This blog has been moved to the following blog. Why? I decided that I want to reactivate my Software Engineering Blog and this is fitting. If you came here from DevSchool, I will make changes on that blog as well...

http://blogs.msdn.com/socal-sam/archive/2009/01/30/checking-out-the-microsoft-speech-server.aspx

F# variables or a return to BASIC?

SoCal Sam — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:42:00 GMT

In the example I used in the past post utilized the "let" command and it didn't have any data type, what's up with that? Oh it gets worse, the identifier (not variable) are immutable. That is the memory location of the identifier cannot be modified. To create an mutable identifier you have to declare the identifier as mutable. This is one of the differences between functional programming (F#, OCAML) and imperative programming (C#, VB.NET, Java), the concept of identifiers is not really supported in the imperative languages, although there are constants. This is not to say that F# doesn't support imperative programming, F# is object oriented, but it's focus on the functional approach to programming.

Identifiers are interesting, and to continue the discussion about solving engineering problems, we definitely will need to deal with functions. Functions easy to work with in F#, and we will take a look at functions in the next episode of the blog, mainly because I need to work on my game blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/devschool, where you can learn how to build a game for a Christmas Present this year!

Looking at the code inside of our trial code...

SoCal Sam — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:47:13 GMT

Hopefully you gave the code from Friday a try, Popfly should be used for that type of code, since there is that banner that advises people to not input their password, etc. Now that you have run your tests, make sure to change your site or remove it.

Using Visual Studio 2008 Web Developer Express (let's call it Web Dev) I am able to connect to Popfly and use the Web Dev tool to connect with Popfly. I am also able to share code directly with you. However, for now, lets dig into the code.

If your Javascript is a little weak, and even professional software developers like Dan Waters sometimes have issues with javascript. The best source that I know, that is also free, is the ECMASCRIPT Standard! You might ask, ECMASCRIPT, what does that have to do with javascript? The ECMA Standard is based on several originating technologies, the most well known being JavaScript (Netscape) and JScript (Microsoft). Bottom line: ECMASCRIPT = javascript

Why is this important? ECMASCRIPT is the standard and programming standards are often good sources for figuring out how to make programs work. This is true for C# and some other languages. Other languages like Java (which is not the same as javascript, although the syntax is similar) and Visual Basic.NET are not programming languages that have a standard. This means you have to search for assistance with companies like Sun (stock symbol: JAVA) or Microsoft (stock symbol: MSFT). To get the ECMASCRIPT standard (which will help you with learning javascript) go to click here and then from the Adobe ribbon, click on the "save icon" , save this file to your harddrive, it is 188 pages, and worth the paper if you printed it out. The ECMAScript standard though is weak on examples, for code examples you will need to go to other sites.

If you are using the Web Dev tool, you will notice that there are a series of "functions", in javascript this is a way to organize the programs flow in memory. These functions are also correctly referred to as methods. There are other software items that are called functions as well, for now we will work with the method kind of software items.

What do we have in our example? A process to do the sign-in for the receiver and sender, both have to be in the other's contact list. Also, we have now achieved the "nudge", we haven't figured out how to use it yet, but we a code example. To work through a tutorial, which I can't get to work, let me know if you get it to work:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc298455.aspx, this example is pretty simple, and I recommend that you look at it.

This is the code that we use to create the sign-in control

This code:
signin = new Microsoft.Live.Messenger.UI.SignInControl('signinframe', privUrl, chanUrl, 'en-US');
signin.add_authenticationCompleted(authenticationCompleted);
Generates the control shown below:

To authenticate the user the following code is used:

_user = new Microsoft.Live.Messenger.User(e.get_identity());

_user.add_signInCompleted(signInCompleted);

_user.signIn(null);

Then to complete the sign-in:

if (e.get_resultCode() === Microsoft.Live.Messenger.SignInResultCode.success)
{
document.getElementById('userInfo').innerHTML = '<p>' + _user.get_address().get_address() + ' is now signed in.</p>';
}

However, as a person who is attempting to commercialize a research concept, you would what to understand how the code works, but you wouldn't do the code. You would likely note down that you need a software designer who knows javascript and C#.

Stay tuned for the next blog entry, we will take a look at the "nudge" and how we can use the Windows Live Messenger Library to call managed functions. Since XNA is part of the managed code, we are getting closer to driving our Xbox controller with a nudge from Live Messenger.

Yippee, Popfly Web page will support Instant Messaging

SoCal Sam — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:30:00 GMT

I just tested the IM capabilities of the Popfly server, and it works! Slowly, you have a delay of a few seconds when the messages are sent and received. But to do our tests of the Sensor Touch, we can live with that. Remember this is a test of concept, not the final product. The best research product development is to be able to prototype with items that are close to the final product, but that isn't always the case.

For example, the C-17 test vehicles were nothing like the final C-17 aircraft. Here we are just testing and building protocol.

So bottom line I tested the use of Visual Studio 2008 with the lab page source running on Popfly. A video will be posted sometime in the future.

To try the popfly version of Instant Messager, go to: http://www.popfly.com/users/SocalSam/HillBillyIM

It works, but the interface needs polish. Let me know if you got it to work. You will need Visual Studio 2008 with Visual Web Dev and the Popfly Add-in.

Somewhere to show you how to get started creating your Sensor Touch

SoCal Sam — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:30:00 GMT

It can be difficult to get started, and fortunately there is a web page that you can use to start experimenting with an accessible web page. You will have to use the View Source to check out the code, on IE7 you would use the Page button and then select the "View Source" you will see the HTML. It is a bunch of code, but if you are able to work with javascript and HTML, then this will be a great way to start experimenting with building your own IM graphical user interface (GUI). Think about it, you could create a device that people who can't see or hear could use to communicate with people on the Internet! All of this from an idea from Microsoft External Research.

To utilize the example code (this will just work with the Instant Messager, not the nudge), navigate to: http://wlmlhelloworld.mslivelabs.com/

You will need two Live IDs, one to send and one to receive.

Well, let's take a look what we need to do in the immediate future:

1. We have a place to experiment with the Live Instant Messager, you will need to have two IMs to be able to use this to start your experimentation.

2. We need to figure out where we can put our code, I think we can use http://www.popfly.com for your web page hosting, but you will need to download and install VS 2008 Visual Web Dev Express, and then install the Popfly explorer.

3. Follow the instructions at the URL: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc298455.aspx

Where we are going longer term:

1. We will have to investigate how XNA works, this will gives us easy access to the XBox controller through Windows.

2. Make sure to get an XBox controller, wired for Windows XP, and a cheap way to go for Vista which can use either wired or wireless. But Wireless is very cool.

Finally, as we move into Labor Day weekend, since I don't have many readers, so please make sure to not drink and drive. It is really true that buzz driving is drunk driving, and the fines for DUI are very high, in California the fines and court costs can reach $13,000 or more. Have fun, take chances, but drinking and driving isn't risky it's stupid. Of course if you live in a city with good public transportation like Boston, New York, Seattle or Philadelphia, lucky you.

Work on this project this weekend, we can hook up our code through the Visual Web Dev 2008 with the Popfly Explorer installed, and that is JUST COOL!

Sensor touch: Fun in reaching out

SoCal Sam — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:13:00 GMT

There have been a bunch of movies and even more stories where the bad guys or good guys are able to interact physically at a distance. Usually there is violence involved, but what kind of fun can we have? Well I am assuming that everyone who wants to take apart their Xbox controller to use it in our research have ordered it or are waiting till the weekend to get it from Game Stop or some place like that. Research isn't any fun if we can't use the final product would it? Also it wouldn't last long if there is no profit or benefit.

For now let's start talking about sensor touch and how you as a researcher could make it happen:

If you were an Intern or at your job, and your customer or manager asks you if it is possible to have the XBox Controller respond to a nudge from someone on IM, how would you approach this problem?

First, I would have to make some assumptions:

The IM uses a standard that I can look at in a single location
That the IM has an application programming interface (also known as API)
That there is some way to connect to the XBox Controller

Then I would have look at the Sensor Touch, do I have to have two way capabilities to reach the goals of the researchers at Microsoft. No, initially I can cut back a little and just have one touch through the "nudge" concept. I don't have to go both ways.

Some questions for you:

1. Does Microsoft Instant Messenger have a standard?

2. Does the Microsoft Instant Messenger have an API?

3. Is there a way for us to use the XBox Controller?

Remember if you have an XP, you will need to get the WIRED controller to follow through with this research.

A final note: I have not prepared material ahead for this discussion, so as we move through the effort, you and I are exploring these technological concepts together. I hope that you will have as much fun as I am having!