Lurker > Erika_Redmark

Some enemies inflict a unique status debuff not found anywhere else that can only be resisted with equipment after the area is completed. The status debuff removes EXP and could delevel you.

Some other enemies sometimes inflict a status debuff for inverted controls. This is random when it actually procs and it lasts for a variable amount of time.

Harpie posted...

Specifically it's about ArrayLists and reference variables and what's the point? What's the point of having both arrays and ArrayLists?? Aren't ArrayLists superior? What's the hate against primitive variables? ALSO wtf is this input stream stuff and this class/public/private BS I'm way over my head.. I need to get my shit together before the next class begins mid May.

In software engineering, there is very rarely ever something that is considered superior in every respect. What's important is understanding what something is, and what problems it is well suited to solving... and what problems it isn't. And then furthermore, why.

Generally, the language is supporting arrays because that's the logical primitive of an, well, array of some type. The items are laid out in memory contiguously (I won't get into CPU cache lines right now) when defined in this way. This is just a primitive and if you had no standard library at all, you could still make an array because it's intrinsic to the language itself.

ArrayList is, indeed in most cases, a better choice for APIs and most standard usage and is implemented using an actual array, but provides easier and cleaner methods for operating on it, and behaves better with the rest of the Java generic type system. It implements the List interface which helps with writing generic code (I just need to take some list, not some specific kind of list). However, it shouldn't be seen as a superior alternative -- it is backed by the concept of an array primitive... but then again so are a lot of other data structures. Primitives map to the low level 'stuff' you need in order to get started building anything else on top of it. The closer you get to primitives the more speed and power you have, but the harder the code can be to read. A lot of software engineering is going to be understanding why these things exist and making informed choices on what structures work best for what reasons. In the ArrayList example, you have a very basic list structure implemented in the library backed by the primitives of the language. In many cases, this is what you need when you want some list of items.

Private/public and all that is another aspect of software design where the general principle is that you are writing code that others are going to use and build off of. Ignore 'protected' for now -- the general idea is that some subfunctions are easier to read or leverage if they are separated out, but they aren't intended for any code outside that class to care about. Making them public clutters the API and confuses other devs who are going to be using that class. Making something public essentially means making a contract with others, perhaps some yet-to-be-made code, that calling method X produces effect Y. If you write documentation for your methods and think of 'what are the preconditions for inputs, what is the expected output', you are basically making a contract and your implementation has to fulfill that. Getting away from the words 'public' and 'private', ultimately what you are doing is controlling what your entry points are to some given chunk of code, and letting the rest of the details be hidden.

These points are valid regardless of the language even if they are implemented very differently from language to language -- so to end this, I am going to recommend something that has nothing to do with Java. I don't have anything off the top of my head, but I'd look at some works on general design patterns. Understanding what it means to solve problems in a programming space will help to appreciate why things exist in whatever language you are using. Perhaps pick up some python -- I don't particularly like the language but for getting started it's a lot faster to actually jump into and start writing and running things. And remember, programming isn't just programming. It's software design. Programming implements that design, but understanding what it means to design software will inform your understanding of specific elements of a language. I'd also recommend taking an Assembly class (doesn't matter the architecture), even if you literally never write a line of it afterwards.

And as always -- there are always going to be artifacts in any language. Languages evolve and we learn that ways that were seen to be 'good ideas' turned out terrible. There's a reason you rarely see Vector anymore and just see ArrayList. We've since learnt the pitfalls of Serialisation and having hidden constructors to make objects and the security exploits that can open up. Properties has a bad inheritance structure that can make it confusing to use... etc etc.

It's a complex world. I'd start with the fundamentals of what it means to design good software, and how the computer is actually executing instructions for said software. A lot of the questions you have I had, and I better understood the why's once I understood things at both a lower level and a higher level (assembly/hardware for lower, general software design principles for higher)

Harpie posted...

NOOOOOOOOOO this was SO CLOSE TO GREATNESS WTF I feel SWINDLED, TRICKED, ABUSED. How could you do that to me, to CE, TO EVERYONE, right there in the end?? I trusted you..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4z9yW72A1o

There was a conversation there I had with someone that I will miss. Wish I recalled it earlier to archive it before it was completely closed.

Wow.

Okay, I don't go on gamefaqs in general that much so this whole Second Coming of LUE thing kinda has been going through one ear and out the other... but now that I am actually following it a bit more...

Wow. Okay, now I actually am a bit peeved. I would post more, but a gamma ray burst has flipped some bits and I have to navigate this entire website in Finnish now.

Kiitos tiedosta, DToasta.

I would have the same reaction Private Jimmy had in Red Vs Blue to being beat to death with his own skull.

"This doesn't seem physically possible!"

Red vs Blue... wow I remember still when I was introduced to that back in 2005 and distinctly remember the episode with Caboose being asked what he sees when looking through a window, only to point out he sees walls and a ceiling. I never watched it much beyond my friend showing it to me one time until I randomly remembered it in 2010 during college when Revelation was the latest series at the time. Followed it for a bit since then. Damn that series had some fun history to it but I haven't followed the latest seasons after Shizno Paradox, if there were any, and whilst I actually rather enjoyed the very last season of that arc wasn't crazy about the rest of it. I think the last time I truly followed Red vs Blue week to week instead of binging it later when I remembered was the Chorus trilogy.

As for RWBY, it's so dark and depressing I stopped caring and never watched the latest season, which sucks because I quite enjoyed watching it starting out. I think Season 6 and a single episode of a later one "Midnight" was the last I actually truly enjoyed watching RWBY :(

But yah, I've heard of the issues with the company even if I haven't been following as closely so I kinda saw the writing on the wall here already. Gonna miss Red vs Blue.

Short Circuit.

Admittedly I don't go to this board much so I may be misunderstanding the usage of the word 'current' here.

Never played any of them, since none of them are Glover nor Skyrim.

Two people hit it off and started a long series of flirts, and that interspliced with dives into some unrelated subjects and it inspired others to post about funny car wash experiences. Everyone was happy and having a grand ol'e time. Someone accidentally solved the Navier Stokes Equations and we congratulated them on the million dollar prize. Then Pluto became a planet again when enough asteroids impacted it. One of the asteroids held the seeds for a new life form.

Why can't good things happen for a change?

I wasn't paying attention earlier and didn't realise Rise of the Ronin wouldn't be on PC. Whoops. Ah well, there's always other things.

Nioh is no Glover, but damn did I bloody enjoy the Nioh series so much.

Glover.

Cause it's fun. I have yet to play Terraria without Thorium because I cannot imagine a Terraria where I can't shoot Plantera with Crescent Rose after playing a chrono ocarina.

As someone who has (not for skyrim but a long time ago with Escape Velocity) sometimes spent more time making modifications, for some people I can absolutely say there is an interesting fun about it, that the journey itself and the learning and the creation is itself fun.

And after all, that is what I have games for. Fun.

Nioh 2. Nioh I found too frustrating after hitting Way of the Nioh and beyond frustrating when hitting the WotN abyss floors to the point I just stopped after IIRC floor 31. Nioh 2 however the only reason I haven't finished the underworld yet is because I like to finish each floor completely and I don't play nearly as much as I used to. Still, it's one of my favourite games of all time at this point, and probably the only game in my adult life I can say I am good at, although I don't play with people whom I don't know, so I only ever co-op'd it once with my husband. Everything Dream/Way of the Strong and beyond has been solo.

I just visited Meeko's shack yesterday too. Bravely fought Dawnguard troops. Serana raised the rockjointed NPC to fight and he was a good shield, then I gave him another death more pointy and less jointy.

viewmaster_pi posted...

don't make up fake games

Glover is an N64 game, you can look it up on GameFAQs directly without even leaving the comfort of the current site.

Glover. You are a glove. A magical spell casting glove in a game that is one giant escort mission for a rubber ball. It's got a shark that wears sunglasses.

It's Glover. It's just Glover.

Met my husband on GameFAQs, so it's not entirely out of the question.

Viewing: Star Trek
Gaming: Star Wars

90's LucasArts was awesome (Rebel Assault series) and on the Nintendo 64 / Gamecube I had the Rogue Squadron series and Shadows of the Empire.

And in Skyrim I have lightsabers so the pattern still holds.

Whilst I never did eat out much, I have long since stopped eating out altogether - even a little sandwich or coffee shop have those machines that always ask for tips so I progressively just been patroning less and less. Which is actually working out well for my finances here all things considered.

I don't like a system that pits me against servers whilst the big mice make bank, or where I have to do some mental social calculation of worth just to pay for something and get on with my damn day, but I still tipped because the mice are so large and the servers so small tipping is just how it works for them to survive.

The only winning move I could end up justifying to myself was just not playing.

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