I'm just a thread in the process of life.

New Blog!

2010-01-07T15:07:00.004-05:00

Being that this is my first blog, it turned out to be a mess. It's all over the place even though it was supposed to focus on logic, code and games. It turned out to be more of an "anything goes" type of life rant and that's definitely not the direction I wanted to take it. Just because there are 95 posts in this place, I won't remove it, but I have started a new blog over at Animated Lew!

I promise it will be more consistent and it will focus on animation, games, movies and other eye candy.

I begin classes at AnimationMentor.com in January 2010!

2009-12-16T10:10:00.000-05:00

Stratton Mountain, VT

2009-03-15T12:59:00.001-04:00

Six Cantonese/Spanish Words of the Week

2009-02-22T22:49:00.003-05:00

English
=> Cantonese => Spanish

but
=> dan hai => pero

yet
=> but gaw => toda via

also
=> tong mai* => tambien

and
=> tong mai* / jong yau => y

because
=> yun wai => porque

or
=> yik wah => o

If you would like to see the translations of certain words, please suggest the word(s) in the comments. See ya.

Carving Down Okemo

2009-02-22T22:41:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a wonderful day. A bunch of us spent the day in Vermont carving down Okemo. This was my second day snowboarding and I already picked up the much anticipated carving techniques. Leafing heal-side and toe-side is a piece of cake now... I fell very few times and the times I did, weren't bad at all--the conditions were outstanding.

The best part of the resort was the cabin that sells chocolate covered waffles half way down... what better way to recharge? I'm hooked.

Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation

2009-02-10T09:51:00.002-05:00

Ah, the good ol' PNF technique... This is one technique that definitely needs its own acronym. PNF was originally a set of techniques for forms of rehabilitation. It was so effective that many world martial artist and gymnast started to use it. There is no better and faster way to achieve the flexibility you want than by using these techniques.

Now that I'm done selling something, you might wonder if I buy my own product. As a matter of fact, I do. Yesterday was my first hardcore stretching session in a very long time... It has been about 2 years. I've been able to split since I was 13 or 14 years old and I owe it to these techniques--but if you don't use it, you lose it and that's what certainly happened to this old man.

Yesterday was a good day because I accomplished something that wasn't shining through the light. After little struggle, I was able to split just a couple of inches from the floor... all this from a starting 100 degree angle. That's 1.74532925 radians!

Fooling your nervous system definitely takes a toll on your body since it needs a rest day or two to adjust. This is why today I'm going to make sure I watch my diet and have enough protein to carry on!

Once I'm flush and "one" with the ground, I will post pictures.

Shaolin Monks

2009-02-07T22:17:00.002-05:00

I've been researching Shaolin Monks in the city for a while now, but this past week, I've been more aggressive with my search. There aren't too many in the city that teach Kung Fu. Most Sifu's are not Buddhist Monks and it always worried me when they tried explaining that their master's master is of 34th generation of some unknown style. The reason I was looking for a monk is because I know they have the experience of Kung Fu from a very early age... usually 5 or 6. The integrity value is very important here. Anyway, not counting the fishy places I visited, one temple stood out to me... and the school happens to be in a very convenient spot in Flushing, Queens.

I expect to join very soon... right when my tax refund decides to arrive :)

Metallica in Uniondale!

2009-02-07T22:08:00.002-05:00

Man it's tough to remember to update my blog. I guess I'm not one for routines. Anywho, I went to see Metallica at the Nassau Colosseum at the end of January and they totally rocked... four encores and all.

I went with my buddy Freddy and we had floor seats and all... eye-level with the stage. It was a night to remember... and to encourage the remembering of that awesome night, we got mp3's of each song played that night.

Compilers: Chapter 1 Complete

2009-01-25T22:17:00.002-05:00

Even though this book is supposed to be one of my casual reads, I couldn't un-glue myself from chapter one. I knew most of the stuff in the chapter but it's nice to read a about a little history. It's also nice to be reminded of how far things have come.

The chapter covered Language Processors: compilers, interpreters, linkers, loaders, debuggers and profilers. Compiler Phases, Machine and Assembly Languages, Modeling in Compiler Design, briefly covered Code Optimization, some Higher-Level Languages, Compiler and Computer Architecture, Software Security, Scope Rules, Environments, Block Structure, Parameter Passing and finally, Aliasing.

I'll probably leave chapter two for next weekend as it dives right into language grammars and how to decipher grammars without hard-coding the algorithms. Fun!

Hydroplaning for Dummies

2009-01-25T20:11:00.005-05:00

I went snowboarding this weekend.

I would like to start off by saying that I had tons of fun: I HAD A BLAST! I would like to credit the perfect conditions to many things and one person. Ms. N was a fantastic instructor and thoroughly explained snowboarding to me on a technical level and constantly made sure I kept my head on straight... n00bs tend to go way too fast and bump their heads but I was kept in check! It's very motivating to constantly be reminded of how much progress I've made throughout the day because there were times were it did get tough. As a matter of fact, I'm still feeling the "tough". OUCH!

The other things that contributed to the perfect conditions were the weather, (a warm 20-30 degrees,) and perfect snow texture on most mountains.

I learned how to do the falling leaf... took me a few falls but I went with my experienced buddy on the blues and greens after about an hour or so on the bunnies. The mountain looks intimidating but it's not so bad when you actually are focused doing your thing... But no matter where you fall, they will always hurt!

There is so much to write about but I don't think I can capture it all in one post. I might have to follow up with video or pictures.

Brief points that I remember:
-My board almost slid away from me...
-Vuze & Guitar Hero makes a perfect combo.
-My board was setup to a duck 6/6 but I went with 15/0.
-I learned how to skate on the snowboard!
-I need to learn how to stop toe-side.
-I get really thirsty when snowboarding.
-Knee pads saved my knees!
-Always concentrate on controlling my speed!

My Sensei instilled to focus on "getting control before speed because speed without control is useless." So funny how this applies to many things because I learned this very same idea when I first started playing guitar.

I'll leave this post right here as I now need to go get more protein so I can heal tonight. What a good time that was!

Compilers Theory

2009-01-22T14:32:00.003-05:00

I've always been pretty hardcore with computer theory but I've never fully ventured into compiler theory and language design beyond writing very simple pseudo language parsers. If you check my posts a few years back, you'll see that when I was playing around with C#, I wrote a very small expression parser... mainly to test out how confident I was with the C# language.

Anyway, I decided to treat myself to the Purple Dragon book, Compilers: Principles, Techniques, & Tools SE, By Aho, Lam, Sethi, and Ullman. The hardcover master piece was written as a friendly textbook with plenty of hands-on exercises that I will document here. I have plenty to learn and I can't wait to broaden my computer science knowledge.

For those that are curious, after compiler theory will come Operating System theory :P

A Dose of Machine Code

2009-01-21T07:53:00.002-05:00

I want to let you in to the mysterious work that hardware does when it fetches instructions... (e.g. runs your software) There is a register called the IP register on Intel compatible chips such as the Core2Duo and AMD Athlon. It is called the (IP) Instruction Pointer because it will always point to the instruction that is to be executed. For instance (in Assembler):

B7FD78098 MOV [Cnt1], 5

This previous instruction is said to be stored at the B7FD78098 address in your RAM. The mnemonic for "MOV [Cnt1], 5" can be directly translated to machine code, which is usually edited in hexadecimal code (just like the address space). If this wasn't the case, then that address would look like this:

101101111111110101111000000010011000

Which number base would you like to work with? As a side note, I chose this number assuming the computer that is running this code has at least 50GB of RAM. But regardless of the fact, the IP points to this address, executes what's on that space, and then increments to the next instruction. It is very linear and it is all part of basic computer architecture.

If computers are so linear, how do they implement more intelligent structures? Well by jumping of course! There are 30+ separate jumping commands on hardware that used to run DOOM (80x86) and I'll show you one just below.

mov [cnt1], 5
loop_label: nop
dec cnt1
jnz cnt1, loop_label

The first line moves the value of 5 into our variable, cnt1. The second line is nothing but a label... labels are usually mnemonics for an address space similar to what I described above. So at this point, we are in a loop, but the computer doesn't really "know" this. NOP is an instruction that means NO OPERATION so it does nothing. DEC is an instruction that decrements the variable by 1 (each time). JNZ is one of our jumping instructions that will jump to the label if cnt1 IS NOT ZERO. So as you can see, the logic is very simple even though the jump is backwards... essentially, if cnt1 IS NOT ZERO, then the IP register is loaded with the address of loop_label. Once this happens, the computer will continue to execute from that new location. Once the counter is ZERO, the condition will fail and the instruction after JNZ will execute.

Questions?

The Decorator Pattern

2009-01-16T10:43:00.003-05:00

The Decorator pattern allows you to attach responsibilities to objects dynamically. Using the Decorator approach is preferred to subclassing when it comes to extending functionality. In practical terms, a 'decorator' is nothing more than an object that encloses another and one that introduces a new feature or responsibility. The whole point of this architecture is to be transparent to the component's clients whilst adding functionality in a flexible way. In short, the decorator forwards requests to the component right after (and it some cases, before) it uses and abuses the data. Slick, no?

Soul Calibur IV Early Morning Competition

2009-01-15T05:21:00.004-05:00

So I wake up this morning with an itch to kick some virtual butt... my natural reaction was to fire up my X360 and slide in Soul Calibur IV. I've only had the game for a week so I am definitely not an expert, but at the same time, I do not mindlessly button mash. I try my best to react with the right move, at the right time. I go 'gaga' for the versus-fighting game genre.

It seems that most people that hold 'good' records online and possess high-level characters seem to be some of the cheapest players around. All I am trying to say is that if they're going to destroy my virtual presence, then they need to do it with style. If you're a long-range fighter, keep me at distance and try to counter my close-up motions... if you're a samurai, then mix up your style and keep me guessing... don't always use the same horizontal strike or combo and win just because your character is fast enough to out perform my character using one button. If the game allows it, then it's fair, right? WRONG... Just because software is exploited doesn't mean it is being used correctly. In a game, this could kill the fun factor for your foe and yourself.

I'll take a loss proudly but most people forget the reason why we play games. Most people play games to have fun and if you're going to turn into a cheesecake, then don't play at all. Having a virtual record on some online leaderboard is not something you should be proud if you're not a good sport.

The Strategy Design Pattern

2009-01-14T10:19:00.005-05:00

The Strategy pattern encapsulates interchangeable algorithms in an object. Using this pattern, your client won't have to change the structure of the application if your client needs to apply a different algorithm to a particular object. For instance, let's say your client is using the (previously discussed) Composite pattern to create a tree structure that contains objects that organize themselves. Using the Strategy pattern,it is possible to select HOW these objects organize themselves without changing the way this tree adds leaves/components, removes leaves/components, or traverses itself.

The Strategy pattern is one of many behavioral patterns.

A great example of the Strategy pattern is the algorithm list in the Standard Template Library. You can easily sort or traverse objects just by applying the appropriate algorithm to an object. They are all interchangeable. The point is that the client decides on which algorithm to apply without making any architectural changes.

A good way to approach the structure of such a pattern is to define a container object, let us call it "Strategy". The Strategy object will be our interface to other objects that encapsulate the (interchangeable) algorithms. The object instantiating Strategy should be able to select which strategy or algorithm it would like to use through the Strategy interface.

Based on the previous paragraph, it seems like there will be some object overhead, and there will be. If you have three algorithms, this will require a minimum of an interface object, and three other objects that implement the independent algorithms, totaling in 4 objects.

Use the Strategy pattern when you need different variants of an algorithm. The Strategy pattern also takes advantage of OOP when it comes to Reuseability. Code containing many conditional statements often indicates the need to apply the Strategy pattern.

C++ Operators

2009-01-14T06:24:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine recently asked me about bitwise operators and was a bit confused by them. In this post, I will break down a couple and leave you with an assignment that you can reply to in the comment section. This is pretty basic stuff but if you're not used to it, it can look alien.

The ^, is the exclusive OR (XOR) bitwise operator. The |, is the Inclusive OR bitwise operator. They manage bits at the lowest level.

Let's say you were comparing two bits and EITHER of them is 1, then an OR operation on them would yield 1. If both are 0, then the OR operation will return 0, or false. Think about it in real life... you are happy with either a PS3 OR an XBox 360... but this is not true if you had neither. And it is still true if you own both.

Now XOR, ^, is a little more picky, it requires ONLY one of the bits to be 1, or true, or ON... (the terminology depends on the context).

Here are the charts for these operators:

OR
1 | 1 = 1
1 | 0 = 1
0 | 1 = 1
0 | 0 = 0

XOR
1 ^ 1 = 0
1 ^ 0 = 1
0 ^ 1 = 1
0 ^ 0 = 0

ASSIGNMENT: The bitwise operator for AND is &. Create the chart for AND using common sense and standard knowledge. BTW, this is the core of all electronics and programming and this is what distinguishes a n00b from a real programmer haha

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x04xhy0h(VS.71).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/4ke0e88k(VS.71).aspx

The Composite Design Pattern

2009-01-13T11:10:00.003-05:00

The Composite pattern is a structural pattern that allows the client to compose objects into tree structures to represent hierarchies. That's a very thick sentence which means nothing more than the pattern is used to describe relationships of objects that are recursive like Russian Dolls :) These dolls can represent an object that can have a child and a parent. Each can further be expanded into having children or parents. No matter which object we are currently handling, it should be treated the same way any other object is treated at any other node.

According to the Design Patterns book by the Gang of Four, "The key to the Composite pattern is an abstract class that represents both primitives and their containers." In other words, the templates that will instantiate the tree nodes will have the ability to create methods for handling children (and parents)--and in the case of graphic objects, the ability to draw themselves.

The example that the Design Patterns book uses is the case where we have a Graphics interface that all the sub-objects conform to. Our Picture object defines an aggregate of Graphics objects. For instance, a Picture can have 3 children, one being another Picture object (this is where the recursive-ness comes in), a Line object and a Rectangle object. Since one of the children happens to be a Picture object, it can contain other children of type Text, Line and/or Rectangle.

So next time you bump into this design scenario, use the Composite pattern. This is one of the best ways to represent part-whole hierarchies of objects and to have clients treat all objects in the composite structure uniformly.

Da Mo' Posts, Da Betta

2009-01-13T11:03:00.002-05:00

So a friend recently pointed out that I posted 70x in 2007 and only 7x in 2008. What a shame. Off the top of my head, I feel more happened in 2008 and now it's not documented anywhere. I will try to be more active with my blog this year... especially since it seems I have a few readers now.

I also have to update quite a few games to my completed game list. I think that list has doubled since last time I wrote it.

On my next blog, I will speak on Design Patterns. (Hopefully.)

See [more] Food

2008-09-02T00:55:00.002-04:00

I've been a little more adventurous and accepting towards foods lately. Within the past week, I've tried sushi, sashimi, oysters, crab, lobster and various other things, like string beans and beer (but not in the same session). My body is going to start fighting back soon because all these things are exotic to my system... all the tastes are so different that I might just overload my body and force it to accept and even like these new flavors. This crazy experiment just might work.

Many of these new things that I've been trying are also very low in calories compared to other foods that I'm used to. They are also high in protein, thus filling. This will aid me in my current trim down workout phase. I'm currently in the high 150's and plan to continue trimming to 140-145 pounds.

Wii for Sale

2008-08-05T18:14:00.001-04:00

Name your price--the package includes the following:
1-Wii
2-Wiimotes
1-Classic Controller
1-Nunchuk
1-Kart Wheel
1-WiiPlay
1-WiiSports
1-Super Mario Galaxy
1-Mario Kart Wii

Also included:
-Dr. Mario (Wiiware)
-Lost Winds (Wiiware)
-Super Metroid
-Fu Man Chu
-Street Fighter II

A Picture Can Explain it All!

2008-02-14T01:17:00.000-05:00

Updated: List of Beaten Games

2008-02-13T11:05:00.001-05:00

Here is a short list of games I've beaten in my lifetime. The list is not long at all considering I've been playing games for over 20 years. I will add to this list as I jog my memory.

assassin's creed - XBOX 360
bomberman - gameboy color
call of duty 4 - XBOX 360
clay fighter - SNES
contra - NES
donkey kong country - SNES
eternal champions - GENESIS
god of war - PS2
god of war 2 - PS2
guitar hero - PS2
guitar hero 2 - PS2
guitar hero encore - PS2
guitar hero 3 - XBOX 360
halo 3 - my first FPS ever (on XBOX 360)
kid icaris - NES
killer instinct - SNES
march of the minis - NDS
mass effect - XBOX 360 (my first RPG)
metroid - NES
mk: armageddon - Wii
mk: deadly alliance - GBA
mortal kombat - GENESIS, SNES, GBA
mortal kombat 2 - GENESIS, SNES, GBA
mortal kombat 3 - GENESIS
new super mario bros -NDS
panel de pon - NDS
primal rage - SNES
rayman raving rabbids - Wii
rygar - NES
samurai shodown - ALL
street fighter 2 hf/turbo - GENESIS, Wii
super mario bros - NES, SNES
super mario bros 3 - NES, GBA
super mario world - SNES
super street fighter 2 - SNES, ARCADE
tetris attack - SNES
ultimate mortal kombat - SNES, PS2
weaponlord - GENESIS

FFXII for PS2

2008-02-13T10:40:00.003-05:00

The game is not worth playing and here's why:

If I could sum up my 7 hours of play in one word, the word would be: LAME!

Just so you know, I'm not a Final Fantasy hater since I did find two that I liked, which are FFXII for DS (pure crack) and FFX for the PS2. I've tried very hard to follow the story and find strong or "cling-on" points but there were none. I then started another game and decided to scratch the story and just endure some "fun" gameplay. I never found it. Sure you get Quickenings and fight bigger bosses later on, but the gameplay is as dull as can be. For an "action" RPG, it sure fails on the action as well as the story--shouldn't this game's story rain supreme over everything else in this game?

The mini-quest are the most retarded and mindless I have seen in any game. Yes, more useless than the ones in Mass Effect (Rogue Computer anyone??) but at least Mass Effect gave you experience points. There was one instance where all I wanted to do was get into the Palace and this old man had a magicks (doesn't that spelling tick you off??) stone that could get me in. This stone needed power so I went into the dessert to find how I can get this power. Turns out I need another dark-stone but that stone needed to be created and acquired somehow... the only way I was able to do this is to find a lost child in the dessert that broke his leg--therefore not being able to come back or make me the stone. This was the start of another mini-mini-mini-do-nothing-for-an-hour-tiny-game. If I wanted to entertain myself for that amount of time, I should just watched some Fresh Prince reruns or something. This was not fun.

Anyway I can go on about how "weak" group battles were and how people joined the party for very stupid (and seemingly forced) reasons. I can also go on how the only way to get good in this game is to micro-manage in the heat of battle. I can also mention how stupid the characters look standing around waiting for their turn... some stand right in front of the damn baddies AND bosses. Anyone remember your M.E. teammates shooting through walls? All this is solved with simple Ray Casting! The same technique to render Doom walls... heck even Wolf 3D used Ray Casting... it's like 3D 101! All you have to do is drawing a line from the character to a target and if the end-point of this ray happens to collide with anything, e.g. Walls, then switch the state machine to a path finding algorithm and walk around the stupid wall!!!! Even the characters in FFXII for the DS do this.

Anyway, I can't blame the programmers. I gotta blame the battle designers. They are the ones at fault here. A "good" RPG can be forgiven, but this one doesn't even try to intrigue you with a strong story. Case closed.

Gaming Update

2008-02-10T19:48:00.001-05:00

Call of Duty 4 - Complete
Bioshock - Neptune

Games to Complete/Play

2008-02-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

-Bioshock: Started
-Call of Duty 4: Started
-Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: Finished Elysia
-Zelda: Twilight Princess: Finished the forest
-SSX Blur: Three tournaments completed
-Final Fantasy XII: Going to Giza

Word of the Week: Demulcent

2007-12-18T15:06:00.000-05:00

Demulcent describes something that is soothing.

Insalubrious - Word of the Week

2007-12-10T06:21:00.000-05:00

Insalubrious is the word of this week. It describes something that is unsound, dirty and to the point of not being conductive to health. I chose this word, not because of the definition, but because of how cool it is to say it.

It's December Again

2007-12-10T06:14:00.001-05:00

This is the time of year when I organize what I'm going to learn or improve upon within the following year. Based on the experience I've gained this year, it would make sense to drop XNA and go back to traditional C++ PC development. I will probably practice porting some stuff over to the Hydra but it will not be my main concern. Since I am not getting Vista anytime soon, I will be focusing on DirectX 9.0c. DirectX 10 is great but it doesn't merit a system upgrade.

I hope to reacquaint myself all the Win32 API functions I used to use... it has been years but I'm sure this stuff is like riding a bike. I might be rusty but it won't be anything new. Charles Petzold once wrote that the style of programming with Win16 to Win32 hasn't changed much. Let's see how this goes.

Assassin's Creed

2007-12-02T13:19:00.000-05:00

This was another game that was beaten the week it came out. Yes, I took a week off to assassinate people in the Third Crusade... and it was quite an adventure. The story took me about 30 hours to complete. It is a very good game but a different one--I was hooked. Would I play a sequel? Yes... I also think I would play Splinter Cell: Conviction because the gameplay seems similar. I will deduct one point from the score just because it was a little too long for my taste but there is some replay value. When time needs to be wasted, I will go back in and collect flags and kill more Templars.

9/10

P.S. I know you will notice that Mass Effect was longer and I didn't complain about it being "too" long. The reasoning behind this is that Mass Effect constantly had me involved in the games vital story decisions which affected many elements... all games need this! I think Splinter Cell, Bioshock and other games like these make decisions like these available to you. This had me in a zone and I completely forgot about time when I was playing.

Mass Effect

2007-12-02T13:17:00.000-05:00

And so I beat Mass Effect. It was over a 50 hour adventure for me but your mileage may vary. I cannot say anything more than wow, what a good game! If I go into details, I might spoil this week-long movie for those that play it. IMO, it was the perfect blend of action and story.

10/10

Rhythm 'n Notes

2007-11-14T05:12:00.000-05:00

So there's this new game called Rhythm 'n Notes that I played and here's my review:

The game is ugly but the focus of the game is music. In any case, the game must've had an art director that should have had better taste. Minus one on that. The game started off easy and became real challenging at the end--just as expected and well executed! My only problem is that is you are not disciplined enough to learn the rhythms inside out (100%), you will get bored FAST with this game. There is no point in learning new rhythms if you cannot internalize them. Anyway, above all that, it might be a nice companion to some ear training for any musician that is looking for an change in their training, even though it is one of the ugliest games I've seen.

***/5 Stars!

Guitar Hero 3 - Hard Difficulty

2007-11-12T08:55:00.000-05:00

So far, the game has been very addicting. As of now, I have 5-starred all the songs in the first 5 sets. I only have two 4-star songs in the 6th set to go. Set 7 gets a little harder and set 8 is ridiculous. I have beat all the songs on hard except for Lou. I can't beat this boss (yet) because he gets to attack first--I sometimes lose immediately depending on his first attack. I have gotten as far as collecting two attacks and have launched them at the same time but I can barely get him into the red. This feels like an expert battle. The game must almost impossible on expert.

The Galaxy is All Around Us!

2007-11-12T08:47:00.000-05:00

Wow... and so I went to pick up my Leira from work last night and she immediately took me to mid-town around midnight. She mentioned something about buying me a birthday present so I could've sworn we were going to the Virgin Megastore (because they usually close later than usual). It turns out we made a left turn and we started going East. Before I knew it, we were standing in front of Nintendo World as they closed the shop. Leira used her charm to let us in and after her cute show, she sped-walked to the counter and bought me Mario Galaxy. The game is amazing! I've only played upto the first boss but I'm sure I'll be stuck on it for a few more hours.

Whoohoo!

Guitar Hero III

2007-10-28T20:07:00.000-04:00

Guitar Hero III has sincerely exceeded my expectations. I woke up early and went ahead to the mall to purchase the game. I then assembled the guitar and make a wireless connection--by this point, I'm already impressed. I proceeded to beat songs the way I know how and then there was a BOSS BATTLE... I had to face the guitarist from Audioslave! with a song he wrote for Guitar Hero III! After I kicked his ass, I faced Slash, and a few other people I care not to mention (because I'm not a spoiler). To sum it up: fun!

Anyway, I logged onto the forums so I can link my account to my online guitar hero stats and all I found was a bunch of pre-pubescent kids that like to argue about nonsense... I didn't bother posting but I figure the developers are working on getting us all connected.

P.S. GH3 looks great on my 42" in HD!

No Chance

2007-10-24T23:22:00.001-04:00

Read the third and eigtheenth bullet in this F.A.Q.:

GH3 F.A.Q.

And tell me what you think.

List of Games I've Beat

2007-10-20T15:11:00.000-04:00

Here is a short list of games I've beaten in my lifetime. The list is not long at all considering I've been playing games for over 20 years. I will add to this list as I jog my memory.

assassin's creed - XBOX 360
bomberman - gameboy color
clay fighter - SNES
contra - NES
donkey kong country - SNES
eternal champions - GENESIS
god of war - PS2
god of war 2 - PS2
guitar hero - PS2
guitar hero 2 - PS2
guitar hero encore - PS2
guitar hero 3 - XBOX 360
halo 3 - my first FPS ever (on XBOX 360)
kid icaris - NES
killer instinct - SNES
march of the minis - NDS
mass effect - XBOX 360 (my first RPG)
metroid - NES
mk: armageddon - Wii
mk: deadly alliance - GBA
mortal kombat - GENESIS, SNES, GBA
mortal kombat 2 - GENESIS, SNES, GBA
mortal kombat 3 - GENESIS
new super mario bros -NDS
panel de pon - NDS
primal rage - SNES
rayman raving rabbids - Wii
rygar - NES
samurai shodown - ALL
street fighter 2 hf/turbo - GENESIS, Wii
super mario bros - NES, SNES
super mario bros 3 - NES, GBA
super mario world - SNES
super street fighter 2 - SNES, ARCADE
tetris attack - SNES
ultimate mortal kombat - SNES, PS2
weaponlord - GENESIS

I dare you to compare this list against the list of movies you've seen.

Unreal Tournament III on my ATI x1600

2007-10-15T22:31:00.001-04:00

It is already shaping into a beautiful/scenic game. You will also have the pleasure of splattering your opponent all over this eye-candy.

My New 42" HDTV (LG, Model 42LB5D)

2007-09-28T19:03:00.000-04:00

...

Today, I present to you the new addition to the family. Meet my 42" HDTV. You can see pictures of me playing Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (on my Wii @480p), isn't she a beauty?

It took me a couple of days before I found settings that were satisfying but it was well worth the time that I took to tweak it.

.

Mini-Golf, Go-Kart, Batting Cages... etc.

2007-09-04T08:47:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I went to a small family park out in Pennsylvania with a couple of friends and family. Here are some pics of the mini-golf setup... it was fun playing in such a cool environment.

And here's a pic of Leira in the cage:

Time for a Random Pet Picture

2007-09-04T08:46:00.001-04:00

My New Chess Set

2007-09-04T08:43:00.000-04:00

Um, I don't know how the aluminum foil dude got in there but here is my chess set--it's made out of glass.

Solved the Rubik's Cube...

2007-09-04T08:37:00.000-04:00

...with my left hand in under 5min. To experts, this time is really slow but it is a real accomplishment for me. It's incredible how some guys can solve it in under 2min blind-folded!

A Woman Sitting, 08/28/2007

2007-08-29T09:11:00.000-04:00

Took me a couple of hours to complete but I finally molded the drawing to what I wanted to. And to remember the moment (read: the process), I framed it for my wall... Now I have to choose what wall to hang it up on.

What Happens When the Wall Comes Down...

2007-08-17T11:22:00.000-04:00

...

The Last Cap!

2007-08-14T14:38:00.000-04:00

Sean has been working hard on building his cap pyramid. He finalized another portion of it. It's a great feat!

Anniversary Dinner Pictures

2007-08-12T21:18:00.001-04:00

This post had to start off with a picture of Buffer. He's always up to no good but you gotta love him.

On Friday night, Leira surprised me with an amazing meal. She cooked an outstanding black bean chili with corn bread cakes. We later made left overs into Sloppy Joe's and today we ended the weekend with Chili over Rice. To top it off, Leira also made an out-of-this-world pineapple cake that we are still trying to devour. It's a tough disappearing act but someone's gotta do it.

I had to top the Chili Dinner so I retaliated with Green Chicken Blue Fried Rice. It was mixed with grape tomatoes and garnished with very orange carrots. The meal was amazing but her endless expression is what made this moment priceless.

Window Guard Installation Complete!

2007-08-08T14:53:00.000-04:00

Neatness counts:

After all the hassle with having the steel company creating a window guard with proper measurements, the adventure now ends with a successful installation by me.

Chicken Pad Thai

2007-08-08T14:27:00.001-04:00

The chicken was seasoned with minced garlic, sea salt, fresh ground pepper & paprika. It was then diced into spicy rice noodles. It was goOoOOoooOoood.

How Often Does This Happen?

2007-08-08T13:50:00.000-04:00

I just bought 5 pounds (5x16 oz = 80 oz) of hay from a farmer on ebay. The situation is so strange. This year is definitely an interesting one!

New Member to the Family: "Buffer"

2007-08-05T02:31:00.001-04:00

I'm not allowed to have cats or dogs in my building so I got something just as cute and quieter; I got a rabbit. He's only 6 months old and newly adopted and most definitely huggable.

The Menu is Expanding

2007-08-03T19:18:00.001-04:00

And here we have garlic steak with yellow rice and a side of crispy green lettuce. The colors are nice as they are but if you throw a banana in there, wonderful things start to happen. I LOVE FOOD!

Late Night Snack/Dinner

2007-08-02T00:08:00.000-04:00

Anna and Suzán were over today... it is great having visitors and it's so easy to entertain being that I have so many toys. They were immediately hooked on Guitar Hero and Wii Sports. After they left, I decided to make a late meal. 'Twas a good evening.

I am not allowed to post any pictures of the girls because according to them, they "look(ed) like crap". No more can be said. And no, the chicken isn't burnt, it is just browned very well. It was really juicy and tasty.

Busy, Busy & Busy

2007-08-01T18:08:00.000-04:00

It's been extremely busy at work... it's also been very busy at home. This means I haven't gotten the chance to study or do any of my other hobbies on my free time because there isn't any free time. I hope life balances out very soon.

Framed

2007-07-29T19:35:00.001-04:00

Pretty Day So Far

2007-07-29T19:18:00.000-04:00

Leira and I went to the Guggenheim to see The Shapes of Space Exhibit. There were only a handful of things worth seeing, amongst them, was this disco floor area that was pumpn' hip hop.

The hunger hit after almost an hour hunt for a "good" exhibit, so we went home while brain storming our next exciting meal. This is what we came up with:

And here are some other random pictures of the day:

Check Out "The Lewie Burger"

2007-07-28T22:02:00.000-04:00

What's on the burger? American cheese, caramelized/sautéed onions and peppers over a fried egg. The beast was accompanied by roasted baby potatoes. It could've literally fed a small army of two.

My New Frames

2007-07-28T11:57:00.000-04:00

Here are photographs of amazing framed photographs on my wall.*

*Courtesy of The Dyer Family. Thank you!

A Good Meal

2007-07-26T19:05:00.000-04:00

It all started in the morning. I dropped a couple of frozen chicken breasts in the sink and left them to defrost. As soon as I got home from work, I decided to mix in some paprika, sea salt, fresh ground pepper and extra virgin olive oil into a measuring cup. I then used this mixture as a rub all over my chicken breasts... I then stuck them in a ziplock in the fridge for a couple of hours. When hunger started to hit, I began to cook the rice and beans... it was the easiest part of the meal, honestly. Before the rice was ready, I started to cook the chicken and this is the result:

Goya Flan

2007-07-25T18:00:00.000-04:00

I took my first crack at making Flan today... no it wasn't from scratch but with some help of my buddy Goya, I was able to make 8 servings of 90 calorie pieces of good tasting Flan.

Another Thing Off the List

2007-07-25T13:30:00.000-04:00

I can now scratch "Napkins" off the list. I went shopping to Super Stop and Shop yesterday and got more of the cooking essentials. I'm probably going to scratch off the bike off the list too because it's an extra expense I don't need right now.

Another Off the List

2007-07-24T11:58:00.000-04:00

a) Air conditioner
DONE: I called my building's management department and removed the charge for this year. The summer is almost over so this is a great place to save a couple of bucks. Plus, I won't have to buy an AC this time around...
b) Install my fire escape guard
DONE: I ordered the window guard to custom measurements and it should arrive tomorrow.
c) Get internet access
DONE: The cable guy is coming in on Friday to install my cable internet connection.
d) Get home owner's insurance
e) Napkins/Paper Towels
f) Bicycle

Apartment Pictures

2007-07-23T23:35:00.000-04:00

So Much Done, So Much More To Do!

2007-07-23T10:00:00.000-04:00

And so I'm back at work after a long home work weekend. My home is (nearly) completely setup; all I need are a few more things and I'll be good to go.

a) Air conditioner
b) Install my fire escape guard
c) Get internet access
d) Get home owner's insurance
e) Napkins/Paper Towels
f) Bicycle

Hopefully I can get these things out of the way soon. Also: I will post pictures up soon.

And It Happened!

2007-07-20T10:42:00.000-04:00

"It", of course, being the big move! Took me only a couple of hours of casual moving to move 90% of my stuff. I left my PC behind because of the stable work connection that I have going here. I think I'm going to end up calling the cable guy :)

Closing Today!

2007-07-19T09:20:00.000-04:00

And so today is the day that I officially close the deal for my apartment. It should go smoothly being that today is a nicer day than yesterday. The original closing date was supposed to be yesterday morning but my lawyer was stuck in LI because of flooding... I don't understand how we can be ready for war but not rain.

Look at all the Characters...

2007-07-17T01:20:00.001-04:00

Now I feel like I finally accomplished something today. Have a look! Tons of custom made characters all on the screen :)

HSync + 2.6uS - 66 cycles!

2007-07-16T23:26:00.000-04:00

That idea in the title saved my program from looking undesirable.

Also, I'm not going to worry about the shearing at the top of the screen. The reason this is happening is because I didn't include the serrations in as part of the VSync code. I decided to flatline that section so I can include all the logic I can in VSync.

Virtual Keyboard

2007-07-16T18:10:00.002-04:00

Here is a .NET 2.0 version of what I'm trying to achieve with my PICO project. You will need .NET 2.0 runtime installed and the keys are up, down, left, right and enter.

Virtual Keyboard

Editor Update

2007-07-16T17:35:00.000-04:00

This update includes the ability to index character data ANYWHERE in ROM space. The only problem I'm having is that this operation is very costly and I'm about to start digging into the HSync signal to get more time that I can use. As you can see, the operation is causing my image to start late on the screen.

Max Brenner

2007-07-15T02:38:00.000-04:00

All I have to say is that their milk chocolate drink is godly. This was the only thing that impressed me about the place even though I really enjoyed the environment. The only down side of the experience was that I felt most of the food was microwaved and prefixed. If you don't care about these things, it's definitely a place to return too--even if it is just for the hot chocolate. I think I O.D.'ed on chocolate today.

Lewis Meet iPhone

2007-07-15T02:27:00.000-04:00

My girlfriend Leira and I took a walk down to the Apple store in midtown to check out the iPhone. I must say, it was designed extremely well. There is a learning curve when it comes to using the on screen keyboard though... I was exchanging text messages with some anonymous character in the store that wasn't too impressed yet I was amazed at the ease of use. I also tested calling out (to my phone) and back. The connection was crisp and easy to dial. The camera was just "OK"... can't expect more from a phone, not even the iPhone. The real impressive features includes the responsiveness in managing pictures and music. The fact that you can drag and throw virtual items on your phone is amazing. It's like they took Nintendo DS technology and gave it steroids. In the end, I was impressed but it is still not worth the cash. If you want a touch screen toy, get a DS. If you want a phone with youtube, get the iPhone.

Picologic

2007-07-13T21:41:00.000-04:00

More good progress. Today I broke my long source file into pieces. By breaking them down into more manageable parts, I'll be able to update the program quicker. I also rewrote eeprom_v4.src to comply with the datasheet's timing. It's not perfect but it's faster than what I had and I can use all the speed I can get. I'm going to have to integrate this version of the eeprom routines into my top file next time. I'm also going to need to write a function that polls to see if the eeprom is ready for more torture.

I also wrote a very cool simulation of the Picologic editor in C#. I will post it for download very soon...

ATC

2007-07-12T23:11:00.000-04:00

So today I had the great privilege of going up to the control center/tower at JFK Airport. Not many people are allowed up in the tower and I was there helping my buddy Dan to take pictures for our department at JetBlue.

Planning Stages

2007-07-12T00:12:00.000-04:00

Today I was doing research on how to get the most out of the SX by planning to create a text editor. Here are the functions that I have written so far:

; NTSC Functions (essential)
initGraphics
initScanline
getNextLine
drawActiveLine
doLogic
doOverscan

; Math Functions (essential)
multiply
divide

; Util Functions (essential)
writeROM
readROM

; I2C Library Functions (essential)
I2C_Start
I2C_Stop
I2C_ACK
I2C_NACK
I2C_Send_1Bit
I2C_Send_0Bit
I2C_ReceiveByte
I2C_SendByte

The SX IDE tells me that I've used up 648 words of memory space already. Considering I haven't started to write the program yet, this is over 1/4 of available space! Not to mention that my characters are taking up 392 words! That's a total of (648+392) 1k words! The first place where I'm going to start optimizing will be in the macro section.

Cleaned up Code

2007-07-11T21:34:00.001-04:00

So today I took the time to clean up the macros that I wrote for the EEPROM driver. The reason why I de-macro-fied them (yes, I just made that up) is because, if you use a macro often, it will bloat your code and I don't have much space to work with on the SX processor. I only have 2k for code and a bulk of this is already dedicated to NTSC rendering code.

I am now able to write something like this:

mov gTemp1, #$42
call writeROM
call readROM

...and just like magic, the number is stored in the EEPROM. As you can see, I pass a value to writeROM in gTemp1 because it expects for a value to be in gTemp1 :) Of course, other parameters need to be passed as well, such as the address where I will read/write the byte to.

My EEPROM Project Report

2007-07-11T02:04:00.000-04:00

First of all, the thing that benefited me the most was the fact that I read the datasheet so often that I was almost able to recite from it. Another GREAT document that I found was Parallax's (Ubicom) I2C Virtual Peripheral Implementation. Even though the code is all over the place, (I took very few peaks) the document is very well written. Pages 1-4 and page 22 were most useful.

The most confusing part of this project was the fact that you have to drive a bi-directional line, and the best way to do this is by constantly switching the direction of the ports. Having the latches set to zero, and a pullup on the input, allows you to simultaneously set to input and set the line to HIGH and also setting to output and setting the line to LOW. This was difficult to understand the first time when reading through the text because there was all this talk bout "releasing" the lines on the bus.

The toughest part of reading the chart was understanding what happens after you sample the ACK bit from the slave. The SDA line goes high only because the slave RELEASES it after it receives the falling clock from the Master. This seems to be a known fact in every document I read even though there was no mention of this clock cycle (except for the illustration drawings with no markups around it). I was sorta forced to understand this the hard way... tons of trial and error (and loss of sleep).

Four to five days into my project, I rewrote the driver to always drive (SCL always set to output) SCL and only switch directions on SDA. This actually gave me a very promising results even though I couldn't successfully read the eeprom using this technique. The reason I say it gave me good results is because my oscope readings look identical to what they are supposed to be.

A few hours ago, I started to really stare at my oscope readings and noticed that even though they match the diagrams, they DON'T show when a device a driving the line. This is when I decided to drive both lines by switching ports (on SCL and SDA). By doing so, this means that when I set them both to HIGH, this also means that I'm "releasing" the lines. I also decided to make sure that all my low level functions in the building block mixed in match well (there were some minor visible glitches but I don't think this was a major issue). I drew out SDA and SCL manually from my code into Excel and greyed out each of the blocks into different shades of grey and copy and pasted until all of the blocks worked and flowed into each other.

The lessoned learned is that in an open drain system, like the I2C bus, you can't always have control of the bus even if you are the "Master". The protocol is easy but delicate.

BTW!

2007-07-11T01:09:00.000-04:00

I popped in the EEPROM chip that I have into the HYDRA and they are identical to the ones it is designed for. They work like a charm. The one that was already on the board was a bit tricky to remove but I used needle-nose pliers and everything turned out just fine.

SUCCESS!!!

2007-07-11T00:51:00.001-04:00

I hung in there (for a long week) as I started to feel that I was going to loose it. I want to thank Andre' Lamothe and the Parallax community for giving me great tips on how to get my EEPROM working. Being that this is my first I2C project, I am totally high on the fact that it's complete and now I can move on to the second part of my project.

::sighs::

It is Driving Me Mad!

2007-07-09T23:35:00.001-04:00

Maybe I've been working with a zapped chip? I don't know but this is frustrating now. I've seemed to match the EEPROM's I2C spec to the "T" and nada. I think I need to take a break from it for a couple of days.... sorta like a college essay??

More Electronics Pictures

2007-07-09T01:48:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures of my EEPROM setup:
Labeled Top View and 3/4 Top View

EEPROM Still Consumes Me!

2007-07-09T00:02:00.000-04:00

I've dedicated many hours this week to getting this I2C protocol to work with my EEPROM. It has cut into many of my other studies and I am absolutely obsessed with this and I won't stop until I get it to work. I am running out of things to do but that's a good thing. That means I'm closer to the answer. Here is my latest research so far:

Write Byte Figure

-and-

Read Byte Figure

These figures show that everything is working smoothly, (because I get ACK's back from the EEPROM) but my read function always seems to read back 0xFF's. This is a big issue.

I Must Like Torture!

2007-07-06T10:09:00.000-04:00

After reading the EEPROM's datasheet over (several times) and researching articles on I2C, it seems to me that the amount of work that I'm doing to get the EEPROM working is enormous. Of course it is a learning experience but with each hour that passes, my goal gets clearer.

The funny thing is that the overall outline for this protocol seems so simple that I thought I would've had this done already. Well, it's back to the assembler.

EEPROM Interfacing with my XGS PICO

2007-07-03T23:23:00.000-04:00

So after re-acquainting myself with SX Assembly and memory layout on the PICO (which uses the SX28 microcontroller as its "brains"), I decided to dust off some devices, one of which is an Atmel 24C1024 EEPROM. The device offers 1MB of non-volatile memory and after reading the data sheet, this is what I would have to do, to read a single byte from any memory location in the device:

------------------------------------------------------
READ: (Assuming port directions are set with each i/o operation)
Setup by holding SDA high, then SCL high
Send Start by bringing SDA to low

Use neg logic to clock out so bring SCL down
Send %10100000, this sequence initiates a fake write so we can retrieve "last address read"
Loop until the SDA line is 0

Bring SCL down again so we can clock out
Send out high byte of data address
Loop until the SDA line is 0

Bring SCL down again so we can clock out
Send out low byte of data address
Loop until the SDA line is 0

Setup by holding SDA high, then SCL high
Send Start by bringing SDA to low

Bring SCL down again so we can clock out
Send %10100001, this sequence initiates a the read
Loop until the SDA line is 0

Make sure SCL is high because we need to use positive logic to clock
Clock in 8 bits as data

Setup for stop by holding SDA low and SCL high
Send a Stop by bringing SDA high
------------------------------------------------------

My only concern is that I plan to use this device to store and read data in real time while I'm sending a signal to the TV. This signal cannot be delayed so I hope the EEPROM is fast enough!

The Logo Language

2007-07-02T23:08:00.000-04:00

Can you say "turtle"? I've decided to take on another challenge. Andre' LaMothe designed a tiny version of the XGS ME that is named the XGS PICO and he's dying for someone to create a Logo Interpreter for it. There are only 2KB for code and 128 bytes for RAM so it's going to be an interesting ride. I believe interfacing EEPROM to it via 2 lines is very do-able. This way I can manage an additional 128KB to 256KB of memory. As of right now, I'm still trying to work out blurry lines to see if this project is even within my reach.

Good Progress

2007-07-02T08:45:00.000-04:00

It turns out that the expression parser that I wanted to write is almost complete. It can compile code for complicated numerical expressions and store it away in a variable. The only thing I have left to do is code in function calls and leave room for using the values of variables. It's very cool if you ask me.

My First AJAX Page

2007-06-29T19:45:00.001-04:00

AJAX Demo

Shebang!

2007-06-29T00:13:00.000-04:00

So it turns out that if I write out a shebang (#!) at the beginning of a script file, followed by the path to the interpreter, like so:

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby

...and use:

chmod +x myscript.rb

...to change the script's permission to "executable", this will allow your scripts to simply be typed in the bash shell just like any other command.

About to Start Ripping Out my Eyes!

2007-06-29T00:04:00.000-04:00

Why? Well because I've spent the WHOLE evening following a really long and precise tutorial on how to install everything from Ruby to Rails to MySQL all through bash, the UNIX Terminal application for OS X (Tiger). This is actually my second attempt at this long process and it worked smoothly. I hit some bumps the first time around because my Tiger installation was very unstable. To top that off, I was typing in commands in tcsh, which was supposed to be upgraded to bash--They both open as "Terminal" on OS X. Anyway, at least the system is working now.

Compiler Design Resources

2007-06-28T12:47:00.002-04:00

I'm currently reading an awesome resource located here.

PowerBook G4 Resurrected

2007-06-28T11:50:00.000-04:00

Dan has decided to contribute to the resurrection of my Mac. I told him that if I had the four rubber feet on my laptop, it would encourage me to do more Ruby and contribute to his project. So because of this, I am definitely motivated to wipe out my hard drive and start from scratch. My laptop will strictly be a development machine.

Recursive Descent Parser

2007-06-28T00:02:00.000-04:00

What in the world is a recursive descent parser? Well wikipedia says it "...is a top-down parser built from a set of mutually-recursive procedures (or a non-recursive equivalent) where each such procedure usually implements one of the production rules of the grammar. Thus the structure of the resulting program closely mirrors that of the grammar it recognizes.

Or as Andre' Lamothe told me, the expressions are structured something like this:

expr -> term + term | term - term | term
term -> factor * factor | factor / factor | ( factor )
factor -> number | -number | expr

And this is what I found on wiki:
void factor(void) {
if (accept(ident)) {
;
} else if (accept(number)) {
;
} else if (accept(lparen)) {
expression();
expect(rparen);
} else {
error("factor: syntax error");
getsym();
}
}

void term(void) {
factor();
while (sym == times || sym == slash) {
getsym();
factor();
}
}

void expression(void) {
if (sym == plus || sym == minus)
getsym();
term();
while (sym == plus || sym == minus) {
getsym();
term();
}
}

Back to the Drawing Board

2007-06-27T21:11:00.000-04:00

It seems to me that I didn't work out all the details before I started coding my little parentheses parser. As of now, I can successfully extract embedded terms from an express like: (3*(5+(3/5))-4) Since all I'm doing is drilling down into the expression while finding pairs of parentheses. The program breaks when I enter in something like this: (3*(5+(3/5))-4)-(3*3) Recursive functions anyone?

My First Parser in C#

2007-06-27T18:06:00.000-04:00

So tonight, I will try my hand at writing a simple expression parser in .NET using C#. It's not going to be a full-blown expression parser but I would like it to be able to solve something like this:

((3*5)/2-5)+2

And return a value of 4.5, and so I will post my progress. Stay tuned.

So Bush Vetoed Another Bill

2007-06-24T14:43:00.000-04:00

Bush still has his morals confused. The man vetoed a bill because of moral reasons and this discussion has nothing to do with code so I will digress. So I will soon be starting Part III of the Hydra book. Even though the book has been very simple so far, the techniques that I've learned have been very valuable to me. It's incredible that on a system that can't even multiply and much less find the square root in hardware can easily create game physics simulations. This will forever amaze me.

Everything Has a Beginning

2007-06-22T14:38:00.000-04:00

It's a good year. New Blog, new apartment, new gigs, and most importantly, I am learning new computer languages. Ruby happens to be one of the new languages and it is as easy as the creator says it is even though I'm not used to its syntax. C# is another language that I picked up this year because .NET is something that I need to know. The language is super easy for me because I'm used to the ECMAScript standard and C/C++ type of syntax. Another language that I'm learning is SPIN. I use SPIN to program my multi-core processor chip on my Hydra game system. It kicks ass. I hopefully will be able to produce a few games on my Hydra this year. Let's see how dedicated I'll get to posting over here...