I’ve not long got a new PC and my first Windows 11. As usual, I set it up the way I like it.
Then, I boot up to find Edge has opened all my Chrome tabs.
The weeks go by and I see reports of the same thing on YouTube.
And now today, I’m getting emails from Microsoft asking me to recover my Google account through them.
Hmm
It’s extremely important if you are taking a laptop to an interview to showcase a project that you’ve been working on to thoroughly test it before going. I found this out recently.
It was a Node JS project I had been working on for about six months, it loaded up, built and ran fine the night before and even on the morning of the interview. Doubts that anything could go wrong just didn’t exist. This project was working.
But that wasn’t the case in the end.
During the interview I booted up, loaded the project in as I had been doing, no changes to the system or project. Then I ran the project and opened up the page in a web browser.
Garbage! That’s what I got on the screen. Just garbage!
According to the output log from the project it was all going fine, but that’s not what was on the screen in the browser. I could see some of the text and icons but they were all squashed up on the screen. Argh! I thought. How could this happen?
I had to resort to just explaining the project and apologising for the failure for it to work properly.
Interview over and headed back home on the train. Furious at myself for this to happen.
Whilst on the train, I opened up my laptop to write a thank you email for the interview which I had to connect to my phones hot spot. Email sent, I decided to open up the project to quickly see why it all went wrong. The project ran, I opened it up in the browser… And it just worked!
After a very short investigation I found what the problem was. A CSS file was being requested from a CDN (content delivery network) which when connected to the internet could get access to and use in the project. During the interview, I did not connect to the internet and the CSS file was not loaded into the page. No layout information, colours, nothing…
So that was it. No internet. Project cannot access that single CSS file.
Of course now I’ve added the CSS file directly to the project and it does work completely offline.
Lesson learned.
After a thorough going over of the code, I’ve managed to get this one working. Although painfully slow, at least it works. In the future I will be looking at other algorithms which are much faster. I only remembered this one from a long time ago so I just thought I’d have a go on my own without any help with implementing it.
// File: generate.agc
// Created: 19-09-21
/*
Attempting to generate a maze using a decent algorithm.
Unfortunately this particular algorith is painfully slow,
but for the time being, it does work.
*/
type MAZE
seed as integer
wid as integer
hgt as integer
maze as integer[0,0]
endtype
function maze_get_odd_random(max as integer)
val = random(0, ((max - 2) / 2)) * 2 + 1
endfunction val
function maze_not_visited(obj ref as MAZE, xpos, ypos)
val = obj.maze[ypos, xpos]
endfunction val
/*
The width and height have to be even numbers.
NB: In AGK this means 0 to width (as even) for example
NOT 0 to width - 1
*/
function maze_gen(obj ref as MAZE, wid as integer, hgt as integer, seed as integer)
obj.seed = seed
SetRandomSeed(seed)
obj.wid = wid
obj.hgt = hgt
/*
Wierd way of assigning a multidimensional array
Assign the first dimensions length
And then assign the length of each separate part
ie.
a[0].length = 5 (giving a[0,4])
is not the same as
a[1].length = 10 (which gives a[1,9])
Also, AGK arrays end with the value assigned.
ie. length is 10 so the array goes from 0 to 10
instead of 0 to 9.
*/
obj.maze.length = hgt
for c = 0 to hgt
obj.maze[c].length = wid
for x = 0 to wid
obj.maze[c, x] = 1
next
next c
/*
If I remember correctly, I choose a random cell.
But, it has to be, erm, ODD or EVEN???
I will find out...
It has to be odd.
*/
currentx = maze_get_odd_random(wid)
currenty = maze_get_odd_random(hgt)
// set position to 0
obj.maze[currenty, currentx] = 0
done = 0
repeat
// iterations to run through (might increase)
for route = 0 to 63
/*
Basically direction is UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT
*/
direction = random(0, 3)
select direction
case 0:
if currenty - 2 > 0
if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx, currenty - 2)
obj.maze[currenty - 2, currentx] = 0 // clear path
obj.maze[currenty - 1, currentx] = 0 // between
endif
dec currenty, 2
endif
endcase
case 1:
if currenty + 2 < hgt
if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx, currenty + 2)
obj.maze[currenty + 2, currentx] = 0
obj.maze[currenty + 1, currentx] = 0
endif
inc currenty, 2
endif
endcase
case 2:
if currentx - 2 > 0
if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx - 2, currenty)
obj.maze[currenty, currentx - 2] = 0
obj.maze[currenty, currentx - 1] = 0
endif
dec currentx, 2
endif
endcase
case 3:
if currentx + 2 < wid
if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx + 2, currenty)
obj.maze[currenty, currentx + 2] = 0
obj.maze[currenty, currentx + 1] = 0
endif
inc currentx, 2
endif
endcase
endselect
next
/*
Print this mazes iteration (just for testing)
*/
Print( ScreenFPS() )
maze_print(obj)
print("Calculating...")
sync()
/*
Check if maze is done (the silly bit)
*/
done = 0
for h = 1 to hgt - 1 step 2
for w = 1 to wid - 1 step 2
if obj.maze[h, w] = 1
done = 1
exit // quick exit if not done
endif
next
if done = 1 then exit
next
until done = 0
endfunction obj
function maze_print(obj ref as MAZE)
print (obj.wid)
print (obj.hgt)
//print (random(0, 2) - 1) // HUH
for h = 0 to obj.hgt
s as string = ""
for w = 0 to obj.wid
if obj.maze[h, w] = 1 then s = s + "#" else s = s + " "
next
print (s)
next
endfunction
// File: generate.agc
// Created: 19-09-21
/*
Attempting to generate a maze using a decent algorithm
*/
type MAZE
seed as integer
wid as integer
hgt as integer
maze as integer[0,0]
endtype
function maze_get_odd_random(max as integer)
val = random(0, max / 2) + 1
endfunction val
function maze_not_visited(obj as MAZE, xpos, ypos)
val = obj.maze[ypos, xpos]
endfunction val
/*
The width and height have to be even numbers.
NB: In AGK this means 0 to width (as even) for example
NOT 0 to width - 1
*/
function maze_gen(obj ref as MAZE, wid as integer, hgt as integer, seed as integer)
obj.seed = seed
//SetRandomSeed(seed)
obj.wid = wid
obj.hgt = hgt
/*
Wierd way of assigning a multidimensional array
Assign the first dimensions length
And then assign the length of each separate part
ie.
a[0].length = 5 (giving a[0,4])
is not the same as
a[1].length = 10 (which gives a[1,9])
Also, AGK arrays end with the value assigned.
ie. length is 10 so the array goes from 0 to 10
instead of 0 to 9.
*/
obj.maze.length = hgt
for c = 0 to hgt
obj.maze[c].length = wid
for x = 0 to wid
obj.maze[c, x] = 1
next
next c
/*
If I remember correctly, I choose a random cell.
But, it has to be, erm, ODD or EVEN???
I will find out...
It has to be odd.
*/
currentx = maze_get_odd_random(wid)
currenty = maze_get_odd_random(hgt)
// set position to 0
obj.maze[currenty, currentx] = 0
done = 0
repeat
// iterations to run through (might increase)
for route = 0 to 3
/*
Basically direction is UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT
*/
direction = random(0, 3)
select direction
case 0:
if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx, currenty - 2) and currenty - 2 > 0
obj.maze[currenty - 2, currentx] = 0 // clear path
obj.maze[currenty - 1, currentx] = 0 // between
currenty = currenty - 2
endif
endcase
case 1:
if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx, currenty + 2) and currenty +2 < hgt
obj.maze[currenty + 2, currentx] = 0
obj.maze[currenty + 1, currentx] = 0
currenty = currenty + 2
endif
endcase
case 2:
if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx - 2, currenty) and currentx - 2 > 0
obj.maze[currenty - 2, currentx] = 0
obj.maze[currenty - 1, currentx] = 0
currentx = currentx - 2
endif
endcase
case 3:
if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx + 2, currenty) and currentx + 2 < wid
obj.maze[currenty, currentx + 2] = 0
obj.maze[currenty, currentx + 1] = 0
currentx = currentx + 2
endif
endcase
endselect
next
/*
Check if maze is done (the silly bit)
*/
for h = 1 to hgt - 1 step 2
for w = 1 to wid - 1 step 2
if obj.maze[h, w] = 1
done = 1
exit // quick exit if not done
endif
next
if done = 1 then exit
next
until done = 0
endfunction obj
function maze_print(obj ref as MAZE)
print (obj.wid)
print (obj.hgt)
print (random(0, 2) - 1) // HUH
for h = 0 to obj.hgt
s as string = ""
for w = 0 to obj.wid
if obj.maze[h, w] = 1 then s = s + "#" else s = s + " "
next
print (s)
next
endfunction
Not quite working… Need a nap… Not well…
So I got an algorithm done last week that produced a perfect maze. Unfortunately though, I wiped my 2 x 1Tb SSD’s on my PC and didn’t back up the code.
So I am starting again.
(I’m not too good by the way, so I am documenting this)
I didn’t want a recursive algorithm because I think that on low end architecture this would be bad for memory usage. This meant that the algorithm would possibly be slower. For a 40 by 40 maze it would still be instant, even though there was a silly check in there.
Here goes. (back soon with some snippets)
I’m using AGK and will port everything to C.
Okay, now that Christmas and New Year is finally over and I’ve got pockets like a white eared elephant, I decided to have another blast at these tuple things because they were doing my head in.
All along I’ve been thinking that a class/struct would be much better. In most cases I would be right, but then I thought, “Hang on, this is C++. Let me check if I can return a tuple from a function.”
Hey, turns out I could.
#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <tuple>
using namespace std;
auto get_tuple(string name) {
return make_tuple(name, 1);
}
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
auto t3 = get_tuple("FOO");
auto t4 = get_tuple("BAR");
cout << get<0>(t3) << endl << get<0>(t4) << endl;
return 0;
}And voila, just like that I can now return multiple values from a function.
The one thing you have to be careful of is the setup. A typo mistake or a type mistake can and will cost hours of debugging so be wary of things like this:
auto t1 = std::make_tuple("foo", 1, 2);
auto t2 = std::make_tuple("bar", 1.0, 2);Now even if I added to the first tuple “foo”, 1f, 2, this would not match the second as the second tuple uses a double value. A pain for debugging.
Just the fact you can return multiple values of data without having to define a complete struct or class is actually quite a nice addition.
I have done some research into tuples now and found that these use cases are good, but for larger data, it is so much better even to still use a struct/class because with the above examples you still are having to use index values to access the data items. Where as a struct/class, the data items are named.
Although this however can be overcome by using enums, larger tuples are very likely better off being converted to a struct/class.
Even after 35+ years of programming I’m still learning.
Time to move onto something else… Bigger…
Been busy working on my secret project.
It was tough to accept the change from my old website (wlgfx) to this new one (csnorwood), but I couldn’t ignore the benefits.
Yes, this is going to affect the search engines for some time but I’m used to that. I can still slowly build stuff in the meantime while the web crawlers do there stuff.
It’s highly unlikely that the the old web address is even going to link back to this new one, but what the hell. Time to move onward and upwards.
Okay, so my server is currently running on Java and makes use of DataOutputStream and DataInputStream. And whilst I’m on a rewrite, I need to wrap those into C++.
Which I thought might be a tad difficult…
It turns out that Linux automatically handles UTF-8 strings out of the box, so sending and receiving string is of no consequence. Which was one of my main worries before I looked into everything else which slowed down the transition. Java’s DataOutputStream writes it UTF-16 strings as UTF-8 strings over the wire. That’s that problem solved.
The other problem was wrapping the socket connection. Sorted. Easily done by returning the error status on every call and handling the active status of the socket.
The last problem was wrapping the Java functions for sending a Long, Int, Byte, String, etc… These need to be in network byte order, which is not little endian. I’m just going through that now.
Oh yeah, encryption using a Cryptographic Secure Pseudo Random Number Generator. Done and implemented to match perfectly the Java version… For now.
So hopefully soon, I’ll be able to test run this wrapper ready for a production run.
“I feel almost like a god!”
To have my own software running in the cloud and being able to serve its purpose, ‘feels good’.
Yes, I’ve had one of those moments of personal successful achievements accomplished.
Or something like that.