How do you pronounce “Linux”?

I used to pronounce “Linux” with a hard “i” [as in "Aye, aye, captain!"], since it rhymes with the way we pronounce “Linus” in English.

Seems natural, doesn’t it?  I mean, considering that the creator’s name is “Linus”, right?

However, Linus Torvalds is Finnish, and in Finnish, the pronunciation of the “i” in his name is closer to a hard “e” (not a hard “i” as in English — his name is more like “Lee-noose” than the English “Lie-nuhs”), so he says that Linux is pronounced with a soft “i”. I assume that he feels a soft “i” is closer to a hard “e”, and I would agree — not that it matters at all what I think — he’s the creator of “Linux” and can pronounce it any way he wants — even if he decides the correct pronunciation is “Eunuchs”.

Did I go there?  Yes, I did.  Sorry, but look up more info on “Unix”, and you might be surprised…

On that note, Linus tells us how to pronounce Linux with a soft “i” in this YouTobe (and also his name — in 3 languages, no less — show off! j/k).  Not that this is anything new, but at least I’m glad I finally understand it.

Tryin’ ta git back ta duh bloggin…

As you can tell, there was a really long gap in my posting. During that interim, I had worked on several posts, but none of them were completed. There are a few reasons for that:

1. I like to make my posts as clean and clear as possible, so I tend to spend a lot of time writing them.
2. The posts I had been working on are quite long, so there is a lot that needs to be edited.
3. I’ve been trying to delve into topics that are not yet “solved” (e.g. parallel programming). I’m still trying to formulate my own thoughts on those topics, so I’m never sure how to present them.
4. I also write on topics that go against the grain of “accepted practice”. That requires compelling arguments to keep people from thinking I’ve gone bananas, e.g. a post about why innovation isn’t always a good thing… See, bet you’re thinking “bananas” already [you'll understand when I get to it].

Anyway, the end result is that I haven’t posted anything.

So, I’m going to get back to it by breaking up long articles into series of posts. That will probably be better, anyway. Who really wants to read a gigantic article all at once?

Now I just have to figure out a good way to link series together so they can be found as a unit (on the off chance you do like reading gigantic articles after all).

There is no rum in frustum

One of my co-workers has been finding (and sometimes correcting) typos in our code. One of the typos (which is in almost every game engine at one time or another) is “frustrum” instead of “frustum”. I suggested that we compile a list of common typos and title it “There is no rum in frustum”.

My “Production Diary” entry posted on Mercs 2 website

My “production diary” entry was posted on the Mercs 2 website about an hour ago. I tried to have a little fun with it, so we’ll see what people think…

GDC call for submissions

The GDC call for submissions just opened, and I’ve been thinking about presenting a lecture for GDC 2007. My current project at Pandemic Studios would make for a good presentation, but preparing a GDC lecture (along with a paper) is a huge time investment. First, you have to prepare a summary, then you work with a reviewer/editor to revise the summary, write a paper, and create a PowerPoint presentation. Then you have to practice the lecture, preferably in front of an audience. Preparing for my lecture on the Full Spectrum Warrior Camera System in 2004 seemed to eat up all my spare time, so I’ll have to think if over before making up my mind.

E3 stuff

I know…over a week after E3 ends is a little late to be writing about it…

The exciting part

Mercenaries 2 was being shown to the press at our Pandemic (and Bioware) booth. I'm always excited when the project I'm working on is at the show. It's nice to meet people who are interested in what you're doing, especially after you've put in so much effort getting your game ready for the show.

Impression

My impression (which is shared by many attendees I spoke with) is that there wasn't anything that "blew me away". Sure, there were some especially nice looking games/trailers (e.g., Crysis, MGS4, Assassin's Creed) and some innovations (like the Wii controller), but there wasn't anything that seemed stand-out amazing.

My theory is that games have matured to the point where everyone is pretty much state of the art. So, most products have great graphics, fluid gameplay, outstanding SFX, etc. The people that are ahead of everyone else aren't that far ahead any more–there just isn't enough headroom left to make a giant leap.

Celebrity sighting

My celebrity sighting of the show…

I was standing near a kiosk when I notice security guards scurrying about. Then, I see some guy walking and a herd of people following him. I think to myself "He looks familiar…but who is he? Warren Spector? Why would so many people be tailing Warren?"

Then he walks by, just a few feet from me. I spot his nametag:

Steven Spielberg.

So, that explained the crowd (and the security). A pretty cool celebrity sighting in my book. Yeah, he was probably there to promote a game, but it was neat to spot him on the show floor.

Pseudorandom number generators (PRNGs)

Here's a good article on PRNGs (specifically, the "LCG" variety).  My favorite is the 32 bit "super-duper" generator that simply multiplies the current value by 69069.  It's fast and also has one of the best distributions of the simple PRNGs.  Although this is not good enough for cryptography or scientific applications, it is just about perfect for games.

Gonna have to move my posts the hard way

It looks like I'm not going to have much luck moving my old posts to my new website by an automated method, so I'm going to start doing it by hand.  I hope I get the timestamps right…

WordPress ups and downs

WordPress.com went down today, which was a little spooky. Coincidentally, I had just done my first RSS backup last night. Now, the servers are back online and all appears to be well. Hats off to them for getting everything back into working order.

Trying to move posts to new blog

Since WordPress.com added the ability to host multiple blogs under one user account, I've decided to move John's Rambles to a new blog.  This blog (the one you're reading now) will live on as my "techie" game programming site.

Unfortunately, I don't know if there is a way to move posts from one WordPress.com blog to another, so I posted a support request.  I also found this related thread, but it's about moving data to a different host (instead of WordPress.com).

At the very least, I found out that I can use the RSS feeds to make backups, which is nice to know…I feel a lot better when I can make my own backups.

C Reference Guide

I found this C Reference Guide online while trying to determine if the keyword const is actually part of the 1990 ANSI C standard (apparently it is).  It looks reasonably complete and well organized.

Little Miss Information or Alotta?

I’m facinated by how information and mis-information spread on the internet.  Certain types of information (e.g., specific programming techniques) tend to be highly reliable, while others (e.g., word origins and “urban legends”) tend to be highly un-reliable.

It’s not just that some information is generally reliable and other information is a little less so–it runs to extremes.  If you find programming API (Application Programming Interface) documentation, it’s probably about 99% accurate.  However, if you receive a random email about the etymology (origin/history) of a word, it’s probably got a 90% (or more) chance of being in-accurate.

I think it’s partially a case of how simple it is to verify the information. 

For example, if you’re programming Windows and you read a website that says to call a particular API function to perform a task, you can add the function call to your code and it either works or it doesn’t.  You get immediate feedback.

But, something like etymology is a bit more difficult to verify (but not if you know where to look).  And the same holds for urban legends.  However, when you find a site, how can you verify that they really know what they’re talking about?

You can’t (at least not by any simple means).  You’re left on your own to figure that out.  Still, you can sometimes make progress by eliminating unreliable sites, and hopefully word will spread about the really good ones (like snopes urban legends mentioned above).

I find it a bit unnerving to think about the sheer amount of untrue information circulating out there which is believed by millions.  It may seem insignificant–just silly urban legends, who cares if we believe ones that aren’t true?

But I think that view is short-sighted.  The problem is that, even with trivial things like urban legends, we are being conditioned to accept information without being critical of it.  And, it seems likely that this will lead to being less critical of non-trivial information.

And that could be dangerous, especially when you consider that the information circulated in certain urban legends (corporate slander or incorrect virus removal instructions) can already be considered non-trivial.

Fortunately, things seem to be changing.  Many of us are turned on to urban legends sites, and even if we don’t look up every tidbit, at least we can remember to take each broadcast email with a giant grain of salt.

Let’s hope that trend continues.

Decided to move my blog here.

After using Blogger for a while, I’ve decided to move on.  I really need to have categories support.  Since I was planning to use WordPress anyway, I thought I would give WordPress.com a try, so, here goes…