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Messages - foobio

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Well, figuring it out slowly.

As the saying goes ... RTFM ... haha.

I do find the lack of a switch irritating ... but the Dictionary stuff is pretty cool I guess.

I did notice that these latest UO client patches are integrating with a LUA engine ... as evidenced by all the .LUA stuff in the enhanced client directory ...ha.  Also noticed that the dopey new Map utility (which seems rather buggy on the east-west coordinates) is leveraging the UO LUA featureset.

Haven't really jumped into exploring just what our benevolent masters at EA have done with this latest advance ... but I am sure they haven't overachieved on the functionality.

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.NET Programming / Re: Who?
« on: April 30, 2012, 11:32:51 AM »
There is a good overview of WPF on MSDN:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms754130.aspx

What I like about WPF is that the underlying graphics technoligy is NOT GDI/GDI+ ... it is DirectX.  Better yet ... it bases its scaling on a system DPI setting versus the physical display.  This makes UIs much more sane.

In terms of UI ... even the lamest of appications can get anti-aliasing and transparency and transforms the work to the graphics card.  However - if you aren't at vista or better ... you aren't getting the benefits of WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) since the older OS don't support it.

There is much good in WPF .. Silverlight is a step up on it.  In WPF, you have the DirectX dependency which limits you to MS platforms.  The eventing model is better as well ...

In Silverlight - drawing is further abstracted.  THis provides some more open platform independence.  Silverlight has an oper-source counterpart "Moonlight" based on the Mono project.   Outside of Visual Studio ... haven't really played with any open source alternatives.  In my day job ... I use Visual Studio 2K10.


http://www.silverlight.net/

The link above is where you can snag the SDK and other useful tools.

In both cases they are based on XAML (Extensible Applications Markup Language) ...   (pronounced zammel) ...  the link provided above gives a brief overview of XAML. 

I like XAML since it completely decouples the business logic of drawing the UI from the code.  For example - winforms ... everything is C# or your favorite managed language and it is defined in code.  As you drop stuff on the design surface ... it becomes part of the class.

Thus - you compile it ... the UI is pretty much as ugly as you make it.  Personally - I have the artistic sense of a rock and many may think my choices of styles and colors suck.

With XAML you can quickly alter the look and feel without dipping into the code and refactor the UI without having to dig in the logic.

HTML 5 is the next step ... it is XAML like in the way it is structured.  The distinction is that it further abstracts the concepts of drawing canvas and applications.  Have just started playing with this ... but I would guess it is going to get more traction since an abstract drawing canvas and UI layer makes a really broad application possible.  i.e. Android, MacOS, JVM, Windoze, Linux would run the engines that do the bindings to the OS and the underlying engines and a common application would be run in the environment of the host.

In terms of my programming tools mentioned i.e. Infragistics, Telerik, ComponentOne ...

www.infragistics.com
www.telerik.com
www.componentone.com

They are all just providers of libraries for different technologies ranging from Winforms to Silverlight to HTML 5 frameworks.  Licenses for these cats ain't exactly cheap ... but if you are doing some coding for profit ... they do offer some really lightning fast alternatives to stock MS stuff.

And, of course, I can always be pursuaded to build a DLL based on some of their stuff which can provide better functionality when required, hehe.



3
All,

The only dumb question is the one you ask ...

Just joined the site.  Still lurking around a bit and feeling around in the dark.  Is there a thread in the forums talking to best practices and design patterns for LUA and general script building.

Foo's second law - someone smarter than you has already figured it out.

(Foo's First law - what is clear to you - is clear to you)
(Foo's Third law - attach yourself to revenue and distance yourself from cost) < those of you who program for a living should live by this one!!

Have sifted through the LUA site and gotten the basics of the language ... and I see the genetic code of oeuo as well.  But ... It always helps to start coding in a manner that won't make the reader's head explode.  In my day job ... we have style checkers and build agents that force compliance ... so I have become a bit complacent in living in the real world.

Regardless - I will most likely stumble upon something ... but it doesn't hurt to stop and ask for directions. 

4
.NET Programming / Re: Using RichTextBox (barf)
« on: April 28, 2012, 05:14:15 PM »
Microsoft stuff in general isn't that hot for performance.

I think the data grids in .net were coded by a room of monkeys with typewriters.  We have gone 3rd party for all UI elements.

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.NET Programming / Re: Who?
« on: April 28, 2012, 05:12:34 PM »
All this talk about .NET lib versions and nothing about how much WinForms Sucks ... USER32.dll should swim with the fishes.

Personally, have found better alternatives in WPF and Silverlight.  UIs are much cleaner and behave much better under different resolutions.  Faster, cleaner ... better.

And, of course, XAML just sounds cool (zammel).

Oh, and by the way ... I have migrated to .NET 4.0 on all my projects that use MS technology.  Much more optimized under the hood and the WCF enhancements make it well worth the migration since I am working a great deal in Web Service land. 

Of course - I do shy away from the stock MS stuff and deal more with Infragistics, Telerik, and ComponentOne.

Data grids in Microsoft land make databinding feel like chewing on tinfoil.

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New member introductions / Hello ... and all that happy stuff ...
« on: April 28, 2012, 02:11:46 PM »
Gretings.

foobio here.  About me ... well, I have been playing UO since Beta.  Which means about what ... 15 years?  Longer than some of you have been alive?

Yes ... that is way too long.  Walls have fallen and governments have collapsed ... origin is now a dopey game downloading service ... Richard Garriott is still light in the loafers (and still rich) ... and EA still gets paid by me for the terrible customer service and less than spectacular product that is UO ... and the virtue system is still not implemented.  Imagine that.

So what keeps a bitter UO player like me around?  Tough question - that.  Probably the fellow players I guess. Or could it be I get to ride dopey Ethie mounts around banks to validate my status as one who has played this game way too long.  Take your pick on the answer.

As far as UO goes, I  mostly jump between the Chesapeak and Baja Shards.  When I was younger and full of a bit more energy I also spent a great deal of time on Catskills and Atlantic too.  

In terms of my history with UO ... I have done about everything in UO from being one of the original counselors (if anyone can remember that far back) to serving time in jail for macroing on trapped wandering healers in my house (also doubt anyone remembers that far back) to being a PvP god.  The PvP god phase is long since gone since I just don't have the ambition to change any of my templates and develop new skills.  There was a time when foo ruled the shards ... but those days are long ago.

Presently, I am just a simple UO player who is playing ancient templates waiting for the good old days to return.

So, Leaving my stratics attitude at the door ... which ... since I forgot my password to stratics long ago ... has already been done well before I got here ... I am now introducing me to you.

As for the attitude I bring?

Well, I guess it is one of a long-term UO player who still occassionally enjoys the game and quite painfully knows of all the shortcomings in the User Interface and game system and has always made it his mission to adapt and overcome these limitations.  Indifferent? perhaps ... but certainly not holier than thou.  If it weren't for macroing ... I would be begging for fishsteaks at a bank somewhere versus having great wealth in castles and houses and virtual pixel crack.

In terms of skills and things to bring to the community ... In real life I am a software engineer and have even wrote some of my own UO stuff in the past ... Footility was a nice little 8x8 autotraining app I wrote that drove boats around many servers back in the day.  And, Of course ... it is also now quite useless given the long ago nerfing away of 8x8.

What brings me to this site?

 ... dunno ... the clever introductions forum?  

Regardless of the motivation here I am.  

What I contribute remains to be seen ... After all, I am getting on in age and my wits are fading by the day.  I may be nothing more than a lurker or the next greatest thing since imbuing ...

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