Coder`s Daily News

GTalk + AIM = a kind of love

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:53:00 +0000

A new feature for Google Talk popped out today. You can now chat withAIM friends..What? From GTalk? So now you can talk with AIMfriends from Google`s browser interface which is quite good too...butthere are already a lot of other web interfaces for AIM Google? ...why use this one? When will the same features be integrated in the Google Talk program? And another big question...why did Google choose AIM?

.Net 3.5 Training kit

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:37:00 +0000

Microsoft just launched the .net 3.5 framework and announced the launch of Visual Studio 2008 RTM that is available to developers that are subscribed to MSDN. In order to help developers they have also shipped out a training kit that contains materials that should get most developers up to speed on .net 3.5 .
Have fun!

Are you an IT consultant?

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 08:02:00 +0000

Have fun watching this :)

Serializable dictionary in C#

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 14:47:00 +0000

Did you ever need to serialize a generic key-value dictionary like the Dictionary class? Well in .Net that class is not serializable, in fact the interface IDictionary is not serializable for some unknown reason so all the classes that implement the IDictionary interface (SortedDictionary , Dictionary ) can not be serialized unless you specify some custom code.
The best code I have found online is written by Paul Welter and you can see it here. I needed to implement a SortedDictionary so the only change I made to that code is implement the SortedDictionary instead of the Dictionary.

Yahoo! in ads by Google?

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:34:00 +0000

Microsoft is next?

www.audi.com vs audi.com

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 12:04:00 +0000

So...why the difference? Did the webmaster never think that someone might waht to see audi.com and not www.adudi.com

The sky is not the limit

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:29:00 +0000

Google added a new feature to their Google Earth project. Now you can explore the sky using the old tool that used to explore "only" the Earth and the Moon.
Happy Exploring!

VS 2008 Beta 2 is out!

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 06:26:00 +0000

I`ve been using the beta for a while and it behaved very well(a big improvement over the VS2005 beta 1 which was not polished at all). The beta 2 also has a Go Live! license that you can use. Can`t wait for the final edition :).

What if?

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:34:00 +0000

What if you were in the year 1995 a year when the internet was just about to start the big bang...what if you had to plan it all again...what would you keep...what would you do to keep the internet an entertaining yet full of information place? Would you still build MIRC and stay on the chat all night long? Would you still think that instant messaging in the future? Would you still but a copy of Windows 95? Would you still encourage the creation of Google(and if so would you let it change the way the web works forever). Would you still put Google`s adsense on your web page just to get that 5C/click?
Or would you just keep it clean...the old fashion way..with a few tables here and there but with no real disrespect to the user...with real information on a page and not with lots and lots of ads about the searched topic...
In real life we have the garbage man to take the garbage to the garbage container...in the virtual world there has never been someone to do some cleaning...
What if?

Designer -> Developer -> User ?

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:36:00 +0000

3D rendering using javascript, dom and CSS

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:51:00 +0000

UselessPickles.com offers a nice example of building 3D models in using javascript and dom which is kind of cool. Also has a nice way of creating triangles using just plain html.

When LINQ meets the UI

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 07:43:00 +0000

Scott Guthrie has a nice set of tutorials on his page and the latest tutorial explains the link between linq and the User Interface. Nice reading.

Learn Silverlight and Blend

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:35:00 +0000

Nibbles offers some quick tutorials for Silverlight and Blend. Quite a nice reading.

Always on top

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 17:37:00 +0000

I've always wanted to be able to control which window is on top but as most programs do not have this option getting one window to stay on top can prove difficult. I've now found a nice tool that lets you do just that. It just adds a pushpin to the window and it will stay on top. Quite a nice tool.

Saving the planet comedy central style

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:53:00 +0000

Let`s grab some icecream...So true...

Read a book

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 15:30:00 +0000

Probably the most educative hip-hop out there..

Microsoft vs Google

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:51:00 +0000

Did you know that you could download the Google toolbar for IE from a Microsoft site?

Silverlight vs Flash

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 09:56:00 +0000

This game got famous today on digg.com. It`s a really nice flash game which requires logic. Loved the game but..when I read a MS blog I got to another Silverlight sample game. If you take a closer look at things you can see that the concept of the game is the same. I wonder how much time was needed to create the game in Flash and Silverlight. Until we find that out..enjoy the games.

Silverlight samples and code

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 09:12:00 +0000

If you enjoyed Richard Zadorozny`s bar chart, pie char or the graph you can now download the source code. This is the best way you can learn Silverlight programming.

(source)

Old News

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 08:46:00 +0000

I know it`s old but it`s a new Opera Mini. And I love it. It even features a mouse which is really great when navigating(you can see a video of all the features here). I have had some problems with it when the EDGE connection was bit slow(actually the app crashed) but overall it`s superb.
I also enjoyed the Opera Mini vs IPhone video

ReSharper

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:50:00 +0000

If you are using ReSharper then you have to check out this tutorials. Will be worth your time.

Are you a good programmer?

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:46:00 +0000

A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing

Learning programming in 10 years..just so so true..

Draw it like you mean it...

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:03:00 +0000

It`s been a long time since the first FREDO&PID`JIN comic and now it`s your turn to draw...and win stuff..Click here for more details

The Start Function(Part 4)

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:58:00 +0000

This is part of a series of articles that shows the creation of a Silverlight game. Please read part 1,part 2 or part 3 if you haven`t done so yet.

   1:  void Start(int size,double blockProbability,Point StartPosition,Point EndPosition)

The Start function receives 4 parameters:

size - the width and the height of the board.

blockProbability - the probability of a blocking block to appear. Should increase as the level gets higher.

StartPosition - the point of origin for the red rectangle

EndPosition - the point where the red rectangle needs to get(yellow rectangle)

   2:          {

   3:              startPoint = new Point(StartPosition.X * multiplier, StartPosition.Y * multiplier);

   4:              endPoint = new Point(EndPosition.X * multiplier, EndPosition.Y * multiplier);

5:

We use the multiplier in order to transform from logical points to real pixels and we initialize the startPoint and the endPoint variable.

   6:              NextLevel.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;

   7:              NextLevelText.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;

   8:              Congratulations.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;

Here we just hide the Congratulations text(should only be visible when the user wins), the next level button which should also be visible only when the user wins and the text on top of the next level button.

   9:              steps = 0;

  10:              isMoving = false;

  11:              map = new int[size, size];

  12:              int unpassable = 0;

Here we initialize some counters. First the number of steps that the user has made must be 0. Then we say that the red rectangle is not moving. Also we initialize the map that will be composed of 0s and 1s and we initialize the variable that counts the number of unpassable regions.

  13:              for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)

  14:              {

  15:                  for (int j = 0; j < size; j++)

  16:                  {

  17:                      map[i, j] = (r.NextDouble() < blockProbability) ? 1 : 0;

  18:                      map[(int)StartPosition.X, (int)StartPosition.Y] = 0;

  19:                      map[(int)EndPosition.X, (int)EndPosition.Y] = 0;

  20:                      if (map[i, j] == 0)

  21:                      {

  22:                          AddNewRectangle(new Point(i , j ), Colors.Green);

  23:                      }

  24:                      if (map[i, j] == 1)

  25:                      {

  26:                          unpassable++;

  27:                          AddNewRectangle(new Point(i , j ), Colors.Black);

  28:                      }

  29:                  }

  30:              }

Setups the map that will be displayed. The map will be completely random and will display in avarage (blockProbability*100)% unpassable blocks. We also increase the counter of unpassable blocks each time we generate one. The function AddNewRectangle just adds a new rectangle to the board and will be discussed later.

  31:              Unpassable.Text = unpassable.ToString();

  32:              CurrentLevel.Text = level.ToString();

We display the number of unpassable blocks and the current level on the screen.

  33:              //setup visibility and location of helper objects

34:

  35:              Congratulations.SetValue(Canvas.TopProperty, size * multiplier + 5);

  36:              NumberOfSteps.SetValue(Canvas.TopProperty, size * multiplier + 5);

  37:              NumberOfStepsText.SetValue(Canvas.TopProperty, size * multiplier + 5);

  38:              NextLevelText.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, size * multiplier + 40);

  39:              NextLevel.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, size * multiplier + 5);

  40:              Restart.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, size * multiplier + 5);

  41:              RestartText.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, size * multiplier + 30);

  42:              UnpassableText.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, size * multiplier + 19);

  43:              Unpassable.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, size * multiplier + 107);

  44:              CurrentLevelText.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, size * multiplier + 5);

  45:              CurrentLevel.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, size * multiplier + 107);

46:

47:

Because the board of the game si expandable we need to keep the buttons out of the board region so we move them dinamically.

  48:              //setup the main objects:the start and the end(start is the moving object)

  49:              end = CreateSpecialRectangle(EndPosition, Colors.Yellow);

  50:              start = CreateSpecialRectangle(StartPosition, Colors.Red);

  51:              //setup event handler for the end object

  52:              end.MouseLeftButtonDown += new MouseEventHandler(r_MouseLeftButtonDown);

  53:          }

We then create the special rectangles that will move and will represent the end point. We also wire up an event that fires when the yellow rectangle is pressed.

The rest of the functions will be discussed in part 5.

To download the entire project just click here

Starting the C# code(Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Vlad) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:14:00 +0000

So with the static part in place we need to get the game moving...But first we need some class variables that will help within the project:

   1:          //the level

   2:          static int level = 1;

   3:          //the number of times that the user moved the rectangle in this round

   4:          static int steps = 0;

   5:          //the probability that the block generated is a blocking block(cannot pass through it)

   6:          static double blockingProbability = 0.03;

   7:          //the current destination point of the moving rectangle

   8:          Point toMove;

   9:          //the start point of the round

  10:          Point startPoint;

  11:          //the end point of the round

  12:          Point endPoint;

  13:          //true if the user rectangle is moving

  14:          bool isMoving;

  15:          //keeps the map

  16:          int[,] map;

  17:          Random r;

  18:          //the height of the generated rectangles

  19:          const int height = 19;

  20:          //the width of the generated rectangles

  21:          const  int width = 19;

  22:          //the multiplier by which the matrix location is multiplied (Ex if multiplier is

  23:          //20 than the location (1,2) on the map will actually be shown at

  24:          //(20,40)

  25:          const int multiplier = 20;

  26:          //the start rectangle

  27:          Rectangle start;

  28:          //the end rectangle

  29:          Rectangle end;

  30:          //the board size

  31:          static int boardSize = 10;

This variables are all straight forward and are explained through comments. They will be explained in more detail later on when we get to the functions implemented.

Now that we have the variables in place we need something to initialize them. This is where the Page_Loaded function comes into place:

   1:          public void Page_Loaded(object o, EventArgs e)

   2:          {

   3:              // Required to initialize variables

   4:              InitializeComponent();

   5:              r = new Random();

   6:              timer.Completed += new EventHandler(timer_Completed);

   7:              Restart.MouseLeftButtonDown += new MouseEventHandler(Restart_MouseLeftButtonDown);

   8:              RestartText.MouseLeftButtonDown += new MouseEventHandler(Restart_MouseLeftButtonDown);

   9:              NextLevel.MouseLeftButtonDown += new MouseEventHandler(NextLevel_MouseLeftButtonDown);

  10:              NextLevelText.MouseLeftButtonDown += new MouseEventHandler(NextLevel_MouseLeftButtonDown);

11:

  12:              Start(boardSize, blockingProbability, new Point(r.Next() % boardSize, r.Next() % boardSize), new Point(r.Next() % boardSize, r.Next() % boardSize));

  13:          }

This function initializes the random number generator on line 6. Then we use some event-handlers. The objects timer,Restart,RestartText,NextLevel,NextLevelText are all decalred in the XAML file.

The timer is a storyboard variable that is used in order to create the animation for the movement of the red rectangle.

The restart object is a rectangle used as a button.

The RestartText object is just the text that is displayed on the Restart rectangle.

The NextLevel object is a rectangle used as a button.

The NextLevelText object is the text displayed on the NextLevel rectangle.

All the events that were wired here will be explained later on.

Next we call the Start function that is the core function of the game as it creates a new level and initializes the gameplay. It will be explained in the next post.

(See part 4)