sergiosantos.info, blog & works

Book: The Ruby Programming Language

2009-06-27T23:02:00Z

Taking advantage of the recent free time, I was able to finish reading the other book I’ve bought at Sapo Codebits (the first was The Myths Of Innovation). The Ruby Programming Language is like one of those reference books, taking you through an overview of all the language features. I had already a good knowledge of the essential aspects of Ruby, but I wanted to have a full view of all it can really do.

The book was written by David Flanagan and Yukihiro Matsumoto and has what you should expect, especially when the creator of a language is one of the authors (Matz, as he is commonly known). It covers methodically each feature, even some relatively unknown like fibers and some hooks. It’s not as boring as it may sound, since the concepts are well spread across all the book, and ruby code is of fairly light reading.

I enjoyed most the functional and metaprogramming chapters. They give a good insight on all the coding possibilities. A special note to the always great why comics that illustrate each chapter cover.

It’s a good book for anyone trying to gain a big knowledge of the programming language. Not one to be read from cover to cover, but to be picked up occasional and dive in a particular topic.

June 27, 2009 by Sérgio Santos Website product book

The complete list of reviewed books.

Book: Tribes

2009-06-19T22:15:00Z

Tribes is the latest book by the well known marketing author Seth Godin. I had already read one of his books, Small Is The New Big. However, Tribes is about leadership and communities. For the author, the world is composed of groups of people sharing a common interest, the tribes. And each of these tribes needs a leader.

The book follows the Seth Godin’s usual format. It’s a collection of small rants, examples and advices, written in an active and motivational style. More than the encouragement, it’s worth for the short stories. And the book is indeed short which it’s actually not a bad thing, since the vision it’s simple to understand.

An entertaining book with an important message.

June 19, 2009 by Sérgio Santos Website product book

The complete list of reviewed books.

Perch - On demand CMS

2009-06-06T13:20:00Z

Most of the websites, specially those which represent companies or institutions have simple technology needs: just a layout/design and content that needs to be updated occasionally. The most common solutions for this are: static HTML pages (and when the client wants to change something, it calls the web developer) or a CMS (whether we’re talking about WordPress on a in-house framework).

Perch offers a solution somewhere in the middle. It creates a content management interface for a static website simply by adding a PHP tag to a block of content. Mark a text as editable, and you can start managing it at the Perch administration page. The video on their website demonstrates the process very well.

This kind of systems are specially helpful for web designers. It’s getting harder for them to keep up with all the latest programming languages and frameworks, while a platform like this fulfils the basic needs of most clients. It’s not free (£35 for each domain), but I believe many designers are willing to pay the cost for not having to worry about programming.

Rapid Prototyping Framework

2009-05-29T18:45:00Z

Most of you probably know the game World of Goo. It turned itself into one of the most famous independent games of the last years and the winner of two IGF awards.

One of the members of 2D Boy, the team behind World of Goo, Kyle Gabler, is also behind the experimental gameplay project, a “research” project focused on the rapid prototyping of simple but innovative games.

Recently they released the Rapid Prototyping Framework they been working with. Since I’m working on a computer graphics project this semester, I got curious and decided to take a peak to see how it was like.

It’s made on C++ and comes with project files for Visual Studio, but I had to set up some things before I was able to run the demos on Visual Studio Express Edition 2008. The irrKlang libray is required, so I had to download and extract it to the framework libs folder. Then I had to collect a few missing dlls to the executable folder, and that was all. The second demo that ships with the platform is the nice asteroids remake you can see here.

I still have to search a little more to know more about its insides, but some tasks like image loading or sound playing seem easy enough, as it was supposed. A good platform for simple games.

Grid based webdesign with Boks and Blueprint

2009-04-18T19:56:00Z

I’ve been researching for a while now on web design grids. Specially on CSS frameworks who do all the grid work for me. I’ve found out that the design of this blog uses the YUI Grids CSS. And after having tested a couple of them, I’ve settled on Blueprint, though I still hadn’t done any real work using it.

Then some weeks ago I’ve found Boks, an AIR application that works as a visual editor for websites interfaces, using Blueprint. And above that, I got an excuse to play with it: the new website for jeKnowledge. It ended up something like this on Boks:

Then Boks exports the CSS files and a simple HTML file with the base structure. Of course this is not the end of it if you really want to work with a grid based web design. Boks also lets you configure a baseline rhythm, the “horizontal lines” of the grid. Then you have to spend some time making sure the all elements fit neatly in the grid, to get something like this:

Of course the overall effect will be more effective in websites full of content and images, like newspapers, but it is still important to maintain consistency in simpler pages. And all the constrains grid based design impose may be seen as inspirational aids. For me, this is surely a design process to repeat.

You can find the final result at http://jeknowledge.com (I was helped with the design elements by members of the company. Not really my strong suit).

Open Journal Systems & Transformative Works and Cultures

2009-03-27T11:59:00Z

I’m not the only one to think that academic journals currently aren’t as useful as they could be. Most are still locked behind high subscription fees, big university websites or complex submission procedures. All those factors keep them away from a more broad academic, and non-academic but interested, audience.

So it was a nice surprise to discover the Open Journal Systems project by the Public Knowledge Project. It’s an open platform for creating, managing and publishing a reviewed academic journal. And, from the examples, it is highly configurable.

I discovered OJS through the Transformative Works and Cultures journal (referenced on Scene-PT). Their last number, Games as Transformative Works, features some good articles on the world around video games (players, developers, etc.), like “The everyday lives of video game developers”: http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/73/76, so take a look.

Getting tasks done

2009-03-16T19:08:00Z

Photo credits to jane in ottawa

I’m still figuring out what works best for me in getting tasks done. During the weekdays, I don’t write anything down and often work on demand, in every free time slot I get. But on weekends, on Friday, I grab a piece of paper and write down all the tasks I have to do until Monday (usually between 8 and 16 tasks), and the most important ones I mark with a circle. Then I start a kind of productive spree, nailing most of the short, easy or pleasant tasks first. By Sunday I’ll have one or two big boring tasks to do, that take up most of my day and I end the day with most of my tasks done, but never all of them.

I tried a couple of times to use software to keep track of my task list. My company even has its own project manager with action items for each person. But whenever I want to keep up with several tasks and really finish them, I stop updating everything correctly on my computer. Maybe the visual and constant feedback of a piece of paper next to me is more helpful…

And you, are you able to actively use any software to get your tasks done?

Been a bit busy lately & some great paintings

2009-03-15T20:31:00Z

The last month, since the new University semester started, I’ve been a bit busy. Besides some courses’ work and my research fellowship, I took a new position at jeKnowledge (Portuguese-only, sorry), a junior company from my University. It is undergoing some major internal changes and it’s becoming a great project to gain professional experience with. I’ll be managing the internal and external communication, branding and their new training sector, a challenging prospect.

So I’ll probably continue to post less frequently for some time. Meanwhile, I would like to share some great painting work by Lawrence Yang at blow at life. Check out this wonderful Game Over series:

Are grades really necessary?

2009-02-16T22:23:00Z

We grow up getting used to receive grades for everything we learn. During our education they range from purely qualitative grades at elementary school, to highly quantitative at high school and later at University. Yet, are they really necessary? Do they help in any way the learning process?

Alfie Kohn, a known education book author, wrote an essay called From Degrading to De-Grading stating several reasons for dropping students’ grading all together. A controversial point of view definitely, but many of the arguments sound terribly true and I can’t say I wasn’t affected directly and indirectly by some. Two selected excerpts, though I recommend reading the entire article:

Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks. Students of all ages who have been led to concentrate on getting a good grade are likely to pick the easiest possible assignment if given a choice (Harter, 1978; Harter and Guzman, 1986; Kage, 1991; Milton et al., 1986). The more pressure to get an A, the less inclination to truly challenge oneself. Thus, students who cut corners may not be lazy so much as rational; they are adapting to an environment where good grades, not intellectual exploration, are what count.

“If I can’t give a child a better reason for studying than a grade on a report card, I ought to lock my desk and go home and stay there.” So wrote Dorothy De Zouche, a Missouri teacher, in an article published in February . . . of 1945. But teachers who can give a child a better reason for studying don’t need grades. Research substantiates this: when the curriculum is engaging – for example, when it involves hands-on, interactive learning activities—students who aren’t graded at all perform just as well as those who are graded (Moeller and Reschke, 1993).

Book: It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be

2009-02-13T17:41:00Z

In a smaller than average book, Paul Arden (deceased in April 2008) speaks about life motivation and succeeding in a creative business. It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be is a compilation of short and sheet tips for constructing a better career path and achieving better results in any kind of work where mediocrity won’t suffice. Paul Arden was the executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi and worked with some important companies like British Airways, Toyota and Nivea.

While some tips are particular to the advertising business, most are general enough for anyone. The content itself is very straightforward. There are pages made of a single sentence or image. The aesthetics of the book were taken in consideration too. The typography, the layout, the images and even the paper texture, all are distinctly good looking (see images below).

It’s a short but insightful book. In the meanwhile, I’ve received recommendations on the other two books from Paul Arden.

January 13, 2009 by Sérgio Santos Website product book

The complete list of reviewed books.

Making money developing flash games

2009-02-12T17:56:00Z

With the enormous amount of flash games out there, one wonders how they really make money out of it. While some were made as an hobby, there are several producing companies quite successful.

The Gamasutra website interviewed developers on how they were making revenue, and compiled it all on the article Where’s The Cash For Flash?. The first mention is a new licensing platform: Flash Game License.

The Web site claims to have over 960 sponsors – including CareerBuilder.com, Cartoon Network, and Simon & Schuster – of which 200 view the site daily. There are currently about 2,000 games on display, created by the 4,400 developers now enrolled. Since the site was launched in April, 2008, it has brokered over 830 deals totaling almost $956,000—an average of just over $1,000 per deal. Sponsors pay no fees to become sponsors; the site takes 10% of each transaction.

But the most successful approach seems to be mixing up different revenue sources to maximize gains. For example, in the Pixel Jam’s game Dino Run the strategy is:

Stream one involved micro-transactions. [...] Step two involved advertising. [...] The third – and most successful – revenue generator involved licensing [...] Bottom line: The three revenue streams have brought in approximately $40,000 for seven months’ work with more still trickling in.

Other approach, not mentioned on the article, is using user ratings to win prizes, for example, the periodic contests at Kongregate.

All of the sudden it even seems easy making profit out of flash games. However, like in most businesses, it all comes to creating a popular brand and exploring it. The Boxhead creator point of view:

“The brand is the key thing for me; it’s number one,” he explains. “If gamers like the first game in a series, they’ll come back for more when you release the sequels. It’s just like the cinema business. That’s what drives the revenue.”

And that’s the hard part obviously.

If you’re considering entering flash game development, get ready for spending much time structuring revenue sources. Develop and release at some random flash game website won’t be enough, though the additional effort isn’t so hard as it used to be.

Microprinter: printing straight from the Internet

2009-02-12T01:05:00Z

Hardware projects like Arduino or BUG made it easier to combine all the communication possibilities of the Internet with more common in more simpler forms than our desktop or laptop computers. An older article on the Pulse Laser blog suggested a way in which special information (from the Web) could bypass your computer and end up straight on an analogue printed sheet of paper: the social letterbox.

More recently, Tom Tayler implemented a smaller prototype of that idea, integrating an old receipt printer with an arduino board connected to the Internet by ethernet. Technically, the microprinter prints all the messages stored on a message queue that receives POST requests. Using this platform any information can be automatically printed on a small and portable piece of paper. I imagine printing my twitter friends’ stream, to-do lists, directions, and a bunch of other stuff, but the possibilities are endless.

So… anyone wanting to get rid of an old receipt printer?

Engaging the crowd

2009-02-06T00:07:00Z

Crowdsourcing is common resource on today’s Internet. The book Wikinomics describes numerous ways you can take advantage of it, for example. But it ain’t an easy task to build an ecosystem where such methodology takes place, it presents new challenges and specially new ways of thinking while building applications.

Jeffrey Kalmikoff, working on Threadless (a t-shirt store that uses crowdsourcing as its business model), asked if a crowd could get tired of contributing and stated the importance of each individual’s success:

I like to think of a crowd as citizens living in a city (and the city itself is a business). The success of a city is defined by its ability to adapt to the needs of its current set of citizens. At the same time, a city is not defined by how well its citizens perform together as a group (beyond their ability to cohabitate peacefully), but by the collective successes of its individuals.

I guess it all comes to the Personal Value Precedes Network Value Joshua Porter spoke about on The Del.icio.us Lesson:

The one major idea behind the Del.icio.us Lesson is that personal value precedes network value. What this means is that if we are to build networks of value, then each person on the network needs to find value for themselves before they can contribute value to the network. In the case of Del.icio.us, people find value saving their personal bookmarks first and foremost. All other usage is secondary.

The network value here can be both the value users take from the application or the value you take for your company. Nevertheless, if can’t present value return for a single individual, you will have trouble convincing him to create value to you.

Update:

André posted a video of a panel from PICNIC including companies with business models based on crowdsourcing and creativity. It contains an interesting discussing on how do their business scale.

Academic Earth: video lectures

2009-02-01T16:12:00Z

Academic Earth is a website with video lectures from university professors, covering a wide range of subjects. Fábio Pedrosa also talked about it on his blog. They have some very good lectures like this full course on Game Theory from Prof. Benjamin Polak of Yale University (the first lecture is embedded below). And the website it self looks distinctly good. I love the “Dim the lights” feature on every video page.

Unfortunately there aren’t many Universities involved on the project. They still believe their courses are all about the content, and don’t release their notes even to the students. They will have to get used to the fact that the content is getting freely available on the Internet, and it won’t be about what they teach, but how they teach.

In the meanwhile, I hope the Academic Earth projects gains more traction and partners with more Universities from around the world.

Löve - Emotional programming for 2D graphics

2009-01-29T22:24:00Z

There’s a new platform in the race for developing graphics based experiences. It’s based on the LUA programming language and the SDL 2D graphics API, and comes with a brilliant name: Löve. As other similar projects (Processing or even Hackety Hack), the idea is to bring the power of programming to less technical hands. By removing all the complexity behind coding tools and environments and instead focusing on simpler platforms, they’re able to deliver a more instant satisfaction to the users.

I’ve already been into LUA, when I was programming some applications for the PSP console and, as most interpreted languages, is very easy to pick up and start playing with it. Additionally, SDL is a very mature API for 2D graphics, so the Löve project as definitely potential.

Here’s a quick example on how to load and print an image on the screen:

function load()
   image = love.graphics.newImage("image.png")
   x = 100
   y = 100
end

function draw()
   love.graphics.draw(image, x, y)
end

That’s the whole code: very straightforward. Löve already supports all 3 major platforms (Windows, Linux and Mac), although it’s not possible to generate executables for Mac yet. The creators took great care with the documentation (not only the presentation, though it’s quite nice).

I’ll leave you with screenshots of two projects:

Thanks _why for spreading the word.