Survey posted 2003-11-11 20:09 by Magnus.

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Did anybody ever notice how cool that flowchart connector system on the left margin is? Gee whilikers I wish I knew how to do that! Also, does anybody know what language ticalc.org uses to manage these kind-of-automated file submissions and forums, especially the file archives which seem to automatically list all the files and subfolders in each directory of the archive. Of course I can do this with perl, but it would be a huge job to write and maintain. I was thinking that for all these stats, perl with txt datafiles for each user would work. I've only briefly worked with PHP, but it would seem to work good there too. Any webmasters care to comment?

Check our Hardware & Software page for information about what server software we use.

The custom code is mostly perl. There are a few things written in C as well. As for the non-custom software used, as Henrik says see our hardwarw/software page.

if anybody subscribes to pbml (the perl yahoo group), I'm the idiot who keeps asking about remote directory file listing and importing vars to a script through the ? mark after the filename.

...... You don't know how to get variables from the parameter string in a URL? ... http://www.perldoc.com/

Heck, you could even do it with javascript...
Wouldn't this work?:

var b;
b=window.location.href;
//analyze b to get parameters

or wouldn't this work:
var b = window.location;

I just learned that it's insanely easy in php. If i went to
test.php?id=22
to return 22, i would just
echo $_GET['id']

strSearch = St ring(window. location);
Gra bSearch = strSear ch.split("?key words=");
st rSearch = Gr abSearch[1]

Broken up, I'm afraid. Damn ticalc.org posting restrictions.

I wrote a similar file browsing system in PHP for our (short-lived) calculator group, CCoderz. (We used to be at ccoderz.org, but the domain is gone now, so don't bother checking it.)

Anyways, it was based off of a MySQL database that kept information about all the files in the archive. Each page was (due to my stupid coding mistakes) written specifically for the folder it was in, but they all dynamically generated a file table and a list of all the subfolders of the current folder. It was pretty good, albeit a bit buggy.

If anyone wants the code, I'd be more than happy to give it to you.

Yah, I personally think that i have the absolute best basic (not the language) math program, yet theres only 180 downloads. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm astounded it got 180. Its the fact that all of the really bad games i made which only took 5 minutes each got about 300 downloads each. So I guess I'm not sure what i'm complaining about. Maybe it's the fact that more people care about playing games in math class than getting an A (which is very easy with all the math programs out there). I dunno, for some reason I just love the fact that I get finished with tests 30 minutes early.

Well, take into account the fact that most techno-ILliterate teachers nake you clear your calc before anything and that may account for a lack of math program downloads. Plus.. most math progs can be better utilised if you are the programmer.

>most math progs can be better utilised if you are the programmer.

Not least because you have to make abbreviations thanks to the small screen size. Those abbreviations are usally only clear to the original coder, who came up with them.

You'd like to think that. But the fact is I don't use any abbreviations that aren't wholy obviouse. I think that if every single person who has this program in my shcool doesn't have a problem with it, then it's pretty well written. PLUS on my new update comming soon, I started using my personal menu systems which allow me to Use the Graphing screen (text)

Tell me the name, and I'll download it if it's written in assembly.

It's BASIC, what do you expect?

You guys really have a math teacher smart enough to have you clear your calculator??? Jeeze! My math teacher actually endorsed my program (its on her calculator for god's sake!). Anyway, sorry, It's not assembly. Yah It's BASIC and called "Aquations". Not Too shabby, but a super update is comming (I guess i should put that in upcomming programs, Oh well. Anyway, As for my games, I'm astonished at how many people downloaded them and I feel sorry for all of them who thought they were getting an exciting game.

>>I feel sorry for all of them who thought they were getting an exciting game.

Then why even upload them? It's just a waste of server space

That is exactly what I think. I have done quite alot of calc programming, but I haven't uploaded anything, as I don't want to upload something that isn't worth downloading.
I have, however, uploaded a somewhat stupid website! Check out www.puffy.tk! (By the way, "Puffy" is the name of that little penguin in the comics.)

MWM

Because everybody does when they're excited about making a new program. That's why the screenshots are important, to see for yourself if you want to download the game or not (to see if it's worth it).

What do you mean by "everybody"? I don't do it!

MWM

Have you spent long enough on the production of any programs to at least feel accomplished enough to want to upload to show your work? Even if the program is crap, you'd still want to upload if it you spent a long time on it.

Yes, I have. I have made a pong game comparable to others out there, and a minesweeper game that alowed you to choose any board size, limited only to the amount of free RAM. I actually now wish that I had uploaded them, as I lost them when I had to reinstall windows.

MWM

Darn, you lost everything? That stinks. I never thought of minesweeper in BASIC before... that would be interesting, but the only problem is that it would be slow (but a lot of people don't care about that).

Odd. I try (but usually fail miserably) to make my crappy Basic games/progs as fast as possible for the 83+. I fail b/c I have a SE, there by making it hard to judge speed.

By the way, I seem to have encountered a strange and beneficial fluke in my OS 1.16. My billionth revision to my game 'Fast Game!' entitled prgmF (OS name) with 64 progs before it has an IS>( loop that goes faster than the program-- e.g. 4 IS increments for every 3 times thru the prog. I can't re create this by recalling or manually entering the prog to any other program. Curious, huh?

Hey! I figured out how the prog was going ridiculously fast! I had enabled 'Quick key repeat' in Mirage and run the prog, thereby (somehow) making the prog run reeally fast.

Yup. Not only calculator programs, but also a bunch of 3D OpenGL demos and games that I coded.

MWM

I'm glad we've got screenshots, but I wish there was a little bit more to help.

I don't know... maybe I'm just a little too lazy. :<)

Still, it'd be cool if there was a separate folder for "hello world" progs to help people who wanted to learn coding. I'd really appreciate not having those files mixed in with the games and/or password programs and stuff. Maybe there could be separate folders in the games folder for different genres. I think that would be a great idea. They could have adventure/sidescrollers, text-based, racing, arcade, fps, rts... whatever works.
I'd love having anything like that.

Hehe, Password Programs.
Tried SENTRY?
Available from the Web Link button, go to the TI-83 Plus section. It is written in ASM, and uses Keyhooks to block access to Apps, Prgm and Mem with a 4-digit PIN.

Server Space!? I highly dought this sight is about to run out of server space. Nonetheless, why did I upload it??? Well, why not???

Here's a reason:

>I feel sorry for all of them who thought they were getting an exciting game.

I hate stupid games that look like they're gonna be great, and then just wind up crashing my calculator or just wasting space on it (not to mention the time to dl it and everything).

First of all, if any basic game actually crashes your calculator, Your calculator has problems. Second of all, it has a screenshot. And you can plainly see that there is nothing on the screen but an X and an O. Kindof hard to mix up with an exciting RPG.

I've done it. I don't remember what I did but it was way back when the 89s first came out. Somehow I actually screwed the calc up enough that I needed to call TI. They took me through a thurough memory clear, more than just 2nd + mem + delete all. I wish I had a copy of that code now...

A BASIC program? The most a BASIC program can do is give an error. To quit, press on. For those Basic programs that are ON protected, just keep on pressing and releasing ON as quickly as possible, and you should get an "ERROR: Break" after a few seconds. Of course, the key combo you were using was probably 2ND + LEFT + RIGHT + ON. A RAM clear, useful for quitting ASM programs that have crashed. If that doesn't work, take out a battery, wait a moment (I usually wait 5 seconds), and put it back in. Your calculator will be reset, with your Flash mem intact.

No, a BASIC prog can really screw up a calc, because of a bug in the OS. For example, on the '86, if you convert an equation with certain chars in it into a string and back again, it'll add chars to the end, and if you do it enough times in a row, it'll freeze. I saw this in a post on the 86 upcoming misc programs message board, and experimented a bit myself.

If you call some asm programs or routines from your basic code you can screw up your calc too, like when you use the extfunct for the 68k calcs in a not proper way or when you run uncompatible asm programs from your basic code, although it isnt really pure basic code thought...

Dude, I said I hate *stupid* games, not basic games. Actually, I hardly mess with basic games. Also, there was a time when screenshots were not included with many programs. But even with clips, it is hard to judge the speed of a program many times. Although I value screenshots, especially animated ones, they do not always yield a good idea of the program. Of course, they don't usually indicate the stability of a program (even a basic program), either. You might have noticed that it is quite easy to include assembly Exec statements and small programs for performing simple tasks to reduce the size of a basic program and to increase its speed and functionality.

Ok, so it's possible. yah, that's it.

Not that there aren't ANY good BASIC math programs, just that there are so many that they're hard to sort from all the bad ones written by people who just got their calculators a week ago.

Ya, ya know how people that just got their calculators a week ago always ask you how you do this or something? Well, sad to say, after 2 full years of having mine, I only now learned you could turn it off using Alpha-On. Silly me. What's even sillier though, is that it never says anything about it in the manual. I dunno, I just felt like saying something

Alpha-ON only works with MirageOS or OmniCalc.

Well, I guess that would explain it then wouldn't it. I only picked up mirage a week ago so i could play bomberkids, which is undoubtably the best game ever.

Alpha+On doesn't turn the calc off, it makes it go into APD mode.
Try it - go into the catalogue, then do Alpha+On. Press On again, you're still in the catalogue. Now do the same with 2nd+On. See?

Yeah, I know! I got about 500% more hits on a stupid BASIC "kill harry potter" game I made when I first learned BASIC, while I have next to no hits on my RPG engine Redswift, which I worked on sooooo long. BTW: Don't download Redswift unless its for the code. The code is incredible but the engine is text-based and looks kindy kinky. I have a STUNNING sequel to Redswift coming out (hopefully) soon with real sprites from Omnicalc. Totally graphics-based with great looking characters and battles. So far I have the wall and character (player and generic enemy) sprits done, as well as the full-face pic (8x16 sprite) of the Thief enemy. The movement engine is complete and works great. Loading time from the original is decreased by about 50 seconds! But I doubt anybody will download it........
By the way, in case anybody cares, that lame "kill harry potter" game wasn't ever completed. I actually made it graphical with a crosshair equivilent to the DHTML one (see link) that includes a kind of Line(X,10,X,-10):Line(-10,Y,10,Y) system if you can imagine it. Check out the link for it in action. It was so much better than the one out now, but it accidentally got deleted :(
Nobody cares? No, I didn't think so.

> that includes a kind of Line(X,10,X,-10):Line(-
> 10,Y,10,Y) system if you can imagine it.

Wouldn't a

:Vertical X
:Horizontal Y

system save memory?

It'd also be faster than using Line().

yes but you have to remember this was a week after i got my calc :)