Monday, January 31, 2005
Raising the Bar
I managed to get my hands on this in the Game sale on Saturday for £12, and it's well worth it. It makes you realise just how much hard graft went into both Half-Life games. Kudos to Prima and the writers and artists for a beautifully-presented tome.
And, no, no comments on how I could have bought it even cheaper from somewhere else!
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Friday, January 28, 2005
w00t! Second post!
Working in computers isn't just about being small enough to squeeze your way into those little cases any more. No, you have to know your stuff. For instance, when I started at my latest job, the water-cooler conversations went something like this:
Guy A: "So, with the latest .NET CTS incorporating Generics, do you think we should re-engineer the MVC controllers and our custom collection classes?"It's an industry where even the phrase 'Three Letter Acronym' has been shortened to its three letter acronym. For some, like me, it's a convenient shorthand, like waving hello or patting a co-worker on their bottom to show you like them. However, for evil managers the TLA is an item in their armoury, to be stored alongside useful words and phrases like "factor", "visibility", "going forward" or "I'm off to play golf with the company director."
Guy B: "Hmm. That's a tough one. Arguably our perf would benefit in the long run, but I'd have to compare the IL from both approaches."
Guy A: "That's true."
Me: "For God's sake, could I please get some water?"
What I'm trying to say is that it's easy to confuse with pointless verbiage on the one hand or geek-speak on the other. I really admire authors who can convey technical detail with clarity and wit, without dumbing-down at one extreme or even worse, blinding with science. I hope I'll improve in this regard, and maybe that's where this blog will take me, but who knows? For now, I'll leave you with this classic:
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/retro.html
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