Synaptic Sugar

Building a model of the (first version of the) fascinating German Enigma cipher machine, the same machine that gave the Allies more than one headache during World War II, is as easy as printing the PDF document found on Mike Koss’s paper Enigma page, cutting out strips and putting them together. The result is a 3-rotor Enigma without the ring settings or the plug board, but that captures the main working principles of the real machine. A great educational tool, and a great addition to your squadron of paper airplanes or your team of paper communication operators.

Source: Schneier on Security.

I recently posted a video depicting a parody of the fitness videogame known as “Wii Fit“, for the Nintendo Wii gaming console ("Stay fit with Wii"). For fairness, and for those who don’t own a Wii, I must now post a video that shows how you can stay fit with the Sony PS2 while playing games. The gadget shown in the video is real, and works simply by plugging a PS2 game controller in it: it only lets you play your game while you’re working out, and if you stop the controller stops working. Who said spending hours playing videogames is bad for your health?

The Fall is already past and the Winter has already come, but there’s always time for some reading suggestions, following the trend started by one of my earlier posts last Summer ("Light summer reading"). As some of you know I’m currently working on a 3D game engine and a sample game built with it; also because of that, during the course of these colder months, I’ve read, am reading, or will read, the following selections:

Ultimate 3D Game Engine Design & Architecture, First Edition, by Allen Sherrod, 586 pages (CD-ROM included), ISBN-10: 1-58450-473-0 - a book about the fundamentals of 3D game engine development that covers engine cores and their main features, together with the most important subsystems (input, sound, networking, graphics, physics, artificial intelligence, scripting). The volume uses C++ as its language of reference, presenting sample code for the game engine and for two small demo games that use it, developed around both OpenGL (for Mac OS X and Linux) and DirectX (for Windows), while exploring the surface of other open- or closed-source libraries (such as OpenAL or XInput). Overall, a good book, which unfortunately is forced to not descend into detail too much by its choice of target and size (each subsystem would require a much larger book by itself to be described the right way), while nevertheless being able to explain the basics in a clear manner, offering much food for subsequent thought.

Game Programming Gems, First Edition, by Mark DeLoura, 600 pages (CD-ROM included), ISBN-10: 1-58450-049-2 - the first of many in the Game Programming Gems series that should be on the bookshelf of every game programmer and recommended by many successful professionals in the field. The book is organized as a series of game programming tips, often specific and to the point, on topics ranging from memory management to pathing strategies to collision detection. While some may frown at the idea of it being “only” a collection of unrelated articles, most of which are probably available somewhere on the Web, having such a collection in a single book is invaluable, and the various “gems” are definitely worth their price.

123 Robotics Experiments for the Evil Genius, First Edition, by Myke Predko, 355 pages (PCB included), ISBN-10: 0-07-141359-6 - a collection of simple experiments for the hobbyist, aimed at teaching the basics of robotics and have fun on the way. I got this book as a Christmas present and was surprised to see the level it quickly advances to, going from simple models built with used toilet paper rolls (seriously), that are used to show how limbs and joints in a human-like figure move, progressing through materials, electronics, magnetism, all the way to showing how to build simple yet working robots that sense and follow lights or walls, or use the GPS interface as a navigational aid — all quite inexpensively and in-house. Even if this book clearly won’t grant you a job at DARPA and may cover some areas that may be considered too basic by some (but shouldn’t be underestimated), it’s still full of useful information that is presented in a fun yet detailed way (the name of the book series “for the evil genius” sets the tone for the presentation of the experiments). I will definitely look into others from the same series.

Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs, Third Edition, by Scott Meyers, 320 pages, ISBN-10: 0-32133-487-6 - another valuable book that presents an assortment of suggestions for C++ developers on how to improve their programs by following sensible design techniques and a handful of simple yet effective devices to avoid memory leaks, incorrect data type design or wrong template use and management. Clearly not aimed at complete beginners, it is a great resource to continue training in the ways of C++ after one has mastered the language basics, or for most of those who believe they have also mastered its more advanced features but are likely to have missed something along the way.

Time being one of the scarcest resources on Earth, it’s always a good way to spend it by enhancing one’s education. The book on how to have more time during each single day still eludes me — but I will continue my search for it.

And so it came to pass that I also received a shiny new Darth Vader (Ep. IV) Force FX Lightsaber for Christmas. The lightsaber is an officially licensed collectible replica of the weapons of choice of Jedis and Siths alike from the Star Wars movies, and I can testify that it’s quite accurate in its design, even if, as stated in the instructions manual that accompanies it, the hilt has been made slightly larger than it is in the movies to accommodate the electronics and battery compartment (see below). This doesn’t make it in any way too heavy or cumbersome, I actually found this particular model (there are others too) surprisingly well-balanced and it didn’t take long before I felt confident enough with it to start swinging it around like I was beheading Tusken raiders left and right. In fact, you can see one of my own action shots above, the capture of which is now a tradition among lightsaber owners.

I mentioned batteries earlier; these lightsabers are, as a matter of fact, equipped with motion sensors and able to play different digital sounds (taken from the movies) when powered up and down and moved around (there’s more than one sound effect for movement), and also feature a steady hum when idle and a clash sound effect played when they hit something and come to an abrupt halt. The polycarbonate blade does not retract in the hilt, but is instead fixed and contains a string of 64 ultra-bright LEDs that light up in sequence when the lightsaber is powered up, projecting a light that is in turn skillfully diffused by the blade itself to hide the single LEDs; the result is quite realistic, even more so in the dark, where you can’t see the blade if it’s off and the final effect is that of a blade of light extending from the hilt or retracting towards it. Playing with it is a lot of fun, and the polycarbonate is sturdy enough that you can hit many things without it getting damaged, although dueling is explicitly not recommended and not covered by the warranty.

The only problem I’ve encountered with it so far was a minor one: the battery compartment (this beauty uses 3 AA batteries) was a bit loose, and the metal ring at the end of the hilt that keeps it in place wouldn’t actually hold it firmly enough. This would make the lightsaber turn off and on randomly when swung too hard; I cut a small disc of heavy paper and inserted it between the hilt ring and the battery compartment, so that the extra material would do the trick and fix the issue. It did, and in fact the malfunction is now gone and I went back to slaughtering Banthas. There’s a variety of models to choose from (availability varies), but why settle for Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber (seriously?) when you can have Darth Vader’s red? May the beheading be with you.

Here’s a funny video parodying the popular (?) game Wii Fit for the Nintendo Wii gaming console. Enjoy.