Programming

Python Used as Modding Language for Battlefield 2 41

Posted by Zonk from the snakes-and-guns dept.
Dutch Dopey writes "In an interview with Lars Gustavsson of DICE, it was mentioned that Battlefield 2's modding tools are going to be delivered with the game, and that the tools are the same ones used to develop the game. The modding language in use is Python, and will support all aspects of the language.
Databases

Comparing MySQL Performance 362

Posted by CowboyNeal from the last-ounce-of-quickness dept.
An anonymous reader writes "With the introduction of the 2.6 Linux kernel, FreeBSD 5-STABLE, Solaris 10, and now NetBSD 2.0, you might be wondering which of them offers superior database performance. These two articles will show you how to benchmark operating system performance using MySQL on these operating systems so you can find out for yourself if you're missing out. While this may not necessarily be indicative of overall system performance or overall database application performance, it will tell you specifically how well MySQL performs on your platform."
Programming

Pragmatic Version Control Using Subversion 235

Posted by timothy from the subvert-your-own-intentions dept.
Dean Wilson writes "When it comes to software development the Pragmatic Programmers are widely recognised as masters of their trade, but with the release of their award-winning Starter Kit Series they've begun to gain a reputation for writing, editing and finding book authors that are as talented as they are. Pragmatic Version Control Using Subversion by Mike Mason is an excellent example. The book itself is an introduction to using Subversion (focusing on the command-line tools), but while it clearly covers all the essentials: basic commands, tagging, branching, etc. it also delves into some of the related, but often overlooked areas of version control. When it comes to version control systems, CVS has long been the workhorse of the Open Source and Free Software movements -- but with the release of Subversion, it's time to put the old nag to rest; and this book tells you what you need to do it." Read on for the rest of Wilson's review.
KDE

KDE 3.4 Beta 2 ('Keinstein') Released 67

Posted by timothy from the very-large-thank-you dept.
Carewolf writes "Finally the KDE 3.4 beta 2 has been released (codename "Keinstein"). Besides being the latest and greatest, it also marks the KDE 3.4 feature freeze and will provide a good demonstration of the splendors that will be KDE 3.4. Feature and release plans can be found here, and the news is also covered on the dot. Download now and help hunt the last bugs for the next major release of KDE."
Programming

Linux Application Development 171

Posted by timothy from the make-it-so dept.
r3lody (Raymond Lodato) writes "Writing Linux applications is not a simple endeavor. The Linux operating system provides a sophisticated framework for running programs, and learning how to take advantage of that framework requires some research. The book Linux Application Development, 2nd Ed., by Michael K. Johnson and Erik W. Troan provides much of what you need to know within its sturdy covers. Pitched to the intermediate to advanced programmer, all of the basic programming APIs are covered -- some in detail, some in brief." Read on for the rest of Lodato's review of this book.
Programming

How Heraclitus would Design a Programming Language 577

Posted by timothy from the aitch-plus-plus dept.
CowboyRobot writes "Developer of Smalltalk Alan Kay has an interview on ACM Queue where he describes the history of computing and his approach to designing languages. Kay has an impressive resume (PARC, ARPAnet, Atari, Apple, Alan Turing Award winner) and has an endless supply of memorable quotes: 'Perl is another example of filling a tiny, short-term need, and then being a real problem in the longer term,' 'Once you have something that grows faster than education grows, you're always going to get a pop culture,' 'most undergraduate degrees in computer science these days are basically Java vocational training,' 'All creativity is an extended form of a joke,' and 'nobody really knows how to design a good language.'"
Programming

QT/Win 3.3.3 To 'Reach Production State Soon' 114

Posted by timothy from the so-will-windows dept.
sebFlyte writes "The KDE Cygwin team are reportedly closing in on a native port for QT to allow said graphical framework to run over Windows. This has upset a few people, who think that porting open source apps to Windows is strengthening MS's near monopoly and damaging Linux." (Of course, KDE also runs on OSes besides Linux.)
Programming

Open Source Message Queuing System 350

Posted by Zonk from the web-services-with-a-smile dept.
psicode writes "John Davies has announced AMQ, an effort at JPMorgan Chase & Co. to create an open-source message queuing system that can compete with proprietary message systems like IBM MQSeries and Tibco/RV. The announcement was made at the annual conference Web Services on Wall Street during Davies' presentation on February 1. eWeek has an article today with more details and some funny statements about Red Hat, SuSE and Sun possibly integrating AMQ into their "kernel". If JPMorgan Chase & Co. follows through with their announcement and they come up with a suitable open-source license, AMQ could become the Apache of messaging systems."
Programming

Beginning AppleScript 171

Posted by timothy from the take-a-bite dept.
norburym writes "AppleScript: The Missing Manual by Adam Goldstein is part of the Missing Manual series of beginner/intermediate books published by Pogue Press/O'Reilly and Associates. This series focuses on computer products that have been released without adequate printed manuals (Mac OS X, iLife '04, Google, iPod and iTunes, Windows XP, Windows 2K, among others). I would venture that this also applies to most major software releases, which should keep Mr. Pogue, O'Reilly and their contributing authors busy for quite some time. Their newest release, AppleScript: The Missing Manual, is a welcome addition to their catalog of smart, funny and user-friendly books." Read on for the rest of Norbury-Glaser's review.
Security

Don Box: Huge Security Holes in Solaris, JVM 226

Posted by timothy from the so-this-pot-and-kettle-are-in-a-coal-mine-at-night dept.
DaHat writes "Don Box, one of the authors of the original SOAP specification in 1998, now an architect on Microsoft's next generation Indigo platform recently responded to James Gosling's remarks regarding huge security holes within the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR). Don argues that the same 'flaws' that Gosling noted in the .NET CLR exist both within the Solaris operating system as well as the JVM, both of which support execution of C and C++ code, as well as explaining why this is not necessarily a bad thing."
PC Games (Games)

Romeo and Juliet Game Post-Mortem 37

Posted by Zonk from the points-for-creativity,-to-be-sure dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Gamasutra is running a post-mortem on an interactive love story that was written by students. They were attempting a solution to the game designer's challenge from the GDC 2004. From the article: Interaction with video games is currently done at an almost entirely rational level. The player may react to a game emotionally, but the game will never know about it, and thus, never respond to it. We wanted to change this, and have the player interact with the game solely through his own emotions."
Software

Grand Unified Theory of SIMD 223

Posted by Hemos from the the-string-theory-of-SIMD dept.
Glen Low writes " All of a sudden, there's going to be an Altivec unit in every pot: the Mac Mini, the Cell processor, the Xbox2. Yet programming for the PowerPC Altivec and Intel MMX/SSE SIMD (single instruction multiple data) units remains the black art of assembly language magicians. The macstl project tries to unify the architectures in a simple C++ template library. It just reached its 0.2 milestone and claims a 3.6x to 16.2x speed-up over hand-coded scalar loops. And of course it's all OSI-approved RPL goodness. "
Programming

Trolltech to Extend Dual-License to Qt/Windows 436

Posted by Hemos from the excellent-moves dept.
scc writes " Trolltech announced today that Qt 4 will be available on Windows under the GPL. While Trolltech has long dual-licensed Qt on X11 (Linux, various Unixes), Mac, and embedded, Windows developers have had no options other than a commercial license."
Programming

Community Mesh Networking OSS 5

Posted by Hemos from the beat-big-telecom dept.
Esme Vos writes "The Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN) has announced that its free open source wireless networking software is available for download. The idea behind this project is to provide a free wireless networking system that any municipality, company, or group of neighbors could easily set up themselves. To download, go to: http://www.cuwireless.net/downloads/"
Security

How to Take Over a Train Station 356

Posted by timothy from the just-add-colons dept.
ThinkComp writes "Everyone knows that home wireless networks are insecure, but who would expect a major transportation hub to be vulnerable to the same problems? Well, waiting for my friend's train at South Station in Boston, MA, I happened to notice that it was possible to take control of the entire station's wireless network, including its home page and authorization method (free wireless, anyone?)--and those of thirty other businesses throughout Massachusetts, thanks to a few coding errors on the part of the wireless company with which South Station contracted."
Communications

New IRC Network For Open Source Projects 35

Posted by timothy from the you-have-been-kicked dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "The folks over at Tech Tower IRC have decided to turn their small IRC network into a place for Open Source projects. They have also changed some policies to allow users on their networks to help shape the network, the big one is holding public meetings to discuss the network. Could this be the next freenode? They are also asking for individuals that wish to found general channels, this means that if you are lucky, you can lead the next #linux."

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