Tag Archives: software

The Contortions of a Spell List

So I’ve been working on the next major release of the D20 Spell Lists app, and have found myself in a code and UI reorganization/refactoring jungle as I’ve refined my feature set and how I want to handle things.

One of the common-enough cases that the current version doesn’t handle well that I think needs to be is multiple spellcaster classes. If I’m a Druid 5/Bard 6, I’m going to want to keep separate spell lists, and will have different DCs, spells known, and spells per day to contend with. With the current version, the best solution is probably to have two different character files, each with its own spell lists.

My attempts to smooth that out have resulted in a lot of UI revisions as I tried to find good ways for displaying and updating all this info without slowing down the UI to uselessness (buh-bye, Table Layout Panel). Here’s what I’m sitting with now:

It’s not pretty, and there are more tweaks in the queue (like just putting the DCs/per days right with each class, probably), although for the moment it works well enough (read: stuff doesn’t end up hidden and inaccessible) that I can get functionality working again.

Like that 0 modifier for a Wisdom of 15. >_>

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Weekly Linkage: Healthcare, Midnight Deployments, and Markov Chaining

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I’ve been all over The Incidental Economist lately, and it’s really hard not to link to every one of their posts that I can make heads or tails of. They’re really prolific by my standards, though, which means it’s a struggle to keep their posts from falling off the 30-day cut-off in Google Reader.

Weekly linkage

I’m still flying high from a wonderful 3 hours of dance last night. I had a whole lot of energy, even at the end, and managed to do all right at keeping up. I blame the belly dance show last weekend.

There are a fair number of posts this week. I’ve been oot and aboot.

  • Roleplaying Tips: Delegating – I really like the idea of splitting up some of the administrative work in running a game, especially in a game with 5+ people that will be running for a long time. I've seen in a 4-year one-on-one game how difficult it is to keep track of what's happened and who I've spoken with. If there were more than just me, this kind of delegation would be necessary.
  • Is this for real? – Let's hope it's not. Texas seems to be seriously considering dropping out of federal Medicaid in order to cover their budget shortfall this year.
  • My son is gay « Nerdy Apple Bottom – "If you think that me allowing my son to be a female character for Halloween is somehow going to ‘make’ him gay then you are an idiot. Firstly, what a ridiculous concept. Secondly, if my son is gay, OK. I will love him no less. Thirdly, I am not worried that your son will grow up to be an actual ninja so back off."

    • Continue reading Weekly linkage →

Weekly linkage

This week’s internet cruising:

  • How to keep someone with you forever – "You create a sick system." I wanted to cry when I read this.
  • Looking Back — Discord&Rhyme – "To be successful at bootstrapping, you have to cut every feature except those you think are absolutely necessary. Then you cut some that you thought that you absolutely had to have. You compromise your design because you need to get the product to market. You ignore automated testing and documentation because your code is too unstable to be held back by rigorous processes."
  • Launching beta, or “How to decide when and where to cut corners” –
  • 200+ Seamless Patterns Perfect for Website Backgrounds – Pretty! They're a bit busy, but I think they could be used tastefully.
  • Statement by Apple on App Store Review Guidelines – Courtesy of Greg. Apple seems to be getting off their high horse with regards to development tools. I'm not sure yet if this means I'll be springing for Plants vs. Zombies on the iPhone.
  • These Dance Moves Are Irresistible – ScienceNOW – Courtesy of Michael. "The most important factor to the women was how much the man moved his head, neck, and torso, the researchers will report online tomorrow in Biology Letters." This is a really cool-sounding study. Thinking about the types of dancing I like to watch and see done well–hip-hop, even bellydance–I like fancy foot-work, but tight (pop and lock) torso and head movements do draw my eye more. Flailing arms are just hilarious.
  • Action Not Words: The Difference Between Talkers and Doers – Wonderfully (and miserably) timely for me. The last few weeks for me have been very slothful (as evidenced by the lack of posts here), with correspondence and projects piling up while I squander my time. I've taken to returning to my 3 Most Important Things per day. If I get nothing else done in a day, I will get whatever those three things are done. I know from experience that having the 3 MITs builds momentum so that I'll rarely only ever get those three things done.
  • We’re Not Paid To Write Code – This is a really well-written article on how we're paid to deliver a product, not sling code. This is a hard-won lesson for every comp sci major worth their weight I've ever met in their first 2 years out of college, myself included. I'm still not great at balancing quality vs. out-the-doorness on personal projects, but I've learned a lot more about what's acceptable business-wise.

Quasi-daily linkage