January | 2014 | Steve Woods

CodeCombat: an open source online game for learning how to programme

09/01/2014 Steve WoodsOpen Source, Tech

The initiatives for encouraging young people to get into programming are multiplying, writes French news site Le Monde Informatique. With CodeCombat the work is both study and play.

Now released as open source, CodeCombat is a video game devoted to teaching programming. The platform is multi-player and uses CoffeeScript, a programming language that transcompiles to JavaScript. It’s possible to use JavaScript libraries even though CoffeeScript is very well documented.

The basic idea is very simple: lines of code need writing for players to make progress in the game (see the image above) and to compete against other programmers/players. Volunteer participants create levels and characters which can be borrowed by other players.

Developed by Nick Winter, an alumnus of Oberlin College in Ohio, CodeCombat is available in seven languages thanks to the efforts of willing participants in this collaborative development work.

Reposted from Bristol Wireless.
LibreOffice 4.2 – a sneak preview

07/01/2014 Steve WoodsOpen Source, Open Standards, Tech

Here’s a sneak preview of LibreOffice 4.2 – the next version of this great cross platform open source office suite – which is due for release in February 2014.

The first release candidate (RC) for this version was also released this week.
Bristol Post Balls – Write ’em cowboy!

06/01/2014 Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media

Besides its use in the agricultural context, the term ‘cowboy‘ has long been in use informally to describe a person who is an irresponsible or unscrupulous operator, as in the phrase cowboy builder.

Today’s Bristol Post carries a report where it’s uncertain as to who are the cowboys – the builders or the journalists who wrote the piece.

The report in question covers repairs and refurbishment works currently underway at the former home of Thomas Chatterton (20th November 1752 – 24th August 1770), Bristol’s renowned 18th century poet and forger of alleged medieval literary works.

With a sharp eye for inaccuracies, my attention was drawn to the following passage in paragraph 8:

Lathe and plaster is being used on the walls and re-rendering on the outside is being carried out with limestone instead of modern materials so the original stonework can “breathe”.

For anyone familiar with traditional building techniques, the 2 absolute howlers in there are immediately apparent.

For anyone unfamiliar with traditional building techniques, such as passing Bristol Post journalists in search of enlightenment, here’s an illustrated guide showing where the authors went wrong.

Here is a lathe: this one is for working metal; other types can be used for wood and other materials.

Here are some laths, minus their original plaster coating.

This is limestone – a whole pavement of it.

This is a house in St. Davids, Wales showing a traditional limewash finish, yellow ochre coloured in this case.
0 A.D. Alpha 15 “Osiris” released

04/01/2014 Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

Just before the end of last month Wildfire Games announced the release of 0 A.D. Alpha 15 “Osiris”. 0 A.D. is a real time strategy game and the new release comes with additional functions. It’s available free of charge for Linux, Mac and Windows and is licensed under Version 2 of the GPL. The Alpha 15 release, which is playable, provides a multi-player lobby, in which players can meet and play each other, whilst a new playable civilisation can be added with the Ptolemaic Egyptians. However, only some of the latter’s buildings units and play functions can be tested; the civilisation itself shall only be made available in the next alpha version.

A new play mode has been added to the game with so-called “Skirmish Maps”. Units now also gain a bonus if they come within reach of a certain building or special unit. Up top now temples regenerate the health of nearby units and most heroes also have such an “aura”. This function will be further refined and extended in future versions of the game.

The user interface has also been improved so that players can now order their troops to defend other units or buildings. An audible signal or a chat message notifies when a player is being attacked, whilst flashing pixels on a miniature map show where the attack is taking place. Fighting units can be returned to the civilian work they were previously carrying out with a new “Back to work” button.

In addition, there are new graphic elements, pieces of music and bug fixes, etc. in 0 A.D. Alpha 15 “Osiris”. The game is available for download from the project website.

Finally, the project is seeking volunteer contributors in programming, art, sound, documentation and more. For details, log onto #0ad-dev on QuakeNet on IRC and meet the developers or register on the project’s forums and start participating!

Previously published on the Bristol Wireless website.
Scarcity of Polish interpreters spreading

03/01/2014 Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics

A few days ago, this blog reported on Capita’s seeming inability to find an interpreter for Polish – the third largest foreign born community in Britain after Irish and Indian born people – for a court case in Essex (posts passim).

This is not an isolated incident and appears to be spreading.

Today’s Stoke Sentinel carries a brief report of a 32 year-old man from the Bentilee area of Stoke on Trent whose case has been adjourned until 9th January.

According to the Sentinel’s report:

A 32-year-old man will appear in court next week accused of beating a woman. Arthur Neckar faces a charge of assaulting Anna Pirtrowska by beating on December 14. Neckar, of Wellfield Road, Bentilee, appeared at North Staffordshire Justice Centre yesterday where his case was adjourned to arrange for a Polish interpreter to attend.

Surely the court’s time and public money would have been saved had a Polish interpreter been present in court for the initial hearing?

Hat tip: Yelena McCafferty
US Customs needs no reason to examine travellers’ electronic devices, Court confirms

03/01/2014 Steve WoodsMedia, Politics, Tech

In a case brought by civil liberties campaigners, a Brooklyn court has ruled that US Customs officers do not need to suspect a crime to examine travellers’ computer equipment at borders, Le Monde Informatique reported yesterday.

In the United States the border police may carry out checks of travellers’ portable computers and other mobile devices without having to justify suspicions that the content they wish to examine is connected with criminal action, an American federal judge concluded last week at the end of a case brought in 2010 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU believed such behaviour infringed the US constitution. However, Judge Edward Korman of the Brooklyn District Court did not share this opinion and rejected the case. The ACLU is contemplating an appeal.

The ACLU submitted the complaint on behalf of Pascal Abidor, a student with dual French and American nationality and two other associations, one which defends lawyers and the other press photographers. In 2010, Customs officers confiscated Mr. Abidor’s portable computer as he was entering the United States aboard a Montreal (Canada) to New York train as he was entering the USA. Mr. Abidor was studying the history of the Shi’ites in Lebanon and had downloaded photographs linked to the militant organisations Hamas and Hezbollah onto his computer. He was detained for several hours while his computer equipment was examined before being released with no further action being taken. He had disclosed his password and the officers searched through his private data, including messages he’d exchanged with his girlfriend. Some information was retained for the purpose of further inquiries after he had handed over his equipment.

For lawyers and journalists whose work entails maintaining keeping the data they hold confidential, such investigations by customs form a real problem and the lawsuit aimed to highlight the violation that Abidor’s treatment represented. However, Judge Korman asserted that Customs already had special procedures for examining this content which required suspicions of crime. Furthermore, he stated that searches of this kind are rare at borders and are already made within the scope of these procedures. In summary he states in his ruling, published by the ACLU, that giving reasons would not be appropriate because it is highly unlikely that one of the members of the plaintiff organisations had been subject to an examination of their electronic equipment at borders since, according to the judge, there is little chance that such a search would take place without reasonable suspicion. In view of the figures submitted by US Customs and Border Protection, Judge Korman believes there is a less than one in a million chance that a computer carried by a foreign traveller entering the USA would be confiscated.
Confusion in Castle Park

02/01/2014 Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Politics

So far winter in Bristol has been not like winter at all; it’s been mostly mild and rather wet.

As a result some of the local trees – like this cherry in Castle Park (picture taken this morning. Ed.) – are somewhat confused and believe it’s spring already, judging by the display of blossom.

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now is hung with bloom along the bough… (A.E. Housman)

However, where Castle Park is concerned, it’s not just its cherry trees that are confused. Its custodians – Bristol City Council – are confused too.

According to the council’s Central Area Action Plan (CAAP) the western end of Castle Park is a prime development opportunity and has been earmarked for covering in concrete at a time when the city has enough empty shops, offices and other commercial space to cope with another recession besides the one that is allegedly now at an end.

This act of municipal largesse to developers comes in spite of the fact that over 95% of CAAP consultation responses relating to Castle Park were against any development that would mean building on the park and that it’s only some 5 or 6 years since the council encountered firm opposition from Bristolians the last time it proposed developing this bit of Castle Park.

Once again, there’s a petition against the development of Castle Park. Its preamble reads as follows:

As a resident of Bristol, I am dismayed at and object to the proposals in the current Bristol Central Area Plan to build on green space and to cut down some 40 mature trees in the St Mary le Port area of Castle Park and in the High St and Wine St which border it.

Whilst the old disused buildings there are indeed in need of refurbishment and bringing into use, I do not accept that to do so it is necessary to build on any of the existing green space surrounding the buildings or to cut down the trees, which is what the proposals would mean.

Further, this is hardly in line with Bristol being the European Green Capital in 2015.

Sign the petition.