- Prince of Persia Code Review: Part 1: Introduction, Part 2: Bootloader, Part 3: Code Explained - I posted over a year ago about Jordan Mechner's rediscovery of the Prince of Persia source code, but seem not to have linked to it when it was recovered and made available. Good thing I waited, because now here's Fabien Sanglard with a detailed examination of the first part of the code, including explanations of the Apple II's memory mapping, the unusual disk format used, and a walk through the loading process. "From self-modifying code, in-house bootloader, clever floppy disc format to skewing lookup tables: Prince Of Persia features engineering treasures in every modules. Reading the source allowed me not only to learn about the game development process of the 80s but it also renewed my appreciation for things that we take for granted today."
- Programming on Early Microcomputers: A Retrospective - Speaking of early micros: "Pre-IBM personal computers were a unique bunch, even for the times. How we progressed to what we have today is a journey that started with the Altair and IMSAI." (This article also mentions the SWTPC6800, which was the first microcomputer - as opposed to the PDP-8/e minicomputer - I used.)
- Bespelled in the Archives - "I grimaced, examining the neat box of pale blue cardboard in front of me. Manuscript number 4171? This wasn’t the one I’d ordered, and I was conscious of my rapidly passing research week... The title was intriguing: Recueille de diferents secrets (“Collection of Different Secrets”). The real treat, though, was on the inner leaf. Two book plates indicated that the manuscript had been owned by the famous occult historian, Émile Grillot de Givry “Kabbaliste” (1874-1929)..." Lisa Smith explores an eighteenth century book of spells, recipes, and charms.
- The Girl Who Fixes Things - "I like to use clocks as hammers. There, I said it... Today is different; today I used The Actual Pink Hammer. One of the balcony chairs was dying, you see. The cheap, plastic covering was flapping in the breeze, and last night, when I sat on it, I got soggy leggings. Something had to be done. I leaped from my bed this morning, knowing that today was the day. The chair would be fixed. My chair-fixing was so successful that I felt it would be a disservice not to share my method with you. I took photos for ease of understanding." There are many DIY tutorials on the web. This one by The Girl Who adopts a more realistic tone than most
- Till Family Rock Band - Not that kind of rock band: "The Till family were one of three who lived in the Lake District and constructed stone notes from rock removed from a valley alongside the mountain known as “Blencathra”." A distant relative of this nineteenth century musical family recounts their history.
- Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe - "Once at a picnic, I saw mathematicians crowding around the last game I would have expected: Tic-tac-toe." Not just any Noughts and Crosses, though: this multi-grid version has some intriguing aspects that make it quite a challenging game.
- Victorian and Edwardian Street Furniture - If there's a web page with more photos of Victorian public urinals than this one, I have yet to find it. "This circular double doorway pattern urinal is in a very poor and dilapidated condition, and has now been closed. It is a Grade II listed structure. Described as a round pattern with curved entrance screen of decorative panels pierced to the top, with raking roof to a filigree dome with bowl finial... it was encouraging to find on a recent visit to the area that the local authority had given the structure a complete refurbishment with the original paint colour restored."
- How Browsers Store Your Passwords (and Why You Shouldn't Let Them - "I have started to run across quite a few pastes like this that appear to be credential logs from malware on infected computers. It got me thinking - I've always considered it best to not have browsers store passwords directly, but why? How easy can it be for malware to pull these passwords off of infected computers? Since sources are a bit tough to find in one place, I've decided to post the results here, as well as show some simple code to extract passwords from each browser's password manager." Most of the risk comes from getting malware on your machine in the first place, though.
- The one cost engineers and product managers don't consider - Kris Gale discusses complexity cost: "For years, the two things that most frustrated me to hear from product managers were "how hard would it be..." and "can't you just..." It took me quite a while to figure out why I had such a strong, visceral reaction to these phrases. The answer seems obvious now: The work of implementing a feature initially is often a tiny fraction of the work to support that feature over the lifetime of a product..."
- NYC Type - This project automatically gathers photographs showing typography (more accurately, signage and alphabetic or numeric characters in other forms) in the streets of Mew York, via tagging on Instagram.
Happy invoicing!
