Monday, February 12, 2007

Why I use Python

In the world of programming, there must be hundreds of languages in existence. Due to their sheer numbers, it is not possible that you will be able to learn and master all of them. Therefore you should pick languages to learn with respect to the problem that you are aiming to solve.

Which brings us to the language that I use the most, Python. First of all, I admit that the Python programming language is not the language for everything. But it does have things going for it.

  • Brief and concise syntax -- in Python, more is less since the syntax lends to avoid wordliness
  • Readibility -- because of the the reason above, Python programs can be easily interpreted and understood
  • Extensive built-in modules -- most of the functions needed in common programming tasks are already available for Python
  • Libraries -- As far as I know, most application domains nowadays have a Python library ready for available use

Friday, February 2, 2007

Civilization 3 review

Last week when I was bored, I searched for games that would cure me of boredom. I stumbled across this game called Civilization 3 that at first glance doesn't seem to stand out from "blockbuster" games such as CounterStrike or Warcraft 3. Anyway , I was bored enough to try anything so I tried to play the game. At first, I was at a loss on how to play the game but little by little, I learned how to use the game interface. What I discovered was a game that is simple rules but has deep complexity. For example, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that banks produce wealth for the government(for civilization for that matter). But if you want to know the wealth that is actually produced, you have to compute the the total number of population in the city, check if there is already a marketplace or a tax collector in each city, check if you have built the wall street or smith's trading company wonders...

Another feature of this game is that there are many ways to win in this game. If you are the aggressive type, you can win by building a large military force and try to conquer the world. If you are the peaceful type, you can try to win via diplomatic victory by building the UN and garnering the votes of your fellow civs or making your country the unofficial capital of the world by raising your culture levels. And if you are more inclined toward technology, you can win by building the first spacecraft to launch to the nearest star,alpha centuari.

But for people who like fast games, I do not recommend this since playing Civilization 3 may take a minimum of 2 hours that will suck off more time if you are not careful :).

But despite the disadvantages its still a fun and addicting game to the core.