As a coder, one sometimes wonders if anybody uses your online service. Therefore, when Weather Forecaster went online on this site, I put a simple statistics collector for the ‘spell castings’ of it. Here are the results for year 2013, and it clearly shows that there are some users.
Note, that no data is collected about the actual users. So there is no data of how many unique users there are, or where they hail from. I am happy, if there is even one user!
Clojure Schema validation
Schema is a Clojure library for declarative data description and validation. Basically it will throw exception when data is not what it is supposed to be.
Couldn’t find by googling a way to enable date to be either existing or not known (null). So when I figured it out, I wanted to share solution with everybody. The example requires that the person has a name (String), but birthdate (Date) is not required.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | (:require [schema.core :as s]) (defn person [name born] (s/validate s/Str name) (s/validate (s/either java.util.Date (s/pred nil?)) born) {:name name :born born }) |
Oh, and it is also possible to combine different types like Integers and Strings for enum validation:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | (:require [schema.core :as s]) (defn person [name hands] (s/validate s/Str name) (s/validate (s/enum 1 2 "none") hands) {:name name :hands hands }) |
Obawangchicheng got finished?
Well, it didn’t. The project is insane, but still slowly progressing. Here is a collage of pictures (360 °) of current status of the project. Oh, I have my both children now roaming the region with me, as I turned the world into an inhouse server.
Just a reminder, that every block is mined first, and then placed by hand one by one.
HearthStone – virtual card game
HearthStone is the new game Blizzard is working on hard. A virtual collectible card game based on different classes and skills of Azeroth heros, with possibility to use real money for faster advancement int the game.
And as being a closed beta tester, I say it is turning into a fine game indeed. It has truly a World of Warcraft feel in it: graphics, sounds, and atmosphere, without dragging the MMORPG parts into the game at all.
For a casual player, it feels best played against your real life friends, than random world players. It remains to be seen will there wether be any crossover with the parent game like: pets, vanity items, even titles – or not?
Boardgame frenzy!
Now that the Christmas Happy Holidays is behind and the New Year approaches fast, it is time for Boardgame Frenzines!
For Tokyo city annihiliation and testosterone rushes I recommend King of Tokyo – we did play it five times in a row, and the only reason to stop playing, was the need to go to sleep. It’s versatile, easy on rules, and can be played with your kids!
The another game I have had the priviledge to try out is the very time consuming (one hour to set up, five hours to play through – well, first game to everybody), semi-roleplaying (characters have a backstories), story driven horror game (there are clues to be followed, you dimwits!) of the roaring 20s: Mansions of Madness! Cleverly done game. Combat is unpredictable – your character is not a single attribute pony trick. Who wouldn’t like to play .45 pistols wielding investigator with boobs! Me like, gotta have more of it.
Mansion of Madness Chick
Third game which is still waiting to be played is Qin. Simple on rules, simple with gaming pieces and board, but heavy on strategy! No wonder it is not rated as children game. Cannot wait it to be played.
Althought my bro has the second edition of Talisman, I had to buy the fourth revised Talisman edition into my own collection about month ago. Because, it is fun game! I have even started to paint the new miniature pieces from it! I have all the old second edition miniatures already painted, and stocked somewhere. Perhaps it’s time to show comparisons online, when those new pieces get ready – old vs. new. Oh, and I did promise, not to buy any expansions until all figures have been painted…