• 0 Posts
  • 78 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: June 15th, 2023

help-circle





  • Imagine saying these operators out loud.

    > is “is greater than”

    So it makes sense to use >= as “is greater than or equal to”

    You’d think = would be “is equal to”, but it’s already used for “set equal to” (i.e., assignment).

    So what symbol do we use for “is equal to”? The symbol used in many programming languages is ==, so Python chose to follow that convention.

    It’s worth noting that there are other languages that use = as “is equal to”, and use something else for assignment (like := for example). It just comes down to the history of the language and what conventions the original authors decided to use.



  • Ah, that would definitely make a difference. A debit transaction uses some form of “password” like a PIN or the data embedded in a card chip. A credit transaction technically only relies on easily available data and sometimes a signature, much more common for fraud (it’s pretty easy to read and replicate the data from a magnetic strip–one of my classmates did a project to read magnetic strips, and they had to stop letting people swipe their own cards on it because it popped up tons of confidential data).

    My CU’s website definitely looks like it’s from the early naughts, but they at least kept things up to date and security practices seemed legit, and I don’t think I ever tripped the fraud detector. I guess everyone’s mileage will vary a bit.






  • For me, outside correlates with an open world, and underground correlates with a linear progression. I generally prefer the vibe of open world stuff. Underground stuff can sometimes have a lot less variation as well, which can get tiring. The general vibe is often designed to have a somewhat oppressive feel.

    Another difference is the sense of being cut off from a safe place (whether real or imagined)–outside feels more flexible with retreating to safety or restocking supplies while dungeons can limit your ability to “return to home base” as it were. I disliked dungeons a lot more when I was younger, turned out to be a generalized anxiety disorder. I enjoy a wider variety of games these days.

    Out of curiosity, have you played Baldur’s Gate 3? There’s a large area that would be interesting to see what you think of it.





  • I’ve been running Linux on my laptop for a few years now (started with Mint, on Manjaro now). I have our HTPC set up with Mint, and the family is good with it. When my kids are old enough for their own, I’ll probably keep them going with Mint as well, we’ll see.

    My wife’s laptop still has Windows, but I’ll likely move her over if she gets a new PC at some point.



  • A few assumptions:

    • There will be some sort of PC available, with a keyboard and mouse and speakers, and basic programs to play audio/video, read text/PDF documents, etc. that don’t count toward my 1GB limit
    • I will have knowledge ahead of time about this PC and its specs, OS, installed programs, etc.

    First, I’d make sure to include a stripped down version of 7zip, or whatever compression I use (y’all don’t wanna get on there and realize you can’t decompress your files). Hopefully only a few MB for a CLI utility.

    Second, I’d include a decent library stored in a compressed text format. Some fiction, some non-fiction, classics, some of my favorite series, a bunch of “Intro to ___” type of books, that kind of thing. Probably up to 50MB or so.

    Third, I would include some low-quality audio of some favorite music as well as a few audio books. Maybe 200MB or so.

    Fourth, I’d include a copy of a simple game engine system (maybe something like libgdx) as well as Inkscape, and whatever compiler I would need to create programs/games for my PC, and relevant documentation. This would give me both a creative outlet, and allow me and my companion to make new games for each other to have something novel. Hopefully around 100 or 200MB.

    Depending on the size, I might also consider including something like FruityLoops, again to be able to create new content. Ideally something that’s 100MB or so.

    With whatever space I have left (300 or 400MB-ish), I’d include things like emulators and a couple favorite older games (Lord of the Realms 2 comes to mind) that have good replay value and would be small enough to fit. Ideally some multi-player options as well (assuming a shared keyboard).

    Without previous knowledge of the available PC, I’d include multiple builds of 7zip for most common architectures, and prioritize the books and audio. Maybe bring a couple variants of GCC and minGW (if I can write programs, I can eventually replicate lots of the other software).