Ala's Blog Stochastic Wanderings
Latest Posts:
Evolutionary Image Replication Using Perl
Posted on 14 Dec 2012
A few days ago, someone on HackerNews linked to Roger Alsing’s “Evolution of Mona Lisa” post. In it, Roger describes how he wrote a program that painted a replica of the Mona Lisa using only 50 semi transparent polygons. I’ve always found evolutionary algorithms to be very intriguing. A few years ago, I wrote AI::Genetic which is pure Perl implementation of Genetic Algorithms. Since I’m always looking for an excuse to play with it, I...
To Library or Not To Library
Posted on 29 Jun 2012
Does Using a Library Waste Precious Memory? At some point in your coding project, you will contemplate the pros and cons of using a library vs rolling out your own solution. The tradeoffs are always the same: Pros of Rolling Your Own Solution You can customize it to your own needs. You can control and optimize memory usage (which can be very helpful on mobile platforms). No learning curve as it’s all your code. Cons...
RoboWars - Planning the Game
Posted on 28 May 2012
In my previous post, I briefly outlined my plans to build an Android gamed. In this post, I will give more details about my thought process. Designing for Android The concept of the game (programming a robot to compete against other robots) is not a new one. There are a variety of computer games/simulations that offer a similar plot (Googling is left as an exercise for the reader). What is different though is the platform....
RoboWars - An Android Game
Posted on 17 May 2012
Who wouldn’t like to create their own computer game? I’ve been trying for a while to find a good game idea to work on with my 11-year-old son. The goal is to expose him to the challenges of creating a full game, and have fun at the same time. Of course, I will do all the programming, and he will be the beta tester and decision maker, but the experience will hopefully be an educational...