I've finally started working on some web games. The first thing I did was spend a bit of time investigating what platforms are available. And it really was a bit of time, because it looks like Flash is still the beginning and then end of choices if you want a reasonable fraction of people to be able to actually play your game. So I downloaded the Flex demo and started playing around.

Actionscript 3 is a hybrid language, trying to mix mediocre static typing (like C# or Java before generics) with the dynamic typing of previous versions. It seems to me like it really tries to push you toward the static side, though. For example, in the default configuration, Flex requires type declarations on everything, so if you want a plain old dynamic object, you have to write

var x:Object = {...}

where it used to be just

var x = {...}

On the whole this is more annoying than useful. I'd rather have it do type deduction, so that

var x = {...} // same as x:Object = {...}
var s = "..." // same as s:String = "..."


Other languages (C# 3.0, C++, VB, etc.) are going this way, and it really works much better. Maybe ActionScript couldn't do this for backwards compatibility, but it would have been nice.

Ok, so this wasn't insightful. At least I got another post up.

Sludge for teh win

Over a month since my last (and first) post. This is not going well.

Here's the problem. My intention was to fill this blog with clear and insightful analysis of all sorts of programming-related topics. I have a long list of topics to rant about, so there's no shortage of material. But when I sit down to write about one of them--let's say some low-hanging fruit like how much iostreams sucks--I get worried about the accuracy of the things I'm saying. I mean, this is the internet. You can't just say things that might be wrong. So I start double checking my facts and three hours later I realize I've wasted my entire allotted time reloading reddit and rotting my brain with fluff.

So then I figure, all right, the blog is also a way to practice my writing. So I'll just write about how I don't have anything to write about, and at least that will develop the habit and hopefully over time I'll manage to shift over to meatier stuff.

But I don't want to have a blog like that, a miserable swamp of unreadable wannabe writer sludge. So I don't write that either. And then it's over a month since I posted and the thing is looking dead. I don't want a left-for-dead-after-one-post blog either!

So for now I guess "miserable swamp of unreadable wannabe writer sludge" is the winner. Hooray?

Next time: what I found when I looked under my toenails!

Illumination

Oh dear. Another blog has been inflicted on the world.

But I have no doubt that someday it will be read by uncountably many people—that's eleven according to my fingers—and of course they will search back through the archives to find this first posting that explains the purpose and motivation of the whole thing. So explain I shall.

First, the name. I wanted a domain name where I could publish some web games, so I went looking for one that wasn't taken. I don't remember what my top choice was, or my second, or my third; I do remember that after a couple hours of looking for any halfway decent name that wasn't already taken, my standards were getting pretty low. So that's how I ended up with bogweasel.com. It's what was left.

So when I needed a blog name I thought I'd save myself some time and just stick with the whole weasel theme.

I only got around to making one web game, the result of one weekend spent learning flash. Behold.

Where was I... oh, me. The author. I'm a programmer with a tendency to go off on rants about all sorts of topics, mostly but not exclusively related to programming. Somewhere around 1994 or 1995, I had a brilliant idea: I should write these rants down as essays and post them on the internet for people to read! Then I could enlighten the masses while saving my coworkers the pain of having to listen to all my crap. Plus I needed the writing practice.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a procrastinator, so it took me thirteen years to get around to starting, and now everyone is doing it. Oh well, better late than never, and I still need the writing practice.