Rampid Byter

I just finished reading the collection of short stories bundled in the book ‘The Living Dead.’ Considering all the books i normally read are technical in nature i bought this book as something to skim in my off time. I bought it really on a whim at Borders while passing through the horror section on my way to checkout with my ‘Dirty Japanese Sayings’ book (that’s a whole other story.) I saw this book and for whatever reason picked it up and headed up to the counter. I guess there is something to be said for disposable income when i can just grab whatever tickles my fancy, but I've always valued reading even if it’s about zombies. So i figured it would at least be something i could hook into when i was bored.

Well, i started reading the first few pages after i got the book home. I became so enthralled by the stories that i couldn’t seem to put it down, and actually found the .Net 3.5 book i’ve been reading was the one that got shelved till i finished this new book. The book is absolutely fantastic because the stories don’t build on each other but present zombies in about every aspect you can image. Zombies are portrayed as being servants, work tools, physical representation of our actions/inactions, carefree simpletons, and of course the mindless killing machines we often imagine upon hearing the the word zombie.

Each story is as different as the next so you’re never reading the same type of story one after the other. Each story is as varied as the authors who pinned them. If you’re into reading stories of zombies then the obvious choice is to pick up this book and add it to your collection. Even if you’re not that into zombies i’d highly recommend this book simply to see the full gambit that zombies are portrayed. I do have to say that some of the stories have a sexual connotation so do at least make sure the reader is at least of age to read this collection.

I started reading the Beginning .Net Game Programming in C# book recently as part of what I’ll describe as a robot-information gathering session. I’m trying to learn as much as possible on game AI that will help me in understanding how to program a robot that is able to understand its environment. I will say that I’ve gotten about two chapters into this book, and I’ve already started to form the opinion that while the author has an understanding of the material they’re cocky pricks. Here is an excert from a paragraph from chapter 1:

“If you think this is too much math, this is probably the place where you should take this book back and take up something less mathematically demanding, like nuclear physics! Honestly, we can’t overemphasize how important math is when it comes to computer games. . . . “

I suppose before getting into the BEGINNING book you’re already supposed to have a firm grasp of all the algebra, and geometry involved in game programming. OH, that’s right I’m just trying to learn what is involved to start the learning process. So maybe they’re right, maybe you should take this book back, and have the author(s) shove their opinions up their arses. I could then have someone who caters to beginning learning give me a better, less condescending introduction. Pricks. At least if you can overlook the snarky attitude that is probably oozing in the remaining chapters the book seems to be decent thus far. I plan to skim the rest of the way through this book before the end of the month so I’ll post some more thoughts and opinions later on. I may even post some code from the game.

I’ve been studying for the MCAD upgrade to the MCTS examination for the last few months. I’m reading through the MCTS training exam books that I purchased through Amazon.com. I’ve particularly been studying up from the .Net Framework 2.0 Web-Based Client Development book from the series. I can’t tell you how wonderfully the writers present the information. I’ve long been a fan of the authors of the Wrox publishing technical books, but I can’t express how fantastic the material that authors Glenn Johnson and Tony Northrup has presented the features of ASP.Net 2.0 in the Microsoft Press publication. Cheers to these two for some of the best, down to earth, and moderately comprehensive material. I’ve never once read a technical book where the authors actually touched on the related technology.

In the first chapter of this book the authors take the user through a background on how the ASP.Net framework handles web server content interactions. They actually step the user through using Telenet of all things to see what is really being presented to the browsers. Wow, I was blown away. Most every other book, including the MCAD study guide books only touched on the high level view of the interactions. Never once before has an author given the user the ability to SEE what is going on behind the scenes. Talk about starting the book off with a bang, four chapters into the book, and I still feel like the material being presented to me is done in such a way to promote learning. While I may not ever remember every single base class name, nor concern myself with it until when I need to build a custom implementation, the authors present the material in a way we can both learn and understand from. I can’t wait to read the other two books in the series, and take the new certification.