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PilotPirx

32 karma · joined October 1, 2010

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PilotPirx··on Ask HN: Tips on (mind) hacking programming interviews?
1) Do they want to hire me? Yes, hiring me is the best thing that ever could happen to them. So in the worst case it's they who fail in this interview, never me.

2) I draw only if I need to explain something to the interviewer. But I have a visually oriented way of thinking, so I don't need this for myself in most cases. Then tell them how to implement this or that, when I know how it would work. (We will need a vector to store this data, run a search on this, have those tables in the database, linked this way, to be queried with this SQL expression). Would depend of course, if they actually expect you to show some code or just to outline the core points of the possible solution.

3) Normally I talk a lot and let them know intermediate steps (Watch their faces, you can see if you're on the right track). There is no problem in saying something that's wrong. If the interviewer knows a bit about the job, he won't expect you to be perfect on the spot. (If they send you somebody to interview you who doesn't know that: wrong company, good bye) If I get stuck, I tell them that that's a complex problem and I need to think some time about it. Shouldn't be a problem. Maybe I give them some of the points that make me worry and line out the possible problems and solutions. (If I do it that way it will use more memory, but the other way will give me better performance, cleaner code...)

4) I just tell them what I'm thinking. I don't think what they may want to hear. They get what I have and that's it. If they don't like it, that's bad luck (For them of course, not for me)

PilotPirx··on Idea to ($0.07) profit in 7 hours
should be "by invitation only" to keep it exclusive. ask every new member to invite only the three coolest friends he has. Everybody getting an invite will use it, just not to lose this chance (invitations only valid for three days or so, decide now!)

(do I get free membership for this great idea?)

PilotPirx··on Cosmic strings are super-massive, ultra-thin cracks in the universe
I always said, the thing is broken. Never worked properly...
PilotPirx··on Working alone is better than working as a team.
Strange conclusion: teamwork doesn't work because your team doesn't work?

Did you even consider the second option: your team sucks.

Sorry to state that in such a plain way, but I've seen many teams doing great work. Matter of organisation and responsibility.

PilotPirx··on How to Hack Hotmail
I bookmarked that under "hacking -> poetry"
PilotPirx··on Ask HN: Finding a Co-Founder at a Hackerspace
not, that I would know anybody there (nor from San Francisco, since I'm german :) but have a look at their website: https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge the projects they are doing show, that there are at least some people who know, what they're talking about. So if I would live there, I would visit the place for sure. At worst you lose a few hours, but I think you will find a few cool people there
PilotPirx··on Deconstruct Mona Lisa
it's funny. you could make a game of it, where two players have to remove pieces in turns and drop them into a basket until the tower falls. (or the other way around: build a tower as high as possible. player who stacks the last piece, making the tower chrash has lost.
PilotPirx··on Has a USB memory stick ever failed on you?
yes, I had an 8GB cheap stick (15 euro) that failed after some time. uploading worked for the firs 4gb or so, everything above that ended with an file size of zero or corrupted data.
PilotPirx··on Towards Ethical Hacking
Nice article. Reminded me of Norbert Wieners "God & Golem", where he uses the term "gadget worshipers" for people thinking, that "everything that can be done (and makes money) should be done"

Though sometimes the decision may be difficult "One mans poison is another mans medicine" can become a problem. If I write a game many people may like it and it may help them to relax from work and just have a good time once in a while. Another person may become addicted to it.

You can't act always to Kants rule, that everything you do should be able to become a universal law, since some things may be of great help to many people and still destroy others...

PilotPirx··on A Beginner’s Guide to Integrated Development Environments
Great list. I'm missing QtCreator.
PilotPirx··on List of important publications in computer science
Allowed myself to humbly add Bjarne Stroustrups "The C++ Programming Language" to this otherwise very interesting list.
PilotPirx··on New Project - The Programming Games Wiki
A few months ago I was looking for games of the kind you are listing on this site. I came up with more or less the same results of programs. Since I was looking for something that would allow me to link a neural network into an robot interface and compete with other programs none of them really helped me (though some of them are quite funny on their own of course)

But I found at least two other programs, that may be of interest to visitors of your site. The first (quite obvious) is the RoboCup site: http://www.robocup.org/

No, you don't need to own a team of robots, since they offer a Simulation League: http://www.robocup2011.org/en/content.asp?PID={EBB75948-5058...

So you can run your code in an rather complex environment, simulating a complex game and real robots. Simulator software is here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/sserver/develop

Only bad point is, that it will run only in Windows.

Another interesting project for people interested in an even more realistic environment is the Player/Stage/Gazebo project. This software (intended for research) allows to simulate real robots, their sensor hardware and environments. Software written can be used in the simulation module or in real robots. While it is no game, the software could be used to build any kind of environment for robots to cooperate and compete. http://playerstage.sourceforge.net/index.php?src=index

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