February 2010 Archives

Last weekend Steam was selling the X-Com pack for a measly two bucks, so I bought it! I used to play X-Com back in the day (the mid 90's) and have very fond memories of it. At $2, I figured I wouldn't be out much if it didn't live up to my memories...

Fortunately my two dollars were well spent because the game is as great as I remember! I actually can't believe how deep this 15 year old game is. It's a little difficult to get started, but I found some gameplay videos on youtube and a strategy guide that helped me get back up to speed. Last night I played for an hour or so before getting in bed to read... and then I got back up at midnight and played until 2am! It's been quite a while since a game caused me to lose track of time!

My next project at work is going to be using a JavaScript framework called Dojo. I know nothing about Dojo, and I've barely ever done any JavaScript either! So all day today I've been reading books on the topic which has been really fun. One of the books had the below quote, and I thought it was spot on!

"Computer programming is tremendous fun. Like music, it is a skill that derives from an unknown blend of innate talent and constant practice. Like drawing, it can be shaped to a variety of ends - commercial, artistic, and pure entertainment. Programmers have a well-deserved reputation for working long hours but are rarely credited with being driven by creative fevers. Programmers talk about software development on weekends, vacations, and over meals not because they lack imagination, but because their imagination reveals worlds that others cannot see." -- Larry O'Brien and Bruce Eckel in Thinking in C#