Programmers and Music

When my Computer Science teacher gave us an assignment or project, it would usually take me a while to figure things out. I want to make sure that I knew every concept and more. I tried to make sure that I was ahead of the class, not only because this is my future  but it’s also because I enjoy the course.

So, while I’m working my butt off either asking people (like tPenguinLTG) for some Java help or just reading information, pages and pages of forum answers and other resources, I need a proper setup. I have a nice router extended from the basement all the way to the 2nd floor of my house. I always have either a can Arizona iced tea or a cup of coffee before or while writing code.

I use Eclipse, which is a free IDE. It’s by far my favourite IDE because of its functionality and ease of us. The user interface is awesome and it actually helps you become a better programmer.

Finally, there’s one thing that I always have to have when writing code. I need music.

This may be weird to some, but I love listening to classical music when writing code. I usually listen to Ludwig van Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart. I have a small compilation of music that usually runs approximately five hours is more than enough for me.

These are definitely in my playlist.

Symphony No. 5 – Beethoven

Four Seasons – Vivaldi

The reason why I like listening to some classical music is because it helps me relax. Coding is stressful. You can ask any programmer, veteran or beginner, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Also, listening to musicians such as Mozart helps the brain function better. I guess that’s one of the reasons why we have a small cassette collection of Mozart.

Try listening to some music while coding. Take a pick of any genre that you enjoy, make a playlist and just do it.

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Building a PC

Consider the following:

You’re a computer lover. No, a computer enthusiast.

Tweaking your own PC is everything that you do. Coding is second nature to you. When your friends need tech help, they almost always go directly to you.

You’ve also taken Computer Engineering courses, only to learn multiple and helpful things. One of which would be learning about the internal parts of a tower PC. You’ve read about CPUs, GPUs, HDDs, SSDs and everything hardware. The BIOS menu is now your close friend. You know every piece and you also know how to use every tool in your dad’s toolbox. Now what?

Well, it comes down to one thing, and one thing only. Building your own PC.

Truth be told, I was planning on building a tower this year and write about the journey in this blog. But due to priorities being held against me (like paying my phone bill and saving up for University), I am monetarily unable to purchase parts. However, that does not stop me from learning and finding resources.

That’s where PC It Yourself (pronounced “Piece It Yourself”) comes in. I found this amazing site where beginners – like myself – can get some interactive help for building a PC from scratch.

PC It Yourself

As my plans for making Nixxy (my future PCs nickname) takes a step back, I’m sure there will be some beginners out there who will use this site wholeheartedly.

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To All Star Wars and Star Trek Geeks

To all Star Wars and Star Trek geeks, I found this nice comic strip for you.

*Geek snorts and laughs*

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What a Devilish Score

Just wanted to share my stat sheet on LoL on this one game. My LoL username is xFLuFFee. Add me if you want to play together. I’ll play with you if I have the time.

League of Legends at its finest. Ashe is my long ranger.

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Why I Didn’t Install Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a popular Linux distribution. It’s the most user friendly and a very heavily supported open source operating system. It’s what Linux newbies (like myself) install.

I definitely liked it when I worked with it in school, but the OS is terrible for laptops. Here’s why:

1. It’s a battery hog. It’ll eat all of the battery power it can take. Jupiter, the famous power management application, is no longer supported and so it was taken off the Ubuntu market.
2. It overheats my laptop. Like I said, Jupiter is no longer supported, so that’s never going to get fixed.
3. For some reason, my settings don’t stay the same. Each time I reboot my laptop, everything is there: my account, background and customization, but my power settings, brightness settings and other things such as my Unity Tweak settings do not stay the same.
4. It looks a lot like the Mac OS X user interface. I just don’t like it. Period.

I am hoping for some more apps similar to Jupiter that can help my battery life. Get this: when I had Ubuntu on my laptop, it only ran approximately one (1) hour on a 96% battery percentage. Usually, on my Windows 7, I’d be using my laptop for at least five to six hours.

At some point, when Hannah Patricia doesn’t perform her abilities (I’d say that would be five years from now), I’ll be getting a System 76 or something like Lenovo or ASUS.

If you have any suggestions for a battery friendly distro, comment below!

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Assassin’s Creed IV Gameplay

Ubisoft finally released some gameplay for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV! In this video, they showed all the gamers how open the new world is. As you may know, AC4 takes place in the Caribbean. We follow Edward Kenway, a new assassin who is not yet recognized by the Order of Assassins. In this gameplay, he tries to gain notoriety (or in his perspective, fame) to tell the Order that he is one of them.

Of course, they also showed us the new mechanics of the Naval Warfare. Rum seems to be very important in this game, because it can be sold at a very high price when purchased by the right buyer. You can take out enemy ships, or spare them to loot all of their packages and belongings.

Here’s the video:

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Universally Known as the USB

The Universal Serial Bus is one of the most well known and most universal device in the computing world. Almost all of our gadgets have some kind of a USB built in, whether it be the charger we have on our smartphones or our own portable flash drive.

The development of the USB started in the early 90s when the USB 1.0 was released. There were two types, the low speed (1.5 Mbps) or the high speed (12 Mbps). Respectively, these were powerful speeds at the time but were not enough. So, the collective group of computing powerhouses that were developing this next generation standard – IBM, DEC, Microsoft, Intel, NEC and Nortel – went back to work to finish the USB 1.1 Full Speed. The only difference this version had was support and compatibility. Microsoft was very friendly with the current technology and continued to work with it.

By the end of 2001, a group called USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) released the USB 2.0 which is 40x faster than the previous version, the USB 1.1 Full Speed (12 Mbps -> 480 Mbps). It was originally named as the High Speed USB but later was renamed to Hi-Speed USB. The Mini-A and Mini-B connectors are introduced and expanded the abilities of the USB. Many features were created to truly improve the use of the USB such as On-The-Go USB and our useful Battery Charging Spec. which lets your device to be charged into a power plug. Cellphone companies took advantage of this because with such a smal form factor, it definitely helped them decrease the size of their phones (and for some reason, phones are just getting bigger nowadays).  From then on, the USB just took over. Eventually, the USB will become so universal (my last joke, I promise) that the CDs that we have will be obsolete. Imagine buying a video game that’s on a USB! USB 2.0 is still used today in almost 10 billion products and that doesn’t count a billion of smartphones and USB flash drives that almost everyone owns.

Now, the USB 3.0 has entered the game. At approximately 5 Gbps, this is at its finest! One noticeable difference between the USB 2.0 and 3.0 is the port colour. It is blue, which differentiates your USB version (go ahead, take a look at your USB drives). It began on September 2007 when Intel, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, NXP, Texas Instruments and Semiconductors started working on the next-gen USB. By November 2008, they released the 1.0 version. By then, the USB-IF took care of the other business. In 2012, processor companies (Intel and AMD) fully integrated their support for the SuperSpeed USB. Right now, the USB-IF is planning to finish the job by increasing its power to 10 Gbps! 

The USB is universally known. It will surely continue to improve from its older versions. All we need to do now is wait for it.

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The Personal Computer

The personal computer is one of the greatest, most prominent advancements in human history. Great inventions such as the car, airplanes and cup holders are no match to your everyday PC. Almost everyone in the entire North American grid owns a computing device, whether it be a home computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet – the list goes on. It is also the fastest growing technology. Almost everyday, there is something new for the PC. It could be hardware or software – most of which help enhance the use of the PC.

One question that has never been considered answered is why is it a Personal Computer called a Personal Computer?

Personally speaking (pun intended), I think it is because of how we use it. Almost everything we do is on a computer. We talk to people using the video chatting application called Skype, which continues to grow as a service for people who would like to communicate with friends and family all over the world. Social networking has exploded, with the popular use of Facebook and Twitter. Writing became easy to share with the blogging sites like Blogger, WordPress and Weebly. Video sharing has also popularized with YouTube and the new website called Vine. The Internet truly became a community and a hub for people all over the world.

The computer is personal because of our daily needs. Because of the PC and its strengths (back then), we are able to create documents for work (Word), presentations to show off ideas (PowerPoint), spreadsheets to keep important data, numbers and information (Excel) and publish flyers or brochures to further increase sales for your small business (Publisher).

Everyone seems to love video editing. Photo editing too! I’m sure you know someone who would love to make some funny videos, action scenes, edited CGI or animations as a hobby. Or even someone who wants to touch up pictures for a certain online dating site. For video, Windows usually comes with their infamous Windows Movie Maker, which allows PC users to edit videos. The only problem with this was its limitations. It was only a drag and drop program with minimum options for editing. For someone to professionally edit videos, they have to purchase software or find freeware/open source software that can handle all the rendering, file management and high quality videos. Photo editing was a big deal for Microsoft. Instead, Adobe took the stage and created Adobe Photoshop. It is widely used for editing photos. Animations also became popular in the Internet. Blender usually takes the cake for animations. It’s a great freeware!

Music has always played an important role in human history. It defined eras and even created its own history. In the computer, users can create, listen and play music without hassle. It allowed many hidden musicians (excluding Justin Bieber) to shine. With music tools and applications, making and recording music is as easy as pressing a button, literally!

The gaming industry has recently exploded. The gaming community is ten times stronger than ever! PC gamers are proud. They either take pride of their prized possession – their own, personally built PC, or are happy to play some League of Legends with some actual players! No, seriously, the gamer can be a console gamer or a PC gamer. I’d say, in my opinion (although I am a console guy), PC gamers are cooler. Tons of games are free to play, there is more hardware power on a PC right now compared to the upcoming next gen consoles and the PC gaming community is growing in numbers! The PC is truly the core of gaming.

And then, there was development. The computing world would not consistently progress without programmers, software developers and code writers. These are the wizards of the world. They are the ones who should be considered the rock stars of this generation. Without them, the computer would be a throwaway. It is those who know how to write C++, C, C#, Java, JavaScript, HTML, etc that revolutionized our daily lives. As an aspiring programmer (game developer and future CEO of Blizzard or Google), I believe that credit should be given where it is due.

Now, it seems that we still have not answered the question correctly, why is it a Personal Computer called a Personal Computer?

The answer is: it is because we make it personal.

Follow @DR34DNOUGHT!

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Mozilla Firefox 22

Recently, Mozilla Firefox sent out Mozilla Firefox 22. Of course, I downloaded it so that I can have the most up to date web browsing experience. I was wrong.

It’s so frustrating and annoying for me. I would be watching a YouTube video and it would crash. This constantly happened and I’m beginning to think that I should return to using Chrome. I still haven’t changed, however, it is an option.

For some reason (including Mozilla Firefox 21 and 20), the browser would always crash and each time I put my laptop on hibernate or sleep, once I resume my computing, Firefox would be slow to respond. At times, it would literally lag and crash. The Firefox “send bug” message box appears, asking me if I want to send a bug report to Mozilla.

Recently, I did a few tests. I took out a couple of my plugins and extensions (recommended by tPenguinLTG). It did not work. One thing I’m currently doing right now is using a different theme or appearance on Mozilla. It seems to be working. All I can hope for right now is for it to work properly.

Now, I’ll be reinstalling all of my plugins – only hoping that it won’t crash anymore.

Here’s a good article about Firefox and its logo changes by tPenguinLTG.

Firefox Changes its Logo Again!

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GTA V GAMEPLAY

So, Rockstar released gameplay footage for GTA V. Here’s the video!

All I can say? Thank you Rockstar.

First and foremost, they returned sports. I really liked playing basketball in GTA SA. It was also great to see planes and jets flying around. We can finally access them (hopefully with no cheats needed) and fly all over San Andreas. They also said that driving, diving, flying and basically all game mechanics have been improved immensely for smoother play.

While watching the gameplay, it seems that they’ve returned character stats. This will allow you to improve your shooting skills, punching skills, etc. It finally returns from GTA SA! Also, the map and world seems large. Large enough for us to have a crazy goose chase with the fuzz. I CAN’T WAIT!

I also saw a dog, which should be awesome. I always wanted a pet dog – teach it to kill a person. Sounds great!

Are you guys going to buy GTA V? Which console? Answer the poll below!

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