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Closed 10 years ago.
I want to code some simple AI to play same games. Simple stuff, like logging in to an account, searching for an image on the screen, clicking on certain points or pressing key strokes after a certain amount of time. Since the idea is to keep it simply, I don't want anything too complex, so working from the scratch is something I don't want to do.
My question here is if you could list me the ways to do this fairly quickly. Programs or languages. I know of some Macros programs like AutoHotkey. In what regards programming languages I know C++ and Python, but unless I can get good libraries (one for manipulating the mouse, other to manipulate key strokes) I don't think they will come in handy.
P.S.
In case you are wondering why, the reason I want to do this is that some of my friends are addicted to social games where they are required to meet certain random criteria's (like introducing a phrase every 12 hours) to allow them to play competitively against other players. So I, as a programmer, want to try to make this burden (that doesn't add ANYTHING to the games) a little bit smaller.
Let me get this straight.
You want to write an AI that plays social games and you want a list of how to do this quickly.
I think you will get a fair deal of downvotes on this, but what the heck:
The easy solution is Selenium Webdriver, it is an automation tool, often used for testing.
You could record the basics in the IDE, then export it to Eclipse and code a more advanced structure in Java.
It should be the path of least resistance for you.
If you don't need it to work under linux I recommend Autoit
Moving the mouse, clicking, pressing keys is very simple. It also can check for pixel colors in the screen, leave an icon in the tray or run some functions when you press custom commands.
It is very simple and complete. Here is a list of all functions you can use by default (you can add libraries too): http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/functions.htm
I've also used Java Robot but if you want a game bot, try Autoit first.
Related
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Closed 10 years ago.
I wish to build an iPhone app, but I've never ventured into anything like this before, appart from the very basics of HTML. I want to know how difficult it will be to create this app, if you really need someone pro to do it, or if it's managable to learn by a newbie.
The app:
Basicly the app works as a notepad AND a dictaphone. You should be able to create posts, which you can give a headline, write text, record sound, add searchwords and save.
All these posts should be listed by date, with the ability to search through them, using the given searchwords.
That's it. How difficult do you think this will be to accomplish?
If you believe this will be doable by a newbie, where do I start?
(I don't have access to a Mac computer to do the work on, so can I create everything on my windows PC, and transfer the project to someone else to compile and so on?)
Btw, don't be too technical in your reply, because I really don't know much about this topic, that's why I'm asking your help, to see if I should just trash the idea all together.
I'm not sure this question can be "answered". It's to subjective. I will offer a few words of advice though.
You can develop the app. It will be hard and take a lot of
dedication. If you love to learn new tools, new programming
languages, new operating system APIs - and love the challenge of
programming; then you should absolutely give it a whirl.
If you're concerned about time to market, then you'll have to hire professionals.
This app pretty much already exists. Review similar apps already for sale and ask yourself if you or the team you assemble can build something better. If you can't, by all means build it for fun; but don't publish it.
Doing this without a Mac will be next to impossible unless you explore things like Appcelerator Titanium.
Best of luck!
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Closed 10 years ago.
I am looking to make a simple game project in the Unity 3D environment, that utilises the Kinect to have a game character mimic what occurs in real life. I am trying to achieve this in the shortest time possible. I am a relatively new programmer fluent in Python and with some knowledge of Java.
So I've been reading all over the internet about guides on Unity 3D, libraries like Zigfu, the Kinect, etc... But it's all scattered and presumes quite a lot of knowledge, so I was hoping someone could offer clarification.
Questions:
What packages are needed to achieve this (I hear terms like XNA, Zigfu, Microsoft SDK being thrown around), and what would you recommend based on the circumstances?
What resources are good, and where should I start. I want to try reduce redundancies (a lot of Unity tutorials cover stuff like rockets, life bars, etc that I'm not interested in). I'm a bit overwhelmed with the multitude of tutorials, and a lot of them seem very involved time-wise, and I'm just interested in getting something up as fast as possible.
Will I need to learn another programming language / which would be the best to use to achieve these goals?
I just tried Motion Toolkit package from Unity asset store. It is based on Omek Beckon middleware and actually offer a sample that does exactly what you want, an avatar that is animated by movements of a person in real life.
It is implemented in C# though, but integrated very good into Unity, So I guess you'll be able to use Boo (which is Unity scripting language based on Python)
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Closed 11 years ago.
I think I have just about mastered the basics of iPhone programming and now I want to make my apps look better.
Every time I show my family/friends what I have done they think it looks a little "basic". I am inclined to agree
I know how to customise the table view but apart from that everything I make just looks a bit "appy". All the books I have just cover the basics. There's nothing in there that looks amazing.
I know this is a very vague question but I really need to make things look better.
Do I have to be good at art?
I have heard of people using custom designs in Quartz composer, is this how they do it?
Thanks
Good iPhone apps do not look like "art". They look like the standard Apple apps included with the phone. The real "art" to UI design is following the standard conventions of your platform. It's unimportant if your application looks "basic"; the really important things are that it's functional and easy to use. This is something Apple gets right in a big way, and it pays off for them handsomely.
Study the apps on your phone to see how they do things, and then follow those patterns. User testing (even if it's just with your friends and family) is exactly the right thing to do. If your program is powerful and useful enough, they won't be concerned that it looks a little basic. In fact, that can be a real advantage. The more complicated something is, the harder it is for someone to pick up and figure out how to use it right out of the box. The average iPhone user doesn't have a very long attention span, and with as many apps as are available on the App Store, it's hard to blame them for not wasting much time.
While I agree with #Cody, good UI/UX is not art, art does have a place. Art does not take the place of a good UI but does add to it. Not to much art, art needs to be a background part of the app. Backgrounds, icons, button backgrounds, etc.
If you, like me, can not make the art part, hire an artist--if the revenue will support that.
Finally, an artist is not by nature a UX designer, these are usually two different types of people.
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Closed 10 years ago.
I'm going to be teaching a scripting and tool development class to a group of 3D animators. In amongst teaching them coding fundamentals, I plan to have them pick a repetitive task they must perform frequently and have them iteratively develop a tool to automate or simplify this task as an assignment.
What I'd like to know are some criteria that can be used for grading programming assignments such as these? Some of the criteria I came up with were:
Does It Work - Does the tool perform it's task, does it break on certain cases, etc.
Code Cleanliness - Has the code been properly indented, is their coding style consistent, etc.
Documentation - Are functions well documented, are any "clever" bits of code commented, is it under-commented or over-commented, etc.
Efficiency - Has the script been optimized to run quickly, has a lot of unnecessary optimization been done on a task that isn't run very often, etc. (This one I'm not going to put to much emphasis on since these aren't professionally developed tools usually the tool working is more important than speed)
Are there any others?
Clarity. It's important that their code be comprehensible to anyone competent who should chance to open the file.
Does the way the student went about the exercise indicate that they have paid attention to what was taught in class?
You are right to look beyond "does it work"; look for general approach and "craftsmanship".
Do you teach the importance of testing? Look for test cases.
If they had freedom to choose their tools, did they choose wisely?
(no plagarism, obviously)
Are the invariants documented? Are there any unit tests?
Is the entire script broken up into modules or other units of about the right size?
(The inability to break up codes of over 100 lines is a bugbear of beginning programmers.)
Tell Them how it is going to work in terms of file locations etc. Provide one set of data for Them to test ón and another for testing their solutions.
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Closed 10 years ago.
We have this legacy image viewer component in our project that's working fine but it's source is a real mess. I have to add a new feature to this component so that people can add annotation to images using a light pen which is not a complicated task per se but could be a nightmare dealing with our existing code.
I'm really confused right now I don't know where should I start . do I have to refactor the existing code?if not what else can I do?
So here's my question: What could be the best (less painful) approach dealing with such situations?
The question is not an exact duplicate, but this exact same answer applies (you just have a list of one change)
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1386824/hired-as-a-developer-to-maintain-and-update-current-code-base-no-docs/1386844#1386844
Write lots and lots of tests that will allow you to verify that changes you make to the system do not change or break existing functionality.
These tests are like the brace-work that is used to support a physical building when a construction crew is doing reconstruction. That brace-work is used to keep the existing infrastructure intact. You need to preserve the infrastructure of your system with as many unit and integration tests as you have time to write.
These tests will allow you to make small, iterative changes to the system and easily verify that those changes still maintain the expected behavior.
You should read this very good article Big Ball of Mud. And for your answer we all get a big ball of mud at some point and we need to add new functionality to it. Re-factoring such a code is not a good idea since it require alot of testing. But adding few new lines will not harm it. So unless you have alot of time and so does the tester just add the new functionality to your existing code. Although the current code look messed up but remember it works and tested. Read the article and makeup your mind as to which approach is good.