Canvas Visualizations of Sorting Algorithms
Via Simon Willison, I was made aware of an old but interesting post dealing with visualizing of sorting algorithms. Aldo Cortesi explains his dislike for animated visualizations and argues that their explanatory power equals that of a "glob of porridge flung against a wall".
He decided to make something better and ended up with some pretty cool static visualizations rendered with Python using the Cairo graphics library. Now, I don't know if these are really that much more informing than other attempts (especially if you're comparing algorithms), but I do think they're quite pretty.
Anyway, I thought they could use a little
See the canvas visualizations here
You can adjust the number of elements in the array and the dimensions of the canvas. When you click the "Render" button, an array of length NumElements is filled with random numbers and sorted using the algorithm of choice.
And make sure to read Aldo's original post for the full story. Read more...
Via Simon Willison, I was made aware of an old but interesting post dealing with visualizing of sorting algorithms. Aldo Cortesi explains his dislike for animated visualizations and argues that their explanatory power equals that of a "glob of porridge flung against a wall".
He decided to make something better and ended up with some pretty cool static visualizations rendered with Python using the Cairo graphics library. Now, I don't know if these are really that much more informing than other attempts (especially if you're comparing algorithms), but I do think they're quite pretty.
Anyway, I thought they could use a little
canvas love so I've spent my morning making a quick and dirty JavaScript / canvas port of Aldo's original Python program. It's a bit rushed and I don't have much experience with Python, so I might have missed a few details in the code, but it looks to be producing similar results.
See the canvas visualizations here
You can adjust the number of elements in the array and the dimensions of the canvas. When you click the "Render" button, an array of length NumElements is filled with random numbers and sorted using the algorithm of choice.
And make sure to read Aldo's original post for the full story. Read more...
FsckVPS review update
WARNING: I no longer recommend this host in any way whatsoever. I no longer host my sites at FsckVPS. While their product was more or less what was advertised on the tin, the support turned out to be shit and the guy in charge a common crook. In particular, the kind of crook who shuts down affiliate programs without settling the accounts. You owe me money, man. :-(
I am now a happy customer of KnownHost and have had nothing but good experiences with them.
As promised, here's a 1-month update on my experience with FsckVPS.
Well, once during one of my initial setting-things-up sessions, I did have some problems with either a very slow network or some other form of heavy load on the server. However, the problem disappeared before I could locate the cause and it hasn't come back (but I haven't been "active" on the server as much as in the beginning, so I might just not have noticed it). Other than that, ping times look ok according to host-tracker.com, with most US locations in the 50-200 ms range and the rest of the world just above that. As for download speed, I'm able to get about 8 Mbit/s here from Denmark, I haven't really tested upload speeds.
I didn't want to go through all the hassle with setting up FTP access, so I'm currently using SCP/SFTP to transfer files. I've never used SFTP much and found a program that would let me map a drive letter to the connection. Pretty nice but also horribly, amazingly slow. I realize there must be some encryption overhead and all that, but wow. So, back to WinSCP for me. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the VPS as such.
I've still seen no sign of my open source developer discount. I got no response to my email to FsckVPS (I replied to the mail I got from Rus with the coupon code) and I've just given up hope of saving those few dollars. $20/month is still cheap.
The HyperVM control panel is a bit glitchy at times and responds very slowly some times, but fortunately I don't need to use it much.
A few days ago, they had to shut down the HyperVM instance due to a "potential security issue" (which turned out to be relatively harmless). It didn't affect the VPS itself, though, and everything was up and running again later that day.
Overall, I'm still pretty satisfied. I've moved more and more over to the VPS, everything on pixastic.com and www.nihilogic.dk is now hosted there. The blog is still hosted at Blogger, as is the Games site, but now I'm considering switching to Wordpress and moving both of those to the VPS as well. It will probably be a while before I can find the time for that, though. Read more...
I am now a happy customer of KnownHost and have had nothing but good experiences with them.
As promised, here's a 1-month update on my experience with FsckVPS.
Well, once during one of my initial setting-things-up sessions, I did have some problems with either a very slow network or some other form of heavy load on the server. However, the problem disappeared before I could locate the cause and it hasn't come back (but I haven't been "active" on the server as much as in the beginning, so I might just not have noticed it). Other than that, ping times look ok according to host-tracker.com, with most US locations in the 50-200 ms range and the rest of the world just above that. As for download speed, I'm able to get about 8 Mbit/s here from Denmark, I haven't really tested upload speeds.
I didn't want to go through all the hassle with setting up FTP access, so I'm currently using SCP/SFTP to transfer files. I've never used SFTP much and found a program that would let me map a drive letter to the connection. Pretty nice but also horribly, amazingly slow. I realize there must be some encryption overhead and all that, but wow. So, back to WinSCP for me. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the VPS as such.
I've still seen no sign of my open source developer discount. I got no response to my email to FsckVPS (I replied to the mail I got from Rus with the coupon code) and I've just given up hope of saving those few dollars. $20/month is still cheap.
The HyperVM control panel is a bit glitchy at times and responds very slowly some times, but fortunately I don't need to use it much.
A few days ago, they had to shut down the HyperVM instance due to a "potential security issue" (which turned out to be relatively harmless). It didn't affect the VPS itself, though, and everything was up and running again later that day.
Overall, I'm still pretty satisfied. I've moved more and more over to the VPS, everything on pixastic.com and www.nihilogic.dk is now hosted there. The blog is still hosted at Blogger, as is the Games site, but now I'm considering switching to Wordpress and moving both of those to the VPS as well. It will probably be a while before I can find the time for that, though. Read more...
Games round-up for March 2009
I've been so busy this month, especially the past week or two, that I haven't had time to add a lot of games, but the collection did expand a bit afterall.
A few new games were added in addition to a bunch of oldies as well as some of my own game-related experiments.
3D Tomb II
The master of all things tiny, Mathieu 'p01' Henri, created this impressive FPS game in just 4KB.
Read more about 3D Tomb II
Amoeba
A fun, little Roguelike where you have to survive in a dog-eat-dog world (or amoeba-eat-amoeba, I guess).
Read more about Amoeba
BeSlimed
Everyone's favorite puzzle game Bejeweled - MooTools style.
Read more about BeSlimed
DHTML Lemmings
This game says JavaScript gaming like no other. A classic game with a near perfect DHTML implementation.
Read more about DHTML Lemmings
HatenaRunner
From the talented Satoshi Ueyama comes a fun Lode Runner clone.
Read more about HatenaRunner
Helicopter 2K1
Classic chopper action in this nice arcade game.
Read more about Helicopter 2K1
Leisure Suit Larry AGI interpreter
One of my favourites, António Afonso has made an interpreter for the old AGI adventure game format used by Sierra OnLine way back when and is showing it off with some old school Larry Laffer fun.
Read more about Leisure Suit Larry
Scriptris
Tetris clones are plentyful and JavaScript versions are too, but this one has some nice multiplayer options.
Read more about Scriptris
Shapes
A DHTML arcade game inspired by the fast paced Geometry Wars.
Read more about Shapes
Space Invaders Emulator
Not just a JavaScript version of Space Invaders, this is an actual emulation of the hardware used in the old arcade games. It also runs a few other classic Taito games.
Read more about Space Invaders Emulator
Super Mario and Wolfenstein
Also added was three Nihilogic experiments/demos from last year. First the Super Mario game that basically gave life to Nihilogic about a year ago and was later followed up by a Mario Kart experiment. Finally, a partial remake of the first map of Wolfenstein using my own crappy 3D engine.
Read more about Super Mario Bros.
Read more about Super Mario Kart
Read more about Wolfenstein 3D
VideoPoker
Get a piece of casino action with this video poker game by Juan Mellado. No risk of loosing the kids' college funds.
Read more about VideoPoker
I think for April, I might try to dig into Brent Silby's archive of DHTML games. I've been putting it off since there are just so many but there's really no way around it.
Read more...
3D Tomb IIThe master of all things tiny, Mathieu 'p01' Henri, created this impressive FPS game in just 4KB.
Read more about 3D Tomb II
AmoebaA fun, little Roguelike where you have to survive in a dog-eat-dog world (or amoeba-eat-amoeba, I guess).
Read more about Amoeba
BeSlimedEveryone's favorite puzzle game Bejeweled - MooTools style.
Read more about BeSlimed
DHTML LemmingsThis game says JavaScript gaming like no other. A classic game with a near perfect DHTML implementation.
Read more about DHTML Lemmings
HatenaRunnerFrom the talented Satoshi Ueyama comes a fun Lode Runner clone.
Read more about HatenaRunner
Helicopter 2K1Classic chopper action in this nice arcade game.
Read more about Helicopter 2K1
Leisure Suit Larry AGI interpreterOne of my favourites, António Afonso has made an interpreter for the old AGI adventure game format used by Sierra OnLine way back when and is showing it off with some old school Larry Laffer fun.
Read more about Leisure Suit Larry
ScriptrisTetris clones are plentyful and JavaScript versions are too, but this one has some nice multiplayer options.
Read more about Scriptris
ShapesA DHTML arcade game inspired by the fast paced Geometry Wars.
Read more about Shapes
Space Invaders EmulatorNot just a JavaScript version of Space Invaders, this is an actual emulation of the hardware used in the old arcade games. It also runs a few other classic Taito games.
Read more about Space Invaders Emulator
Super Mario and WolfensteinAlso added was three Nihilogic experiments/demos from last year. First the Super Mario game that basically gave life to Nihilogic about a year ago and was later followed up by a Mario Kart experiment. Finally, a partial remake of the first map of Wolfenstein using my own crappy 3D engine.
Read more about Super Mario Bros.
Read more about Super Mario Kart
Read more about Wolfenstein 3D
VideoPokerGet a piece of casino action with this video poker game by Juan Mellado. No risk of loosing the kids' college funds.
Read more about VideoPoker
I think for April, I might try to dig into Brent Silby's archive of DHTML games. I've been putting it off since there are just so many but there's really no way around it.
Read more...
