The not so effective pair programming

Last Saturday, we faced another programming competition because we are so nerd like that. In all competitions we join, this is the most different. Because this time, we only compete in pairs. All of our on site competitions and even most of our online competitions were done with three of us in a group. That is me, Excel and Kenneth in the same group.

But this time, only me and Excel competed in UP Cursor's Java Cup. We were named "DLSU Team 1" and together with us were a pair of sophomores. Yes, we compete in pairs. We program in pairs. Pair programming it is. Not at all, we do not have the driver-navigator scheme of the traditional pair programming. We are all drivers trying to solve six problems in two and a half hours.

We try, but we do not succeed. We ended the contest with no problems solved! And as usual, with no shock at all, a UP team won the first place. They solved all the six problems with almost a few sweat.

Well again, the curse of DLSU Team 1 is still alive.

Play Nation Driver now!

Nation Driver Installer is now available for download! You can now play our entry for the Imagine Cup 2010 Game Design category.

You can download it here (link temporarily down, installer bug reported).

Here are some screenshot of the game.

Here are sample videos of the game.

Enjoy the game. And be the best Nation Driver you can be!

Competitions Galore.

Oo, natalo kami sa Imagine Cup. Pero ang pag katalo lang na iyon ang nag bigay sa amin ng mas malakas na loob. Ang Imagine Cup ay ang aming naging simula para sa mga susunod pang mga contest.

Ngayong term na ito, may tatlong contest kaming balak salihan; ang Android Challenge, Samsung Bada at CodeSpark. Meron din isang contest kung saan ipapadala ulit namin ang aming Nation Driver.

Oo, kami na ang adik sa contest!

At ang lahat ng iyon ay dapat magawa ngayong term na ito.

Tingnan niyo ang Sticky Note ko sa baba. Makikita dito ang schedule namin.

At oo nga pala, kami rin pala yung gumagawa ng The Lasallian website at kailangan na itong matapos sa simula ng July.

Ang dami naming contest ano? Sana naman, mapunta na ang aming mga picture sa Proudly Lasallian!

"The more contest we join, the more chances of winning!"

Back to the drawing board.

Yeah. Well, we lose.

Our game that is rich in concept but poor in graphics does not managed to enter the Imagine Cup 2010 Game Design Category Finals.

Nation Driver. :(

I wish this will be a lesson for us. No cramming next time. And if we cram, it needs to be a very serious cramming. Not a joke cramming. Not like those nights before the deadline where we just sit, relax, then program, without that much pressure. Parang walang deadline.

If I will sum up how many days we did Nation Driver, I think... it will be 7 days. A day for planning, four days for round 1, and just two days for round 2.

Cramming is cramming. And now it is over.

And if our chance for Poland is totally gone now. Nation Driver is still not over. We will send our game for another contest. And submit our game here.

Then tomorrow, we will start planning for our entry next year. My years without love life will extend by another year.

But we got a consolation prize!

Thanks to Jan for the dogtag.

Also, another thing I learned... WE CAN CREATE A GAME IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME!

IGF 2012 anyone?

Nation Driver.

Nation driver is a game that combines decision making and strategy with fun and simple mini games to produce a unique playing experience that requires both physical and mental power.

"In Nation Driver, you act as the most powerful person a country can ever have and you are tasked to save your country. Face challenges on health, erase illiteracy in your country, protect nature and ensure that every citizen has food on their plates."

Nation Driver is our entry for the Imagine Cup 2010 Game Design category. We managed to get pass from 696 teams in round 1 and be chosen as one of the 150 teams for round 2. And we are hoping to be part of the 6 teams that will be sent to Poland for the world finals.

In the game, you will act as the president of a country. You are tasked to managed it in a span of six years in the game. Your will starts in the year 2009 and will of course end in the year of 2015, the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals.

Every year, you are tasked to allocate your budget to four different departments: Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Environment, and Department of Food and Resources. The amount of budget allocated per department will determine the difficulty of the their respective mini games that can be played once every month.

There are also projects that you will implement. You can do it by playing the mini game of the department where the project belongs. After implementing a project, its icon will be shown in the country map symbolizing that you finished that project. You can also implement many projects at the same time provided that the projects are not in the same department. But be careful of implementing projects simultaneously, you might not finish it at the right time and it will cost you some department rates. Department rates determines the progress of every departments. Having low department rates can cost you some budget.

You can earn money through exporting and tax. But as we know, too much of everything is bad. Too much exporting can subtract your Department of Food and Resources rates. Too much tax can decrease all you department rates.

Also, your country is not alone, there are two other countries out there. You can interact with them thus increasing your relationship with those countries. Interacting with them will let you play some mini games. Countries can help you if you have good relationship with them. It can slightly increase your budget.

If you think the game is easy, not until you encounter a disaster. Typhoons and earthquakes are present in the game. It will surely lower you department rates.

But don't worry if you are having a bad game, there is your adviser that can give you some tips throughout the game.

So that's it. Do you have the intelligent and skills to formulate a strategy that can save the country, and also the world? Hopefully, you have.

BE THE BEST NATION DRIVER YOU CAN BE.

You can download the game here.

or

You can watch the trailer video of the Nation Driver below.

Coded, developed, and made by eMeSPee Coders (Jolo, Excel, Ian, and Kenneth).

Inspired.

Oo, inspired ako. So ano nanaman ang iniisip niyo ngayon?

"Hindi lahat ng inspired, in love."

Hindi ito tungkol sa babae. Hindi ako inspired dahil sa babae. Inspired ako dahil sa Imagine Cup. Aaminin ko, nawalan na ako ng tiwala sa game namin na Nation Driver noon. Hindi ko na siya inaasahan na makakapasok pa siya sa round 2. Pero ano nangyari ngayon? Against all odds, nagkamali ako. Nakapasok siya sa round 2.

Naisip ko tuloy na baka may nakita ang mga judges sa aming entry na hindi ko mismo nakita. Nakita nila iyon kaya nila ito pinasok sa round 2. At ang nakita nila na iyon ay kailangan ko ring makita. Para ang aming game ay mas maimprove pa.

Ngayong nasa round 2 na siya, at napasama kami sa 150 out of 696 entries. One step closer nalang para sa round 3 or the World Finals sa Poland.

Ipinapangako ko sa sarili ko na ibubuhos ko lahat ng aking lakas at makakaya sa pag improve ng aming Imagine Cup entry.

Nation Driver v2.0 in two weeks.

Nation Driver: The drive to Poland continues.

Naghintay kami ng March 29. Pero ang sabi ay hindi kami nakapasok sa round 2 ng Imagine Cup Game Design. Ngunit nung bandang hapon ay narealize namin na wala palang nakapasok. Sa forums, sa leaderboards, walang nakapasok sa round 2. Pag uwi ko sa bahay, tiningnan ko ulit ang result at sabi ay namove daw ang results to April 4. Binigyan kami ng panibagong pag asa.

Kaya kami naman ay naghintay hanggang April 4. Naaalala ko pa nung pag kauwi ko galing sa simbahan ay tiningnan ko agad ang result sa kanilang website. Pero ulit, namove nanaman ito sa later date, which is April 10. At ito ay ngayon.

April 10 - Gumising ako ng maaga, hindi para tingnan agad ang result. Sa katunayan, hindi ko ito naalala agad. Gumising ako ng maaga dahil manonood ako ng Showtime. Saka ko palang tiningnan ang result pag katapos ng Showtime. Pumunta ako sa leaderboard kung saan makikita ang listahan ng mga nakapasok sa round 2.

May tuldok sa gilid ng team name namin.

At sigurado ako, na ang tuldok sa gilid ng team name namin ay nangangahulugang pasok kami sa round 2.

Pumunta ako sa competition page ng Game Design at nakita ko ito...

Isa lang naman ang ibig sabihin niyan...

Oo, PASOK KAMI SA ROUND 2!

And the drive to Poland continues.

Nation Driver: Our entry for Imagine Cup 2010.

Nag simula ito last year. Tinatanong ako nila Kenneth at Excel kung may magandang contest ba na pwede naming salihan. Tamang tama, kakasimula lang ng Imagine Cup 2010 noon. Then after we agreed what contest in the Imagine Cup we will participate, we registered.

Sumali kami sa Game Design kung saan ay kailangan namin makagawa ng isang laro ayon sa kanilang tema.

"Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems."

Nahirapan kami mag isip ng isang maganda konsepto, kasi gagawa nga kami ng isang laro at kailangan pa ito na masolusyonan ang mga problema ng mundo. Para kasing mahirap dahil paano masosolusyonan ng isang laro ang mga problema ng mundo?

Pero ang kahirapan na yun ang nagbigay sa amin ng challenge. At hindi nag tagal, ay nakaisip din kami ng magandang konsepto para sa larong gagawin namin.

Sa aming laro, ikaw ay presidente ng isang bansa. At tulad ng sino mang presidente, kailangan mo itong paunlarin. Our game has 4 departments, namely: Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Environment and Department of Food and Resources. May mga katumbas na minigame ang bawat isang department. Meron din itong mga projects na kailangan tapusin sa pamamagitan ng pagachieve ng required score sa pag lalaro ng minigames.

Tulad ng isang bansa, ang aming laro ay may tax at import/export din. Dito sa dalawang ito nanggagaling ang iyong pera. Pero hindi lang puro pera ang binibigay nito, pwede rin itong mag dulot ng problema. Sabi nga nila, "Ang kahit ano mang sobra, ay masama." Kaya dapat, ito ay pinagplaplanuhan ng mabuti.

To win in our game, you must combine your intelligence with your skills and formulate a good strategy. Because you do not know, what is right now maybe wrong later.

Here is a video of me playing our game.

Have fun using your mind to play...

Nation Driver.

Note: Demo version palang ang nasa video at ang aming nagawa. Because only the demo game is required for the Imagine Cup 2010 Round 1.

24-hour programming challenge, Imagine Cup, ACM-ICPC

Di kami nakasali sa IUPC-CompSat, at bitter ako dun. :|

Di kami nakaregister sa Java Cup. At bitter din ako dun. :|

Pero I'm still looking forward to three other contests. And to compare these three to the previous two, walang wala sila. IUPC-CompSat and Java Cup are both local contest, parang only in the Philippines. Kapag nanalo ka, you got the price, the trophy, the bragging rights and it ends there.

But 24-hour programming challenge, Imagine Cup and ACM-ICPC are worldwide, meaning... less chances of winning. Even though, being in those three contest and representing your country is such a nice feeling.

24-hour programming challenge electronic contest is on February 27, and if we can join, we will program 5 hour straight with a set of problems. At kapag nakapasok kami, sana nga, sa finals at kung kami ang mapipili na ipadala, sana ulit, ay magkakaroon kami ng pagkakataon na makapunta sa Hungary at dalhin ang bandila ng ating bansa. If you think that 5 hour straight programming is too long enough, just wait till finals, where you will program 24 hours. Yes, 24 hours. That's why they call the contest 24-hour programming challenge.

Matatapos naman ang 1st round ng Imagine Cup sa March 15. At dahil magaling kami, puro plano palang ang nagagawa namin. Pero kaya namin ito. Malakas ang aking pakiramdam na kaya namin tapusin 'till March 15. Bakit? Ang isa sa mga nanalo last year ay tatlong araw lang ginawa ang kanyang program. Dito ay sumali kami sa Game Design category at kailangan ang aming gagawing laro ay kayang makapagligtas ng mundo. Mahirap? Hindi naman. Basta mag isip lang ng mabuti. Malakas din ang aking pakiramdam na may chance kami makapasok. Dahil pagkami ay nag sama sama, kami ay IMBA.

Ooooooy! ACM-ICPC. Ang contest kung saan kami nag simula. Nakakaadik pala sumali sa mga contest. Isang beses palang namin nagawa ay hinahanap hanap na namin. Di kami pinalad na manalo dati kasi ay natuyo ang utak namin. As in di na kami makapag isip. At ngayong taon, panibagong ACM-ICPC ulit ang sana ay aming masalihan. Dito sa contest na ito kami may pinakamalaking chance manalo.

Okay diba? Nakakapagod ang mga contest na ito, pero okay lang. Sayang eh, PANGDAGDAG RESUME DIN ITO! Yey.

ACM after effect.

U.P. is IMBA! :))

Team eMeSPee Coders ranked 22 out of 55. Is it fair rank for starters and also for pure sophomores?

It was a 5 hour programming competition. With 10 problems need to solve. We managed to solve for 4 problems in just 2 hours. But after that, we can not solve any problems. Our brain was drained, our body was tired of thinking. It is a feeling I never felt when it comes to programming. It is like my body is talking to me, stop thinking, you consume to much brain cells in thinking. PLEASE STOP! :D

For short, thinking 10 same problems in 5 hours is more tiring compared to thinking a single machine project for the whole day.

Till next ACM competition. I'm excited for next year. :D

But for now, I just want to sleep.

To view the complete ranking of the competition, click here.

IUPC cancelled!

We are almost complete in DLSU prepared and ready to go to Ateneo. But after a time waiting for our ride, XT and Sir Rigan texted us. The IUPC sponsored by CompSAt is cancelled.

With that text, we become confused. Our first competition is cancelled and moved.

Maybe, it is not the right time for us to compete.

CompSAt on Saturday.

We, XL, Kenneth and me, and two other teams were chosen to represent DLSU in the upcoming competition in Ateneo. And I think, an organization in ADMU called CompSAt will host the competition. We do not have the idea of what we will do at CompSAt, the only sure thing is we will program.

Program like there is no tomorrow.

Program until we can.

Program with our best.

This competition can be the break of Emespee Coders.

"Emespee Coders" is the team name we use for the Imagine Cup 2010 and we decided to use that name for CompSAt.

Goodluck to us!

Excited for Saturday!

Slowly but surely

"Slowly but surely"

It is a quote that can be apply to anything, even in love! Yes, the slowly but surely method on love is the best!

But one thing that this quote can not be used is in programming. Why? Sure working programs are very good. But slow running programs are bad. In ACM, if you apply the slowly surely method, you will be given a TLE or Time Limit Exceeded. And TLE is very bad! It is the worst case that you can have in ACM.

So, as a piece of advice, "Slowly but surely" quote may work in almost all things in this world. But not in programming and in ACM. You, will surely lose if you follow this quote in that situation.

Just apply it in love, not in programming. :D

TraP Meeting tomorrow night is cancelled.

Boooo! With an unknown reason, our TraP meeting was cancelled. Our team is really expecting the meeting or the training session we will have tomorrow, but it was just cancelled.

I thought that TraP is becoming more serious than past trainings because of some changes. But I now doubt what I thought, we are still conducting the same trainings than before. I think, we need to invest more time in trainings for the upcoming ACM contest in Ateneo. Not just to beat Ateneo, but to win and dethrone the defending champ, UP!

With more time training, means more chances of winning.

C++ for ACM

Sabi nga nila. Sabi lang nila. Sabi ng mga abnuy na critics ng Java. Na hindi makaget over sa C, na hindi lang talaga nila maintindihan ang Java. Na hindi pwede ang utak sa Java. Sabi ng laging galit at galit na galit sa Java, mabagal daw ang Java. Pero sabi lang nila yun. Kasi hindi sila marunong gumawa ng paraan para bumilis ang Java. Dahil baka hindi sila marunong mag Threads. Hindi pa ata nila naririnig ang salita na yun. =))

Sabi kasi nila mabagal daw ang most lovable Java, kaya sinubukan ko mag C++. Dahil ayaw ko ng bumalik na C, kaya yung may ayaw ng Java, na puro C lang ang gusto, sige mag C kayo, kahit may C++ naman. :D

Kaya eto, ang pinakaunang program ko sa C++, hindi ito Hello World lang ah. :))

Download my first C++ program here.

Pero mas love ko parin ang Java for GUI.
At kapag walang TLE (Time Limit Exceeded) Rule sa Regionals ng ACM, hindi ako mag C++.
Java pa rin forever!

Hooked at UVa.

Dahil nga kailangan naming mag praktis para kami ang maipadala sa Ateneo for ACM, tuwing mag chachat na kami nila Kenneth ay may kasamang praktis. Lagi na kaming nag prapraktis sa UVa Online Judge.

Medyo nakakaadik din ito, kasi kapag hindi mo masolve ang isang programming problem sa UVa, ay parang ayaw mong huminto. Ewan ko kung kami lang ito o talagang nakakaadik ang programming.

"Because love can not conquer UVa!"

Link to UVa here.