Asielen's site

Intermittent problem while retrieving a webpage using world.Export()

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:57:32 +0000

Code:

client/verb
    Test_Any_Site(var/url as text)          //eg: www.google.com
        var/site = ""
        world << "TESTING - [url]"
        site = get_website("http://[url]")
        world << "site length [length(site)]"

proc
    get_website(url)
        var/list/site = new()
        var/site_text = ""
        var/refresh = 0
        while(!site_text && refresh<10)
            refresh++
            site = world.Export(url)

            if(!site)   //Site is not loading at all
                world << "ATTEMPT [refresh] FAILED  @ <[url]> - NO SITE - NEXT TRY [2*refresh] seconds"
                sleep(refresh*20) //Pause between retrys for better chance of getting a page (longer each time)
                continue

            site = site["CONTENT"]
            site_text = file2text(site)

            if(length(site_text)<10) //Arbitrary length to catch bad sites
                world << "ATTEMPT [refresh] FAILED  @ <[url]> - BAD SITE- [site_text]- NEXT TRY [2*refresh] seconds"
                site_text = ""
                sleep(refresh*20) //Pause between retrys for better chance

        if(!site_text)  //If even after all that, no site was loaded return null
            world << "# ERROR # ATTEMPT [refresh] - NO SITE @ <[url]>"
            return

        return site_text

Problem description:
While trying to retrieve a webpage in-order to parse its contents, I occasionally receive a bad site when I don't believe I should.

I am not sure if this is a code problem or a web page problem. Occasionally instead of getting the webpage, I get something along the lines of:
â¹
and that is it.

It doesn't happen all the time (maybe 10% of the time) and it doesn't happen with all sites. One site I seem to have the most trouble with is: http://www.politifact.com/personalities/

nth root algorithm

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:18:04 +0000

I am trying to expand upon hobnobs bignum datum but I can not figure out how to solve for nth roots.

I cam across this algorithm:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shifting_nth_root_algorithm).

It seems to be the best way to find the nth root of a number that is stored as a string. However, I can't figure out how to get a generic version of this algorithm working. I can kind of get it working for square root and cube root but not for any nth root. Does anyone have an implementation of this algorithm for BYOND or perhaps a pseudo code example or any other method for solving the nth root of a number stored as a text string of arbitrary length?

Here are a couple other example of the algorithm as used to solve square roots and cube roots.
http://xlinux.nist.gov/dads//HTML/cubeRoot.html
http://xlinux.nist.gov/dads//HTML/squareRoot.html

Pass error messages through a proc

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:05:39 +0000

Is it possible to pass runtime error messages through a proc and modify the output? At times when I am debugging, I would like to be able to add extra info to the error output that would only be displayed if the proc crashed. I don't see how it could be done but maybe someone has an idea.

Map Initialization at runtime

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:26:27 +0000

I just have a question about these world variables.

It seems from experimenting that no matter what, if you want to use a map you have to initiate the map in someway before runtime, either through setting maxx and maxy or actually creating a map. If you do this then you can adjust these variables during runtime to change the maps size.

Example (This works):

world
  maxx = 1
  maxy = 1

turf/grass
  text = "#"

client
  verb
    Set_Map()
      world.maxx = 10
      world.maxy = 10
      new/turf/grass(locate(10,1,1))
      view = 10

However, if you don't setup a map at runtime, there is nothing you can do to initialize the map.

Example (this doesn't work-no map initialization):

turf/grass
  text = "#"

client
  verb
    Set_Map()
      world.maxx = 10
      world.maxy = 10
      new/turf/grass(locate(10,1,1))
      view = 10

Now I know this isn't a big deal and I can work around any issue with this. I am just wondering out of curiosity if there is a way to initialize a map at runtime.

Circle Coordinates

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:41:37 +0000

So I have been trying to figure this out and I haven't seen anything directly related to this in the forum-a lot of things that are close but not quite.

I am trying to create a proc that given a x,y value and a radius, it will return a list of all the coordinates within the circle (not just a ring but a filled circle). I can't use range or view because this does not apply to turfs. It is more of an abstraction using an array set up as array[x][y].

If anyone has any ideas or if I missed anything in the forum let me know.

I have tried adapting something I used in my graph program using polar coordinates:

Gr_Polar(var/radius as num, var/ang as num)
  var/py = radius*sin(ang)
  var/px = radius*cos(ang)
  return list[px][py] //this is a global list

But this doesn't really give the best results since I have to round it which creates off center shapes.

If it is any help, I probably wont have a radius greater than 4.

Snow War v4.10

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 05:12:22 +0000

Snow War has been updated for the first time in a long time.

It was originally created for a contest way back in January of 2008 but it was only sort of working at that point.
Original Contest

I have decided to clean it up and make it a more finished product. Please feel free to leave any comments on how I can improve it.

Also, check out the help file SnowWarGuide.pdf in my files.

Refreshing

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 00:06:11 +0000

After coming back from a long hiatus due to school, the most refreshing part of this community is not the site change or the removal of rips but rather how much more open the administrators have become.

I remember when I started here it was an extremely closed community. I applaud the efforts made by Tom in being a more public figure around here. It is nice to see that he is personally responding to posts and clarifying the site policies. I hope that once all this controversy dies down, he remains an active and visible part of the community, while continuing to improve Byond.

So, instead of whining and complaining about how things change, I thank you Tom for the effort put into this site.

Import From Excel or CSV File to a list

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:37:01 +0000

Hey I was just wondering if anyone knows of a way to import a values from an excel or .csv file and put them into a list within Byond.

I guess I could just read the .csv file as text and parse out the individual columns but I figured I would ask first to see if anyone has come up with a better solution or something similar that could be easily modified to suit my needs.

Next Step.

Sat, 31 May 2008 20:24:45 +0000

I will be attending the University of Southern California next fall as a Junior in the Business school after having gone to Long Beach City College for the last 2.5 years. For the last about semester I have been doing a lot of paperwork in regards to transfering so I haven't been very active and now going to USC next fall I will probably not have as much time so I probably not keep active. However, I will probably still lurk occasionally on this key or my other key (drumersl)

It has been fun Byond.

Fight On!

Philosophy: Morality

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:00:40 +0000

I am taking an Ethics class this semester and I am curious to see what this communities take on morality is.

In case you dont know what the categories are:

Objectivist:
You believe there is absolute moral truth that is the same for everyone and unaffected by what we think or feel about it.

Subjectivism:
You believe that moral truth is determined by what an individual thinks about something.

Emotivism:
You believe that moral truth is determined by how an individual feels about something.

Cultural Relativist (aka Conventionalism):
You believe that moral truth is determined by a culture or society.

Nihilist:
You think that there is not moral truth at all.