Thu 03 May 2012

Implement a "Save Game" Feature in Python with the shelve Module

This post goes into the details of how you can add a "save game" feature to your Python games.

Fri 06 April 2012

Stop Using "print()" for Debugging: A 5 Minute Quickstart Guide to Python’s logging Module

To figure out bugs in your code, you might put in print statements/print() calls to display the value of variables. Don’t do this. Use the Python logging module.

Sun 25 March 2012

How to Code a Twitter Bot in Python on Dreamhost

Posted by Al Sweigart in misc

I made a twitter bot that checks every hour for someone who has asked the question, “Why do homeless people have dogs?” and automatically replies, “Because a dog will love you even though you are homeless.”

Mon 19 March 2012

CircleMUD Data in XML Format for Your Text Adventure Game

Posted by Al Sweigart in misc

CircleMUD was a popular piece of server software for running a MUD, and it came with a sizeable virtual world (which the admin could modify/append to customize their fantasy world.) It would be pretty handy to use parts of this data if you were creating your own virtual world for a text adventure game, but the format of CircleMUD's data files is kind of obtuse and not amenable to manipulation.

So I wrote a few scripts to convert these files into a single XML file which is 4MB when unzipped. You can parse this file and modify it to suit your needs. It contains 1979 rooms across 30 different areas (called zones in the file), with 46 shops and 569 different "mobs" (mobile objects, which are the monsters and NPCs). There are 678 different types of objects, including 116 weapons and 154 types of armor.

Sun 18 March 2012

“How much math do I need to know to program?” Not That Much, Actually.

Posted by Al Sweigart in misc

Math and programming have a somewhat misunderstood relationship. Many people think that you have to be good at math or made good grades in math class before you can even begin to learn programming. But how much math does a person need to know in order to program?

Sat 03 March 2012

Nobody Wants to Learn How to Program

Posted by Al Sweigart in misc

They don’t want to learn how to program just for the sake of programming. They don’t want to learn about algorithm complexity or implicit casting. They want to make Super Mario or Twitter or Angry Birds.

Mon 20 February 2012

"I Need Practice Programming": 49 Ideas for Game Clones to Code

Posted by Al Sweigart in misc

You want to practice writing code but can't seem to find any open source projects that are at your level or easy for new people to contribute to. Here's a list of game clone ideas for you to implement. Each has a short description of the game, links to videos of the game, and descriptions of what kind of algorithms you'll need to know in order to implement them.

Fri 10 February 2012