Background and beginning

If you read my previous post, you know that I recently spent a good deal of time debugging a Java build of a program. Not a bug in the Java code, but a bug in gradle, my build environment. Specifically, in my gradle build file: build.gradle.kts.

After going through that problem, I spent time, finally, not pursuing more programming, but learning how gradle’s build operated instead. So, this is a summary of that learning. Sorry, it’s going to be a bit long. But, first, I need to take a minute to go over background things so that we are all on the same page. If you read my post about writing and compiling a Hello World! program in C and in Java , you will know what a basic Java program looks like. You will also see that, in theory, you can compile a Java class with javac MyMain.java into a program.

A sleeping build time bug arises

I haven’t written in a while. Sorry. It’s hot here and I’ve been spending extra time working on the adventure game . I sat down to start writing some of the unit tests for the game. I wanted to do one simple one and test to see if everything built and tested correctly. I always do things in code incrementally; a little at a time and test. Sometimes, it seems pedantic, but it pays off. Though it was not expected to fail, JUnit pushed a failure during testing that hadn’t been there when no tests were available.

Making things easier

Now that the server has been online for a while, it is time to begin the work of ensuring the safety of the server. Mine needed its own firewall. It also needed the ability to ward off those that seek ill of my little server in my little corner of the Interwebs. Time to get my hands dirty. This is the story of logs, awk, bash, and bad guy databases.

Not as expected

I didn’t get much accomplished this weekend on my adventure game. While I did manage to get a ContainerThing class created, the next step kind of failed miserably.

ContainerThing was added as a descendent of the Thing:w class so that we can have chests and sacks; things that have to be opened and closed before user access. That all went pretty well. I did have to adapt to using instanceof in order to access the isOpenable field and the open() and close() methods. But it worked out.

General Update Stuff

I haven’t been able to post in a couple of days. I thought I would update things. Also, because I sometimes don’t have access to my primary server, I want my readers to know there is a backup. You can also reach me here. I keep a Codeberg page. I can sometimes upload to it quicker.

I like to write code in C. Why would I say such a thing?

First steps in programming

Now, that we have all the background covered, I want to show you the beginnings of programming. I will be showing you the steps to build and run the ubiquitous “Hello World” program in both C and Java. The C version will use the C99 standard ( though it matches most standards as well ) and the Java version will use Java 17 ( though it will likely run in whichever Java you have ). These two language standards will be where I will work as I write more posts.

How I write code

I hope two write two posts today. I need to set things up for you all before I dive into code. I don’t know if others call the developer environment they use a stack, but that’s my term.

The reason I do this is that when I learned C#, I used what was good for me. I had Microsoft’s VS Code running on a linux machine with Dotnet Core . I was watching some learning tutorials on YouTube and discovered things didn’t work like the presenter showed them. After much frustration and arguing with the presenter, we both discovered that while I used Dotnet Core and VS Code, he used Microsoft Visual Studio and .NET. The two were not the same, though now they finally are the same. Since then, I am careful to note what I am using so that others will know beforehand.

Before we learn to program

I’m going to start sharing what I know about writing code and developing software, but first I wish to start with sharing some of what happens under the hood.

I am kind of pedantic about things like this, but I am a member of the “No Black Boxes” club. I don’t like things to be hidden. I prefer to know exactly what is going on in my equipment, my electronics, and even in my programs. Though, I do realize I don’t completely care how a given compiler actually works, just that it does its job.

A New Beginning - Again

Hi, I am tardis1 and, yes, I am a Whovian, but I am also many other things as well.

Yes, this is a new beginning for the TARDIS Server Project. I have made several of these over the years, but they all lacked something. Maybe this time will be different.

I grew up as a child during the Gemini and Apollo space flights. Like many others of that era, I wanted to be an astronaut. However, my poor vision ruined that by the time I was a teenager. Yet, there were still space things I could participate in. One of those was computers.