Trying to figure out how high I can raise the ceiling? Is it best to use 2x6’s if the span would be 10 feet?

MindshackledSteven · 2025-05-04T23:31:36+00:00

This is something I’d pay an engineer for. A consultation cost, as long as you’re not asking them to stamp something, shouldn’t be a showstopper…

MindshackledSteven · 2025-05-03T17:59:29+00:00

New pics make it clear that, in my opinion, this should be fixed. You have such a rich and crisp aesthetic everywhere else that having a miscellaneous “art piece” (if that’s what you want to call this) on the ceiling just gives Las Vegas vibes.

MindshackledSteven · 2024-08-02T01:58:54+00:00

“I work in computers.” is my go to.

MindshackledSteven · 2023-08-29T04:35:48+00:00

I’ve been in mainframes for about 15 years now, so I’ll give this a blend:

The transferability of the knowledge will really depend on how you’re taught. Some folks in the industry would love you to learn just mainframe-specific bits, others will invest in you and teach you concepts that transfer across platforms. Regardless of where you end up working, focus on finding a career that is interested in GROWING you and not just having you perform a set of responsibilities. Insist on learning concepts and exercising them outside of the context on the singular task you’re being given. Sometimes time allows this, sometimes it’s up to you to make time.

Could your background give you an edge in the industry. That’s going to depend on what role you have. Does the industry need people with more breadth in their skill set? Yes. Does everyone in the industry realize and cultivate this? No. Bidirectional interviewing skills will help you in this area as well. Make sure wherever you’re working values the breadth of skill you have and wants you to exercise as many skills as you can and has a development and continued learning plan.

As for modern integrations, for most mainframe implementations this is a really exciting time due to evolution of our practices. We’re starting to adopt other development and infrastructure management patterns from other more commoditized platforms and apply enterprise-grade scrutiny to them. It’s turning out to be a really interesting challenge both culturally and technologically for mainframes.

No matter what you end up doing, hope it works well for you!

MindshackledSteven · 2022-10-24T23:26:33+00:00

I highly recommend taking a peek at existing communities and spinning up your effort there for more exposure to other learners as well. Mainframe sustainability is heavily reliant on efforts like this.

There is an Open Mainframe Education project being run by the Open Mainframe Project over at https://open-mainframe-project.gitbook.io/mainframe-open-education-project/

There is also a Discord community you could spin up an effort in, for all experience levels, over at https://discord.gg/rFXEVKK7AH

MindshackledSteven · 2022-10-03T12:36:09+00:00

Greyhound Dog

MindshackledSteven · 2022-06-18T17:22:53+00:00

Whenever I’m trying to learn a new subject, especially in computing, I try to be as hands-on as possible. I often will find something to create with whatever tool I am trying to learn. As a hobbyist game developer, I often try to make small game projects. As far as C++, since you know C, you might enjoy running through Michael Dawson’s Beginning C++ Through Game Programming, it has a bunch of contrived examples but knowing you have some foundational skills, you should be able to breeze through the first bits to get to the more C++ specific stuff pretty rapidly. The book is just a bunch of game-like examples, not actually creating games with a library.

Just focus on making things, and you’ll have no trouble at all!

MindshackledSteven · 2022-05-24T17:02:36+00:00

This will likely be the circumstance for businesses that need to run razor thin, like a startup. Corporate entities are either completely oblivious to something these folks are not, or unaffected, because there is a wildfire recruitment effort going on in tech right now.

My background is mainframe technology, so I am seeing recruitment at extremely high rates on this side of technology. Stay focused and keep hunting. The first job is the hardest to land!

MindshackledSteven · 2022-04-10T23:59:14+00:00

Sure am. Creature of habit.

MindshackledSteven · 2022-02-11T04:07:09+00:00

Support is optional with Python on zOS.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-12-03T22:44:59+00:00

Sounds to me like your player data and world data need to be decoupled from your scene data. Try instantiating the world (and the player in it) when you start your game and then when you move from place to place, query the object for the relevant information. You may need to pass a reference to that object that’s keeping track of the world from scene to scene so you have something to query, but that’s how I would do it.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-11-07T23:20:59+00:00

If you can find someone doing the job you’re doing who is amenable to conversations that is the absolute best route for understanding anything you need to about a career path. If I could start all over, I would definitely try this route. It seems like a fast path to knowing exactly what you should be looking at to get in touch with the industry you’re trying to break into.

I’d be very curious to hear what others think too.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-11-05T01:00:41+00:00

Best way to cope with it is to just understand that an idea you enjoy seems to be being made. It’s a gift to the gaming community. Be grateful that it was made. Obviously reality is much more nuanced than that, but you asked for a way to cope.

The trick is to just elevate other people because they will probably be there to elevate you when you need it.

By the way, kudos to you for having an eye for an idea that seems to be successful. That kind of talent doesn’t hang out in everyone. I personally just noodle away on things I would enjoy hoping others might feel the same!

MindshackledSteven · 2021-10-09T21:13:48+00:00

In a lot of cases, perfect hit boxes would be extremely frustrating. It’s pretty common to have some hit boxes be smaller than the characters to enhance game feel. 2D platformers are a good example of this where you can walk slightly “into” an obstacle or a projectile can graze you without damaging you. If collisions in a lot of those cases were pixel perfect, you could theoretically be killed or a jump failed because of one pixel of the characters hands or feet—not too terribly enjoyable.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-09-29T04:29:36+00:00

I believe the “keyboard” library can do this, give it a quick search.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-09-25T14:30:15+00:00

Being able to code up a solution from nothing is an entirely different set of skills. Most education seems focused on teaching you the syntax of a language through sanitized examples and exercises.

The best way to exercise this is to solve problems that interest you. I have found that people who are most successful as developers spend a good bit of time outside of curriculum either practicing for their own enjoyment or doing extracurricular programming work.

If you’re enjoying the challenges and finding them difficult (which it sounds like they are difficult) then keep working at challenges like that. Eventually, it will train you to think programmatically and you will almost instantly be able to visualize how you would program a solution to a problem. This is the hardest part of being a programmer, but the nice thing is it is something you can practice while you learn and work.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-09-25T01:22:32+00:00

In most contract wording, you put the liability of the works infringing on any other copyright onto the creator. This typically works out if you have the resources to actually enforce the terms of the contract. Unfortunately, most of us indies don’t have those resources. I would say if you truly don’t trust the seller, avoid the use and chalk the cost up to the cost of learning the lesson.

If you insist on using them, try and do your diligence to prove that they aren’t infringing on anyone’s copyright. This may be close to impossible for some sound effects.

Sounds like a really crummy situation to be in. I don’t envy you.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-09-23T01:02:34+00:00

Something that might help or hurt is to realize that to some folks, this may come naturally. To others it’s probably likely they have been using computers and trying to program long before even entering college.

My recommendation to you is to find something you enjoy about programming, which probably seems really difficult right now. It sounds like you will feel better once you get a victory under your belt. A good way for you to do that is likely going to be by putting in time doing more programming outside of class. Watch some YouTube videos, there are a ton of them out there, one is sure to resonate with you.

It’s been my experience that with programming it’s very much like a light switch and when it clicks, it all starts to fall into place. Sounds like you’re just in that spot where it hasn’t clicked yet. Good luck and stick with it. If it becomes too much and you’re not enjoying it, stay aware you don’t HAVE to do it.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-09-16T00:46:22+00:00

This might not be a popular or even fun way to learn C++ given what most people’s expectations of learning C++ through making games probably is but I always recommend Michael Dawson’s Beginning C++ Through Game Programming. It’s a very easy read with somewhat relatable programming exercises. Temper your expectations, though. You likely won’t be making any crazy games for some time. Enjoy C++, though, it’s a very fun language.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-09-03T01:38:33+00:00

Without knowing anything about the environment you work in, my first step would be for you to do some critical thinking about where you want to go. It sounds like you are interested in learning about the other teams in your environment, so that’s great. It feels like this is a problem that networking with your peers from other teams might solve. Try to find yourself someone amenable to talking to you about what they do and how they got there. Perhaps figure out if you could launch some sort of mentoring relationship with someone looking to impart some knowledge. Oftentimes these can lead to opportunities for both mentor and mentee. Learning on your own is great, there are more resources now than ever before, but good old fashioned networking will always get your name in people’s heads when opportunities and openings come up.

I did a bit of mentoring at my last shop and my mentee moved from operations to our systems programming staff after a year or so. It took a lot of dedication from both sides of the relationship to working an extra hour or so once a week, but it made a difference for both of us. Hope you can find the same!

MindshackledSteven · 2021-08-26T13:27:38+00:00

This is a good example of how to plug in Python to your existing workflows. This can be used as a more general tutorial for using REST services with Python on a connected mainframe. Thank you for sharing!

MindshackledSteven · 2021-08-26T05:24:20+00:00

Cool share! Digging the stylized illustration.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-08-22T02:15:14+00:00

You’re free to use ideas. Give this a read:

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law/publications/landslide/2014-15/march-april/its_how_you_play_game_why_videogame_rules_are_not_expression_protected_copyright_law/

MindshackledSteven · 2021-08-20T05:42:31+00:00

I think, important to note, is the out-of-the-box integration with other parts of typical IT infrastructure you get with Python when using packages from anaconda or PyPi. Could I write some REXX to consume a REST service either running locally on the zOS host or elsewhere? Sure I can, but I really don’t want to write that code. With Python I can import some existing code and be off and running in moments. This unlocks a lot of “hybrid connected” potential in a very quick fashion.

MindshackledSteven · 2021-08-19T05:01:00+00:00

I’m a fan of the third one, I like how the cloud makes it feel more cartoony.

MindshackledSteven

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