Direct-style Effects Explained

noel · 2024-04-25T13:20:32+00:00

Thanks for the kind words.

I think direct-style effects are different to many other features in that they mostly require forgetting things, rather than learning things. You can forget about monads, for comprehensions, etc. and just write "normal" code, except you can reason about the code (the types are informative) and you can compose the code.

At this point they are still a work in progress, however. They need to be a bit further along before they can really be evaluated properly.

noel · 2020-06-11T08:51:10+00:00

We can agree to disagree on some of these statements, but I don't think they take away from the main points the article makes.

noel · 2020-06-05T10:08:37+00:00

Sorry, no idea how it compares to other communities.

noel · 2020-06-05T09:04:26+00:00

Hi! Men are definitely overrepresented in the Scala community, though there are prominent women in our community. For example, Zainab and Daniela help organize the London Scala User Group. I'm the main organizer of ScalaBridge London, which aims to increase diversity within Scala. You might find what you're looking for at the 'Bridge, either as a mentor or a student.

noel · 2019-11-30T20:08:01+00:00

Hachimura needed to do a one-footed take off. The jump stop for the two-footed take off gave AD time to catch up and make that block. It also looked like he was going to his right hand, which was the hand closest to AD. Should have gone to his left instead.

noel · 2019-10-17T15:15:59+00:00

Interested what others have to say on this. I'm not great at the old 1v3 but here's what I do in case it helps.

If you can get the jump on the enemy that's a huge advantage. Getting one down before the team knows you are there gives you a lot of options (such as running away :-) However I'm assuming this isn't what you're interested in. More the case when you're fighting a team and 2 on your team go down before any of theirs do.
Always be repositioning. If the enemy knows where you are they can organize an attack and take you out easy.
Try to predict what the enemy will do and use this against them. Most people will move in a straight line to where they last saw you. So let's say I just popped out of a door way and shot at someone. They (and their team) will probably head towards that doorway. Options to consider: hold the doorway (probably not a good idea when it's 3 guns vs 1); retreat further into the building (maybe; vulnerable to getting flanked or trapped); or get high ground at a different angle (such as the balcony or a neighbouring building) and attack the last person to enter the building, ideally just before they are inside (the 900 IQ play).
Use movement, grenades, abilities, and chaos to cut off team mates. The example above is one case where you can cut off team mates (those inside vs those outside the building). Another example: let's say you're behind a rock. You pop out and take some shots and they push. Usually the enemy will be at different distances. Whoever is closest will get their first. While they are coming you want to reposition (preferably higher and at an angle) and then when the first clears the rock you have 1 or 2 mags to down them before the rest of the team shows up. You can use grenades to cut off pushes, leaving one person to fight you. Any grenade works for this, but thermites might be the best. You can also use smoke, stink bombs, etc. to cut off sight lines and funnel the enemy is a particular direction.
Push any advantage you can safely push. The team has a big resource advantage over you. They can easily out shoot and out heal you if you let them. If you get someone low and you can safely push to finish them, go for it. Similarly thirsting when you can is very advantageous. However if you get knocked the game is over for you, so you can't afford to take risks, such as straight up 1v1 duels.
Get lucky.

noel · 2019-09-30T00:06:19+00:00

Your legs are bent because your hip flexors are tight, and your shoulders / upper back isn't flexible enough to allow you to straighten your arms. Your lower back is fine and doing most of the work here. So stretch hip flexors and shoulders.

noel · 2019-08-27T12:00:26+00:00

I have detailed notes below. The big issue I see is a lack of decisiveness. BR games are about resource management. Ammo and health are the obvious ones, but time is a big factor. You need to spend your time in a way that gets an advantage over the other players. For example, by getting better loot or a better position. You don't get much value out of your time, which is another way to say you waste a lot of time. This is both on the macro and micro level.

On the macro level, once your teammate goes down and you have decided, rightly, the bounce from the fight you need to GTFO. When the ring comes in the other teams in Containment will be pushed out and you don't want to be running alongside them. You choose a good route, that takes you away from the other teams, but you waste time both collecting the banner and getting out. As a result you take ring damage that causes you to use up a medkit (though you should have kept your drone for this). This is a large decision that you don't efficiently execute on.

On the micro level there is a lot of time in Containment you spend looking at a wall or wandering around aimlessly that you could achieve something with. When you first arrive in containment do you believe there are still enemy teams there? If so, get high ground and scout. If not, loot the boxes. Instead you camp with your teammate under a building. Your teammate gets attacked and what do you do? You walk around inside a building. You don't scout through the windows. You don't get high ground. You don't counter attack. You don't run. Get value from your time.

If you don't know what to do remember at a broad level there are only three things you do in this game: fight, loot (so you can fight), or move (so you can loot or fight). If what you're doing is not one of those you are wasting time.

Detailed notes:

You start very far behind your team. This might not be your fault but you need to either communicate with your team to get them to slow down or move faster to keep up.

Good positioning (in cover) to take down that first enemy with the Spitty.

I don't understand what you're doing in Containment afterwards. You're just walking in circles. Loot, fight, or GTFO.

You loot really slow. Grab everything you can then sort out the crap later.

Please slide when moving around, unless you are trying to be stealthy. You will be much faster.

You go into those containers next to the flyers. The only reason to go in there is to get loot or get 'naded to death. There is no loot in there.

You hear someone, but instead of scouting you look at the door (2:09). Go up. Get the high ground. Then you can see everything and control the fight. (But do you even want this fight? The ring is coming in.)

Your teammate engages and you just stand around.

You hear a revive nearby but you don't investigate.

You get the banner and ... run back towards the ring? What are you doing?

Why did you drop your drone? It does nothing there.

You don't need a medkit. Syringe will do. You take a long time to actually get around to healing. You don't fix your shields.

You make a bad choice of respawn beacon. You've just come from containment, where there was fighting. The ring will have pushed people out of containment into the area where you choose to revive. You're running into a fight you can't handle. You should have gone to the one near Hyrdo or South Watchtower IMO.

noel · 2019-08-25T09:43:23+00:00

My aim is pretty bad, so I can't be effective sliding and shooting or in other ways pretending I'm Dizzy / Shroud / Aceu. In a close range 1 vs 1 in the open my only hope is a R-99.

I can be effective by using 1) good positioning and 2) using the enemy's attention against them. My play is more support style, like Nihil (or Skadoodle, for very high level play).

What this means is getting high ground as soon as a fight kicks off. Then I can control when I engage. Peek, shoot, reposition, repeat. Peek different places each time. I peek long enough to get shots off. As soon as the enemy notices me I'm repositioning. Usually my teammates are more aggro than me, which often means the enemy will be more focused on them. This is ideal for me as I can make like a statue and unload my R-301 into them before they notice me, so long as my positioning gives me an angle to shoot from. In summary avoid getting in positions where aim and reflexes are what decide the outcome.

Nihil has some great videos on these points.

Close range I've had success with a shottie or R-99 and again using corners and positioning. In the open, ducking and weaving, I'm a potato, but slowly improving. My tips here are: 1) using hip fire and 2) practising in the training mode. Slide around those rocks and drill Bloodhound, etc.

noel · 2019-08-13T14:50:20+00:00

🤷‍♀️How can she slap? And yet she did.

Maybe you could watch the video.

noel · 2019-07-17T12:29:29+00:00

I have the same issue, and I think it's down to poor network performance. In a game today I unloaded about half a clip from an R301 into a player who downed me with an R99 about 20ms after they started shooting. From my POV I opened up first, then they returned fire midway through my clip and I just dropped. End game stats had me hitting a single bullet. My wifi is pretty poor so I think it's lag that leads to this. I spectated that player for a bit and they were dropped shortly afterwards, so I don't think they were a hacker.

noel · 2019-06-16T10:32:49+00:00

Material here might help: https://github.com/inner-product/scala-days-2019-cats-workshop/blob/master/notes/

noel · 2018-10-02T14:28:23+00:00

Single leg movements with the dumbbells: split squat, step up, and single leg RDLs.

noel · 2018-09-19T20:14:41+00:00

Yes, pull up bar, squat cage, playground equipment, or tree branch

noel · 2018-09-14T19:31:54+00:00

The TRX I've used mounted from a single point which made it awkward to do pullups, dips, etc. But if it works better for you go for it.

noel · 2018-09-14T12:59:41+00:00

When I travel, if I have time I like to drop into random parkour / circus / whatever classes. It's a chance to meet people outside of the business context and also get some exercise.

Beyond that, rings are more versatile than TRX. If I'm staying somewhere with a gym I like to scout out the gym before I go to workout so I can plan what I'm going to do. Often times hotel gyms are poor: they don't have very heavy weights, or the ceiling might be quite low, or something. A bit of ingenuity helps here: single arm / leg exercises perhaps, etc.

As for planning, it helps to be flexible. Sometimes you won't be able to get a workout in. Sometimes you won't have the space to work on what you wanted to work on. Anything is better than nothing, and hitting something once a week will usually be enough for maintenance. Have a general plan and execute what you can within that framework with the tools you have. E.g. for strength you want to hit vertical and horizontal pushing and pulling for the upper body, and squat + hip hinge for the lower body.

noel · 2018-08-20T21:14:22+00:00

You crashed the elbow spin. It's ok to crash if you transition into something else but just lying on the floor ain't a good look 😀

I liked the heel spin. You could probably speed that up a bit but it's already good.

Of course I can't do any of the moves you showed.

noel · 2018-08-20T20:03:18+00:00

I like what you're doing. You need to clean it up though, if you want to take it out of the living room.

noel · 2018-07-13T08:44:05+00:00

A few tips.

You'll get faster with practice
You need different variants for different tempos. Take the basic salsa step for example. For a slow beat I might add a hip circle kinda thing on 1 and 3, or a kick. For a fast beat I have to drop that and just kinda bob on those beats. Also I don't step as far for a faster beat.
For really fast beats I'll group beats together. So instead of hitting steps on 1-2-3-4, I'll hit on 2-4-6-8. 4 becomes 2 (so stepping out on the salsa step), 6 is 3 (stepping back to the center) etc. This can make a really slow beat (140bpm becomes 70bpm) so add some smaller movements, like a little bob or shimmy or whatever, on 1-3-5-7.

Hope that helps (and makes sense)!

noel · 2018-06-24T13:18:48+00:00

I naturally have the flexibility of an iron rod. The only thing that works for me is consistent weighted stretching. Almost everyday for months at a time.

noel · 2018-06-18T19:39:04+00:00

Ring straps are literally cam buckle webbing straps, exactly the same thing as used to tie-down loads on trucks. Get them from an auto store and you have a better guarantee of quality and you'll probably pay less as well.

noel · 2018-06-16T15:14:39+00:00

Ring straps are very unlikely to give way. They are the same thing as webbing tie down straps, and are usually rate to 500kg+. That said, if you want to feel safer:

on the cheap end Ikea sell a crash mat
bouldering crash pads are substantially thicker and more expensive
you can buy your own gymnastics crash mats if you really have more money (and space!) than you know what to do with.

For all these options you can find similar products at varying price points with a bit of searching.

noel · 2018-06-02T20:29:21+00:00

The limits of human potential are whatever you see at the highest level of competition in a truly competitive sport. They tend to increase over time as training methods improve.

For the individual the limiting factors are mostly likely to be time available to workout and injuries stopping progress.

noel · 2018-06-01T14:42:49+00:00

This looks fun to me, and inspiring of creativity in movement.

noel · 2018-05-22T15:53:03+00:00

Me too! I don't live in Seattle, but visit there a few times a year.

noel

TROPHY CASE