Java 7 Released

So finally Java 7 is here. Although not without some issues. Still, I've installed it and I am using it without any problems so far.

Unfortunately from my point of view project Jigsaw didn't make it into the release. I was really looking forward to being able to mess around with modules and using them to get myself motivated to redesign Ancient Power.

Also today Netbeans 7.0.1 has been released to finalise the Java 7 features added in Netbeans 7.0. Which I've also upgraded to with only one issue, Junit library's not being where they should be, but this should be a good time to actually learn about libraries, modules and dependencies in Netbeans projects.

So with both these new toys available I've been doing some work today and hopefully more as this month goes on.

Randomness

So fairly early on into this project I discovered something about java.util.Random, its not random enough. Actually that's wrong, its actually plenty random enough for most simple applications such as the die rolls most computer rpgs simulate. But being a completionist I would need a better algorithm for use in Ancient Power.

A pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) can be measured by two main qualities its execution speed and its period . The period equates to the length of the sequence of numbers that it will produce before it begins repeating it's self.

The one I have decided to use is George Marsaglia's complementary-multiply-with-carry. This has both an extremely large period and, in its complementary implementation, fast execution.

back...?

So I'm back at uni and I'm really enjoying it this time around. It's also gotten me to dust of this old project and consider doing more work on it.

I've been musing over lots of little things relating to computer RPG's, roguelikes and fantasy settings. Jotting stuff down as I play other games, noting what I like and what I would change. I really feel like I want to get a lot of these ideas written down instead of them just rolling around in my head.

So no promises but hopefully I'll be posting some of these thoughts here.