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Comment Java is dysfunctional (Score 1) 414

Java is not functional

Only because Oracle keeps breaking it. The Java virtual machine's security has proven to be Swiss-cheese enough that Oracle is falling back on the traditional video game console security paradigm (reliance on commercial code signing certificate authorities) rather than actually restricting what a program module can do.

Comment Variable type, name, and constructor should differ (Score 1) 414

Foo foo = new Foo()

Which isn't necessarily good style.

First, the type name in a declaration can and often should be more generic than the constructor. It could be an interface that the constructed class implements or an abstract class that the constructed class extends. For example, you can do Map map = new TreeMap() if you're not going to call any tree-specific methods later on.

Second, why name the variable similarly to the class? Map enemies = new TreeMap() makes the variable's purpose easier to understand.

Comment New mediums hereinafter created (Score 1) 224

Personally, it seems extremely unlikely to me that any person or organization would think it worthwhile to do something based on any reward requiring a monopoly more than thirty years down the road.

The amicus brief by Dr. Seuss Enterprises in Eldred v. Ashcroft implied that one key objective of a long copyright term is to cover adaptations into new mediums created decades after first publication of a work.

Comment Re:It's not that great (Score 1) 414

typing them on many keyboard layouts that are not en-US is quite uncomfortable.

Doctor, when I do this with my arm, it hurts.

Rapidly switching back and forth between en-US and the keyboard layout for your native language can be uncomfortable as well. "Doctor, the contortions that I have to make between doing this with my arm and doing that with my arm hurt. I am required to do both for my job."

Comment Re:Why no high motion LD/ED? (Score 1) 60

NES for example is 256x224

I have programmed games for the NES, and I can assure you that the NTSC NES picture is 256x240. The Super NES is most commonly 256x224 with the black borders you mentioned, and the Sega Genesis is 256x224 or 320x224. On these systems, the size in pixels of the part of the signal that fills the 4:3 frame is 280x240 (or 350x240 in the case of 320px mode on the Genesis), including some borders at the sides that most TVs cut off. The borders would be included in the video uploaded to YouTube, and these borders would still be smaller than the top and bottom borders on letterboxed videos that I see so often on the service.

480p is so-so, at least you have a full video pixel for each original, but the edges doesn't align so it's a bit jittery/blurry.

The nominal bandwidth of a composite signal is 4.2 MHz. The Nyquist rate for a 640-pixel-wide sampling of a 480i component signal is 135/22 = 6.136 MHz. So ideally, one would sample the NTSC signal at 640x240, line-double it to 480p, and let the encoder sort it out. But YouTube punted on this and allowed 60 fps only for high definition, causing flicker transparency effects in these classic games to be rendered incorrectly: either fully opaque or fully invisible.

Comment Re:Or just boycott the major movie studios (Score 1) 371

There are actually three options: use DRM, infringe copyright, or voluntarily do without.

Or fourth option: movie/tv show owners can wake up to the fact the digital file is worthless

I was referring to things that an end user can do. Most lack the billions of dollars needed to dictate terms to the incumbent movie studios. Most lack even the millions of dollars to start an indie movie studio that can produce a desirable feature-length motion picture to sell on GOG.

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