IT Lesson

Here is a summary of another satisfying day:

I was introduced to some powerful team wireframing techniques that could be incorporated into the discovery phase of a project as another tool to aid in creating and defining the backlog.  I wonder what my UX friends would think of doing UX as a whole team.  It definitely fits the agile model where every team member provides input and takes responsibility for the whole process, not just their specialty.

The 11am session reminded me of the Trident Splash commercials - I wasnt prepared for the amount of information I received from Jeff Patton and Ill have to review my notes and his slides several times.  What I do know is that there was a lot of valuable information on how to do agile discovery.  The techniques were designed to help you get to a definition of ready - ready to start sprinting.  Some quotes I wrote down: "Our job is to minimize output, and maximize outcome"; "Most agile practives emphasize delivery, and not much discovery", and as an example of that second quote: "velocity is a measurement of output, not outcome".  A good reminder to focus on why the project was started in the first place.  Update 8/31: The slides are now available here

The first session after lunch I joined the presenter up front as a timer object.  Brian Marick was explaining OO programming practices to non-programmers by using volunteers who acted as objects.  He explained SRP, encapsulation, MVC, etc.  You can see a partial video of a previous talk he did on the topic at http://vimeo.com/13506935

Not shockingly, in the last session I learned I was using Selenium in the most basic (and mostly abhorred) way.  I was able to spend some time with Patrick Wilson-Welsh after the session in a mini open jam to go through some coding examples of how to do it the right way.  Good thing I havent given my Selenium SDEC presentation yet.  Thanks Patrick for spending the extra time - you are one of many at the conference that have shared your time and energy with me and others.

The day ended when I didnt win an iPad, but I did thoroughly enjoy playing beach volleyball in the dark until almost midnight with occasional swim breaks.  Thanks to everyone who participated - it was a great way to give my brain a rest.

Were at epcot tomorrow night until midnight so I dont think Ill be posting my Day 4 notes until Friday sometime.

The most convenient way to process large quantities of SAR data is using the methods through command line. With the "gpt" command as described in the Nest help pages you can process single scenes from command line, but here is a way to process large quantities of scenes from command line. With the DOS "for" command you recursively search through your directories for scenes to be processed and hand these scenes each to the gpt command.

Here is how to do it:

First you create the processing chain with the graph builder as described in part 2 and save it as an XML file. Especially in the beginning, you may want to keep it to simpler processing chains not containing all tasks at once. In our case, lets take only the SARSIM Terrain Correction:


You set the values in Graph Builder and save it, lets say as "SARSIM_TC.xml". You still should check and edit the XML file for the parameters you need (map projection, resolution, etc) and you will have to modify the saved XML file at twoplaces for batch command line use as follows:

Make sure that the filenames in the XML file have $file and $target as placeholders as in the following examples:

 <node id="1-Read">
    <operator>Read</operator>
    <sources/>
    <parameters class="com.bc.ceres.binding.dom.Xpp3DomElement">
      <file>$file</file>
    </parameters>
  </node>

and the Write part (sourceProduct refid may vary in your case):

<node id="2-Write">
    <operator>Write</operator>
    <sources>
      <sourceProduct refid="6-SARSim-Terrain-Correction"/>
    </sources>
    <parameters class="com.bc.ceres.binding.dom.Xpp3DomElement">
           <formatName>BEAM-DIMAP</formatName>
      <file>$target</file>
    </parameters>
</node>

Now you create a SARSIM_TC.bat file containing


for /r C:Usersmaxlocation_of_files %%X in (*.dim) do (gpt   C:Usersmaxlocation_of_XMLfile SARSIM_TC.xml -Pfile="%%X"  -Tfile=" C:Usersmaxlocation_of_files\%%~nX_SarSimTC.dim")

What happens here?

1. The for-command goes through the directory containing your files to find files named "*.dim" and passes the file name to "%%X".
2. For each of these input files "-Pfile="%%X", the NEST command "gpt" applies the Graph Builder production chain saved in "SARSIMTC_dB.xml" 
3. The output is saved in the parameter -Tfile, which here is written "%%~nX_SarSimTC.dim", taking the filename and between original name and filetype adding "_SarSimTC" to indicate this is having been processed with SarSim. You may choose different naming, but I find this convenient.

Review:
https://copy.com/CL1oHt4WD7IH tekkenSome of the PlayStations biggest moments have centered around a Tekken game. Tekken 1 was released a few months after the PlayStation hit shelves and propelled the system to stardom. Tekken 2 came along, and was another "better-than-perfect" translation of the arcade version, adding modes and what were some of the most amazing FMV sequences available at the time. Tekken 3 has caused much debate prior to its release, as it was slated to be the first Tekken game that wouldnt be a perfect translation. While the backgrounds arent quite as sharp (theyre 2D) as the arcade version, the PlayStation version of Tekken 3 more than makes up for this with additional modes, state-of-the-art FMV, and some of the best fighting to be found anywhere.

Mode-wise, Tekken 3 contains all the modes from Tekken 2. Time attack, team battle, practice mode, and survival mode are all there, and havent changed a bit. Tekken Force mode is a four-level side-scrolling mode that pits players against tons of ninjas. While it seems like a really neat idea, in practice Tekken Force mode isnt all that great. You can waltz right through the four levels very easily using only the right kick button. Beat Force mode four times, and youll unlock Dr. Boskonovitch, one of the games two PlayStation-only characters. Tekken Ball mode draws a few lines in the sand and turns the fighting game into a crazy version of volleyball. Players bat a beach ball back and forth with attacks. Hitting the ball with a special attack transfers the energy of that attack into the ball, giving it an eerie glow. If the opposing player gets hit with the ball, he takes damage. If a player lets the ball drop, he takes damage there as well. Theater mode lets you watch all the Tekken 3 FMV sequences that youve unlocked so far. It also lets you pop in Tekken 2 and check out all the FMV in there, too.

The gameplay is identical to the arcade. Every move, combo, and character has been transferred over, and a couple of new characters have been added in as well. The aforementioned Dr. Boskonovitch is the scientist that appears in Yoshimitsus Tekken 2 ending. Unfortunately, the good doctor has suffered some pretty bad spinal injuries and is unable to stand up for more than a few seconds. So you must fight from the ground with all sorts of strange kicking attacks. Gon is a tiny dinosaur from a Japanese comic. He breathes fire, electrifies his body, and passes gas. Gons limbs are so short, youre never quite sure where his attacks are coming from. Both PlayStation exclusive characters are a waste of space. Dr. B is slightly interesting, but Gon simply has no place in the game at all. Whenever someone picks Gon, it not only makes me want to not play that match, but it also makes me want to just shut the entire game off. Read more

System requirements:
OS:Windows Xp,7,Vista,8

Screen Shots: Click on the image to view large