LinkCatcher 1.0

by Michael G. in ,

Recently, I was using my computer at work, as you do, and a thought occurred to me:

Before explaining my use case, I just assumed it was odd. But then:

Another friend mentioned Choosy, but I looked into it and it seemed like hitting a tiny nail with a massive for-pay hammer-shooting cannon.

After looking for alternatives and not finding one, I decided to write one.

I ended up going with AppleScript, which I hadn't touched in a while, because it's simple, tends to have all kinds of hooks into applications and system events, and it seemed like this was exactly the kind of thing it was made for. In the end, it didn't take long once I actually started, though wrestling with AppleScript's very non-programming-language like vernacular was odd–I haven't done anything notable in AppleScript since I messed around with it for some simple tools back when OS X 10.4 (Tiger) was the new hotness.

After I got it working perfectly for a day on my work machine (running Mavericks), I tried it out at home (where I don't need it, as I do all my browsing in one browser) running Yosemite and found a small headache. Still, I've found a workaround so the tool still works after a bit more effort for setup.

So, on that note, here's the tool with my code, some commentary, and instructions on how to download mine, as well as to re-create it or customize it to your liking:

LinkCatcher

→ Microsoft keeps it old-school with a pricey text adventure game, Visual Studio 2010

by Michael in

Microsoft keeps it old-school with a pricey text adventure game, Visual Studio 2010

Ars Technica's Peter Bright with probably my favorite review of a development tool ever:

There are two major modes to the game, a textual spell-casting game, and a more complex interactive puzzle mode.

Play starts with the spell game. The game has three difficulty modes. In the two easiest modes Visual Studio questers must cast spells to appease a malevolent gatekeeper known only as "the compiler," the text adventuring of Zork with the wizardy and magic of Loom. If the player's spell contains even a single faulty incantation, the compiler will respond with a torrent of abuse and spells of its own; the player must piece together clues contained within compiler's response to determine how they went wrong.

and later

The game includes a complex multiplayer mode, allowing many different players to develop a coordinated array of spells and dungeons together. Each player can enter the other player's dungeons, examine their spells, and even modify them. The open-ended environment allows players to create their own goals and objectives, and the multiplayer mode allows these objectives to be tracked and monitored.

Visual Studio 2010 is a free-to-play game, but here is where some of the biggest problems lie. There is a large system of unlocks and additional features that must be purchased—mere in-game accomplishment is not sufficient to gain access to them. The most expensive of these—the "Ultimate" edition—costs a whopping $11,899. This version does include some exciting additions to gameplay, such as the ability to look back in time to see just how a bug ensnared you in its trap, giving the game something of the character of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

This article is just a small sample of why I love Ars Technica so much.