Well, then

[Ari Rahikkala]

A few things.

First, the definition of software (that we're concerned with). I was thinking of... written in a language that's sufficiently closed to being structured that you can compute its cyclomatic complexity, intended to be run on a computer, and nontrivial... say a complexity of at least 20 for an easy-to-check criterion? (nontrivial programs pass with a glance but in case it comes to question - which it well might, in case someone writes a website with JavaScript or flash on it or something)

Second, any restrictions on membership? I was thinking of a pledge for code quality and software usability. Being that most of us here probably use at least some sort of open source software, how about a requirement to share the source code of Shirithian software with the world, or at least with the guild?

Thirdly, what's your favourite language? Not that that has anything to do with the guild beyond socialisation. Though, as far as I know, we're in a funny position here, as far as I can tell basically none of the members share a language preference: I like C and Haskell, Erik seems to do PHP and Java, I recall Harvey did Basic earlier and am pretty sure he'll be studying Ruby for CoD4, and I don't know what Corey likes but if he's listening to Bayen he'll probably go for Python. Oh, and I recall Icebreaker recently talking about... *some* language that wasn't any one of those .

Fourthly, is there someone in Shireroth who needs our services?

[Austi_Scot]

I don't know this stuff - so if ask something that dosesn't apply, doesn't make sense - feel free to make fun of me.

Can you write a small program of a described battle that can be played in video format and posted? I'm not sure but wouldn't such a thing need to be hosted, how would that work?

What about a museum? Aren´t some people thinking about doing expeditions for historical Shirerothian things and then setting up a musem? It would be neat to be able to go into the forum and see pictures of historical Shirerothian things. If they could charge a price in Erb to go into the musem they might be able to afford getting things from the guild.

How about an accounting program that does things the person wants - like bookkeeping and estimating taxes and prices of troops/magic beings, etc:. I now keep a version of my one Shirerothian bank account on google docs as a spreadsheet because I have several holdings which spend and make Erb. I want to be able to keep my various activities within their own budget. Right now I have three different areas, and am thinking of more.

When I get more Erb I will want some flags and things of that nature. Does this guild do such things? And again, what about the hosting of those icons, I don´t believe I can do that, wouldn´t they have to be hosted in order to stay up? (Again, just make fun of me if I´m saying something stupid.)

[Ari Rahikkala]

Can you write a small program of a described bacan be played in video format and posted? I'm not sure but wouldn't such a thing need to be hosted, how would that work?

That is an interesting question with a terrifyingly complicated answer! Let me sleep on it and I'll get back to you. In short, though, no, it is not possible with current technology to parse a recwar post into a rendered battle, not with our resources, and for what it's worth not for someone with a few billion dollars and the world's best AI researchers for several years either.

Now, making it reasonably easy to start with a description of unit positions, movements, actions etc. and turn out an animation like item A here, that *is*... possible? Well... yeah, I'll go with that, possible. And with that I mean, a reasonable amount of work, and quite likely full of pitfalls and roadblocks that you had no idea were even there. Did you know how difficult it is to place text labels on a map automatically? Here's a bibliography of research into the matter in case you're curious. Labeling is the one difficult problem that I can immediately foresee - well, that, and the definition of the data model when I haven't got half a clue what's supposed to go into it - but there are bound to be others.

If that's the kind of thing that you want, my recommendation is to wait until we find out who the author was and ask him what program he used and what he did with it to create that. If said program is sufficiently powerful (here's expecting it was all done in Paint) and there were parts involved in the making of that animation that were frustrating and repetitive, someone might be able to study that program and how to script it. Chances are that a lot of the interesting effects in that animation were done using the features of a general-purpose drawing program - it'd take a while to duplicate a lot of those...

[Ari Rahikkala]

What about a museum? Aren´t some people thinking about doing expeditions for historical Shirerothian things and then setting up a musem? It would be neat to be able to go into the forum and see pictures of historical Shirerothian things. If they could charge a price in Erb to go into the musem they might be able to afford getting things from the guild.

Hm... I don't think I support pay-per-view Shirithian culture . In case you need something like this, though, MiniInt is perfectly willing to set up a passworded forum (I'll be requesting a fee though since a forum like that is hardly in the public Shirithian interest)

How about an accounting program that does things the person wants - like bookkeeping and estimating taxes and prices of troops/magic beings, etc:. I now keep a version of my one Shirerothian bank account on google docs as a spreadsheet because I have several holdings which spend and make Erb. I want to be able to keep my various activities within their own budget. Right now I have three different areas, and am thinking of more.

You mean... like Excel?

Seriously though, please describe this one more carefully. Forms and spreadsheets and databases with a little bit of business logic are easy to code.

When I get more Erb I will want some flags and things of that nature. Does this guild do such things?

No. Well, OK, the flag of Straylight is defined by a C program so that's an exception , but in general, neither drawing nor hosting flags or any sort of pictures will be this guild's business.

And again, what about the hosting of those ic I don´t believe I can do that, wouldn´t they have to be hosted in order to stay up? (Again, just make fun of me if I´m saying something stupid.)

As a matter of fact you can host icons perfectly well - ShireWiki's file upload feature is your friend, or you could use ImageShack or something.

(sorry for the terse answers here - I know you are going to need more background to understand what is this guild's job and what isn't - but I do need some sleep now...)

[Oroigawa Koreyasu]

Thirdly, what's your favourite language? ... I don't know what Corey likes but if he's listening to Bayen he'll probably go for Python.

Python is ok. I'm preferable to C++, though.

[Shyriath]

I've been sort of developing a new lunisolar calendar for private use. If it ever gets to a stage where I could provide enough detail, I'd be interested in asking the guild to develop a calendar converter program so I didn't have to calculate all the dates by hand.