To quote Casey 'No one knows. It is a mystery'
Personally I think there's more to the fact that Jonathan Blow keeps asking the question. I suspect he's actually uncovered something while creating his new language, some emergent behaviour outside the scope of the original programming.
Perhaps a fleeting glimpse of the variable, and he's now goading Casey after their years of failed experiments.
Personally I think there's more to the fact that Jonathan Blow keeps asking the question. I suspect he's actually uncovered something while creating his new language, some emergent behaviour outside the scope of the original programming.
Perhaps a fleeting glimpse of the variable, and he's now goading Casey after their years of failed experiments.
I appreciate the fact that it is a murky emergent concept, I however do not understand what context these words are being used together at all. In which context do we consider the Game to be a variable, and why would it be interesting / useful to think about that way. Because clearly (I think?) the game (as a whole I assume) is not a variable in a conventional sense in the waywe have an integer variable, in otherwords I don't even understand why the word game would follow the word variable. Maybe I am missing something or being a bit dim, but I feel I don't get even the merest sliver of it.
Also Casey alludes to that he is never seen a game define it succesfully stably over time, so clearly(?) he has some concept in mind.
Also Casey alludes to that he is never seen a game define it succesfully stably over time, so clearly(?) he has some concept in mind.
Edited by Simon
on
Ummm... this also got me interested. However it is hard to track down a discussion about variables in game engines and get what was being talked about in Q&A of day 026. It is un-Google-able.
If it's some in joke then I guess you had to be there. But if it is something worth discussing then some more unique key term than variable is appropriate IMHO.
I am tempted to go into what I think they mean bit its likely to be both long and wrong...
If it's some in joke then I guess you had to be there. But if it is something worth discussing then some more unique key term than variable is appropriate IMHO.
I am tempted to go into what I think they mean bit its likely to be both long and wrong...
He answered the question in the Day 26 Q&A session; Dec 23rd. It's basically a joke. Jonathan Blow is just asking a "stupid" question as an on-going joke. Probably his way of joking about all the noise that the Q&A sessions get. It does get a little ridiculous. We'd probably get more out of these videos if people could stay on topic and stay out of the weeds.
... are you sure? That's not my understanding of The Variable (as rudimentary as it is). I think Casey may have confused the question with something else because the study and understanding of The Variable is very closely linked with a number of unanswered questions in the field of theoretical mathematics known as Number Theory.
I wouldn't necessarily say that The Variable was a "joke" per se. It is simply something that we believe should exist in programming languages based on our (evolving) understanding of how they work - much like the Insane Clown Posse's evolving understanding of magnets - but that we have never actually been able to prove have (or can) exist definitively.
At times we have both believed the we have seen the effects of The Variable, but as with any rigorous scientific endeavor, we do not want to jump to conclusions. Given the delicate religious issues involved here, we feel that nothing but the utmost due diligence is in order. We do not, for example, want to come out and declare the existence or non-existence of, for example, The Global Variable - the all-powerful variable that is present everywhere, at all times - on anything less than incontrovertible evidence, for obvious reasons.
- Casey
At times we have both believed the we have seen the effects of The Variable, but as with any rigorous scientific endeavor, we do not want to jump to conclusions. Given the delicate religious issues involved here, we feel that nothing but the utmost due diligence is in order. We do not, for example, want to come out and declare the existence or non-existence of, for example, The Global Variable - the all-powerful variable that is present everywhere, at all times - on anything less than incontrovertible evidence, for obvious reasons.
- Casey
That does explain why Haskell is usually considered unsuitable for games, being an astrephist language.
I can highly recommend the series of lectures by Raymond Luxury-Yacht entitled 'Is The Variable created on the stack or the heap, and other questions of faith'.
keffer_It's spelled Raymond Luxury Yacht, but it's pronounced "Throat Wobbler Mangrove."
I can highly recommend the series of lectures by Raymond Luxury-Yacht entitled
- Casey
"purely abstract virtual members devoid of body, and perhaps, purpose"
The resource which is not acquired by initialisation is not the true resource.
The resource which is not acquired by initialisation is not the true resource.