@kabel42@polymaths.social @gsuberland@chaos.social @rl_dane@polymaths.social ​Had a job once where we emailed airline customers if their plane was cancelled or delayed. We had to page requests to one of the SOAP APIs because if you asked for too many customer details at once, you got back malformed xml ending with -- more --

@b0rk@social.jvns.ca This is a really clear explanation that I've sometimes missed in the past. Thank you for making it happen!​

A new week, and a new example #visualnovel. This time we have a reasonably complete 1800 word example to work through rather than a workshop; can you impress your sensei as you enter the Steel Street Fist Combat for the first time?

The game: visualink.mavnn.eu/published...

Script part 1: github.com/mavnn/VisualInk/b...

Script part 2: github.com/mavnn/VisualInk/b...

(no artwork this week - it's tracking state across the story we're focused on)

#interactivefiction

@sue@glasgow.social ​The only unfortunate issue with that is that it involves going to shops; the kind of things that I'd buy from the shops I'd like to visit (board games, books, etc) are pretty easy to order reliably online (and there aren't many local options), while the things that can't reliably be bought online tend to be in shops that are a full on sensory assault.

Both of these things make me sad.

It's always fun to slip a few references into the examples, even if they are probably from the wrong decade for the students.

Because sometimes they're the obvious thing to reference for a reason.

#interactivefiction

@grimalkina@mastodon.social Is this newsletter a thing that people can sign up for?​

@grimalkina@mastodon.social ​Sort of related to this: I've taught professional developers (who had been taught recursion is potentially dangerous and hard to reason about) recursive coding techniques, and I have taught multiple 10-12 year old kids how to use recursion.

The two groups find this specific aspect of coding about equally easy to learn despite the much broader capabilities of the "professionals" in general (explaining why .NET APIs are built of classes with interfaces to 10-12 year olds is a whole other challenge).

(Obviously there are also many professional devs who weren't taught that recursion was a Dangerous Evil to Be Avoided™, but that's not the point here)