#things you can create with java

[clariontech]

What Is Java Used For? What Type of Projects You Can Build

Java, a programming language that has stood the test of time, continues to dominate the software development environment. As of the latest TIOBE index, Java ranks among the top three most popular programming languages globally. This enduring popularity stems from its versatility and robustness, making it an ideal choice for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) looking to leverage technology for growth and innovation.

What is Java Used For?

Java's widespread adoption stems from its unique features that cater to diverse programming needs. Its platform independence, embodied in the "write once, run anywhere" philosophy, allows developers to create cost-effective, scalable applications. This, combined with Java's object-oriented approach, facilitates the creation of modular, reusable code that streamlines development and maintenance.

For SMEs, Java offers a compelling proposition. Its robust security features protect sensitive data, while the large, active community provides invaluable support. Java's cost-effectiveness and scalability make it an ideal choice for budget-conscious businesses looking to develop sophisticated applications that can grow with their needs.

For SMEs in the current tech ecosystem, Java offers a compelling proposition. Its cost-effectiveness allows budget-conscious businesses to develop sophisticated applications without overspending. Moreover, Java's scalability ensures that as a company grows, its software infrastructure can seamlessly expand to meet increasing demands.

Types of Projects You Can Build with Java

Mobile Applications

Java's role in Android app development has been significant. With over 3 billion active Android devices worldwide dominating the global smartphone market with 70.69% share, the potential market for Java-based mobile applications is enormous. Organizations can deploy Java development services to create robust, feature-rich Android applications that cater to their target audience.

Cross-platform capabilities have expanded Java's reach in mobile development. Frameworks like React Native allow businesses to use Java alongside other technologies to create apps that work seamlessly across different mobile platforms, maximizing reach while minimizing development costs.

A prime example of Java's power in mobile app development is X (Formerly Twitter). This social media giant relies heavily on Java for its Android application, showcasing the language's ability to handle high-traffic, data-intensive mobile platforms.

Web Applications

Server-side development with Java EE (Enterprise Edition) enables businesses to create robust, scalable web applications. Java's ability to handle complex backend operations makes it ideal for developing enterprise-grade web solutions.

The adoption of microservices architecture in Java has revolutionized web application development. This approach allows organizations to build more flexible, easily maintainable web applications that can be updated and scaled with minimal disruption to the overall system.

Java's seamless integration with modern front-end frameworks like React and Angular allows businesses to create dynamic, responsive web applications that provide excellent user experiences across devices.

Enterprise Software Development

Java excels in creating comprehensive enterprise solutions. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems built with Java offer businesses powerful tools to manage customer interactions, sales pipelines, and marketing campaigns effectively.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions developed in Java provide companies with integrated systems to manage various business processes, from inventory and supply chain to human resources and finance.

Java-based Business Intelligence tools empower organizations with data-driven insights. These applications help businesses analyze large volumes of data, identify trends, and make informed decisions to drive growth and efficiency.

Cloud-Based Applications

Java's role in cloud computing has grown significantly. Its robustness and scalability make it an excellent choice for developing cloud-native applications that can handle varying workloads efficiently.

The language's support for microservices and containerization allows businesses to create modular, easily deployable cloud applications. This approach enables enterprises to update and scale their cloud solutions more efficiently, reducing downtime and improving overall performance.

Internet of Things (IoT) Applications

Java ME (Micro Edition) has found a niche in IoT development. Its ability to run on resource-constrained devices makes it ideal for creating applications for various IoT devices.

From smart manufacturing systems to healthcare monitoring devices, Java enables enterprises to develop IoT solutions that can revolutionize their operations and service offerings.

Big Data and Analytics

Java frameworks like Hadoop have become integral to big data processing. These tools allow companies to handle and analyze large volumes of data efficiently, extracting valuable insights for business growth.

Data processing and analysis tools built with Java empower companies to make data-driven decisions. Whether it's analyzing customer behavior or optimizing supply chains, Java-based analytics solutions provide businesses with the insights they need to stay competitive.

[shiningjustforreid]

stains

glimpses through fem!reader and Spencer’s relationship, through four instances of spills.

word count: 3.5k ish

a/n: i love the idea that for some of us, our personalities are made up all the things we like about the people we know and see. the idea that we’re all little bits and pieces of the things we love, and our experiences. this sort of explores that. (also this was mildly self indulgent because much like reader i’m a klutz!) <3

warnings/tags: 18+ for implied intimacy and canon typical violence for cm, pet names up the wazoo, reader is lowkey clumsy, Derek Morgan being himself, reader gets injured but she’s fine, who’s Maeve?, anxious love confession, Spencer adores reader so so much, S1 and S6 (ish) Spencer, Spencer in and post prison, love letters, marriage, kids, and briefly mentioned pregnancy, girl dad!Spencer Reid my beloved

- ✩ -

coffee - the first stain

To be honest, at first, he’s appalled.

The mug you set down on his desk isn’t his, so God knows whose mouth was on it last. You - somewhat carelessly - plopped it down on the file he’s working on, grinning that thousand watt smile he’s secretly become fond of. You’re wearing a sweater he noticed that brings out your eyes - a berry colored wool garment that he wishes you’d wear more.

“Hey! Morgan said you were exhausted. Thought I’d make you coffee.”

You pick it up, and set it down again, for emphasis, and a few drops make their way down the side and onto his case file, surely creating a cinnamon toned half circle that Hotch will not love. You don’t notice, watching his face.

“I made it with a bunch of sugar. Just how you like it, right?”

Suddenly, he realizes he’s been staring up at you, and then his mouth is moving faster than his brain.

“Yeah, I uh, I am pretty tired, now that you say it. Didn’t sleep well, long night, you know?”

You nod, sipping your own coffee, fingers wrapped around the ceramic.

“I get that. Goes with the job, right?”

“Oh, absolutely, yeah, I- wait, Morgan said that? Did he— what else did he tell you?”

You grin, coffee mug to lips again.

Stop staring, Reid.

“Nothing, really. Just said you needed a boost. Thought I’d provide.”

Titling your head a tad, you look down, a mild panic crossing your face when you see you’ve stained his file.

“Oh my God - Reid, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“

He’s quick to shake his head, hands coming up to reassure, his eyes wide.

“No no no, it’s okay, truly, I-I made a mistake on that one anyways. I’ll need to have a new copy printed, honest.”

Frowning, you look him over, searching for a tell, something to let you know whether he’s lying or not.

“Are you sure? I can do it, I’m not that behind on mine, I could—“

Before he thinks - you’d assume, with all his brains, he would - his hand grabs your arm, that gorgeous sweater under his finger tips, his eyes locked with yours. He says your name, once, his tone more serious than he’d like.

“It’s okay. Thanks for the coffee.”

You blink, and then a slow grin takes over your face.

“You’re welcome. Let me know if you need more.”

For a moment, neither of you move, the heat of his hand burning through the wool on your arm, until he lets go like you’re the one scorching his skin, like he’s just realized that he’s touching you. You laugh a little, awkwardly, and he grins with the same level of unpracticed nerves, and you head back to your desk.

He picks up the mug, and sips slowly, closing his eyes for a moment - it does have a mountain of sweetness, the saccharine liquid coating his mouth but soothing his senses. When he sets it down again, it’s on a part of his workspace not occupied by case work. Just as predicted, the file that once housed the beverage now bears a semi circle of dried java. His pointer finger traces the stain, clockwise and then counter, for a moment, before he glances up in horror to see Morgan, of all people, signature smirk in place.

“‘Thanks for the coffee’. I don’t what’s sweeter, that coffee you just got or-“

“Shut up.”

He mumbles, face flushed, small smile on his face despite the teasing. He traces the coffee stain one last time before he hastily tucks the soiled paper away in a drawer.

blood - the second stain

“What do you mean you aren’t getting a response from her on comms?”

He’s so scared, he can’t even stop to think just how breathless and afraid he sounds, as he turns to Hotch, who fixes him with a look that clearly says, Calm down, Reid.

“It could just be non-functional, or got knocked off, or caught.”

Hotch says calmly, almost maddeningly so. Spencer swallows back the protests, the arguments that swell up in his throat like bile.

They’d created, and given the profile, and once Penelope had narrowed down the couple possible properties their potential unsub owned, you, Morgan, and Prentiss had headed into an abandoned storage facility, silent and careful.

Perhaps not careful enough.

The voice in his head reminds him, almost sadly, and he grits his teeth inside tightly drawn and chapped lips. Shaky hands smooth over his slacks, again and again, as his eyes stay fixed on Hotch.

“Ask-ask Morgan again. If she’ll respond.”

He’s given a frown, dark brows pulling together in a very typical Hotch-like manner.

“Is there a specific reason you’re asking about her, Reid?”

Is there? God, he doesn’t know. You bring him coffee nearly every morning, but perhaps that’s just kindness. Then there’s the chocolate sprinkled donuts that start his work day from time to time - maybe you just enjoy pastry treats, and think of him, when you buy one. Oh, and heaven forbid he forget the way you’ll come by his desk, and ask for clarification on a piece of paperwork or a procedure - that you probably could’ve asked Hotch or Prentiss about. You listen, active listening too, eye contact, body still - when his explanations turn into rambles about statistics about this type of criminal, your eyes watching his face, your own voice quiet.

Is he deluding himself? Seeing phantom romance where there’s maybe merely nothing but platonic affection? Blinking, once, he shakes his head in response to his Unit Chief’s question.

“No Hotch. I’m just worried, she-well, she hasn’t responded, and Morgan has, and Prentiss has, and I—“

Speak of the devil, Morgan’s voice comes through, demanding and tense.

“I need a medic. Prentiss and I secured the unsub, but, not before—“

Oh God. Not before that bastard got to you with a baseball bat, to the back of the head, you unaware before your face met the concrete below. Spencer’s not even asking for permission, snatching the keys to an SUV off the desk nearby and flooring the gas pedal.

You can’t die. Not before I—

Driving there is like hell - his lungs burn like there’s smoke and ash polluting them, and fear feels like too tame a word to describe the overwhelming panic that seizes his heart the more he drives.

I’m a fool, he thinks wildly, as his knuckles grip the steering wheel like a vice. A damn fool if I don’t tell her-

He’s barely got the thing in park before he’s scrambling out the driver’s side door, Converse immediately coated from the dusty ground outside the facility.

When he finds Morgan, and you, head lolled to the side, eyes closed, face pale as his must be, he falls to his knees with little regard for his own pain or discomfort. Morgan watches, careful, his voice gentle when he speaks, trying to calm his terrified friend.

“She’s still out, Reid. Just a nasty whack to the back of her head, okay? Easy.”

Trembling thumbs trace and hold your face, like it’s made of paper, as he swallows hard to keep the ache behind his eyes from becoming tear tracks down his face. He spots the gash, trickling crimson down your ashy skin, onto his shaking hand, but doesn’t move from holding your face. A deep contusion, furious and violet-toned, on the back of your head, makes the air leave his chest like he’s been choked.

Beautiful girl, I couldn’t stop this.

He could sob, and he nearly does, until you make some sort of confused noise and force open your eyes. Light rushes through his heart, rekindled warmth as he meets your eyes, and yet, he finds himself almost frozen.

“Spencer? What, I thought-“

“Listen to me.”

He forces himself to speak - he has too. What if he doesn’t get the chance, and all he ever gets to associate you with is caffeine, sprinkles, and a listening ear? No, that won’t do. Not in the slightest.

You meet his eyes, hazy, but listening. Morgan’s brows furrow, as he protests,

“God, man, she just woke up, let her-“

Ignored, as Spencer often finds himself doing when there’s more pressing matters than banter, than propriety.

“You need to know. That I-care about you.”

Blinking, you swallow, and suddenly, the throbbing pain in the back of your skull is slightly dimmed.

“That I can’t let another sunrise or sunset go by where you don’t know that I’d give you the stars if you’d let me. Where I can’t touch you, where I can’t make sure you understand that I’ll protect the light you have inside you until I’m burnt from it. You absolute angel, I-“

He shudders, almost afraid of his own earnest, and says your name like it’s a prayer.

“I love you. Even if you don’t return it, my heart is yours.”

Morgan’s grin is wide, and he shakes his head, almost in amazement. Your own face is flushed, as you hear sirens and medics, your voice crackly and rough from pain, but still, that smile he’s grown to associate with his heart fluttering graces your face.

“My heart is yours, Spencer. Glad you’re finally realizing how absolutely in love I am with you, you goose, even if it took all this.”

He laughs a little, almost deliriously, and smooths his trembling hand over your face.

“Guess the doughnuts weren’t enough, huh?”

You manage, and he shakes his head, quick to push back.

“They were. You’re always enough for me, no matter what you do.”

Could he sound any more smitten?

Procedure says he can’t go in the ambulance with you - there’s no need, you’re just getting stitches and some ice and he can visit you at the hospital, okay? But as he heads back to the - oh dear, still running, he really was in a hurry, wasn’t he? - car, Morgan glances sideways at him, signature smirk in place.

“Pretty boy, I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Spencer stares down at his hands in his lap. They’re stained, and a grimace floods his face when he realizes it’s not dirt, but your blood, coating his fingertips. A soft sigh escapes his lips, and he bites back a nastier retort than his friend deserves.

“I guess I did. I can’t believe it took-“

Morgan sighs, stopping Spencer’s inevitable incoming guilt filled rambles.

“Hush. You told her. That’s what matters.”

Glancing down at Spencer’s fidgeting hands in his lap, he presses on the gas.

“Let’s get there, so you can get that off you. I’m shocked you got all dirty, with your germ thing.”

Spencer shrugs, looking out the window.

“For her? I’d-I think I’d do anything. No matter what it stained.”

Soap finds his hands at the hospital, but he finds you soon after, unable to stop the gentle press of his lips to your forehead, or the soft murmurs that follow as he tries to remind himself that much more of your blood didn’t spill.

ink - the third stain

Emily has to physically hold you back in the court room, when they take him out, his eyes fixed on you, and the team, almost hopeless.

“Then your client is a flight risk.”

You’re quite literally fighting her, suddenly terrified in a whole new way for your boyfriend, tears staining your face.

“Bail is denied.”

She’s got both arms wrapped around you, her soft, ‘I know’s, and ‘I’m sorry’s barely heard over your own pleas for her to let you go.

“Defendant will be remanded to federal custody pending trial.”

You hear someone sobbing - angry, fear-filled wailing - and until Emily has you turned around, your face in her shoulder, comes the realization that it’s you.

“He’s-Emily, what are we going to do, he’s not going to be okay, I-I can’t—“

The days that follow are dark. Going to the BAU without Spencer, let alone waking up without him beside you, is enough to send you into a spiral. You try to remind yourself that he’s worse off, that whatever hell he’s experiencing is ten times worse than your quiet fear and loneliness. So, to try to combat the weight that squashes your heart, you write him letters. Daily letters.

Spencer -

We have a case in Florida. Emily says it’ll be quick, but the Florida ones never are. We’d solve it ten times faster with you, you know? Geographical profiles are much harder alone, that’s for sure. The plane ride is quieter without you, and no one’s saying anything - you’d be saying something if you were here. Maybe that’s why we’re quiet. ♡

Every day. You don’t relent. If you can’t mail them in whatever town you get stuck in for work, you mail them in one big envelope when you get back home.

Spencer -

That case was rough. I cried twice - once when I spent over two hours staring at the map at the precinct and couldn’t find anything new, and once when Rossi accidentally snapped at me. He said he was sorry, that he’s ‘on edge’ right now - but aren’t we all? Emily’s working really hard to try to get you home. I wish I could come see you. I hope you’re safe. I love you. ♡

When you learn that he didn’t put you on the list of people who can visit him in that concrete hell, you almost lose what’s left your nerve, breaking down in Emily’s office, shaking. You don’t know whether you’re furious, in despair, or numb to it all.

“Emily, why? Why doesn’t he want me to come see him? If it was me, I’d want to see him every day, I wouldn’t want him to leave!”

She sighs, her face tight. Twisting your hands in your lap, you search her face for answers. Nausea claws at your throat.

“Honestly, my guess is it’s just that. He knows that if you come, he won’t want you to leave. It’ll hurt too much.”

“But Tara, and you, and his mother, and-

Spencer -

I think I understand. Sort of. I feel like there’s this pressure in my chest, and I can’t ever fully breathe. Not since you’ve been away. The weight on my heart never goes away. Missing you more every hour. ♡

Despite the slew of handwritten letters that reach him, you only get one back, after you and the team search his apartment - you keep it in your purse pocket, folded safe, and read it whenever your throat feels tight and your eyes burn. His untidy scrawl is enough to make you feel like a part of him is actually inside this letter - like he’s reading it himself to you, interwoven in the fibers of the paper.

Angel -

I wanted you to know I’m in solitary now - I made sure of it. I know you want me safe, almost more than I do. I love you beyond what I can say, my beautiful girl.

Yours, Spencer.

One night, you’re curled up in Spencer’s apartment, writing him a letter, as is your nightly routine. The ink stains the side of your hand now - an ever-present reminder of the fact that your heart constantly feels ripped out of your body. After addressing the letter to him, your phone buzzes - Emily.

Oh God.

“Hey. We figured out that- oh, you don’t care about all that. He’s coming home.”

She doesn’t need to tell you twice. Paper and ink pen tumble to the floor as you shove your feet in shoes and snatch your jacket off the coat tree. Tension is coiled in your body the entire way there. Ink still stains the side of your hand, a permanent reminder that every time you needed to just tell him something - you had to pick up pen and paper.

Heart in your throat, you push open the door with shaking hand. There he stands, your Spencer. He’s still him, you think, although his face is tight, and sleep clearly hasn’t been something he’s seen much of.

Three months.

You walk in slowly, body trembling. One hand reaches up, runs through the curls that have grown so long.

“Your hair.”

You breathe out, voice barely audible. He nods, his face almost impassive. Tentative fingers trail down his cheek, make a path to hold his face. He nods, and then, you notice his eyes are misty.

“My angel.” He murmurs, almost in awe, and takes you in his arms with a fervor. Crushed against him, face buried in the cool fabric of his shirt, you bite back a sob, arms threaded around him.

“No. Cry, my darling girl, I’m— I’m tired of doing it alone.”

How could you refuse him? Just hearing his voice, let alone the relief you feel at being touched by him again, is enough to satisfy you for days, you think. For a bit, all that’s heard is uneven breaths, until he speaks, his voice rough and shaky.

“I need to see your face.”

He pulls back, face shining with tears, and you swallow back the lump that just won’t leave your throat.

Calloused hands - less soft than you remember - take yours, and then he frowns.

“Your hand.”

Your right hand is held up, inspected, like the blue on the inner side of it is red instead. You smile, laughing a little, still breathless.

“Ink, baby. Just ink. I was writing you a letter.”

He shakes his head, rubbing at the navy stain with his thumb, as if that will remove it.

“I would’ve kept writing. Never given up. You’d be sick of letters from me.”

“Never, sweet girl. There is no part of me who could ever find himself sick of you.”

After you’ve come home, he wastes no time in pressing less than tender kisses to your mouth and jawline and the column of your throat. It’s not until he’s reacquainted himself with your contours and the dip of your hipbones and the soft way you gasp out his name when he does that, that has you next to him, so he can see your face.

He needs to see your face.

Hand in his, still faintly stained from ink, he examines it, and then, softly, hesitantly, he meets your eyes.

“You know ink poisoning is actually rare? Pens we use are designed with non-toxic ink, to decrease any chances of fatal ingestion.”

You never mind his information sharing, but your eyebrows furrow tiredly at his timing.

“Spence, I’m not saying I don’t care, but we just— you just—”

“Please. Let me look at the woman I love and pretend for a few moments that my damn eidetic memory won’t play back the last three months of my life like some wretched tape.”

You let him, as he holds your cobalt-colored hand and your eyes droop, his soft voice telling you that rubbing alcohol will probably get that stain out. It almost feels normal.

Almost.

paint - the final stain

“Spence! Can you get paint water out of carpet with any amount of ease?”

You call your husband, turning back to your mildly sheepish five year old, whose water color adventure on the coffee table has quickly gone south.

In walks Spencer, not even noticing the overturned hard plastic cup or purpley-blue spill, eyes going straight to his daughter’s nearly finished picture.

“Beautiful, Penny. Looks incredible.”

He murmurs, bending to be eye level with a beaming Penelope, hand on her arm, before turning to you, mild tension and stress lining your face. His smile is gentle. It’ll wash out.

“Rubbling alcohol, angel.”

You nod, tension easing from your shoulders.

“We’ll go get it - we always clean our messes up, right lovely?”

He asks your daughter, lifting her with practiced care. She giggles, nodding, as they head from the room, letting you take a breath and set up the paints and picture in a new location - the kitchen table, with some newspaper tucked underneath because she’s five, and you of all people know spills happen.

Once she’s set up again - she really is so quiet when she’s engrossed in something - you find yourself curled up with Spencer on the couch, head on his shoulder, watching her paint and sing-song to herself.

“Think she’s lonely?”

Spencer asks, turning to you, his grin wide.

Troublemaker.

“Hmm. I think you just like me pregnant.”

He chuckles, pressing a kiss to your hair.

“Maybe. Maybe I don’t want Penny to be sad, ever.”

Silence, then, for a bit.

“She’s so much like you.”

Spencer muses, his fingers drawing patterns on the side of your sweater. You smile, fondly.

“You say that because I’m clumsy. She was dancing around with that paintbrush, that cup of paint water stood no chance.”

“No, I say that because she shines like you. No matter what tries to dim her.”

That night, when you peek in your daughter’s door to see Spencer reading her A Little Princess, she’s propped up against him, hazel eyes barely open. Affection swells in your chest as his voice carries on, even though she’s clearly almost in dreamland. In you walk, pressing a kiss first to her forehead, then Spencer’s. He smiles gentle up at you - this is his favorite time of the day - and keeps reading.

“Perhaps there is a language which is not made of words, and everything in the world understands it.”

Once you’re back in the living room, you check on the earlier spill from today. All that’s left is a barely visible blue spot, no bigger than a quarter.

“No one will see it but you.”

Steadying, warm arms wrap around your ribs, and soft lips press against the side of your neck, washing away any insecurity about the state of your carpet.

“Besides, stains aren’t bad, sweet girl. They’re little reminders that things happened, good things, or bad things that brought us together. Memories, attached to splotches, attached to wounds, to paper, to skin. How convenient, to carry our most impactful moments like heaven-sent tattoos.”

[sybaritick]

the inevitable tension between:

In an effort to demystify programming, which many people still think of as a skill that requires some sort of exceptional intelligence or training, I will always emphasize that basically anyone can do simple programming tasks like creating their own browser extension or simple website, using SQL to query a database, making data visualizations with matplotlib, etc. You can learn to do this in a week. If you're not sure you can for real just ask me (dm here or on Discord). it IS easy and anyone CAN do it! This isn't me saying "learn to code to get a job," which used to be decent advice 5 years ago but isn't any more because of AI and market saturation. More just "if there is something you want to do, at work or as a personal thing, that requires programming skills you think you might not have, I bet you can do it anyway. Do it!"

Okay maybe the reason I think this way is because my dad was teaching me Java when I was literally 8 years old

[dreamdolldeveloper]

back to basics

mostly free resources to help you learn the basics that i've gathered for myself so far that i think are cool

everyday

gcfglobal - about the internet, online safety and for kids, life skills like applying for jobs, career planning, resume writing, online learning, today's skills like 3d printing, photoshop, smartphone basics, microsoft office apps, and mac friendly. they have core skills like reading, math, science, language learning - some topics are sparse so hopefully they keep adding things on. great site to start off on learning.

handsonbanking - learn about finances. after highschool, credit, banking, investing, money management, debt, goal setting, loans, cars, small businesses, military, insurance, retirement, etc.

bbc - learning for all ages. primary to adult. arts, history, science, math, reading, english, french, all the way to functional and vocational skills for adults as well, great site!

education.ket - workplace essential skills

general education

mathsgenie - GCSE revision, grade 1-9, math stages 1-14, provides more resources! completely free.

khan academy - pre-k to college, life skills, test prep (sats, mcat, etc), get ready courses, AP, partner courses like NASA, etc. so much more!

aleks - k-12 + higher ed learning program. adapts to each student.

biology4kids - learn biology

cosmos4kids - learn astronomy basics

chem4kids - learn chemistry

physics4kids - learn physics

numbernut - math basics (arithmetic, fractions and decimals, roots and exponents, prealgebra)

education.ket - primary to adult. includes highschool equivalent test prep, the core skills. they have a free resource library and they sell workbooks. they have one on work-life essentials (high demand career sectors + soft skills)

youtube channels

the organic chemistry tutor

khanacademy

crashcourse

tabletclassmath

2minmaths

kevinmathscience

professor leonard

greenemath

mathantics

3blue1brown

literacy

readworks - reading comprehension, build background knowledge, grow your vocabulary, strengthen strategic reading

chompchomp - grammar knowledge

tutors

not the "free resource" part of this post but sometimes we forget we can be tutored especially as an adult. just because we don't have formal education does not mean we can't get 1:1 teaching! please do you research and don't be afraid to try out different tutors. and remember you're not dumb just because someone's teaching style doesn't match up with your learning style.

cambridge coaching - medical school, mba and business, law school, graduate, college academics, high school and college process, middle school and high school admissions

preply - language tutoring. affordable!

revolutionprep - math, science, english, history, computer science (ap, html/css, java, python c++), foreign languages (german, korean, french, italian, spanish, japanese, chinese, esl)

varsity tutors - k-5 subjects, ap, test prep, languages, math, science & engineering, coding, homeschool, college essays, essay editing, etc

chegg - biology, business, engineering/computer science, math, homework help, textbook support, rent and buying books

learn to be - k-12 subjects

for languages

lingq - app. created by steve kaufmann, a polygot (fluent in 20+ languages) an amazing language learning platform that compiles content in 20+ languages like podcasts, graded readers, story times, vlogs, radio, books, the feature to put in your own books! immersion, comprehensible input.

flexiclasses - option to study abroad, resources to learn, mandarin, cantonese, japanese, vietnamese, korean, italian, russian, taiwanese hokkien, shanghainese.

fluentin3months - bootcamp, consultation available, languages: spanish, french, korean, german, chinese, japanese, russian, italian.

fluenz - spanish immersion both online and in person - intensive.

pimsleur - not tutoring** online learning using apps and their method. up to 50 languages, free trial available.

incase time has passed since i last posted this, check on the original post (not the reblogs) to see if i updated link or added new resources. i think i want to add laguage resources at some point too but until then, happy learning!!

[campingwiththecharmings]

Serendipity

AN: Hello lovely people. As some of you might know, I participated in @the-oscar-isaac-collective's Coffee & Cream Zine which was released a couple of weeks ago. While I'll be posting what I wrote for that Zine here and on AO3 (I'm thinking one a week maybe), I do strongly encourage you all to head over there and download your own copies if you haven't already. It's completely free (and conveniently packaged in two PDFs)! There are so many great pieces in there that everyone worked so hard to create and they deserve to be enjoyed. PLEASE check it out!! (and maybe also take a moment to let each creator know what you thought of their work ❤️)

The cute barista at your favorite coffee shop has an affinity for bad pick-up lines.

Rated: T Words: 3,182 Pairing: Poe Dameron x GN!Reader Warnings: modern au, cheesy af, bad pick-up lines, time skips, please let me know if i forgot anything. AO3

——————

Java the Hutt was slammed today; the line for your favorite little coffee shop was out the door and down the sidewalk, almost winding around the building. Were they doing some kind of one-day special, you wondered, or was it just because it was unseasonably cold out today? In all the months you’d been frequenting the place, you’d never seen them this busy. You sigh in resignation, joining the line and mentally preparing yourself to wait. The line actually ends up moving pretty quickly though, and before you know it, you’re inside the warm shop with only three or four people in front of you.

Once you make it to the front, you greet the cashier (Finn), make a comment about the crowd, and order your usual. You stand to the side, scrolling through your phone as you wait for the barista to call out your name for pickup. They do so a few minutes later, your cup sitting on the table beside the counter. You call out a thank you as you grab it, your attention reclaimed by an incoming call. As you slip out the door, you answer, chatting idly with your friend Rose as you make your way down the sidewalk. You take a sip from the cup and hum, the warm liquid seeping into your belly and warming you from the inside out. 

You hang up with Rose when you reach your destination, pausing outside to drain the rest of your coffee. Satisfied, you move to toss the empty cup into a nearby trash can, halting when you notice writing beneath the cardboard sleeve.

If you were a triangle you’d be acute one.

You blink, staring at the writing blankly for a moment, before huffing out a laugh. 

This barista, it seems, has a thing for bad pick up lines.

You snap a photo of the cup before tossing it into the trash, chuckling again to yourself as you head inside and out of the cold.

—

You stop in again about a week later. Your workday had run late and you were convinced that the only thing that could fix it was a coffee from your favorite place. There’s a girl at the register this time named Rey and she smiles warmly at you when it’s your turn to order. Somehow, her smile makes you feel a little lighter as you head over to the side to wait for your drink and you’re grateful to her for it.

As you wait, you allow yourself to people watch, briefly considering whether or not to snag the table the man in the corner just got up from when your phone vibrates. Cursing quietly, you quickly grab it from your pocket. Just as you’re about to answer, your name is called by the barista. You return your phone to your pocket, deciding you’ll call whoever it was back later as you head over to the counter. 

The barista is a man with dark hair and kind eyes that you’ve seen a few times before but don’t recall knowing the name of. Your eyes flick to where his name tag should be, but are disappointed to see only an empty space. Ignoring the disappointment that lances through you, you meet his eyes, smiling at him as he hands you the cup, your fingers brushing against his.

“Thanks,” you say, nodding politely as you back away.

“You’re welcome,” he responds, his smile as soft as his eyes.

Something flutters in your belly as you turn away, clutching the cup to your chest. 

Your phone rings again as you push open the door and you scoff, taking it from your pocket and standing off to the side as you answer it. You sip on your drink as your boss rants about one thing or another, and you have to fight not to roll your eyes. Just as you’re about to walk away, you notice writing beneath the cardboard sleeve. Giddiness swells in your chest as you pull it down with your thumb, your teeth digging into your bottom lip.

If you were a Transformer, you’d be Optimus Fine.

You try to smother your smile at the cheesy line but it spreads across your lips nonetheless. You’re half-hoping he’s not paying attention when you glance back inside the shop, your skin warming a little when his gaze meets yours. He nods at you through the window, smile somehow both bashful and smug. You nod back, raising your cup to him as you take another sip.

His attention is reclaimed by his next customer, jolting you back to reality. A reality where your boss is calling your name through your phone. You apologize, asking them to continue as you start to walk away. As you do, you steal one last glance inside, smiling to yourself as you head home for the evening.

—

You visit again a few days later, your belly fluttering with nervous excitement. As you wait in line, you crane your neck to try and get a look at the day’s baristas, but are again thwarted by the massive coffee machines blocking your view. Sighing, you wait your turn, smiling at Finn once you make it up to the counter. 

Once you realize your admirer does not appear to be working today, you sigh, your excitement somewhat dampened. You pass the time on your phone as usual, mindlessly scrolling through news and various social media sites you’re subscribed to. Absorbed, you jolt when your name is called a moment later, head quickly snapping in the direction of the voice.

It’s him.

He smiles when your eyes meet his and you can’t help but smile back. Something in his gaze ignites your insides, burning gently beneath your skin as you approach the counter. He waits there for you, sliding your cup toward you once you make it there.

“Thanks,” you say, breath hitching slightly when your fingers brush his.

He nods, the barest hint of pink on his cheeks. “Any time.”

Your eyes dip bashfully, catching on the name badge pinned to his shirt. 

Poe. His name is Poe.

He looks like he’s about to say something, but then another employee calls his name and he turns away. Disappointment washes over you and the moment is broken. Not wanting to hold up the line any longer than you already have, you move out of the way, pulling the cardboard sleeve of the cup down expectantly.

 I'd like to take you to the movies, but they don't let you bring in your own snacks.

His phone number is beneath it.

You press your lips together in an attempt to subdue the maniacal smile trying to spread across your face, chancing another look at Poe. Your heart skips a little when your eyes meet his again. He raises a questioning brow at you, you feel your skin heat, quickly nodding in acknowledgment and all but running from the shop. You’ll text him later to work out the details once you’ve gathered your courage a bit.

—

He’s already waiting when you arrive, shifting on his feet by the entrance to the theater as he scans the crowd for you. He looks good, his white t-shirt a black leather jacket, tight dark-washed jeans, and combat boots giving him a bit of a bad boy vibe. Butterflies flutter in your belly as you make a beeline for him through the crowd. His eyes light up the moment he spots you and you can’t help the little jump your heart does when he smiles.

“Hey,” you greet breathlessly, praying your smile doesn’t look as maniacal as it feels.

“Hey,” he responds, his smile soft as he reaches his hand out to you. 

You take it of course, your breath catching at the contact. It’s a little juvenile perhaps, the silly way your body is reacting to him, but you can’t seem to help it; there’s something special about him, you can feel it in your bones, in your soul. 

You chat with Poe briefly as the two of you walk inside the theater, your hands still clasped. The movie is good, or at least you think it is. Honestly, you were so focused on him, you barely even remember it. You share a bucket of popcorn, your hands brushing every other time either of you reaches for another handful. He’s so warm beside you, so solid, his presence oddly comforting given how little you know about him. 

After the movie, he takes you to his favorite food truck, insisting that popcorn is not a sufficient enough meal. You sit on a bench nearby, talking and laughing as you eat and it’s nice, so nice. He tells you about his family, about his lifelong dream of being a pilot, about his cat Bee Bee, and you, in turn, divulge your own life stories, tell him about your dreams. Needless to say, the night ends far too quickly and, even though it’s almost midnight, you don’t want to go home, don’t want to go back to a life that doesn’t have him in it. He walks you home but you’re at the steps that lead into your apartment far too soon.

“This is me,” you tell him, gesturing to the door behind you, your other hand clasped loosely in his. 

You want to invite him inside, want him to stay so you can keep talking to him, can keep looking at him (because damn it if he doesn’t get more and more attractive by the minute). He hums, nodding as he takes a step toward you, the action forcing your gaze to his.

“So,” he breathes, a mischievous look in his eyes, “Are you gonna kiss me or do I have to lie to my diary?”

You snort, shaking your head at him as you try (and fail) to bite back an amused chuckle. He beams, as if making you laugh is his favorite pastime. You pretend to consider his question, looking at him slyly from beneath your lashes, then grab ahold of his jacket and pull him closer. He melts when your lips touch his, his free hand coming up to cradle your cheek. He’s warm, the taste of him sweet with just a hint of spice. Neither of you wants it to end but, regrettably, air is a necessity and you’re forced to pull away, pressing your foreheads together as you try to regain your respective breaths.

“Goodnight,” you breathe, smiling at him softly. 

He smiles back, caressing your cheek with his thumb. “Goodnight.”

—

At some point—you’re not 100% sure when—the bad pickup lines just become his Thing; not a day goes by where he doesn’t find a way to sneak at least one into a conversation. Some are cheesy as hell (“Four plus four equals eight, but you plus me equals fate.”), while others are so bad they’re hilarious (“Did it hurt when you fell from the vending machine? Because you look like a snack.”). Strangely though, it just makes you fall for him more.

You’ve been dating for a few months now, spending as much time together as your schedules allow. It’s the end of a long, grueling week and all you’d both wanted to do was stay in and veg. You and Poe sit on the couch, curled against each other as you watch some mindless action film. It’s getting late and you’re starving but you have zero desire to cook anything for dinner and you doubt he does either.

“What do you wanna order for dinner, babe?” you ask, you hand splayed against his chest.

He hums, considering, then says, “Pizza?”

You make a noise of agreement; pizza does sound good right now. You’re so comfortable though, nestled against Poe’s side, your head resting on his shoulder.

“Can you call it in? Please?” you ask, looking up at him with pleading eyes. “You’re so much better at it than me.”

Poe snorts, looking at you in amusement. “I’m better than you at ordering pizza? Careful with the compliments, sweetheart, I might get a big head.”

Immediately, he reaches for his phone, dialing the number for your favorite pizza place. You smile at him brightly, then lean in to press a kiss to his cheek.

“My hero,” You tease, chuckling when he playfully rolls his eyes.

The pizza comes and it gets eaten quickly and soon you’re both nodding off on the couch, another movie playing in the background. Poe nudges you gently, and when you look up at him in question, he smiles. 

“Wanna share your side of the bed tonight?” he asks, quirking his brow suggestively.

You laugh, shaking your head as you playfully smacking his chest. “You’re ridiculous.”

His eyes shine at your joy as he gasps somewhat theatrically. “Wow, a simple ‘no’ would have sufficed.”

You chuckle, slipping your hand up his neck to tangle in his curls. 

“I never said it was a no,” you whisper, pulling him close and claiming his lips in a kiss.

—

You move in together several months into your relationship, a slightly bigger place with just a tad more space, and even a little terrace that Bee Bee likes to sun on. The two of you quickly fall into a routine, waking up early, going to work, coming home, making dinner together. Poe gets up a little earlier than you thanks to his shifts at the Hutt and has taken to making you breakfast and lunch every day. Nothing fancy, just some coffee and toast, a sandwich and some carrot sticks. 

His penchant for bad pick-up lines has yet to wane, he’s even taken to writing them down. He leaves you little notes everywhere, be it in the apartment, your pockets, in your lunchbag. You smile fondly as you open today’s note, chuckling softly at its contents (“Hey, tie your shoes! I don’t want you falling for anyone else.”).

When you make it home that night, he’s already there, lounging on the couch. You greet him with a smile, dropping your things at the door and sitting down beside him. 

“Hey, sweetheart,” he says, his voice soft as he wraps his arm around you and pulls you against his side.

You smile, leaning in to peck his lips. “Hi,” you whisper as you pull away, shifting to settle against his side.

He smiles back, his eyes roaming over your face languidly, as if he’s committing every detail of you to memory. 

“Ya know,” he begins, his voice gentle and low, “If I had a nickel for every time I saw someone as beautiful as you, I’d have five cents.”

You sniff a laugh, your skin heating at the compliment, at the way he’s looking at you. You’re not sure you’ll ever get used to it, to his sincerity, to the unabashed love that shines in his eyes. It’s clear that he means every word, no matter how cheesy.

“You’re a sap, you know that,” you tease, leaning in to kiss him again.

He hums, smiling against your lips. “I’ve been called worse things.”

You chuckle as you pull away, gazing at him fondly for a moment before shifting to settle against his chest.

He sighs contentedly, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. You both watch the television in silence for a minute, your fingers mindlessly tracing the chain beneath his t-shirt. Not for the first time, you think about how lucky you are to have this, to have him. He makes you happier than you’ve ever been and you’re so grateful to have him in your life.

—

Sunday mornings are your favorite, not only because you get to sleep in but also because Poe does as well. Waking up with him wrapped around you is the highlight of your week, the warm solidness of him feeling more like home than any building ever has. Today though, you wake up alone, his side of the bed mussed and cold, as if he’s been up for hours. You frown, wondering for a moment if you’d gotten the days wrong.

Then you notice the smell of freshly-brewed coffee, hear faint clanging in the kitchen just outside the bedroom door. You smile softly, realizing Poe must be out there making breakfast and sit up, stretching all the kinks from your neck and back. Just as you’re sliding out from beneath the covers, the door swings open and in walks Poe. He smiles when he sees that you’re already awake.

“Morning, sweetheart.”

You walk over, smiling as you grab ahold of his t-shirt and pull his mouth to yours. You hum at the taste of him. 

“Good Morning, indeed.”

He chuckles as you pull away, letting his gaze linger on your face. “I made you breakfast.”

You sigh, hand resting on his chest. “You’re too good to me, you know that, right?”

He tsks, pressing a kiss against your cheek. “If anyone is too good, it’s you. Now c’mon.”

You follow him from the room, his hand clasped loosely in yours. Your heart skips in your chest when he guides you over to the table and see all your favorites beautifully laid out, the table set for two.

“Poe—” you begin, so touched by this display. 

“Sit,” he insists, his voice soft. “I’ll go grab the coffee.”

You nod, smiling as he turns away, then settle down into the chair to wait. Your attention is reclaimed by the food as soon as he’s out of sight, a warm ache settling in your chest. He was always doing stuff like this, sweet man that he is, and it’s rarely ever for any particular reason, it’s always just because he wants to. 

Poe returns a few minutes later, a mug in each hand, and sets them both on the table. He’s about to join you, when he pauses, patting his pants pockets. 

“Oops, forgot something,” he mutters, heading back to the kitchen.

While you wait for him to return, you gaze again at the table and notice something you hadn’t before: the corner of a bright pink post-it note poking out from beneath your plate. You sniff a laugh, knowing it’s likely one of his little notes. 

I always thought happiness started with an ‘h,’ but it turns out mine starts with ‘u.’

He’s beside you again before you realize he’s even returned to the room, and just as you’re turning to look at him, he drops to one knee.

Your heart skips in your chest, mouth falling open in shock as you meet his gaze. “Poe?”

He smiles, eyes shining as he takes your hand and slips a ring—his mother’s ring—onto your finger.

“Well?” he asks softly, raising his eyebrow in question. “Wanna marry me?”

You chuckle, tears pricking your eyes as you look down at your entwined hands then back at him. You swallow thickly, taking a deep breath to quell your nerves.

“One condition,” you whisper, leaning a little closer. “No pick up lines in your vows.”

“No promises, sweetheart,” he chuckles, a teasing glint in his eyes as he leans in for a kiss.

If you enjoyed this, please let me know! I appreciate every single reblog and/or comment. Thank you. 💖

🌟 Masterlist 🌟 🍵Coffee & Cream Zine🍵

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[fir-fireweed]

Ok, I’ve delved into Twine Sugarcube a little and I’ve had some revelations I feel the need to share.

1. Sugarcube is the devil. I mean that in the nicest way possible. I thought I was coding before… nope! I’m going to learn it anyway because the breadth of stuff I can do is amazing and worth it, but holy hells is this hard. Which leads me to number 2…

2. My fellow IF authors who use Sugarcube, you are now like gods to me. Massive respect for you. 👊 Seriously, the time and effort it takes to create a story in this, and to do it so seamlessly as many of you do, is mind boggling.

3. I don’t feel I’ve given enough credit to Chapbook. You’ve seen me talk about the lack of a save system. But for a shorter story like Viatica (currently at 155k words with Rebellion ending and coding) I don’t feel it’s a massive deal breaker. It also has no easy way to display stats or inventory or a codex. I had to jerry rig my own stats passage.

But what it does well, it does exceptionally well. Chapbook is a complete out-of-the-box format and requires no previous CSS or HTML experience. It automatically formats everything for you, headers, footers, the adaptability to be read on any device, it’s all there. There is no style sheet to create, no Java script. The biggest challenge is coding choices and variables, but even then Chapbook comes with an easy to read guide that spells out everything you can possibly need. I would also be happy to answer questions or share screenshots of what I’ve done. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at IFs but the idea of coding is daunting, you can use Chapbook. If you want to focus on the writing, your craft, and don’t have the time or inclination to heavily code, you can use Chapbook. If you’ve never coded a damn thing in your life and think CSS stands for “can’t style shit”, YOU CAN USE CHAPBOOK!

In conclusion, Sugarcube is evil incarnate, but I’m going to learn it anyway. Hail, Satan. Chapbook is mercy incarnate. Thank you, my lord and savior. And if you’re a newcomer and on the fence at all, I encourage you to give Chapbook a try. Say it with me… you can do it. 🤗

[anheliotrope]

Rambling About C# Being Alright

I think C# is an alright language. This is one of the highest distinctions I can give to a language.

Warning: This post is verbose and rambly and probably only good at telling you why someone might like C# and not much else.

~~~

There's something I hate about every other language. Worst, there's things I hate about other languages that I know will never get better. Even worse, some of those things ALSO feel like unforced errors.

With C# there's a few things I dislike or that are missing. C#'s feature set does not obviously excel at anything, but it avoids making any huge misstep in things I care about. Nothing in C# makes me feel like the language designer has personally harmed me.

C# is a very tolerable language.

C# is multi-paradigm.

C# is the Full Middle Malcomist language.

C# will try to not hurt you.

A good way to describe C# is "what if Java sucked less". This, of course, already sounds unappealing to many, but that's alright. I'm not trying to gas it up too much here.

C# has sins, but let's try to put them into some context here and perhaps the reason why I'm posting will become more obvious:

C# didn't try to avoid generics and then implement them in a way that is very limiting (cough Go).

C# doesn't hamstring your ability to have statement lambdas because the language designer dislikes them and also because the language designer decided to have semantic whitespace making statement lambdas harder to deal with (cough Python).

C# doesn't require you to explicitly wrap value types into reference types so you can put value types into collections (cough Java).

C# doesn't ruin your ability to interact with memory efficiently because it forbids you from creating custom value types, ergo everything goes to the heap (cough cough Java, Minecraft).

C# doesn't have insane implicit type coercions that have become the subject of language design comedy (cough JavaScript).

C# doesn't keep privacy accessors as a suggestion and has the developers pinkie swear about it instead of actually enforcing it (cough cough Python).

Plainly put, a lot of the time I find C# to be alright by process of elimination. I'm not trying to shit on your favorite language. Everyone has different things they find tolerable. I have the Buddha nature so I wish for all things to find their tolerable language.

I do also think that C# is notable for being a mainstream language (aka not Haskell) that has a smaller amount of egregious mistakes, quirks and Faustian bargains.

The Typerrrrr

C# is statically typed, but the typing is largely effortless to navigate unlike something like Rust, and the GC gives a greater degree of safety than something like C++.

Of course, the typing being easy to work it also makes it less safe than Rust. But this is an appropriate trade-off for certain kinds of applications, especially considering that C# is memory safe by virtue of running on a VM. Don't come at me, I'm a Rust respecter!!

You know how some people talk about Python being amazing for prototyping? That's how I feel about C#. No matter how much time I would dedicate to Python, C# would still be a more productive language for me. The type system would genuinely make me faster for the vast majority of cases. Of course Python has gradual typing now, so any comparison gets more difficult when you consider that. But what I'm trying to say is that I never understood the idea that doing away entirely with static typing is good for fast iteration.

Also yes, C# can be used as a repl. Leave me alone with your repls. Also, while the debugger is active you can also evaluate arbitrary code within the current scope.

I think that going full dynamic typing is a mistake in almost every situation. The fact that C# doesn't do that already puts it above other languages for me. This stance on typing is controversial, but it's my opinion that is really shouldn't be. And the wind has constantly been blowing towards adding gradual typing to dynamic languages.

The modest typing capabilities C# coupled with OOP and inheritance lets you create pretty awful OOP slop. But that's whatever. At work we use inheritance in very few places where it results in neat code reuse, and then it's just mostly interfaces getting implemented.

C#'s typing and generic system is powerful enough to offer you a plethora of super-ergonomic collection transformation methods via the LINQ library. There's a lot of functional-style programming you can do with that. You know, map, filter, reduce, that stuff?

Even if you make a completely new collection type, if it implements IEnumerable<T> it will benefit from LINQ automatically. Every language these days has something like this, but it's so ridiculously easy to use in C#. Coupled with how C# lets you (1) easily define immutable data types, (2) explicitly control access to struct or class members, (3) do pattern matching, you can end up with code that flows really well.

A Friendly Kitchen Sink

Some people have described C#'s feature set as bloated. It is getting some syntactic diversity which makes it a bit harder to read someone else's code. But it doesn't make C# harder to learn, since it takes roughly the same amount of effort to get to a point where you can be effective in it.

Most of the more specific features can be effortlessly ignored. The ones that can't be effortlessly ignored tend to bring something genuinely useful to the language -- such as tuples and destructuring. Tuples have their own syntax, the syntax is pretty intuitive, but the first time you run into it, you will have to do a bit of learning.

C# has an immense amount of small features meant to make the language more ergonomic. They're too numerous to mention and they just keep getting added.

I'd like to draw attention to some features not because they're the most important but rather because it feels like they communicate the "personality" of C#. Not sure what level of detail was appropriate, so feel free to skim.

Stricter Null Handling. If you think not having to explicitly deal with null is the billion dollar mistake, then C# tries to fix a bit of the problem by allowing you to enable a strict context where you have to explicitly tell it that something can be null, otherwise it will assume that the possibility of a reference type being null is an error. It's a bit more complicated than that, but it definitely helps with safety around nullability.

Default Interface Implementation. A problem in C# which drives usage of inheritance is that with just interfaces there is no way to reuse code outside of passing function pointers. A lot of people don't get this and think that inheritance is just used because other people are stupid or something. If you have a couple of methods that would be implemented exactly the same for classes 1 through 99, but somewhat differently for classes 100 through 110, then without inheritance you're fucked. A much better way would be Rust's trait system, but for that to work you need really powerful generics, so it's too different of a path for C# to trod it. Instead what C# did was make it so that you can write an implementation for methods declared in an interface, as long as that implementation only uses members defined in the interface (this makes sense, why would it have access to anything else?). So now you can have a default implementation for the 1 through 99 case and save some of your sanity. Of course, it's not a panacea, if the implementation of the method requires access to the internal state of the 1 through 99 case, default interface implementation won't save you. But it can still make it easier via some techniques I won't get into. The important part is that default interface implementation allows code reuse and reduces reasons to use inheritance.

Performance Optimization. C# has a plethora of features regarding that. Most of which will never be encountered by the average programmer. Examples: (1) stackalloc - forcibly allocate reference types to the stack if you know they won't outlive the current scope. (2) Specialized APIs for avoiding memory allocations in happy paths. (3) Lazy initialization APIs. (4) APIs for dealing with memory more directly that allow high performance when interoping with C/C++ while still keeping a degree of safety.

Fine Control Over Async Runtime. C# lets you write your own... async builder and scheduler? It's a bit esoteric and hard to describe. But basically all the functionality of async/await that does magic under the hood? You can override that magic to do some very specific things that you'll rarely need. Unity3D takes advantage of this in order to allow async/await to work on WASM even though it is a single-threaded environment. It implements a cooperative scheduler so the program doesn't immediately freeze the moment you do await in a single-threaded environment. Most people don't know this capability exists and it doesn't affect them.

Tremendous Amount Of Synchronization Primitives and API. This ones does actually make multithreaded code harder to deal with, but basically C# erred a lot in favor of having many different ways to do multithreading because they wanted to suit different usecases. Most people just deal with idiomatic async/await code, but a very small minority of C# coders deal with locks, atomics, semaphores, mutex, monitors, interlocked, spin waiting etc. They knew they couldn't make this shit safe, so they tried to at least let you have ready-made options for your specific use case, even if it causes some balkanization.

Shortly Begging For Tagged Unions

What I miss from C# is more powerful generic bounds/constraints and tagged unions (or sum types or discriminated unions or type unions or any of the other 5 names this concept has).

The generic constraints you can use in C# are anemic and combined with the lack of tagged unions this is rather painful at times.

I remember seeing Microsoft devs saying they don't see enough of a usecase for tagged unions. I've at times wanted to strangle certain people. These two facts are related to one another.

My stance is that if you think your language doesn't need or benefit from tagged unions, either your language is very weird, or, more likely you're out of your goddamn mind. You are making me do really stupid things every time I need to represent a structure that can EITHER have a value of type A or a value of type B.

But I think C# will eventually get tagged unions. There's a proposal for it here. I would be overjoyed if it got implemented. It seems like it's been getting traction.

Also there was an entire section on unchecked exceptions that I removed because it wasn't interesting enough. Yes, C# could probably have checked exceptions and it didn't and it's a mistake. But ultimately it doesn't seem to have caused any make-or-break in a comparison with Java, which has them. They'd all be better off with returning an Error<T>. Short story is that the consequences of unchecked exceptions have been highly tolerable in practice.

Ecosystem State & FOSSness

C# is better than ever and the tooling ecosystem is better than ever. This is true of almost every language, but I think C# receives a rather high amount of improvements per version. Additionally the FOSS story is at its peak.

Roslyn, the bedrock of the toolchain, the compiler and analysis provider, is under MIT license. The fact that it does analysis as well is important, because this means you can use the wealth of Roslyn analyzers to do linting.

If your FOSS tooling lets you compile but you don't get any checking as you type, then your development experience is wildly substandard.

A lot of stupid crap with cross-platform compilation that used to be confusing or difficult is now rather easy to deal with. It's basically as easy as (1) use NET Core, (2) tell dotnet to build for Linux. These steps take no extra effort and the first step is the default way to write C# these days.

Dotnet is part of the SDK and contains functionality to create NET Core projects and to use other tools to build said projects. Dotnet is published under MIT, because the whole SDK and runtime are published under MIT.

Yes, the debugger situation is still bad -- there's no FOSS option for it, but this is more because nobody cares enough to go and solve it. Jetbrains proved anyone can do it if they have enough development time, since they wrote a debugger from scratch for their proprietary C# IDE Rider.

Where C# falls flat on its face is the "userspace" ecosystem. Plainly put, because C# is a Microsoft product, people with FOSS inclinations have steered clear of it to such a degree that the packages you have available are not even 10% of what packages a Python user has available, for example. People with FOSS inclinations are generally the people who write packages for your language!!

I guess if you really really hate leftpad, you might think this is a small bonus though.

Where-in I talk about Cross-Platform

The biggest thing the ecosystem has been lacking for me is a package, preferably FOSS, for developing cross-platform applications. Even if it's just cross-platform desktop applications.

Like yes, you can build C# to many platforms, no sweat. The same way you can build Rust to many platforms, some sweat. But if you can't show a good GUI on Linux, then it's not practically-speaking cross-platform for that purpose.

Microsoft has repeatedly done GUI stuff that, predictably, only works on Windows. And yes, Linux desktop is like 4%, but that 4% contains >50% of the people who create packages for your language's ecosystem, almost the exact point I made earlier. If a developer runs Linux and they can't have their app run on Linux, they are not going to touch your language with a ten foot pole for that purpose. I think this largely explains why C#'s ecosystem feels stunted.

The thing is, I'm not actually sure how bad or good the situation is, since most people just don't even try using C# for this usecase. There's a general... ecosystem malaise where few care to use the language for this, chiefly because of the tone that Microsoft set a decade ago. It's sad.

HOWEVER.

Avalonia, A New Hope?

Today we have Avalonia. Avalonia is an open-source framework that lets you build cross-platform applications in C#. It's MIT licensed. It will work on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and also somehow in the browser. It seems to this by actually drawing pixels via SkiaSharp (or optionally Direct2D on Windows).

They make money by offering migration services from WPF app to Avalonia. Plus general support.

I can't say how good Avalonia is yet. I've researched a bit and it's not obviously bad, which is distinct from being good. But if it's actually good, this would be a holy grail for the ecosystem:

You could use a statically typed language that is productive for this type of software development to create cross-platform applications that have higher performance than the Electron slop. That's valuable!

This possibility warrants a much higher level of enthusiasm than I've seen, especially within the ecosystem itself. This is an ecosystem that was, for a while, entirely landlocked, only able to make Windows desktop applications.

I cannot overstate how important it is for a language's ecosystem to have a package like this and have it be good. Rust is still missing a good option. Gnome is unpleasant to use and buggy. Falling back to using Electron while writing Rust just seems like a bad joke. A lot of the Rust crates that are neither Electron nor Gnome tend to be really really undercooked.

And now I've actually talked myself into checking out Avalonia... I mean after writing all of that I feel like a charlatan for not having investigated it already.

[wisteriagoesvroom]

LOL I can imagine for vampire au Lando starting to third wheel Carcar and so even though turning Franco is a complete accident he can’t feel too guilty bc he uses it as an excuse to hang around someone else, and somehow he learns more about vampirism lore through a human grad student than he’s learned in his whole life (he’s lived a long time, lots of info to absorb). Then also, if you don’t mind my ask, what do they all do for jobs/how do they get money and would Franco keep studying ?

HELP this is so cute. ok. norpinto-frando vampire au for those who aren't up to speed...

Lando starting to third wheel Carcar and so even though turning Franco is a complete accident, [Lando] can’t feel too guilty bc he uses it as an excuse to hang around someone else -> screaming cus, absolutely. random associated headcanons for this... i'll rewind a bit:

carlos is the oldest vampire, like, moorish/medieval era. he met lando while they were both at a masquerade ball in the early 1600s and smelled each other right away (carlos like wood and ink, lando like gas lamps and wet stone).

lando is an tudor era vampire. like he actually knew shakespeare and said he was one of the best viral marketers of the era

oscar was turned in the early days of the australian penal colony, he's like first or second generation white australian but he refuses to be called british. he moved in to the house because the rent was cheap and he doesn't feel the need to live extravagantly -- even though he, too, is $$ loaded $$

oscar didn't move in until about two decades ago - very short by vampire standards, to them it feels like yesterday - but carlos and oscar are basically They Were Roommates atp even though they squabble con-stant-ly

their neighbours think they are a new age-y polyam group but because the people who live opposite them are students, nobody ever hangs around longer than a year to remember them or dig deeper

so franco definitely brings a fun funky fresh dynamic

he learns more about vampirism lore through a human grad student than he’s learned in his whole life (he’s lived a long time, lots of info to absorb) -> things that baby vamp!franco teaches lando include

tiktok trends, like how to make ur teeth comically large in photos. lando finds this hilarious

how to use venmo

creating a roster on google docs for who needs to do what house chores

jailbreaking an apple watch so it doesn't read their pulses (they don't have any), but it will remind them of the moon phases and when they might be extra hungry to feed

at one point franco actually puts his academic skills to use and helps lando hunt down some of his family tree, because since lando was turned and it's been so long, he doesn't remember much about them : ( so one of franco's little gifts to lando is helping him trace his heritage

what do they all do for jobs/how do they get money and would Franco keep studying ? -> i love how practical-minded you are. um well let's say this fictional supernatural creatures' market mostly runs on barter trades and goodwill agreements. the entire house sometimes just gets lazy tbh so lando or carlos will just dig into one of the old chests of random shit and pull out an antique and go: "do we think this is worth anything?" then they take it to an antiques dealer who is also a mage (alex albon) and there is a 1 in 25 chance that the antique is actually is worth something, so that bankrolls them for another half a year or whatever.

carlos makes a lot of noise about being "an art dealer" just because he sold a goya painting to a museum once.

oscar is a man of industry, of the "newer" world (australia) etc etc so he spent the 80s and 90s learning C++ and Java and Python so he legit just codes for a living. or when he feels like it. oscar has helped launch at least a dozen startups under various pseudonyms and one of them is even a blue chip company by now. he doesn't do it for money tho. he just does it cus he likes a challenge, and otherwise fights with carlos too much. when he isn't coding he likes to tinker and fix things just for fun. like, he legit knows how to fix a boiler and stuff. his familiar is definitely a grumpy orange neighbourhood cat.

franco keeps studying!! he is such a nerd that he's like "i can totally learn everything about anything now, and i could in theory do like 20 masters degrees, and nobody can stop me"!! then lando is like, "well you might get bored of it after a while or burn out". but franco insists he will not. in fact with his enhanced neurological abilities he goes on an academic bender trying to fast forward through an entire harvard's undergrad degree's worth of material in a week, and he ends up faceplanting on his desk. and then poor lando has to go and find a fresh chicken or something to kill and revive franco 'cus franco wore himself out too fast being a bb vampire with accelerated mind powers.

franco promises never to do that again (but of course he will continue to do it once in a while, and everyone still looks after him in his lil study hangovers because he is so very nice. also he taught them how to use venmo.)

and. one time. franco is like. "i can't find this rare sonnet do you know what library i could maybe locate it in" and lando is like "wait i know that one" and pulls out an honest to god original copy that he at some point got laminated in the early 80s. and franco is like. "um i think this should be in a museum??" and lando is like "yeah but i gave them a copy of this, cus i spilled ink on the corner of this in 1603 after a really good night out" and franco is like "???? ok ????"

then lando swans off to moodily stare at the moon or some shit.

[vintage-tech]

useful information: How to get a USB Blu-Ray player to work on your computer

Not a post about vintage technology, just an explanation of what you think might be simple to do but isn't: There are Blu-Ray players that plug into your computer by USB, and you discover that just plugging it in doesn't make it work* in the same manner that CD-RWs or DVD-RWs are automatically recognised and function. You will see "BR Drive" in My Computer and the name of whatever movie you have inserted, but that's as far as you're able to go.

*There is software you can buy to make a Blu-Ray (internal or external) function, sure, and if an internal came with your computer it's likely already installed -- but if you're like me you don't have that software, you're cheap and won't pay for software, and you want to use what you have installed already or find free solutions.

Looking in the Blu-Ray drive's package, there's not a lot of info about what you're supposed to do. The above no-name Blu-Ray player cost $40 from a popular website; name-brand ones can set you back $120 or so. Looking around online for those instructions, I never saw the whole set of directions in one place, I had to cobble them together from 2 or 3 sites. And so here I share that list. To keep out of trouble, I'm not linking any files -- Google will help you.

Get VLC, the free video player available for pretty much any operating system. Thing is, it doesn't come with the internals to make it work with Blu-Ray even if when you go to the Play Media menu there is a radio button for selecting Blu-Ray.

Get MakeMKV, a decoder for reading Blu-Ray disks. This had been totally free during the beta testing period but it's come out and has a month or two trial period you can work in.

Get Java if you don't already have it. Reason for this is, the menu systems on Blu-Ray disks uses this... technically it's not required, however it does mean you don't have options such as special features, language and sound changes, or scene selection if you don't have Java installed; insert a disk, it can only play the movie.

Get the file libaacs.dll online so you have AACS decoding. I am told it hasn't been updated in awhile so there may be disks produced after 2013 that won't work right, but you won't know until you try.

There's a set of keys you will also want to have so that the player knows how to work with specific disks, and so do a search online for the "FindVUK Online Database". There will be a regularly-updated keydb.cfg archive file on that page to pick up.

Got those three programs installed and the other two files obtained? Okay, here are your instructions for assembly...

In VLC: go to Tools, Prefs, click "show all"… under the Input/Codecs heading is Access Modules then Blu-Ray: Select your region, A through C. You can change this if you need to for foreign disks. Next related action: go to My Computer and C:, click into Program Files and VLC, and this is where you copy the libaacs.dll file to.

In MakeMKV: click View, then Preferences, and under Integration - add VLC.

Confirm that Java is set up to work with VLC by going to the computer's Control Panel, going to System Properties, and into Environment Variables. Click System Variables, and click New to create this key if it doesn't already exist: … Name: Java … Value: [the location of the Java 'jre#.##' folder... use Browse to find it in C:\Program Files\Java]

Let's go back into My Computer and C:, this time go to Program Data, and then do a right-click in the window and select New and Folder. Rename this folder "aacs" (without the quotes), and then you click into it and copy the keydb.cfg file here.

REBOOT.

And now you should be able to recognise Blu-Ray disks in your player and play them. Three troubleshooting notes to offer in VLC:

"Disk corrupt" -- this means MakeMKV has not decoded and parsed the disk yet, or that you don't have the libaacs.dll in place so that it can decode the disk. ...After checking the VLC folder for the DLL to make sure, launch MakeMKV, then go to File, Play Disk, and select the Blu-Ray drive. Now it will grind a bit and figure out the disk's contents.

A note appears when a movie starts saying there will be no menus, but the movie plays fine -- Java isn't running. ...Invoke Java by going to the Java Settings in Start: Programs. You don't have to change anything here, so Exit, then eject the disk and put it back in to see if the movie's menu now appears.

Buffering between chapters, making the movie pause for a few seconds? There is a setting for this but I need to find that info page again for where that is. (If you find it, tell me where it is!)

I don't claim to know a lot but if you have any questions I might have some answers or suggestions. So far I've watched "Office Space" and Disney's "Coco" without any issues beside occasional buffering.

[crystal-wingeddragon-spikes]

I tried to make something since Animation vs Coding came out. (I don't care about misspelling.)

This is a joke with no punch line because, while it is certainly in-character to these 2 terrorists, it is not a joke I am committed to make. I hope you don't even know what codes they are reacting to.

So, now the punchline is... Everything is so bad from the ground-up, The Dark Lord doesn't know where to start? And The Chosen One somehow ended up insulting ONE normal thing, enraging TDL? Good enough.

I thought about deleting the entire thing, but it was such a perfect way to showcase that me, the author, can "play" a character who much more knowledgeable than I am, because I don't code.

(I don't code beyond getting a bad grade in basic Java and superficially studied C, C++ and C# just to make my resume more attractive. I got my job, I don't care.)

I didn't even know what is an "Enum" before making this comic. Do your research and cherry-pick correct information, and you can fool the average audiences before an actual expert shows up.

One quirk I gave to TCO and TDL (most likely the rest of digital creatures), is that they influenced by the code they speak out loud. TCO has randomized capital letter throughout their speech, but say "Floor" the exact way it appears in code, twice, because string data is case-sensitive. They have free will and can choose not to execute friend certain scripts or simply refuses to say it out loud.

After this, TDL is putting TCO in CODE dot ORG jail. A very great place to start learning, by the way. (Unlike Brilliant, it's free.)

I am explaining things under the cut

You watched AvC, so you already know what is constant and variable... but still;

Gravitational acceleration is a constant.

Speed is a variable.

In your program, you would want some value to change, some to stay the same.

Enum is a type of class.

Class is a collection of data that can either be variables or constant, they can be different data type. Class is good for creating character profile, such as containing both Name (String) and age (Integer).

Enum, is a type of class that only contain constant. If class is a character profile, then, Enum is a lore book that contain things that need to be reference, unchanged, throughout the program. In this comic, Enum is used for items. Unless an upgrade system is involved, items should have the same property.

Me, personally, would simply put name strings in Enum, but actual coding is flexible to make it less of a nightmare to come back and fix, so, as The Dark Lord says, not ideal, but fine.

Not code, PU = Processing Unit, used interchangeably with brain. TDK specifically says that because it sounds like, "Poo".

[diino8081]

edit: actually nah.

puttin it alllll below the cut lmao

server's not happening rn

it got wayyyy too complicated and i got overwhelmed and like honestly i have no idea how to do anything

so yeah

no server (FOR NOW)

BIG UPDATE: I THINK I GOT THE FACTS ABOUT MULTIPLATFORM CROSSPLAY WRONG.

YOU CANNOT GET MODS FOR BOTH BEDROCK AND JAVA AT THE SAME TIME

CROSSPLAY DOES NOT MEAN BEDROCK AND JAVA

WE WILL ALL HAVE TO USE BEDROCK

NO MODS

i'll figure something out. but yeah. we might have to just use bedrock

[tldr at the end with the green text]

insane 4am decisions time

THINKING ABOUT MAKING A MINECRAFT SERVER AGAIN AND THIS TIME I HAVE A WAY OF DOING IT FOR FREEEEEEE

hit minecraft streamer Tubbo created a server hosting thing and it's free and like yeah (playhosting)

anyone can join but i kinda wanna see if anyone would want to first

it says there's multiplatform crossplay on it so y'know (i know there was someone last time who wanted to but who was on bedrock so now there's a way)

i'm gonna tag my main fandoms so that maybe more people might join

it's just gonna be a casual server, very lightly modded. probably through fabric on curseforge. honestly i just really feel like building with people instead of regular singleplayer and i know for a fact there's others out there who want to do so as well

so basically, what i'm trying to say:

would you like to join my minecraft server

this is a "seeing if anyone is interested" post

there will be a few mods using curseforge

there is crossplay support

i will create the server if anyone is actually interested

anyone can join (just don't be a creep)

ok thank you

[centsmp]

Welcome BACK to CentSMP!

It's been a while! We’ve been working on an effective ‘reboot’ of the CentSMP server to balance performance and functionality with player experience. After our first bout, we’ve gone through our mods list and made some changes to create a static modpack to keep things simple and crack down on playability! If you’re new here, CentSMP is a modded survival multiplayer server for Minecraft Java 1.20.1. We’re a small community here to have fun and interact with one another. We’ve whittled down our previous mod choices and put in some regulations and practices to keep things (ideally) playable and enjoyable foremost! Some well-known examples of mods we include:

Better Combat

Farmer’s Delight

Mythic Metals

Origins

Create

Biomes O’ Plenty

Additionally, we have included mods such as Argonauts and Continents to encourage making towns and settlements! We have a lot of furniture and decoration mods to play with, so consider applying! We have limited play slots due to Aternos’ limitations, but if all of this sounds like fun to you, our T&C’s and application form can be found in the replies! If not, stick around for silly posts from the heart of the server and its shenanigans.

Sincerely, the CentSMP mod squad.

[adaine]

hi! as you might have heard, my good friend sam @bitewounded passed away last week and we wanted to create a place to honor his memory digitally. jen and i made a creative minecraft server (java, 1.20.6) for friends of sam to build things in honor of him and leave notes/stories. people will be able to access the server through august 14th and build whatever they'd like in his honor, but please try to keep things near spawn so that they can be easily accessed. the server will culminate in a memorial ceremony where people will be invited to speak if they wish that will be streamed on twitch (channel tbd) on august 14th, starting at 8pm est/5pm pst. after the memorial, the server will close and the world download will be made available for all of us to remember sam. if you knew sam and would like to participate in this server, please send me a dm with your minecraft username and i'll whitelist you and send you the ip. also, feel free to reblog this post to spread the word. we want to make sure this reaches as many of his friends as possible.

[sprucebark]

Welcome to Overthrown SMP - an 18+ Minecraft SMP RP server!

Overthrown is an 18+ lore-based java Minecraft survival server. We aim to have a welcoming community and already have an attentive Moderation team. We thrive on the creativity of all of our members and their builds and storylines! All aesthetics and build styles welcome.

We have a dedicated server and can keep it open!

We are LGBTQ+ friendly and system ran and aim to be a safe space for many. Overthrown is a Whitelisted server, and you will need to introduce yourself before being able to play. Come say hi!

Keep in mind we are endo-friendly if that's something that you need to know.

Overthrown is based on Forge 1.20.1. We have a variety of mods but these are ones we feel significant:

Origins

Securitycraft

Create

Mr. Crayfish’s Furniture

Domestication Innovation

Other things like Biomes, Backpacks, and more!

Discord Link!

[elvisvideos]

Elvis themed game

Any game developers here?! Here's an idea for you. A game where you play as a manager to Elvis. I'd settle for a html, twine or JAVA game. There'd be a Col. Parker route ( historical gameplay route with minor different options ) or you can customize your character and take Elvis in a completely new direction.

It'd be a choose your own adventure with each option you pick takes you further along down that path leading to even more options to choose from. As the game progresses you need to balance your decision making skills in determining things like Elvis's health and him being able to make money before he can spend it while accounting for his health. Do you promote his next movie or do you put him on tour? Are you going to set him up with another tv special or give him a months rest? Do you book him in Vegas for a month or give him a world tour? The choices you make matters and effects the overall game. The game takes things into alternative history that falls into the realm of possibility.

The game starts after signing Elvis in 1955 and has multiple endings: Elvis can fire you, if you overwork him too much his health slowly deteriorates and he can die, you can sell his contract and retire or you can try managing him until your character ( Parker ) dies in 1997. Ultimately the goal of the game is to try and keep Elvis alive for as long as possible, wealthy, and you making it until your character dies in 1997.

I'd create this game if I had the know how in game development and coding.

Thoughts?

[effira]

Hey, you!

Is your computer and/or mobile phone dry?

Would you like it not to be?

then BOY DO I HAVE JUST THE THING FOR YOU!!

So I made a Rainmaker shimeji! Download and installation instructions under the cut!

HOW TO INSTALL

Windows:

You will need:

A Windows computer

A .zip and .rar software. like winrar or 7zip or whatever, doesn't matter.

The latest version of Java 8

Basic knowledge of how to unzip and move files on your computer

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY OTHER SHIMEJIS:

Download the .zip file

Unzip it wherever you like

Open the folder and make a shortcut to "shimeji-ee.jar"

Move this shortcut to your desktop

Double click the shortcut

There she is!

If shimeji-ee.jar doesn't want to open and instead prompts you to use winrar, right click it and change the application you prefer to open it with to Java

IF YOU HAVE OTHER SHIMEJIS ON YOUR COMPUTER:

This Shimeji was made for Shimeji-ee. I cannot guarantee it will work with other software.

Make a new subfolder in the /img/ folder of your shimeji software. Title it "rainmaker". Or anything else, I'm not your dad.

Download the .zip file

Extract it wherever you want

Copy all the images from my .zip file's /img folder into the shimejiee/img/rainmaker subfolder

Copy the "conf" folder from my zip file into the shimejiee/img/rainmaker subfolder

Open shimeji-ee.jar

Right click on the app icon, and go to settings -> Choose Shimeji

Select Rainmaker

Done!

Android:

You will need:

A shimeji app that supports custom shimeji. I prefer this one:

A file explorer for your phone, if it did not come preloaded with one.

Download my zip file

Unzip it somewhere you'll be able to find it

In the app, create a new shimeji. Direct the file to the /img/ folder of your extracted zip file

Mess around with the animations a bit if you'd like -- this app can mess up the frame order for some animations but it's fixed pretty easily.

Spawn her in.

You're done! Have fun throwing her away from your keyboard every 2 seconds while you text.

DOWNLOAD: