The Quixotic Engineer

I had a chance to participate in a number of events at the CS games, but the most interesting by far was the A.I. competition. All I had been told about the event beforehand was that in past years they had programmed the A.I. for Pac-man ghosts (enough for me to know that I HAD sign up.) Fortunately this year’s challenge also did not disappoint, as we were asked to program the A.I. of the Light Cycles from Tron.

The match was played on a roughly 30×30 grid where each cell was either empty, a wall or a cycle. Each player was given one second every turn to decide whether to move forward, left or right, with each movement leaving a wall in place behind. The cycle that could survive longest without running into a wall or another cycle was deemed the winner.

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I’ll write something a little more detailed later this week about the competitions themselves, but for now here’s a weekend in pictures

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You may think that the “big event” this weekend is happening down in Austin, Texas. However, the hippest of the hip know that the REAL place to be is scenic Sherbrooke, Quebec.

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It’s March, a.k.a. Brawl month (six days!), time for some recommended listening.

The Go! Team’s music is either a modern hip-hop flavoured take on soul or a return to late 80’s “Paul’s Boutique” style sampling. Either way they’re unique and terrific, and their albums “Thunder, Lightning, Strike” and “Proof of Youth” are both well worth listening to all the way through. Also notable are their terrific music videos, which I can only describe as blaxploitation meets Sesame Street.

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This evening I was graciously invited by a friend to attend the 3rd Montreal Girl Geek Dinner. Boy geeks such as myself were welcome as the guest of a girl geek. The goal of the event is described as follows:

Montreal Girl Geek Dinners are an offshoot of the London Girl Geek Dinners, started by Sarah Blow. The goal of these get-togethers is to make technology accessible and interesting to all age groups and all people, particularly women.

These monthly events are aimed at providing a welcoming atmosphere and a platform for learning in an informal environment. They are always held in pubs, bars or restos and there is usually a speaker (or several) who talk for a short while on a chosen subject for the evening.

The event lasted 3-4 hours, a large part of which was spent eating and networking. I had a chance to speak with the organizer Tanya McGinnity as well as Peter Yang, a designer at Ubisoft Montreal. The attendees came from many different backgrounds; some were programmers and web designers, others were just self-described geeks. In the spirit of making these events accessible, the speakers avoid getting too technical.

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