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jeff_harris's comments

jeff_harris | 8 years ago | on: Show HN: RESTful Doom – HTTP+JSON API inside Doom

I had an idea to write a text adventure interface, where you would type in 'forward', 'left', 'shoot' etc via the API. We understand nearby objects like doors, monsters and pickups, so could implement things like "An 'IMP' appears 300 yards away", or "There is a door requiring a red key in front of you" etc. Could be fun!

jeff_harris | 9 years ago | on: Slack client for Commodore 64

as the author of this project, let me explain...

Ahem....

Well there is no good reason. I guess I was curious to see if something that I use every day, like Slack, could be interacted with through the C64. Figuring out a wire format for a list of channels, then parsing that out into channel names + ids and rendering a scrolling list of channels in 6502 assembly is challenging. Its frustrating. It was fun!

More generally, creating something 'just because' is so rewarding.

Learning, practicing and honing my chosen craft doing something creative is enjoyable. There is always something new to learn and half a dozen projects in my head I want to work on if only I could find the time. Why do some people spend hours painting, carving, or making model ships? Same reason I made this :)

Hope that helps!

jeff_harris | 9 years ago | on: Slack client for Commodore 64

You would need to replace the rs232 code with code to talk to the Wifi modem. You would need to deal with websocket handling and JSON parsing.

Doable, for sure, but would be significant work (depending on the richness of the API provided by wifi modem)

jeff_harris | 9 years ago | on: Slack client for Commodore 64

Thanks! It's just a fun project, so of course there are lots of ways to improve it!

I found writing 6502 assembly code is strangely comfortable once you get over the initial face-palm moments ;)

jeff_harris | 9 years ago | on: Slack client for Commodore 64

You're right in that the RasPi does the outbound connectivity and exposes a rpc stream that the C64 can interact with more easily than JSON, but thats all. The interactivity is driven by the C64, and honestly 99% of the effort went into the C64 6502 assembly code, not the NodeJS proxy.

jeff_harris | 9 years ago | on: Slack client for Commodore 64

Haha, you are right, of course! Obviously its just a fun project, I had an un-used RaspPi lying around and started hacking around getting it to talk to the C64 and then this project just sort of happened :)
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