Tag: Making

Dangerous Field

Back in the magical decade known as the 90’s I got my first graphing calculator.  It was one of the Casio FX-7000 variants–I don’t recall which one exactly, but I do clearly remember that it had 422 bytes of memory to be used by programs.  While I wrote some programs to do mathy stuff, most programs were games.  I think the first game I wrote for the calculator was a number guessing game where the game would generate a random number and the player would enter guesses and be told it the actual number was higher or lower.  There were various other games along the same vein.  Then I started coding with a friend and things got “Dangerous”.

My friend Jed had a Casio graphing calculator too.  His was newer and fancier and had more memory, but it used the same programming language.  One day (I think during French class), he showed me his new game “Dangerous Field”.  It was a text adventure game in which the game play went something like this:

DANGEROUS FIELD
U R IN A FIELD
WUT?
> N
U R IN A FIELD
WUT?
> E
U R IN A FIELD
WUT?
> N
U FALL IN HOLE
U DIE
3

Zork it was not.  In Dangerous Field you were in a field and could go North, South, East, or West.  After a random number of moves, you fell in a hole and died.  The “score” was the number of moves made.  There was no terrain or scenery apart from the field, there was no possible strategy, and there was no way to win.  But it was a start.

We made new versions of Dangerous Field adding various features such as a map stored as an array defining a path the player could potentially follow to escape the field.  Other games were added to the Dangerous series including “Dangerous House” and “Dangerous Cave”.  Combat was added as well as rudimentary graphics–all within 422 bytes.

In the years since then, I’ve written a lot of code in various programming languages, but never have I been so concise.  My next calculator was an HP48G (which I still regularly use and is currently sitting on my disheveled desk) with 32KB of RAM so I had enough room to write whatever I needed.  A full computer obviously has tons more space, and even the toy apps I’ve written for a space-constrained smart phone have been measured in megabytes.  So now, whenever I think about the constraints surrounding coding, I remember Dangerous Field and all that was crammed into 422 bytes.

Charge it!

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With Christmas came the discovery that we have a lot of portable electronic devices including (but not limited to):

  • 3 cell phones
  • 4 Kindle Fire tablets (assorted models)
  • 1 Nook e-reader
  • 2 3DS XL gaming systems
  • 3 Fitbit pedometers
  • 4 laptop computers
  • 1 TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition Graphing Calculator

Each device came with a means by which it can be connected to a wall outlet so that the battery can be charged.  This led to having devices perched in random places wherever a free outlet could be found and of course nobody could find their device when it was desired and the correct type cord could never be located when it was needed most direly.

So I built a charging station with to provide a home for various gadgets.  There are several shallow drawers that can each hold an electronic device and a shelf on the bottom which can hold a laptop.

The plywood body and solid trim are birch and the drawer handles were cut from some scrap oak that was leftover from another project. Because I wanted this to be a fast and cheap project, purchasing fancy drawer hardware wasn’t really an option so I sanded some poplar and found it to make serviceable drawer guides.

The middle portion of the piece is conveniently at the same height as a wall outlet and there is a smaller shelf there on which fit a couple multi-port USB charging devices.  From there cords are routed to all the drawers above and the laptop shelf below.  Most of the cords end with USB Micro-B plugs since that is what is used by most of the devices, but also we have a USB Mini-B for the calculator, the proprietary chargers for the 3DS systems, an extra power supply for the laptop, and the funky Fitbit Flex charging cable.

I meant to stain the wood, but it got put into use before I had the opportunity. Devices still go missing occasionally, but much less frequently than before. There are no more battles over cables and so devices are more likely to be charged. Once again we have free outlets in our home.

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A less obvious benefit is the ease with which my wife or I can assess which devices are in use. This is useful because there are rules which the children are expected to follow. We haven’t had any major problems with kids abusing screen privileges. When it’s bedtime and devices are to be put away until the next day, it is simple the check that everything is where it should be.

I expect that we shall continue to have more portable electronic devices appear in our home and need charging.  Building the charging station was a quick, cheap, and fun way to address our current needs and we will evolve and adapt with what the future brings.