Re: [OT] GWbasher

On Sun, 21 Feb 1999, Brian Burger wrote:

> On Sun, 21 Feb 1999, Chen-Song Qin wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, 20 Feb 1999, Brian Burger wrote:
> > 
> > > The online GW Basher is now
> > > up...<http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/9774/gwbasher.html>
> > > 
> > > A totally goofy project that takes impolite varients on GW's name
and
> > > sticks them together to make even more impolite varients of the
varients!
> > > (It's an applet. You'll need a moderately up-to-date browser).
> > 
> > This is excellent!	The thing is though, "Games Workshop" is
actually a
> > possible combination.  You probably want to put in a check somewhere
so
> > the proper name of the company doesn't get shown.
> 
> I stuck a note below the actual applet, something to the effect of:
"This
> applet may occasionally generate GW's real name; we apologize in
advance
> for your failure to offend GW."

of course, to peeps like us, "games workshop" is actually the most
insulting and risible term the applet can produce.

> When I get better at Java, I'll disect the .class file

ouch! when you get a *lot* better at java. the class file is the
compiled
code, and is not human legible; you could, in theory, pick your way
through it with a hex editor and a copy of the spec, but would be really
hairy.

you can use a decompiler, but they're not very reliable and tend to stop
halfway through the code with the highly useful message "FLOW ANALYSIS
COULD NOT COMPLETE";

> and see if I can
> prevent it from generating GW's proper name - and see if I can get it
to
> stick 'work' (or varients) and 'shop' (ditto) together as one word.
(At
> present it gives, say, "Goudge Ork slop" instead of "Goudge Orkslop",
> which would be better...)

i'll have a look for the source code; they must be lying around
somewhere.
with the sources, this is a five-minute fix. without them: ouch.

also, i believe there is no 'd' in 'gouge'. ah, the logically pronounced
english language!

> Fun applet, isn't it? :)

it is that. a job well done.

the possibilities are endles, though. hmm, a random generator for manga
technology ("a biocyber warfare blaster!"), star trek technology ("a
sub-proton harmonic field"), the names of communist republics ("people's
free soviet collective") and other pompous terms designed to impress
without conveying meaning.

<ot>
speaking of pompous and designed to impress rather than convey meaning:
http://www.cs.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/postmodern/
be sure to reload a few times!
</ot>

Tom
who thinks that random generation is a good solution for many tasks
currently undertaken by humans