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Anyone remember that Java applet in the nineties where there was some 2D wireframe "animal" moving in a rectangle and there was, IIRC, a tiny circle at each joi
by TacticalCoder 4y ago
Anyone remember that Java applet in the nineties where there was some 2D wireframe "animal" moving in a rectangle and there was, IIRC, a tiny circle at each joint and you grab it and move it and it'd move the thing around / distort it. It was the first "serious" Java in the Browser I remember. It was all black & white. Maybe some HNer (not an HNer back then obviously) wrote it back in the days?
- CmdrKrool 4y agoI remember! Perhaps that is Soda Constructor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_Constructor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_Constructor http://maciejmatyka.blogspot.com/2018/02/soda-constructor-revisited.html http://maciejmatyka.blogspot.com/2018/02/soda-constructor-re...
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- jmiskovic 4y agoSoda Constructor? Yeah, that was a fun one. Here's a decent JS clone for some nostalgia: http://panoramx.ift.uni.wroc.pl/~maq/lovesoda/0.36beta.html http://panoramx.ift.uni.wroc.pl/~maq/lovesoda/0.36beta.html
- matsemann 4y agoHuh, I once made a workshop where people used evolutionary algorithms to make a similar shape learn to walk (see gif on top here https://github.com/Matsemann/walkingea https://github.com/Matsemann/walkingea ).
- rzzzt 4y agoThere is a paper on two-legged animals learning different methods of walking: https://youtu.be/pgaEE27nsQw https://youtu.be/pgaEE27nsQw (or https://youtu.be/FahK9srJq10 https://youtu.be/FahK9srJq10 for the slightly better known "music video" version). Soda Constructor's wikipedia page also links to a 3D applet named "Springs World 3D", I was playing with that one back in the day.
- robin_reala 4y agoThe first Java applets that stood out for me were Anfy Team’s. My images looked supercool with a rippling reflection underneath them!
- ihaveajob 4y agoBack in college I had an assignment to build some kind of CRM-like system, and the professor made a point that we used Java applets, because that was the future (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_once,_run_anywhere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_once,_run_anywhere was all the rage). I proposed instead learning PHP and using it for that purpose, but was laughed out of the room. Developing this was a PITA and I feel vindicated that applets faded away soon after, and PHP became part of the web-app "standard" (the LAMP acronym was started to be used around then). But I never learned PHP.
- Sakos 4y agoOn the other hand, Java has established itself as one of the most common server-side languages for building websites.
- ihaveajob 4y agoYes, it's so interesting how tortuous and serendipitous the evolution of Java has been. It started as a language for embedded devices, then made its way to the interactive web because its bytecode was so portable, and then somehow people figured out it's a good language for the backend because it's managed and thus safer than the alternatives, despite its inherent performance disadvantage. So many unintended extra lives.
- digitallyfree 4y agoHonestly with all the Electron-based desktop apps out there people are still thinking that way. Just with a different language and framework.
- thyrsus 4y agoI remember when nytimes.com started using java like this, and something like 8 out of 10 failed to function in Firefox on Linux.
- monkpit 4y agoSodaPlay and SodaConstructor It’s on GitHub now: https://github.com/SodaLtd/Sodaplay https://github.com/SodaLtd/Sodaplay
- spicybright 4y agoSo many good java games likely lost to time. The falling sand games were my jam back then.