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>Clearly, there are people still interested in Access, even if it’s only because they’re trying to untangle the mess left for them by a previous generation of hobbyist programmer.

My job function entails extending and maintaining an MS Access database that our small company still uses as its primary tool for data entry and reporting. It started on Access 97, moving up through a few new releases until about 2010, which we stayed on until just this year. It's now working with the O365 edition. It was first developed by someone with no previous experience, referencing a copy of Access 97 for Dummies. I learned on the job just by poking around - which is now, I think, the biggest pain point for how we use the software: how exposed everything is. Prior to this role, our company would contract out for development: we'd come up with a big list of things we want, and it would be done and deployed within a couple week's time, although it usually took many revisions to get right. Now that I am able to do this development work in-house, things go much more smoothly as I also work with the day-to-day processes the tool is used for, and I have a grasp on how systems operate within our office. It's very important to have database tools with a low barrier to entry, so I think there would always be some market for this; where it really shines is its straightforward reporting and form editing capabilities, along with its user-friendly query designer. Being able to generate complex datasets without having to think about SQL (though still being able to write SQL!) is powerful.

(as an aside, I feel that I'm ready to move on from my role, but my abilities with Access don't seem exactly desirable or hireable, and as the article describes, there's always a looming threat of it going away someday. I was given a title of "Database Administrator" from higher-ups who think of Access as some esoteric ability, although gambits for pay raise so far have been fruitless. I see it more like ability in using Excel. I have some experience with MySQL via personal projects and programming in PHP, but I wouldn't call myself a dba if I'm being honest with myself. I feel a little stuck by not having the abilities to match my job title when searching for new positions, and if I'm going to the trouble of getting a new job, I don't want a lateral move with the same compensation. The wise thing to do would be to learn competence in proper database tools. I'm young, without a degree, and any advice would be welcome)

this is the true problem with procedurally generated content in games. portrayed as infinite content, but you end up getting an infinite amount of the mostly-the-same content. would you rather play 10 different levels or one level 10 times?

sort of interesting. i expected it to have velocity/inertia, but I think that would make it much more than ~900 bytes

I think the parent comment's referring to the ability to write code quickly. At least, that was my first impression.

i had a similar experience. i was locked out for 6 months, during which time i couldn't even make payments to others with amazon payments. i missed out on several interesting kickstarter projects. i'm glad they're switching to stripe. have had no problems with them, buying or selling.

i am also studying japanese - i'm on a similar level i would say. i know around 150 kanji and forgotten about the same amount. my problem is finding someone on a similar level to learn alongside - i've heard it's wise to have not only someone above your skill level, but also someone at your equal, to compete and learn with. if you're interested, i'd like to study together - send me an email.

those transantarctic mountains have very jagged peaks - is this a result of less wind exposure, and therefore less erosion? the article also mentions that the horizontal scale is different from the vertical scale, so it might just be that.

neat effect i suppose, but i can't imagine it looking very good in-game. doesnt this go against the whole style of pixel art, being aligned to a grid, low palette colors and keeping the same pixel resolution throughout? i see way too many things that change pixel sizes even through the same sprite. i think this would be better suited to larger svg or even pre-rendered images.

The author kinda contradicts himself by saying you should vertically align your code, but then says use proportional fonts if you find them more readable. (Not to mention, proportional fonts don't allow you to vertically align things well)

is it more common to align the values left or right with decimal places?

eg

  var foo =  1000;
  var bar =    10;

vs

  var foo        = 1000;
  var longerName = 10;

I got the impression that, for those emoji with multiple people (for example holding hands) there will be variations with the 5 skin color modifiers - that's 25 (if order matters) new characters to represent the permutations of one emotion.

We should go back to ":)"