Github has published a Swift Style Guide:
When you have to meet certain criteria to continue execution, try to exit early. So, instead of this:
if n.isNumber { // Use n here } else { return }
use this:
guard n.isNumber else {
return
}
// Use n here
Feels very Go-like.
Spoilers abound. You’ve been warned.
From the very beginning, Robert Kirkman maintained that Invincible was his attempt at doing the whole superhero thing right. There is a running gag in this book that on every cover (at least for a lot time if not since the beginning), they take a little jab at the superhero genre as done by other houses.
As news appeared that there would be a reboot, Kirkman was quick to declare that he was not going to be a dick to his readers and would not erase the whole timeline. By calling the arc “REBOOT?” with a question mark, he could not have made this more clearer. Also, the cover tagline:
And so we reach the end of the arc and Kirkman did keep his promise: the timeline was not erased. But maybe it should? That is the question that he leaves us with.
Mark is taken back to just before he gets his powers. He then deals the best he can with what he knows is coming: Nolan’s attempt at conquering the world for the Viltrumite Empire and the consequent deaths of so many in the process. That’s the “hero stuff” and although it’s well done, none of it will matter.
Mark has also to deal with being young again, living with his parents. His wife of many years now barely knows and definitely doesn’t care for him. And his daughter wasn’t born yet. How do you deal with this?
During the first two issues of the arc, Mark’s personal life was mostly a B plot. But in this final issue, it becomes central.
Mark gets a chance to go back to his original timeline, to his wife, to his daughter. But he’s asked for a sacrife. A hero’s sacrifice.
The beings that brought Mark here explain that by setting himself in another path, he can fix the future, he can fix all the things that happened to Earth in the original timeline. All he has to do is make the choice.
But he says no. Mark wants to go back to his wife and daughter. There is nothing that can make him change his mind.
He doomed his planet and he is a disgrace, they say. I can live with that, he responds and goes back only to find desolation where the battle against Thragg is apparently finished – and apparently lost — I suppose we’ll learn more about that soon.
And of course, Kirkman had to throw one extra punch at the guy. As a father, the reveal at then end of what Mark has lost is heartbreaking.
Invincible remains the only book that has never once disappointed me in any of its arcs. This is amazing for a story ongoing for over 10 years and 126 issues.
Now excuse me while I go hug my daughter.
Go is often described as a simple language. It is not, it just seems that way. Rob explains how Go’s simplicity hides a great deal of complexity, and that both the simplicity and complexity are part of the design.
I have a friend who is all into the whole evolutionary psychology fad. It’s useful when you want to rationalize bad behaviour. I once told him that evolutionary psychology was pseudoscience to which he replied saying that I was just trying to negate the world as-is.
But apparently I’m not alone, as Jonathan Marks writes (emphasis is mine) —
I can’t shake the feeling that the methodologies I have encountered in evolutionary psychology would not meet the standards of any other science. For a notable example, it is apparently a revelation to evolutionary psychology that one cannot readily generalize about the human condition from a sample of humans that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. Perhaps this was news in psychology – creationist, evolutionary, or otherwise – but, sad to say, everybody else who works with cultural diversity knew that a really long time ago.
I am currently trying a new approach to deal with my social phobia. Basically it involves avoiding avoidance behaviours. You see, people with social anxiety tend to avoid problematic situations and run to metaphorical safe places. After a while, the avoidance behaviours become almost automatic, almost imperceptible.
Almost but not quite.
We behave so without thinking but we recognize the behaviour while we’re doing it. And that’s exactly when we have to force ourselves to avoid avoidance. It is very difficult and the temptation of avoidance is almost irresistible. The problem, of course, is the more we avoid things, the harder it is to stop doing it later in life.
Last night I posted something to Facebook —
https://www.facebook.com/robteix/posts/10153208453849048
The voices of social anxiety immediately started working in my head. “FriendA will mock at you,” they shout. “FriendB will think you’re pathetic.” And so they went. I came this close to deleting the post before stopping and forcing myself to ignore the voices.
It is not easy. It is so not easy that I am writing a blog post about it. Social phobia makes my mind work against me: it constantly attacks me, my self-esteem, and my confidence. It would be so much easier to just delete the post.
Dealing with social anxiety involves many counter-intuitive measures: it forces socially anxious people to go against what our own brains tell us is not the safest route.
I need to keep working on it. I’ll need to continue to force myself into doing more of what I desperately want to avoid. Let’s see how it goes.