Grand strategy is a tough genre to bring to mobile, after all, how do you fit something so big into something so small? But you’d be surprised what’s possible when developers put their minds to it. Long term grand strategy has become especially popular on mobile in recent years, and it’s understandable when you consider that long term strategy is basically idle strategy, as you log on once per day, make a few tactical choices, and then forget about it until the next. It’s a genre which suits mobile surprisingly well.

That’s why we’ve decided to partner with Bytro Labs this week for our giveaway, to hand out some premium passes for WW1 game, Supremacy 1. In each campaign of Supremacy, you play against up to 84 players per match, and face off against each other to take control of the map. These games can last weeks, and sometimes even up to a month, so if you like depth to your strategy, this might be one for you.

Each premium pass gives you one month of High Command, which grants you a building queue, and rally points in the game, which essentially allows you to stack commands for units after they’ve finished recruiting.

If Supremacy 1 sounds like your kind of game, we’ve got Android and iOS entry forms below. Though, if you are going to enter, please do see our terms and conditions first!

Android

Supremacy 1 – Android Giveaway

ios

Supremacy 1 – iOS Giveaway

For those of you that are eager to get started, Supremacy 1 is free to download on Google Play and the App Store. If you want some similar recommendations, our lists of the best mobile war games, and the best mobile strategy games have what you seek.

Daniel

With the release of Visual Studio 2019 16.7 Preview 4, you can now try out our new experimental Razor editor for local development with MVC, Razor Pages, and Blazor. We’re excited for you to give it a try!

Enabling the new Razor editor

To enable the new experimental Razor editor in Visual Studio 2019 16.7 Preview 4 or later:

1. Install the latest Visual Studio preview

2. Go to Tools > Options > Environment > Preview Features and select the Enable experimental Razor editor option:

   

3. Select OK and restart Visual Studio

That’s it! You’re now setup to use the new Razor editor when working with Razor files locally (.cshtml and .razor).

What is Razor?

Razor is a templating language based on HTML and C# used to define dynamic rendering logic for .NET web apps based on MVC, Razor Pages, and Blazor. In MVC and Razor Pages apps you use Razor to define the rendering logic for your views and pages using .cshtml files. In Blazor, you use Razor to author reusable UI components in .razor files. Razor is a critical part of the experience for building web apps with .NET.

You can give Razor a try today by building your first web app with ASP.NET Core or Blazor.

Why a new Razor editor?

Part of the value of Razor is the rich tooling experience Visual Studio provides for editing Razor files. Visual Studio today provides IntelliSense, completions, and diagnostics for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C#, and Razor specific syntax all within the same Razor file.

Visual Studio does some tricky gymnastics to enable editor support for all of these languages at the same time in Razor files. The Razor document is parsed to determine its constituent parts, and then each part is projected into a language specific buffer called a projection buffer. What you see in Visual Studio when editing a Razor document are a collection of little windows into each of these projection buffers to make up one whole document. Each language service then independently handles the editing experiences for each of these separate projection buffers.

For example, consider the following Razor code:

@{ ViewData["Title"] = "About";

}

<script type="text/javascript"> alert("Hello, World!");

</script>

The way Visual Studio handles this Razor code looks something like this:

This project buffer setup works well for Visual Studio and Visual Studio for Mac, but it’s problematic for remote editing scenarios, like Visual Studio LiveShare or Visual Studio Codespaces. It also can’t be used for editors that don’t have projection buffer support, like Visual Studio Code. The lack of a central orchestrator for the Razor editor also makes it difficult to enable new features without careful coordination between the various language service implementations (since they each control their own experience in projected scenarios).

A Razor Language Server

To enable broader support for Razor editing, we have been working for some time on a new Razor editor for ASP.NET Core projects based on a Razor Language Server. This new Razor Language Server implements editor features like auto completion, go to definition, etc. through the Language Server Protocol (LSP), which defines a standard way for an editor or IDE to enable these features. An IDE specific Razor extension then handles coordinating with the Razor Language Server and the other language servers for HTML & C#.

This new Razor Language Server is already being used to enable Razor support in Visual Studio Code as part of the C# extension. It will be the basis for the Razor editing support in Visual Studio Codespaces and Visual Studio LiveShare. And now it is available for local development in Visual Studio as a preview feature.

Currently our focus has been on making the new LSP based Razor editor have functional parity with the existing Visual Studio Razor editing experience (as noted below, there are still a few functional gaps to address). In future releases we expect to fill these functional gaps add significant new functionality, like bringing many more of the C# editing features to Razor, and enabling other new Razor specific productivity improvements.

Known issues

The new Razor editor is currently experimental and has some known limitations. The following Razor editor features have not yet been fully implemented and will be added in a future release:

• JavaScript and CSS IntelliSense support
• Colorization for C#, JavaScript, CSS, Blazor components, Tag Helpers, and tooltips
• Formatting is limited to only C# code in @code and @functions blocks with no embedded HTML markup or Razor syntax
• URL picker support in HTML
• C# snippets (‘prop’, ‘ctor’, etc.)
• Complex C# completions (for example, generating overrides)
• Go-to-definition/implementation from C# to Razor
• Renames in C# files do not propagate to Razor files
• Matching identifier highlight support for HTML and curly braces

There are also some functional issues with the new Razor editor in 16.7 Preview 4 that will be addressed in a future release:

• C# error squiggles may be misaligned
• Unnecessary informational errors reported for unnecessary using directives in Razor files
• Blazor components & Tag Helpers are currently colored like C# classes and don’t respect the Tag Helper colorization option

Give feedback

These are still the early days for the new LSP-based Razor editing experience in Visual Studio. We know that there’s still a lot of work to do before it can replace the existing Razor editing experience in Visual Studio. The new Razor tooling will remain optional and experimental in 16.7 and we don’t expect to make it the default Razor editor until it surpasses the functionality of the existing editor. But, we wanted to share our progress as early as possible to start getting your feedback on how well the new Razor editor works for you. To ensure we ship the best Razor editing experience possible, please give the new Razor tooling a try and let us know what you think. You can share your feedback with us by creating Razor Tooling issues on Github in the ASP.NET Core repo. We appreciate your feedback!

The tools enable diagnostic technicians at the dealerships to troubleshoot a problem in real time by tapping into Mercedes-Benz’ vast ecosystem of remote technical specialists with particular expertise across its various car lines. That network ranges from Mercedes-Benz field specialists in the U.S. who are schooled on the intricacies of each model to engineers at company headquarters in Germany who helped design those vehicles.

Now, a service technician like Edgar Campana, who works at Mercedes-Benz of Coral Gables, can wear a HoloLens 2 and share his view of the car part or car system in question while talking with one of the company’s remote technical specialists, via Dynamics 365 Remote Assist.

If he needs to peer deep inside the layers of machinery, Campana can gesture with his fingers at, say, the engine and immediately see a 3D hologram that appears next to the car.

Watching from a laptop or desktop computer, the remote specialist can ask Campana to turn his head toward a specific part or sensor, then share wiring diagrams, notes or other visual information directly into the view of the HoloLens 2.

What’s more, the remote specialist can draw on the hologram a picture of that engine (or other component) to show the technician where, for example, to adjust a specific cable. Multiple Mercedes-Benz specialists can join the same call.

“It’s like they are there. It’s like I am them,” Campana says. “The expert is looking through my eyes and seeing what I’m seeing so they can guide me.”

During his virtual conversations, Campana can keep his hands free to use his tools. He also can use the HoloLens 2 to drag the specialist-shared diagrams and documents behind him, away from his field of view. If he needs to view them again, he can just turn backward to reference them or drag them back in front.

“It makes everything easier,” Campana says. “We’re able to diagnose and address issues right there, get the car out of the garage and back to the customer much quicker.”

Mercedes-Benz USA has supplied HoloLens 2 devices to its authorized U.S. dealership partners, including Mercedes-Benz of Coral Gables.

Before the rollout, Campana and his fellow diagnostic technicians typically communicated via email with the remote technical specialists, who often are working to troubleshoot multiple queries across U.S. dealerships. Those back-and-forth email exchanges took time.

“We can now resolve issues often in minutes and hours as compared to days, allowing us to serve our customers more quickly with faster turnaround times,” Munoz says.

If you’re a fan of games that do something a little different, with art styles and soundtracks that are genuinely unique, you might want to watch out for Art Sqool which has just been announced for Switch.

Art Sqool is an experimental school simulation game that combines exploration with a series of creative tasks for the player to complete. You take on the role Froshmin, a freshman who just wants to create art, explore the quirky campus, and get to work on the tasks given to you by the professor.

The professor serves as your advisor and also judges your work, giving you grades depending on how well you’ve managed to complete each task. The Switch version of the game could prove to be the best way to play, too, with new touchscreen and stylus support being implemented to make the most out of Nintendo’s machine.

Here’s a feature list:

KEY FEATURES:
BE CREATIVE. The professor is a really cool dude. And painting is all about having fun, so go crazy! Over 200 inspiring prompts will help you break through any creative block.

EXPLORE AMAZING CAMPUS. You’ve never seen anything like it.

RELAX. OK, there might be some challenges in the game, but it also gives the players an opportunity to unwind: you can relax to chillout music and slow tempo of the game.

BECOME A COLLECTOR. Find and collect cool brushes to help you in your artistic process. There are numerous extras hidden around the map, like a wiggle brush, rainbow pencil, and… a mop.

Julian Glander, the artist and developer behind the game, says, “Art Sqool is definitely saying something about the state of arts education, and how art and creativity relate to and often pushes against the rigid systems of our world. But you could also just turn your brain off and have a great time drawing and exploring and listening to the music”.

We don’t have a release date for this one just yet, so keep your eyes peeled for more news over the coming months.

© Ubisoft

Update #2 (Wed 9th Sep, 2020 13:50 BST): According to Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners, Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia Remake – which is expected to be announced this week – will not be coming to Nintendo Switch, nor will it arrive in November, as has been reported (thanks, VGC).

Update #1 (Sun 6th Sep, 2020 07:30 BST): According to Bloomberg’s video game reporter, Jason Schreier, Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia Remake will supposedly be revealed at next week’s Ubisoft Forward, airing on 10th September.

Schreier shared this information on the most recent Triple Click podcast. Here’s what he had to say, (thanks, Pure Xbox):

“…they had been planning a new Ubisoft Forward, where they were going to announce a bunch of games like the Prince of Persia remake that was leaked a couple of weeks ago. That [event] is planned, it was announced today as being for next week, September 10th.”

VGC has also backed up Schreier with its “own Ubisoft sources”, which indicate the claim is correct.

To find out more about the next Ubisoft Forward, view the full schedule in our previous post. You can also expect to learn more about Immortals: Fenyx Rising (formerly known as Gods & Monsters).

Original story (Thu 20th Aug, 2020 03:15 BST): According to an online and local retailer in Guatemala known as “MAX“, a Prince of Persia Remake is coming to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 this November.

Bloomberg’s video game reporter, Jason Schreier, has seemingly backed up this listing over on Twitter:

“Video game retailers sure love leaking Ubisoft’s surprise announcements”

One individual said they didn’t believe it and the industry insider then told them their tweet wouldn’t age well.

So, what is this supposed remake? Video game historian and Nintendo Life contributor Liam Robertson thinks it might be based on the “original” Prince of Persia game (if it is real). Of course, there have been many reboots over the years as well.

Ubisoft is hosting its next online broadcast (Ubisoft Forward) in September. If this listing is legitimate, we guess we’ll hear more about it then.

Would you like to see the return of the Prince of Persia series? Tell us down below.

Sebastien

We are thrilled to announce that Orchard Core RC2 is now available.

What is Orchard Core?

Orchard Core Framework is a community-based application framework for building modular, multi-tenant applications on ASP.NET Core. It has been created by more than 150 contributors and has over 4K stars on GitHub.

Orchard Core also includes Orchard Core CMS, a Web Content Management System (CMS), that is built on top of the Orchard Core Framework. It allows you to build full websites, or headless websites using GraphQL.

Getting Started

Installing the templates

You can install the recommended templates by running:

dotnet new -i OrchardCore.ProjectTemplates::1.0.0-*

Creating a new modular application

Using the templates, a modular MVC application can be created by running:

dotnet new ocmvc -n MySite

And a module is created by running:

dotnet new ocmodulemvc -n MyModule
dotnet add MySite reference MyModule

Creating an Orchard CMS website

To create a new site based on the Orchard Core CMS run:

dotnet new occms -n MySite
dotnet run --project .\MySite\MySite.csproj

After going through the setup form you get a working Blog.

What’s new

Some notable improvements include:

• Content localization support, and pre-configured localized Setup experience

• Improved block content management experience

• Sitemaps management
• Azure support improvements

Resources

Development plan

The Orchard Core source code is available on GitHub.

There are still many important pieces to add and you might want to check our roadmap, but it’s also the best time to jump into the project and start contributing new modules, themes, improvements, or just ideas.

Feel free to drop on our dedicated Gitter chat and ask questions.

Open Liberty is a lightweight, production-ready Java runtime for containerizing and deploying microservices to the cloud, and is now available as part of a Red Hat Runtimes subscription. If you are a Red Hat Runtimes subscriber, you can write your Eclipse MicroProfile and Jakarta EE apps on Open Liberty and then run them in containers on Red Hat OpenShift, with commercial support from Red Hat and IBM.

Develop cloud-native Java microservices

Open Liberty is designed to provide a smooth developer experience with a one-second startup time, a low memory footprint, and our new dev mode:

Open Liberty provides a full implementation of MicroProfile 3 and Jakarta EE 8. MicroProfile is a collaborative project between multiple vendors (including Red Hat and IBM) and the Java community that aims to optimize enterprise Java for writing microservices. With a four-week release schedule, Liberty usually has the latest MicroProfile release available soon after the spec is published.

Also, Open Liberty is supported in common developer tools, including VS Code, Eclipse, Maven, and Gradle. Server configuration (e.g., adding or removing a capability, or “feature,” to your app) is through an XML file. Open Liberty’s zero migration policy means that you can focus on what’s important (writing your app!) and not have to worry about APIs changing under you.

Deploy in containers to any cloud

When you’re ready to deploy your app, you can just containerize it and deploy it to OpenShift. The zero migration principle means that new versions of Open Liberty features will not break your app, and you can control which version of the feature your app uses.

Monitoring live microservices is enabled by MicroProfile Metrics, Health, and OpenTracing, which add observability to your apps. The emitted metrics from your apps and from the Open Liberty runtime can be consolidated using Prometheus and presented in Grafana.

Learn with the Open Liberty developer guides

Our Open Liberty developer guides are available with runnable code and explanations to help you learn how to write microservices with MicroProfile and Jakarta EE, and then to deploy them to Red Hat OpenShift.

Get started

To get started with Open Liberty, try the Packaging and deploying applications guide and the Deploying microservices to OpenShift guide.

The post Open Liberty Java runtime now available to Red Hat Runtimes subscribers appeared first on Red Hat Developer.

A lambda function allows you to define a function in a single line. It starts with the keyword lambda, followed by a comma-separated list of zero or more arguments, followed by the colon and the return expression. For example, lambda x, y: x+y calculates the sum of the two argument values x+y in one line of Python code.

Problem: How to define a function in a single line of Python code?

Example: Say, you’ve got the following function in three lines. How to compress them into a single line of Python code?

def say_hi(*friends): for friend in friends: print('hi', friend) friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann']

say_hi(*friends)

The code defines a function say_hi that takes an iterable as input—the names of your friends—and prints 'hi x' for each element x in your iterable.

The output is:

'''

hi Alice

hi Bob

hi Ann '''

Let’s dive into the different methods to accomplish this! First, here’s a quick interactive overview to test the waters:

Exercise: Run the code—is the output the same for all four methods?

Next, you’ll learn about each method in greater detail!

Method 1: Lambda Function

You can use a simple lambda function to accomplish this.

A lambda function is an anonymous function in Python. It starts with the keyword lambda, followed by a comma-separated list of zero or more arguments, followed by the colon and the return expression. For example, lambda x, y, z: x+y+z would calculate the sum of the three argument values x+y+z.

friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann'] # Method 1: Lambda Function

hi = lambda lst: [print('hi', x) for x in lst]

In the example, you want to print a string for each element in an iterable—but the lambda function only returns an object. Thus, we return a dummy object: a list of None objects. The only purpose of creating this list is to execute the print() function repeatedly, for each element in the friends list.

You obtain the following output:

hi(friends) '''

hi Alice

hi Bob

hi Ann '''

Method 2: Function Definition

A similar idea is employed in this one-liner example—but instead of using a lambda function, we define a regular function and simply skip the newline. This is possible if the function body has only one expression:

friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann'] # Method 2: Function Definition

def hi(lst): [print('hi', x) for x in lst]

The output is the same as before:

hi(friends) '''

hi Alice

hi Bob

hi Ann '''

This approach is more Pythonic than the first one because there’s no throw-away return value and it’s more concise.

Method 3: exec()

The third method uses the exec() function. This is the brute-force approach to one-linerize any multi-liner!

To make a Python one-liner out of any multi-line Python script, replace the new lines with a new line character '\n' and pass the result into the exec(...) function. You can run this script from the outside (command line, shell, terminal) by using the command python -c "exec(...)".

We can apply this technique to the first example code snippet (the multi-line function definition) and rename the variables to make it more concise:

friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann'] # Method 3: exec()

exec("def hi(*lst):\n for x in lst:\n print('hi', x)\nhi(*friends)")

If you run the code, you’ll see the same output as before:

hi(friends) '''

hi Alice

hi Bob

hi Ann '''

This is very hard to read—our brain cannot grasp the whitespaces and newline characters easily. But I still wanted to include this method here because it shows how you or anyone else can compress complicated algorithms in a single line of Python code!

Watch the video if you want to learn more details about this technique:

Python One-Liners Book

Python programmers will improve their computer science skills with these useful one-liners.

Python One-Liners will teach you how to read and write “one-liners”: concise statements of useful functionality packed into a single line of code. You’ll learn how to systematically unpack and understand any line of Python code, and write eloquent, powerfully compressed Python like an expert.

The book’s five chapters cover tips and tricks, regular expressions, machine learning, core data science topics, and useful algorithms. Detailed explanations of one-liners introduce key computer science concepts and boost your coding and analytical skills. You’ll learn about advanced Python features such as list comprehension, slicing, lambda functions, regular expressions, map and reduce functions, and slice assignments. You’ll also learn how to:

•  Leverage data structures to solve real-world problems, like using Boolean indexing to find cities with above-average pollution
•  Use NumPy basics such as array, shape, axis, type, broadcasting, advanced indexing, slicing, sorting, searching, aggregating, and statistics
•  Calculate basic statistics of multidimensional data arrays and the K-Means algorithms for unsupervised learning
•  Create more advanced regular expressions using grouping and named groups, negative lookaheads, escaped characters, whitespaces, character sets (and negative characters sets), and greedy/nongreedy operators
•  Understand a wide range of computer science topics, including anagrams, palindromes, supersets, permutations, factorials, prime numbers, Fibonacci numbers, obfuscation, searching, and algorithmic sorting

By the end of the book, you’ll know how to write Python at its most refined, and create concise, beautiful pieces of “Python art” in merely a single line.

Get your Python One-Liners Now!!