The Design and Implementation of SPARK, a Toolkit for Implementing Domain-Specific Languages

SPARK is a toolkit for implementing domain-specific languages in Python. It is somewhat unusual in that its intended audience includes users who do not necessarily have a background in compilation; this choice impacts both the design and implementation of SPARK. We introduce SPARK in this paper and discuss major issues that have arisen in its design and ongoing development

Game Studies at Scale: Towards Facilitating Exploration of Game Corpora

Critically playing a game, and performing a close reading of a specific aspect of a game, are valid game analysis techniques. But these types of analyses don’t scale to the plethora of games available, and also neglect implementation aspects of the games which themselves are texts that can be analyzed. We argue that appropriate software tools can support research in game studies, allowing individual games to be read at the level of gameplay as well as the implementation level. Moreover, these tools permit analysis to scale in a similar fashion as distant reading allows for traditional texts, and be applied to an entire corpus of games. We illustrate these ideas using a corpus of games created using the Graphic Adventure Creator, a program first released in 1985 for a number of computing platforms. As a proof of concept, we have built a system called GrACIAS – the Graphic Adventure Creator Internal Analysis System – that we have used for both static and dynamic analysis of this corpus of games, effectively allowing them to be internally explored and “read.” Furthermore, our system is able to look for game solutions automatically and has solved over 60 game images to date, making the games accessible to researchers, but also people who may not be expert players or even able to understand the language the game uses

La remédiation des images de cinéma dans le jeu vidéo

Collection : Encyclopédie raisonnée des techniques du cinémaBien avant l’apparition des simulations photoréalistes en 3D, les développeurs de jeux vidéo ont été obnubilés par un désir de mimétisme. Le jeu vidéo est prisonnier d’un paradoxe qui explique en partie cette obsession : foncièrement interactif, il procure un effet d’immédiateté bien supérieur à celui des médias produits à partir de prises de vues réelles. Cependant, en matière de réalisme visuel, il parvient difficilement à les égaler. Ce livre numérique raconte l’histoire de cette obsession, mettant en relief les efforts que les concepteurs de jeux ont déployés ainsi que les multiples défis technologiques rencontrés. Il souligne également en quoi la remédiation de séquences vidéo filmées a donné lieu à un phénomène intermédial inédit : la vague du « cinéma interactif » des années 1990, dont la contribution à l’histoire du jeu vidéo demeure sujette à débat.Videogame creators have been obsessed with the simulation of visual perception long before the contemporary development of photorealistic 3D simulations. The videogame medium has been caught in a paradoxical remediation scenario, which can help understand this obsession better: while it proposes, thanks to interactivity, a more immediate experience than captured media such as photography and cinema, it could not measure up to their perceptual realism. This digital book explores the obsession of videogame designers to integrate cinema-like images, and the numerous technological challenges faced. It also highlights how a direct remediation of captured film sequences led to a peculiar intermedial manifestation, the movie game craze of the 1990s, whose contribution to videogame history is still an object of debate to this day.Introduction = Introduction ; Les fondements de la mémoire informatique = Memory basics ; L’envie cinématographique = Cinema envy ; La compression des images = Compressed media ; Les paradoxes de la remédiation = Paradoxes in remediation ; Le FMV dans l’histoire = FMV through history ; L’avenir du FMV : la vidéo volumétrique = The future of FMV : volumetric vide

Ofuscación de código utilizando generadores de números pseudoaleatorios

We describe a novel method for malicious code obfuscation that uses code already present in systems: a pseudo-random number generator. This can also be seen as an antidisassembly and anti-debugging technique, depending on deploy- ment, because the actual code does not exist until run – it is generated dynamically by the pseudo-random number generator. A year’s worth of experiments are used to demonstrate that this technique is a viable code obfuscation option for a malicious adversary with access to large amounts of computing power.Se describe un nuevo método para la ofuscación de códigos maliciosos que utiliza códigos ya presentes en los sistemas: un generador de números pseudo-aleatorios. Esto también puede verse como una técnica anti-desmontaje y anti-depuración, dependiendo de su despliegue, debido a que el código real no existe hasta su ejecución - que se genera de forma dinámica por el generador de números pseudo-aleatorios. Se han usado xperimentos de todo un año para demostrar que esta técnica de ofuscación es viable para un adversario malicioso con acceso a una gran potencia computacional.

Ofuscación de código utilizando generadores de números pseudoaleatorios

We describe a novel method for malicious code obfuscation that uses code already present in systems: a pseudo-random number generator. This can also be seen as an antidisassembly and anti-debugging technique, depending on deploy- ment, because the actual code does not exist until run – it is generated dynamically by the pseudo-random number generator. A year’s worth of experiments are used to demonstrate that this technique is a viable code obfuscation option for a malicious adversary with access to large amounts of computing power.Se describe un nuevo método para la ofuscación de códigos maliciosos que utiliza códigos ya presentes en los sistemas: un generador de números pseudo-aleatorios. Esto también puede verse como una técnica anti-desmontaje y anti-depuración, dependiendo de su despliegue, debido a que el código real no existe hasta su ejecución - que se genera de forma dinámica por el generador de números pseudo-aleatorios. Se han usado xperimentos de todo un año para demostrar que esta técnica de ofuscación es viable para un adversario malicioso con acceso a una gran potencia computacional.

Drift Rates of Major Neptunian Features between 2018 and 2021

Using near-infrared observations of Neptune from the Keck and Lick Observatories, and the Hubble Space Telescope in combination with amateur datasets, we calculated the drift rates of prominent infrared-bright cloud features on Neptune between 2018 and 2021. These features had lifespans of $\sim 1$ day to $\geq$1 month and were located at mid-latitudes and near the south pole. Our observations permitted determination of drift rates via feature tracking. These drift rates were compared to three zonal wind profiles describing Neptune's atmosphere determined from features tracked in H band (1.6 $\mu m$), K' band (2.1 $\mu m$), and Voyager 2 data at visible wavelengths. Features near $-70 \deg$ measured in the F845M filter (845nm) were particularly consistent with the K' wind profile. The southern mid-latitudes hosted multiple features whose lifespans were $\geq$1 month, providing evidence that these latitudes are a region of high stability in Neptune's atmosphere. We also used HST F467M (467nm) data to analyze a dark, circumpolar wave at $- 60 \deg$ latitude observed on Neptune since the Voyager 2 era. Its drift rate in recent years (2019-2021) is $4.866 \pm 0.009 \deg$/day. This is consistent with previous measurements by Karkoschka (2011), which predict a $4.858 \pm 0.022 \deg$/day drift rate during these years. It also gained a complementary bright band just to the north.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, accepted to Icaru