Algol

Algol (Beta Per, β Persei, β Per), known colloquially as the Demon Star, is a bright star in the constellation Perseus. It is one of the best known eclipsing binaries, the first such star to be discovered, and also one of the first (non-nova) variable stars to be discovered. Algol is actually a three-star system (Beta Persei Aa1, Aa2, and Ab) in which the large and bright primary β Persei Aa1 is regularly eclipsed by the dimmer β Persei Aa2. Thus, Algol's magnitude is usually near-constant at 2.1, but regularly dips to 3.4 every 2.86 days (2 days, 20 hours and 49 minutes) during the roughly 10-hour-long partial eclipses. There is also a secondary eclipse (the "second minimum") when the brighter star occults the fainter secondary. This secondary eclipse can only be detected photoelectrically. Algol gives its name to its class of eclipsing variable, known as Algol variables.

Observation history

An Ancient Egyptian Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days composed some 3200 years ago is claimed to be the oldest historical document of the discovery of Algol.

ALGOL

ALGOL (short for ALGOrithmic Language) is a family of imperative computer programming languages, originally developed in the mid-1950s, which greatly influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ACM in textbooks and academic sources for more than thirty years.

In the sense that most modern languages are "Algol-like", it was arguably the most successful of the four high-level programming languages with which it was roughly contemporary: Fortran, Lisp, and COBOL. It was designed to avoid some of the perceived problems with FORTRAN and eventually gave rise to many other programming languages, including BCPL, B, Pascal, PL/I, Simula, and C. ALGOL introduced code blocks and the begin…end pairs for delimiting them. It was also the first language implementing nested function definitions with lexical scope. Moreover, it was the first programming language which gave detailed attention to formal language definition and through the Algol 60 Report introduced Backus–Naur Form, a principal notation for language design.

Places in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

This is a list of places featured in Douglas Adams's science fiction series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The series is set in a fictionalised version of the Milky Way galaxy and thus, while most locations are pure invention, many are based on "real world" settings such as Alpha Centauri, Barnard's Star and various versions of the Earth.

The Galaxy

"The Galaxy" is our home galaxy, the Milky Way, though it is referred to exclusively as "the Galaxy" in the series. Apart from a very brief moment during the first radio series, when the main characters were transported outside the galactic plane into a battle with Haggunenons, and a moment when one of Arthur's careless remarks is sent inadvertently through a wormhole into "a distant galaxy", the Galaxy provides the setting for the entire series. It is home to thousands of sentient races, some of whom have achieved interstellar capability, creating a vast network of trade, military and political links. To the technologically advanced inhabitants of the Galaxy, a small, insignificant world such as Earth is considered invariably primitive and backward. The Galaxy appears, at least nominally, to be a single state, with a unified government "run" by an appointed President. Its immensely powerful and monumentally callous civil service is run out of the Megabrantis Cluster, mainly by the Vogons.

List of Soul characters

A comprehensive list of characters from the Soul series of fighting games produced by Namco.

Overall conception and development

The Soul series is a weapon-based fighting game franchise developed by Namco Bandai's Project Soul division and consists of eight games: Soul Edge, Soulcalibur, Soulcalibur II, Soulcalibur III, Soulcalibur Legends, Soulcalibur IV, Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny and Soulcalibur V. Set in the 16th century, the plot of the games revolve around Soul Edge, a cursed sword able to possess its wielder and devour souls. Its sprit is called Inferno, and his avatar/host is called Nightmare. Soul Calibur, a holy sword and Soul Edge's antithesis, also has a spirit called Elysium.

Characters

With each character, their weapon was decided upon before other aspects were. The design was then built to revolve around it, starting with gender, then physical measurements, and lastly background details. Once established, appearance and movement were fleshed out by the team's concept artist and rendered as a 3D model by a design team that worked solely on the character. The completed model was then animated by a motion capture artist working directly with the team. During this phase the team additionally worked with the story creators, refining the character's own role in the plot as needed throughout development. In the course of the series, two characters have been an exception to the process: Johan Druer, a berserker exclusive to the Soulcalibur Japanese player's guide, and Necrid, a character co-produced with Todd McFarlane that appears in Soulcalibur II.