James Tauber's Blog 2005/11/09
Multiclassing versus single classing in RPGs and real life
Sometimes I think about alternative paths I could have followed vocationally and the steps I would take to get there if I were much younger and making that choice now. It's almost like creating a new character in a role-playing game: "I'll start off as a economics undergraduate and then after five levels I'll switch to the prestige class Austrian Economist and go on a quest for Bigby's Prize in Honour of Alfred Nobel".
In RPGs, if you feel your character "concept" isn't working, you can go back and start a new one. Of course, that's much harder to do in real life, although some people do go back to undergraduate studies for a complete change in career.
I'm clearly multiclassing in real life. After getting a couple of levels in Mathematician, I switched over and progressed three or four in Linguist. Then I went and levelled up in Technologist a good eight or ten levels (the first few specialising in the schools of Web and XML but then also adding Python and Open Source). Somewhere along the way I picked up a level in Filmmaking and a couple in Music.
Progression as a multiclass character is much slower because you're a jack of...no...a journeyman of some.
Oddly enough, very few of my pen-and-paper RPG characters have ever been truly multiclass. They've either completely been in one class or had a few initial levels in one then made a permanent switch.
I think I'm attracted to the singular focus of just one class but, without the ability to go back and start a new character in real life, I've decided multiclassing is the way to go for me.
by jtauber : Created on Nov. 9, 2005 : Last modified Nov. 9, 2005 : 0 comments (permalink)
Relational Python
Reading Chris Date's Database in Depth, I started to wonder what it would be like to have relational algebraic operations in Python. This is the first in a series of posts exploring that idea.
I'll start by defining a simple class for relations. In subsequent parts, I'll implement tabular display, the relational algebra and then see where it goes from there.
The goal is not to try to implement a SQL database in pure Python. Rather the goal is to extend Python's rich data structures like dictionaries and sets with additional concepts from relational theory.
It's an exploration for me and you get to come along for the ride (sort of like the Poincare Project which is by no means over yet). Maybe some of you will learn something. I certainly hope you'll teach me a thing or two in the comments and in your emails.
by jtauber : Created on Nov. 9, 2005 : Last modified Nov. 9, 2005 : Categories python relational_python : (permalink)