Earlier today, The Pokémon Company unveiled Pokémon Unite, a brand new, upcoming online battle game for Switch and mobile devices. That’s all well and good, but what on Earth is going on with its main promotional image?

In our rush to learn everything we could about the game when it was first revealed, we must admit that we didn’t even notice anything was wrong. Taking a closer look, though, reveals that the Switch has been incorrectly mirrored, with a screenshot of the game being whacked onto a console that’s clearly been messed up in editing (thanks @Akfamilyhome).

We’d assume this isn’t intentional, but the image was shown during today’s Pokémon Presents livestream and even serves as the official trailer’s thumbnail. Did nobody at The Pokémon Company notice that the Switch’s Joy-Con should be on the opposite sides, or that the buttons are reversed? As you can see, it isn’t simply a case of the entire image being flipped because the in-game text is showing the correct way – somebody plastered this screenshot onto a backwards Switch photo.

Of course, it doesn’t really matter all that much – we dare say there won’t be many out there who can’t identify which console the game can be played on thanks to the error – but it’s still surprising to see.

Anyway, back to more important stuff – like getting far too excited about the new Pokémon Snap game!

CocosCreator, a free Cocos2d-x powered cross platform game engine, just released a version 2.4.0.  If you are interested in learning more about Cocos Creator, check out our complete Cocos Creator tutorial series available here.

Details of Cocos Creator 2.4.0:

This update brings more new features, optimizes performance and improves stability. Efficiency is everything! This version contains many new features and updates, such as resource management system refactoring, asset bundles, optimized the performance of graphic rendering.

The key new feature being the new asset manager with the following features:

• Supports loading and pre-loading of all resources, pre-loading can run silently in a lighter way, without affecting operation efficiency.
• Supports Asset Bundles.
• Supports a more secure automatic release mechanism, no need to consider its reference when releasing resources, to avoid mistaken release of resources.
• Support download failure retry, download priority, download concurrent number and other settings, which can be adjusted according to various situations.
• Support more convenient custom loading process to achieve special effects.

More details of the Cocos 2.4.0 release is available on the blog here.  You can learn more about Cocos Creator and this release in the video below.

GameDev News Cocos2D

$ sudo dnf install -y ghc

$ ghc --version

The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 8.6.5

main = putStrLn ("Hello, World!")

$ runhaskell main.hs

Hello, World!

$ ghc main.hs

[1 of 1] Compiling Main ( main.hs, main.o )

Linking main ...

$ ./main

Hello, World!

$ ghci

Prelude> :load main.hs

[1 of 1] Compiling Main ( main.hs, interpreted )

Ok, one module loaded.

*Main> main

Hello, World!

*Main> :type putStrLn

putStrLn :: String -> IO ()

*Main> :info String

type String = [Char] -- Defined in ‘GHC.Base’

*Main> :help

...

module MyPackage where greet name = putStrLn ("Hello, " ++ name ++ "!")

import MyPackage main = greet ("Fedora")

$ runhaskell main.hs

Hello, Fedora!

$ sudo dnf install -y ghc-ansi-wl-pprint-devel

module MyPackage where import Text.PrettyPrint.ANSI.Leijen greet name = putDoc (green (text ("Hello, " ++ name ++ "!\n")))

$ ghc -dynamic main.hs -o greet && strip greet

[1 of 2] Compiling MyPackage ( MyPackage.hs, MyPackage.o )

[2 of 2] Compiling Main ( main.hs, main.o )

Linking greet ...

$ du --si greet

17k greet

$ ./greet

Hello, Fedora!

Rise: Race The Future, an arcade racer that launched on Switch last summer, will receive a brand new update that’ll improve your experience both on and off the track.

The update’s set to go live tomorrow on 25th June, and comes with all of the following welcome tweaks:

This new major update features:
– New Render Engine with physically based rendering (PBR) and new post process
– 60 FPS mode
– Improved graphics
– Advanced CPU optimisation
– New shaders
– Global Data Compression
– Main Menu at 60 FPS
– Improved Italian language

The changes mean that players can look forward to improved loading times, better real-time shadow distance, and more, and you’ll be able to choose between two different visual quality settings:

– The 60 FPS mode for the smoothest animation and more responsive gameplay
– The 30 FPS mode for higher graphical fidelity

If you haven’t played this one yet and want to learn more about it, we’d urge you to check out our full review which was posted when the game launched last year. Here’s a taste:

Despite its arcade racer influences, Rise takes a little while to get into. Its floaty handling isn’t immediately accessible and you’ll be slipping all over the place for a while until it all eventually ‘clicks’. When it does, though, the result is a compelling and visually impressive racing game that may not come close to threatening the likes of Ridge Racer for pole position, but certainly offers some entertaining action.

Let us know if you’re a fan of the game by chucking a comment our way below.

The Pokémon Company has today revealed Pokémon Unite, a new team-based battle game heading to Nintendo Switch and mobile devices.

The news comes from today’s Pokémon Presents livestream hosted by company president, Tsunekazu Ishihara, who announced that the game is being made in conjunction with Tencent Games’ TiMi Studios.

It’ll be a free-to-start experience that includes crossplay across Switch and mobile, with players coming together to compete in real-time battles. A release date hasn’t yet been shared, with more information on the game’s release promised to arrive in the future.

Pokémon UNITE is the first strategic Pokémon team battle game. Players face off against each other in five-on-five team battles. During these battles, players will cooperate with teammates to catch wild Pokémon, level up and evolve their own Pokémon. They will need to defeat their opponents’ Pokémon while trying to earn more points than the opposing team within the allotted time. Pokémon UNITE will be free-to-start.

We imagine this wasn’t what you were expecting for today’s big reveal! Let us know your initial thoughts with a comment below.

The most Pythonic way to check if two ordered lists l1 and l2 are identical, is to use the l1 == l2 operator for element-wise comparison. If all elements are equal and the length of the lists are the same, the return value is True.

Problem: Given are two lists l1 and l2. You want to perform Boolean Comparison: Compare the lists element-wise and return True if your comparison metric returns True for all pairs of elements, and otherwise False.

Examples:

l1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

l2 = [1, 2, 3]

# compare(l1, l2) --> False l1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

l2 = [1, 2, 3, 5, 4]

# compare(l1, l2) --> False l1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

l2 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

# compare(l1, l2) --> True

Let’s discuss the most Pythonic ways of solving this problem. Here’s a quick interactive code overview:

Exercise: Glance over all methods and run the code. What questions come to mind? Do you understand each method?

Read on to learn about each method in detail!

Method 1: Simple Comparison

Not always is the simplest method the best one. But for this particular problem, it is! The equality operator == compares a list element-wise—many Python coders don’t know this!

# 1. Simple Comparison

def method_1(l1, l2): return l1 == l2 l1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

l2 = [1, 2, 3]

print(method_1(l1, l2))

# False

So, if you just want to learn about the most Pythonic way to solve this problem, look no further.

But if you want to dive into the wonderful world of Python, learning about different interesting and powerful Python functions, read on!

Method 2: Simple For Loop

The following method is what you’d see from a coder coming from another programming language or from a beginner who doesn’t know about the equality operator on lists (see Method 1).

# 2. Simple For Loop

def method_2(l1, l2): for i in range(min(len(l1), len(l2))): if l1[i] != l2[i]: return False return len(l1) == len(l2) l1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

l2 = [1, 2, 3]

print(method_2(l1, l2))

# False

In the code, you iterate over all indices from 0 to the last position of the smallest list as determined by the part min(len(l1), len(l2)). You then check if both elements at the same position are different. If they are different, i.e., l1[i] != l2[i], you can immediately return False because the lists are also different.

If you went through the whole loop without returning False, the list elements are similar. But one list may still be longer! So, by returning len(l1) == len(l2), you ensure to only return True if (1) all elements are equal and (2) the lists have the same length.

A lot of code to accomplish such a simple thing! Let’s see how a better coder would leverage the zip() function to reduce the complexity of the code.

Method 3: zip() + For Loop

The zip function takes a number of iterables and aggregates them to a single one by combining the i-th values of each iterable into a tuple for every i.

Let’s see how you can use the function to make the previous code more concise:

# 3. Zip + For Loop

def method_3(l1, l2): for x, y in zip(l1, l2): if x != y: return False return len(l1) == len(l2) l1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

l2 = [1, 2, 3]

print(method_3(l1, l2))

# False

Instead of iterating over indices, you now iterate over pairs of elements (the ones zipped together). If the lists have different sizes, the remaining elements from the longer list will be skipped. This way, element-wise comparison becomes simpler and no elaborate indexing schemes are required. Avoiding indices by means of the zip() function is a more Pythonic way for sure!

Method 4: sum() + zip() + len()

But true Python coders will often avoid a for loop and use a generator expression instead.

• You first create an iterable of Boolean values using the generator expression x == y for x, y in zip(l1, l2).
• Then, you sum up over the Boolean values (another trick of pro coders) to find the number of elements that are the same and store it in variable num_equal.
• Finally, you compare this with the length of both lists. If all three values are the same, both lists have the same elements and their length is the same, too. They are equal!

# 4. Sum + Zip + Len

def method_4(l1, l2): num_equal = sum(x == y for x, y in zip(l1, l2)) return num_equal == len(l1) == len(l2) l1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

l2 = [1, 2, 3]

print(method_4(l1, l2))

# False print(method_4([1, 2], [1, 2]))

# True

From the methods except the first one using the == operator, this is the most Pythonic way due to the use of efficient Python helper functions like zip(), len(), and sum() and generator expressions to make the code more concise and more readable.

You could also write this in a single line of code!

sum(x == y for x, y in zip(l1, l2)) == len(l1) == len(l2)

If you love Python one-liners, check out my new book Python One-Liners with internationally renowned publisher NoStarch press. (Amazon Link)

Method 5: map() + reduce() + len()

The last method is just to train your functional programming skills.

# 5. map() + reduce() + len()

from functools import reduce

def method_5(l1, l2): equal = map(lambda x, y: x == y, l1, l2) result = reduce(lambda x, y: x and y, equal) return result and len(l1) == len(l2) l1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

l2 = [1, 2, 3]

print(method_5(l1, l2))

# False print(method_5([1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3]))

# True

The map() function combines all pairs of elements to Boolean values (are the two elements equal?). The reduce() function combines all Boolean values performing an and operation. Sure, you can also use the more concise variant using the all() function:

Method 6: map() + all()

This is the same as the previous method—but using the all() function instead of reduce() to combine all Boolean values in a global and operation.

# 6. map() + all()

def method_6(l1, l2): result = all(map(lambda x, y: x == y, l1, l2)) return result and len(l1) == len(l2) l1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

l2 = [1, 2, 3]

print(method_5(l1, l2))

# False print(method_5([1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3]))

# True

Thanks for reading this article to the end! I hope you learned something new today. If you want to learn something new every day, join my free Python email series for continuous improvement in Python and computer science.

Where to Go From Here?

Enough theory, let’s get some practice!

To become successful in coding, you need to get out there and solve real problems for real people. That’s how you can become a six-figure earner easily. And that’s how you polish the skills you really need in practice. After all, what’s the use of learning theory that nobody ever needs?

Practice projects is how you sharpen your saw in coding!

Do you want to become a code master by focusing on practical code projects that actually earn you money and solve problems for people?

Then become a Python freelance developer! It’s the best way of approaching the task of improving your Python skills—even if you are a complete beginner.

Join my free webinar “How to Build Your High-Income Skill Python” and watch how I grew my coding business online and how you can, too—from the comfort of your own home.

Join the free webinar now!

Apple has finally injected the Mac with new life as part of a radical overhaul and feature set infusion set to arrive with macOS Big Sur. We took the first beta for a spin to see how it all plays out.

A refreshed design

Safari

Other app improvements

A whole new Mac

Exploring what’s possible

Right now, you may be examining your business strategies and revising plans for the near and distant future. And as we gradually overcome this crisis, there will undoubtedly be a new normal.

This new normal may require you to examine your business model and to redefine who you are as a company, how you approach problems and how you make decisions. It is an opportunity to think big and be bold – and AI can help. Here are three key considerations as you consider whether and how to become an AI-powered organization:

Scaling AI. To be successful, AI must be woven into the very fabric of your entire organization. AI can have the most impact and make the biggest difference when it is part of your culture and strategy, and when your company’s technological capabilities and desired business outcomes are considered side by side.

Driving AI culture and strategy to move beyond pilot and proof of concept requires the right approach from business leaders. That’s why, more than a year ago, we launched AI Business School, a free online master class series designed to set you up for success. More than a million people have accessed the resources there, and I’m happy to share today that we have added two new modules:

My team and I have had many detailed conversations with AI experts and executives across the world that informed all of the modules, and we will continue to add to the content as we learn more from them about what businesses need for their AI journeys.

To bring AI culture to life, companies are bringing technology and business together into a combined lifecycle driven by business outcomes. This model, which is familiar within software development as DevOps, is making its way into AI development with its counterpart, MLOps. MLOps, known to many as machine learning and operations, can improve business results and accelerate time to market by centrally managing models, environments, code and datasets so they can be shared among data scientists, ML engineers, software developers and other IT teams through the entire ML lifecycle.

In Vancouver, BC, transit agency TransLink deployed 18,000 AI models to better predict bus departure times, accounting for factors including traffic, weather and other disruptions. The agency used MLOps with Azure Machine Learning to manage and deliver the models at such a massive scale that they were able to improve their prediction accuracy by 74% and reduce customer wait times by 50%.

AI for everyone. To fully benefit from AI, each of your employees must feel empowered and included. A recent survey of 10,000 employers and employees found that 91% of employees want new skills that will help them succeed alongside AI. Employees of companies that have integrated AI companywide report that they find more meaning in their work and want to use AI more.

Many of your employees may already be using AI tools in their daily work. AI is incorporated into applications in Microsoft 365 to encourage teamwork, facilitate productivity and improve decision making. And your employees in sales, marketing and customer service may be using solutions in Dynamics 365 AI to improve performance across those departments. In Power Platform, AI Builder gives everyone in your organization the ability to add AI capabilities to the apps they create and use – without any technical experience.

Your organization’s data scientists and developers can use Azure AI services to create custom AI models and applications to solve the unique challenges you face.

One scenario I’m particularly passionate about is the ability for AI to empower subject matter experts. AI for Reasoning enables experts and researchers to choose which AI model to employ to analyze information and easily share it with peers.

Swedish whisky maker Mackmyra recently won a silver cube product design award for creating the world’s first machine-generated whisky. The company’s master blenders fed a machine learning model existing recipes, sales data and customer preferences, and the machine made quick work of generating high-quality recipes that would prove popular.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis used AI to redefine its business functions across the organization, empowering every individual to apply AI models to augment their expertise and creativity without needing to learn data science. AI brought together mass amounts of critical information across data sources and streamlined collaboration.

Now, 50,000-plus employees can quickly make sense of the vast amount of data they deal with, deriving insights that will help them transform how medicines are discovered, manufactured and commercialized.

Responsible AI. As you put AI into action, particularly in these times of change, it’s imperative to consider the implications of technology. AI must be integrated in a way that aligns with your company’s values, goals and priorities. Companies that incorporate AI successfully implement practices from the beginning to guard against potential misuse of AI, such as biased or unfair results.

At Microsoft, we’ve been on our own AI journey for some time, and we are committed to sharing key learnings and are doing so both through the Responsible AI module within our AI Business School as well as the Responsible AI Resource Center, which is perfect for technical teams developing and deploying AI.

How can we help?

We know you’ve got a tremendous amount on your plate right now. Considering how you adjust to the changes we’re all experiencing, while continuing to serve your customers and support your employees, is an extremely tall order. As difficult as the current challenges are, we believe the implementation of short-term solutions and a focus on strategic, long-term planning go hand in hand as you transform your company into an AI-powered organization. Now is a perfect time to think of the possibilities. Good ideas coupled with perseverance will go a long way toward helping you respond to today’s challenges and imagine a better tomorrow. We’re excited to help you as you make progress on your AI journey. Visit AI Business School to help you get started putting AI into action. I promise, you’ll be glad you did.