Looks like I'm using way to much Java in these days... I'm starting to forget PHP knowledge. Today I was searching for a function to clone an array but haven't found one. I was curious why PHP doesn't have an array_clone or array_copy function. But then I was nudged into the right direction: Arrays are always assigned by value, not by reference, so it simply doesn't need a clone function because a simple assignment already performs a clone (It's even some sort of deep clone (At least all values inside the array (Arrays are also values, not objects) are copied)). To assign it by reference you have to add an ampersand character:

$arr = array();
$arrClone = $arr; // A clone is created
$arrRef = &$arr; // A reference is created

I really forgot this basic PHP knowledge...

The Palm Hot Apps Contest is finally over. According to the last available statistics Destroids reached rank #18 and won a $10000 reward in the Free Apps category. Thanks to all downloaders!

Now it's time for the third waiting phase. The first phase was waiting for the end of the contest (Which was delayed by one month). The second phase was waiting for the official results (Took another month). The third phase is waiting for the money. I wonder how much money will be left after thugs like Paypal and tax collectors opened their hands...

While I'm still waiting for the final results of the Palm Hot Apps Contest I just heard that Destroids is listed as number 2 in the Top 10 of free Palm webOS Apps 2010 of PC Mag. I'm not exactly sure what that means, probably nothing. Don't know how apps qualify for this Top 10...

Well, if you just came here because of this article then I guess you really want to go over here to read more about Destroids. There is also a forum if you have something to say.

Some months ago I published the first version of a little open source game called Destroids for webOS (The OS of the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi smartphones) and I'm still improving it weekly. It's a simple Asteroid-like game where you fly a spaceship through an asteroid field and shoot asteroids and UFOs.

At the same time Palm started the Palm Hot Apps contest where app developers can win $100,000 (For the first rank), $10,000 (for rank 2-21) or $1,000 (for rank 22-221) in two categories (Free apps and paid apps). For the time the contest is running I placed a widget on the right side of my blog which shows the current position of Destroids. If you own a Palm Pre or Palm Pixi and you like the original Asteroids game then download Destroids now and make me rich.

More information about Destroids can be found on pre|central.net

Again and again I forget how to import the StartSSL CA certificates into Java. Everytime when I switch to a different workstation or install a new Linux distribution I can no longer access my StartSSL secured server with Maven. Then I have to search for a tutorial and for the download locations of the CA certs. Very time-consuming. This must stop once and for all. So I wrote a small script which imports the certs into the currently active Java installation.

Steps to install the certs:

• Download import-startssl script.
• Make sure JAVA_HOME environment variable is set correctly.
• Run the import-startssl script.

The script runs the keytool program of Java with sudo so you have to enter your password to give it root access. If you have JSSE installed then the StartSSL CA certs are also added to the jssecacerts keystore. The script imports the root CA certificate and the four sub CA certs (Class 1-4).

If the script does not work for you (Maybe because you are using Windows or Mac OS X instead of a real operating system) then you can at least read it for instructions how to do it manually.