Code Sleuth’s Blog

James (at work) said to me out of the blue that he thought of a language when at uni to be called “CharvaScript”.

Apart from making me laugh, it made me think a little. So I thought some more. Then I stopped thinking and picked my nose. Then I thought some more again.

I came up with this as the world’s first (I think) “CharvaScript”:

alrite mate
  got ciggy mate?
  got a light mate?

  mate, ciggy is "Marlboro"
  mate, light is "Zippo"

  av got ciggy and " " and light for you mate

nawww thanks mate

This is a new flavour of the classic “Hello World.” It outputs “Marlboro Zippo”.

I’m sure you can work it out by yourself how it’s interpreting the script into an executable code path.

Modern Warfare 2 Logo

Just a quick note to post some information about how to correctly set up port forwarding on your router/gateway for the PS3 (and I believe also the XBOX360) version of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Basically, the game requires port 3074 UDP to be forwarded to your router. There is no need for assigning it as the DMZ, or for forwarding TCP port 80. Don’t do this!

The reason for having an incoming port opened for the game is so the game is able to host matches. On the PS3, every multiplayer game is hosted by one of the players within the same game. You can tell if it’s you if you check the score screen and see that you are the one with the highest connection rating (4 green bars). If there are lots of people with 4 bars, then congratulations, you’re either the host, or at least connected to an excellent one!

Most people will notice the game works fine without any port forwarding. This is either because you have UPnP enabled on your network, or you have no port forwarding configured. The game will use UPnP to automatically set up port forwarding for this port to your PS3, and will appear as “NAT Type 2″ in a PS3 connection test, or “Open” in game. If you are able to check your UPnP ports, you will discover an open 3074 UDP port directed at your PS3 with the name “DemonwarePortMapping“. This is correct, and you should leave it alone, unless the IP address it shows doesn’t match your PS3.

If you have a “NAT Type 3″, it means you need to manually set up port forwarding for 3074 UDP to your PS3, which will then change the in-game NAT status to “Open” and allow you to host games.

Setting up port forwarding varies between different routers, which is why it is best to get your manual out and simply enable UPnP yourself. However, for some people UPnP isn’t an option, because they are the type of person to open “sexylady.pif” in a spam message and not expect to get a virus. They’re stupid, and can’t be trusted. Some worms and back-doors use UPnP to allow incoming connections without the user’s knowledge, and hence can be considered a risk.

If you can’t, or don’t want to enable UPnP, you will have to sort out port forwarding yourself. Most routers have a web-interface to do this, and is pretty straight-forward once you see it in front of you. Feel free to use portforward.com to find out how to configure your router for this task, but the site lists the wrong ports for Modern Warfare 2, so ensure you use just UDP 3074.

If you can’t find your router, simply click these links and see what happens:

• http://192.168.0.1
• http://192.168.1.1
• http://192.168.10.1
• http://192.168.100.1

Hopefully one of those will pop up with your router’s administration site. If not, you need to look into this in more detail, or use whatever configuration tool that is provided by your router’s manufacturer.

So remember: port 3074 UDP only, or use UPnP. Do not use DMZ!