"Since I left my job at Amazon I have spent a lot of time reading great source code. Having exhausted the insanely good idSoftware pool, the next thing to read was one of the greatest game of all time: Duke Nukem 3D and the engine powering it named 'Build'. It turned out to be a difficult experience: The engine delivered great value and ranked high in terms of speed, stability and memory consumption but my enthousiasm met a source code controversial in terms of organization, best practices and comments/documentation. This reading session taught me a lot about code legacy and what helps a software live long." Hail to the king, baby.
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Member since:2007-03-26
I have a love/hate relationship with articles like these.
On the one hand it's great to promote readable code, but sometimes I think people get too hung up on what they deem as perfect syntax and can sometimes miss the point of those clever optimisations.
It's a bit like grammar Nazi's who love to correct peoples comments but rarely read deep enough into those posts digest the content being explained.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's good to be reminded about preferred programming practices, just as long as we don't forget the other criteria (usability, performance (if applicable), deadlines)
Edited 2013-02-15 13:59 UTC
Member since:2005-07-08
Member since:2011-10-12
On the one hand it's great to promote readable code, but sometimes I think people get too hung up on what they deem as perfect syntax and can sometimes miss the point of those clever optimisations.
It's a bit like grammar Nazi's who love to correct peoples comments but rarely read deep enough into those posts digest the content being explained.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's good to be reminded about preferred programming practices, just as long as we don't forget the other criteria (usability, performance (if applicable), deadlines)
Well said but you have to remember that your first point about readable code has a direct relationship with usability and performance, which you mention at the end. I'm not a programmer but as a scientist I use other people's code for my work and the readability of their code has a great effect on the usability and performance of my work.
This might apply more often to science than game development but I still think it's a relevant point.
Similarly, a well structured post with good grammar and punctuation makes it much more coherent and thus easier to convey your thoughts.
Member since:2005-07-11
Member since:2007-11-11
To me the measure of whether code is "good" or "bad" is really VERY simple: Does it do the job as intended? Does it waste resources or use them well? is it stable?
And I would have to say no matter how "pretty" the code is Ken Silverman's Build engine, which not only powered Duke but 2 of my fav games of all time, Redneck rampage (who couldn't love a game where you shoot a titty gun and fling dynamite while drinking beer and eating moonpies while listening to Mojo Nixon?) and BLOOD, which riffs all the cheesy horror tropes of the 80s (you even start in the Phantasm funeral home) while giving in both insanely huge levels with tons of secrets
I'm sure everybody has seen that diagram showing the diff between today's shooters and the games then, how then it was huge expanses filled with secrets while today you are led by the nose from one set piece to the next in a straight line? Well anybody who likes the former should BUY NOW Redneck, duke 3D and Blood, they can be had from GOG quite cheaply and just for joining you can get something like 6 games for free just as a thank you for trying them out which includes warsow and Ultima 4.
These games are still a blast, I still fire up all 3 and have a blast, and since its GOG and DOSBox you can run it on Linux and Mac and anyplace else DOSBox will run so go and get 'em and have a ball!
Member since:2006-05-09
When looking at code of running software, it is generally "ugly"; but at difference of the beautiful code, it showed it works and scales.
We always forget the fact that we are reviewing code that has been several times modified by several people in order to add new functionality, fix some issues, work in other scenarios or improve the performance.
Member since:2008-02-26
Member since:2009-08-05
Member since:2006-07-14
Member since:2011-01-28
Bill Shooter of Bul,
"Eh,I've always preferred using arrays rather than numerically named vars. It usually is easier that way."
I don't prefer arrays, but I guess I can see why you would.
My concern would that in many languages the arrays will have an additional performance cost though, requiring more indirection and more calls to alloc/free, and maybe more bounds checking as well. Even with C, the array might conceivably force the compiler to use a specific memory structure when the variable solution might have allowed more register optimizations. Its very hard to predict compiler's optimization behavior these days though.
Edit: How would you formulate a draw line function using arrays?
drawline(single x1, single y1, single x2, single y2);
drawline(single x[2], single y[2]);
// Above is too weird for me, structures would be a bit better.
drawline(coord p1, coord p2)
drawline(coord p[2]);
Edited 2013-02-15 15:11 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Member since:
2011-01-28
"Note : If a file/variable name features a number: it is probably not a good name !"
Anyone heard of Advo Sched? No...oh well.
Says who? Variables have used numbers for subscripts for as long as I can remember. Coordinates are aptly named x1,y1,z1, x2,y2,z2 ... Given their frequency in a graphics codebase I think it's far better than the alternatives I can think of.
Anyways articles like this always spike my interest, would have like more technical depth, but still neat to read about it.
If anyone were to ever review my code from 15 years ago, I'm sure that I'd get a lot of flak