How is everyone?!

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Shane
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How is everyone?!

Post by Shane » Sun Sep 15, 2013 12:21 pm

Well hello!
It's like august something now and I couldn't find any recent entries since like June. or maybe it's September now... who knows anymore. Anyway, how is everyone & what's going on in your crazy lives these days?
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Masteroftheweb
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Re: How is everyone?!

Post by Masteroftheweb » Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:11 pm

Aura was broke for a while
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Chewi
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Re: How is everyone?!

Post by Chewi » Thu Sep 26, 2013 3:14 pm

Masteroftheweb wrote:Aura was broke for a while
No it wasn't! Apart from maybe the odd few hours here or there, I think it's been up pretty solidly for the past three years. I'm not sure why I didn't see this thread in my RSS reader though. Probably the reader's fault, it's a bit buggy.

We've moving house tomorrow. Which means Aura will be broken for a while. See the other thread.
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Re: How is everyone?!

Post by Shane » Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:17 pm

Well, it is good that here is here once again, and not not here anymore. :)
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Mik
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Re: How is everyone?!

Post by Mik » Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:54 pm

Hurrah!

I hadn't checked in a while, glad the zombo forum is back, I oddly missed it when it was gone.
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Matt
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Re: How is everyone?!

Post by Matt » Wed Dec 04, 2013 4:42 pm

Working my way through year two of "Becoming a game programmmer dude" Learning C++ and DirectX 9 at the moment. Next semester I'll be tackling HLSL, which sounds like an absolute joy.

C++ is a pussy cat. Not quite sure what the fuss about it being a bitch was all about. DirextX, on the other hand, is totally in bed with Maths, that whore.
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Chewi
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Re: How is everyone?!

Post by Chewi » Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:07 am

Even I'm not a big C++ fan. Thankfully I don't encounter it very often. Maybe you're using it in ways that doesn't bring out its worst features or maybe you're using some of the brand new stuff that makes it a little less painful. Or maybe you're just a glutton for punishment. :P

You can probably guess my opinion on DirectX! Since Valve proved that Direct3D probably isn't faster, as MS had claimed for years, the only reason not to use OpenGL is if you're exclusively targeting the Xbox... which you probably are. :(
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Re: How is everyone?!

Post by Matt » Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:45 pm

At the moment I'm just developing a "3D Render Core" to render a scene. Creating the lighting, mesh loading, camera etc. The tutor practically gave us one that worked entirely and said we can change things to suit out needs, but I've opted to rewrite it because it wasn't very object-orientated and was awful to use (there was a cLight class, but if you wanted more than one kind of light you were buggered, or if you wanted to change any aspect of it, you changed that class... Rather than having all these classes written and simply using them, not editing them.).

The most painful thing is we're been told we need to use Windows 8 to do this on, but I've come to find it's total hogwash and it all runs fine on Windows 7, since we're using DirectX libraries from 2006 lol. Though next term we're using HLSL and DX11, so things may change there.

WE also have another C++ module for a module entitled "Object-Orientated Systems Development" which is total shit. We're encouraged to use Linux, Eclipse and the GNU compilers, but none of the timetabled rooms are running Linux (not even dual booting) and no-one can get the compilers to work in Eclipse, so we're stuck with Visual Studio :/

Given the choice, however, I'd rather have another Java module and cover some OpenGL, which at least would be more convenient for, say, Android or iOS games. I spent all summer pouring a large part of myself into learning Android's Java (which was really fun, I have to admit).

But yeah, I've come across some annoying stuff with C++ :/, like, pretty much all the remnants of C that are still in use. Or how stupidly fucktardedly dumbfuckery ass backwards concatenating a string is, or just the different kinds of strings! Is it a str, a char or a LPSTR?!

Give me me something like Java or C# any day!
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Re: How is everyone?!

Post by Chewi » Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:05 pm

Matt wrote:At the moment I'm just developing a "3D Render Core" to render a scene. Creating the lighting, mesh loading, camera etc. The tutor practically gave us one that worked entirely and said we can change things to suit out needs, but I've opted to rewrite it because it wasn't very object-orientated and was awful to use (there was a cLight class, but if you wanted more than one kind of light you were buggered, or if you wanted to change any aspect of it, you changed that class... Rather than having all these classes written and simply using them, not editing them.).
Lecturers aren't always the best coders. Sounds like you're on the right track though. I did a little Java3D and OpenGL at uni so I know where you're coming from but it was nothing heavy. No doubt you'll cover a lot more.
Matt wrote:The most painful thing is we're been told we need to use Windows 8 to do this on, but I've come to find it's total hogwash and it all runs fine on Windows 7, since we're using DirectX libraries from 2006 lol. Though next term we're using HLSL and DX11, so things may change there.
I was gonna say, DX9 is getting a little crusty now. Hell, in my pre-uni (and pre-Linux) days, I taught myself DX7. I know DX11 is quite a leap ahead and I'm surprised they didn't just start you on that. It should work on Vista and above though so they can shove W8. :D
Matt wrote:WE also have another C++ module for a module entitled "Object-Orientated Systems Development" which is total shit. We're encouraged to use Linux, Eclipse and the GNU compilers, but none of the timetabled rooms are running Linux (not even dual booting) and no-one can get the compilers to work in Eclipse, so we're stuck with Visual Studio :/
You're already pretty familiar with Linux so I think you'll be okay. If you need to use the timetabled rooms, maybe you could arm yourself with a bootable USB stick or one with QEMU/VirtualBox. ;)

I don't know of any live distros that include Eclipse but I wouldn't get too hung up on that. I used to use Eclipse and it's nice enough to code in but I definitely found that I didn't really understand how to compile things properly until I broke free from it and wrote GNU Makefiles by hand. The fact that no one there can get Eclipse to work demonstrates that lack of understanding.

Admittedly writing Makefiles isn't much fun and when you move into the realms of shared libraries and cross-platform compatibility, you have to take it to the next level with Autotools. Think ./configure; make; make install. That stuff is practically considered a black art but it's one that I happen to know. ;)

If you want to get a decent understanding but with a little less of the pain, check out CMake. It's hailed as a modern alternative to Autotools. I don't think it's perfect but it is easier to use and it also supports Visual Studio, which is handy. It's used to build projects big and small, including KDE. This might help too.
Matt wrote:Given the choice, however, I'd rather have another Java module and cover some OpenGL, which at least would be more convenient for, say, Android or iOS games. I spent all summer pouring a large part of myself into learning Android's Java (which was really fun, I have to admit).
I wrote a lot of Java at uni but Android hadn't been invented yet. I have dabbled very briefly with writing an app and while it did look like something worth getting my teeth into, I was inevitably dragged onto other things. The company I'm at now is starting to embrace smartphone technology, having focused on traditional calls and plain SMS before, but the nature of our business means that it makes more sense to use HTML5 rather than native apps. jQuery Mobile is a godsend.
Matt wrote:But yeah, I've come across some annoying stuff with C++ :/, like, pretty much all the remnants of C that are still in use. Or how stupidly fucktardedly dumbfuckery ass backwards concatenating a string is, or just the different kinds of strings! Is it a str, a char or a LPSTR?!
I generally prefer C but while they can be used together, getting this wrong can cause nasty issues. I hear your pain regarding string types. LPSTR is a Windows thing but most frameworks like GTK+ or Qt have their own equivalents. It gets much worse when you start taking multibyte character encodings (wchar and friends) into account. I would try to stick to regular C++ strings and use c_str() for C functions that need char*.
Matt wrote:Give me me something like Java or C# any day!
You won't use it for writing games but you should give Ruby a try for a few hours, just to get a fresh perspective on things. It's just a really nice language to work with and I promise it'll give you a warm, fuzzy feeling. You can even learn about it from a guy who looks scarily like Jack Black while being equally crazy.
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Re: How is everyone?!

Post by Matt » Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:41 pm

Yeah, the tutor that takes us isn't the best programmer, he has his PhD in Physics of all things. Another that took us for Java last year is an amazing mathematician. I have him take em for Computational Mathematics this year and he's brilliant. Very easy to learn from and a nice guy.

I considered a bootable USB with persistent storage... but they locked down all the BIOS of the machines so it's impossible to boot :(

I think the reason they didn't start us on DX11 was because of the "oshitoshitoshit" factor. Since last year, we took XNA/C#, and the new year 1 starters this year are starting on C++ (since MS boxed XNA off - shame because it was a nice framework!). They said with us not having much experience we're getting the crash course now. That and HLSL is something they usually teach to third years.

I highly recommend sinking your teeth in Android if you find any spare time for yourself. It's insanely fun. BUT, I recommend having an API 15+ device (4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich or greater). I've been trying to get my head around building AOSP from source, but the best I've done thus far is CyanogenMod, which has lots of guides and is pretty hard to edit, or I haven't found an easier way in an IDE. As a result stuff like Make files have eluded me :/

This summer had I promised myself I would pick up Python, but instead I did Android! RubyonRails seems like something I'd enjoy though!



Trying to get myself a placement sorted out for this year. I think the experience would be essential to getting employed at my old fart-ish age. When I graduate there'll be a tip of a beer glass in your honour, though :D It's about 9 years ago since you started showing me how to use HTML!
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