May 2013
2 posts
April 2013
7 posts
When I realize I've been listening to the same...
wonderfulworldofwebdesign:
whenever someone describes DirectX as...
whilenotfalse:
I’ve decided I gotta get in on this racket. So, I present you with my first programmer GIF humor post.
4 tags
My thoughts on code "rewrites"
I put “rewrites” in quotes because that is my first point: I think a big part of the reason people disagree on the value of rewriting a system is that we all define the term “rewrite” differently. I have had a few recent experiences that confirm my suspicions. Most of them took place at where I work.
About a year and a half ago, the engineers on my team and I agreed that...
5 tags
Internet good. Artificial defects bad.
Provided these tweets are real, I have a few things to say to Mr. Adam Orth.
Yes, Orthy, every device is “always on” these days. However, we consumers are smart enough to distinguish between devices that make a real effort to be better through the Internet and devices that use the Internet to monitor and manipulate. My phone is indeed “always on”. It depends on the...
March 2013
3 posts
friday 5pm && builds all green
thecodinglove:
/* by skivenski */
2 tags
Combining two DateTime objects in C#
Oftentimes, older databases will keep a date in one column and a time in one column despite both columns being of type DateTime. So, before, I was combining two DateTime objects this way.
DateTime c = new DateTime(a.Year, a.Month, a.Day, b.Hour, b.Minute, b.Second);
Yesterday, I realized there is a much better way.
DateTime c = a.Date + b.TimeOfDay;
Shorter. Easier to read. More accurate. Runs...
when they ask if I tested it
thecodinglove:
/* by ponpon */
SO TRUE
February 2013
2 posts
3 tags
Private ALL the things?
First off, I have a Chromebook now. It is fantastic.
Anyway, private member variables represent encapsulation at its finest. Hidden components allow a class to determine its own implementation to satisfy the public interface’s demands. By now, I am firm believer that absolutely no member variables should be marked public.
Protected member variables, on the other hand, have always left me...
January 2013
1 post
2 tags
Why Have Parameters At All?
I have had plenty of discussions with supporters of scripting languages. I am not a fan of dynamic languages, but I understand the appeal. I have been working on designing my own scripting language, and I want to take a common concept to a new level.
PHP, Lua, and other languages let you read as many function parameters as the caller provided. In other words, despite my function being defined as...
November 2012
1 post
Why Games With Female Protagonists Don't Sell, and... →
realgirlsgaming:
So, here’s a question: why are female video game protagonists so rare? Their absence is palpable, and we talk often of how we want to see more of them, but the why of it is typically addressed with generalizations about target audiences and a lack of women in game development. Penny Arcade Report senior editor Ben Kuchera wanted better answers than that, so he did what any...
October 2012
7 posts
4 tags
Taking the Plunge
I’m coding up a lexer at the moment. The parser, compiler, and run-time come next. It is extremely entertaining so far. I’ve always derived sick pleasure from string manipulation and string processing in C (areas that most developers avoid like the plague).
I’m working on a new scripting language. It is primarily for research. I just want to see if I can do it. I do not have...
3 tags
Ever have that revelation that you created a bug without actually seeing the bug in action? Yeah, I love and hate that.
YouTube's Computer Science section!
morganscode:
I just discovered this exists! They have full lectures for every topic. Extremely useful.
DUUUUDE. Free lectures! CS for everyone! ^_^
Revenge of a Buzz Saw: A New Standard in PC Gaming →
udknovice:
thebuzzsaw:
I propose some new rules for the default behavior of any given game on the PC. This is mostly a problem in Linux, but really, it is a problem for just about anyone running dual monitors.
The current standard is to launch games directly into fullscreen mode. There are occasional exceptions (such…
Really disagree. The vast majority of gamers are using single monitor...
2 tags
A New Standard in PC Gaming
I propose some new rules for the default behavior of any given game on the PC. This is mostly a problem in Linux, but really, it is a problem for just about anyone running dual monitors.
The current standard is to launch games directly into fullscreen mode. There are occasional exceptions (such as Minecraft), but by and large, games tend to consume the entire display and essentially disable the...
September 2012
1 post
4 tags
Thoughts on exception-handling
I don’t have time to make a huge detailed post at the moment, so I have to jump straight to the spoiler: I think exceptions are stupid. I think error codes grant you much more control and run way faster.
I have seen the argument more than once that exceptions “can be faster” (provided you do not throw an exception) because you don’t have if-statements checking for errors...
August 2012
1 post
5 tags
In Response to The Cloning Conundrum
The original post is here.
I think everyone agrees on point #1. If CTRL+C and CTRL+V are ever involved in the process, you are in trouble.
However, points #2 and #3, while of best intentions, are still in extreeeeeemely dangerous territory.
Your cited examples don’t do the issue justice, in my opinion. Metroid took influence from Mario? OK, so they are both sidescrollers with jumping...
July 2012
3 posts
4 tags
What OUYA Really Is
The amount of hate toward OUYA is staggering. I suppose it’s natural given the amount of love toward OUYA and the crazy amount of money it has raised in such a short time. There is simply no shortage of articles, blogs, and comments out there trying to paint the OUYA as some kind of scam or, at the very best, a misguided dream that will fall flat on its face. I need to address a few points...
1 tag
You do not have a RIGHT to make money!
According to this little news bit, a student was sued for revenue the school lost due to him graduating too quickly. Since when did it become illegal for a business to lose money? The school established the rules. The student played according to those rules. It’s the school’s own fault for failing to account for students finishing so quickly. The student should be recognized, not...
June 2012
3 posts
5 tags
Public Domain C++ DateTime Tools
I have always been a huge fan of the DateTime and TimeSpan structs in C#. They are really clean and lightweight. They are easy to use and understand. There is no equivalent standard DateTime class in C++, so I decided to create one.
https://github.com/TheBuzzSaw/DateTimePlusPlus
It is not a perfect clone. In fact, I do not want it to be. I am simply taking the parts I like from System.DateTime...
5 tags
Put GLEW into your C project
If you want to use GLEW, just put glew.c directly into your project. Do not waste your time trying to get the linkage right with either the static or the dynamic library. It’s a million times easier to just include the source. For Windows projects, just be sure to #define GLEW_STATIC, and you are good to go.
I had no idea this was legal C++. I approve!
while (Stuff* stuff = getNextStuff()) delete stuff;
I guess it makes sense given the for-loop’s ability to declare local variables. I just never tried this before.
May 2012
8 posts
Why do my post titles no longer appear in my Twitter feed? It posts the URL only without any kind of summary either. :(
4 tags
My Beef with SDL
Before I say anything, I must make it clear that SDL is a good tool. I used it for many years. It enabled me to do things I was incapable of doing on my own. I have only recently decided to move away from it as my primary base, and I would like to enumerate the reasons.
(1) It is a C framework. This is a good thing for lots of people, but it’s not for me. I use C++ and take advantage of...
8 tags
A New Free OpenGL Framework
I few years back, I began developing a new framework called XPG. It stood for “cross-platform gaming” (meant to target Windows, OSX, and Linux). It was spurred on by several events.
First, I really wanted to begin using OpenGL 3. SDL 1.2 only supported OpenGL 2.1, and I still do not trust SDL 1.3. I tinkered with other frameworks out there (such as GLFW), but it was really about this...
Why did he grief us? I hate griefers!
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
Alfred Pennyworth
Blogging from a phone is stupid. Just sayin’.
2 tags
“Programming is like nothing else out there. Especially if you’re working on a...”
– Moosader
3 tags
Where are the real MMO games?
I don’t even know where to begin with this. I am so frustrated with the state of MMO games as of late. On one hand, we have games like Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) pushing people to play alone. The story feels like it revolves around your character. Now, I’ve lost count of how many people saying they would have preferred a proper Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) 3. If a game...
Rachel's Project Lawg: If you code and don't know... →
moosader:
College Students:
If you don’t know what Source Control is, then look it up. Seriously, if I had known about svn, Mercurial, or git before my Junior year, it would have saved me tons of headaches on my programming assignments!
I also just realized BitBucket has free private project hosting for…
April 2012
2 posts
4 tags
March 2012
9 posts
4 tags
Grammar Rant: Singular Entities
This has been driving me crazy for quite some time. Look. I don’t expect everyone to have 100% correct spelling/grammar all the time. Nobody is perfect. Heck, I’m sure people will be able to spot mistakes in this post.
What really bothers me is when people consistently misuse English grammar. Specifically, I am tired of the tech journalists applying the wrong verbs to singular...
4 tags
Return Multiple Values
The first time I was introduced to the concept of returning multiple values from a function was in Lua. At first, I reacted poorly. I felt the concept of multiple values coming out of a function was excessive, unpredictable, and all around bad design. I mean, look at it!
function ReturnAllTheThings() return 7, nil, "Hello" end local a, b, c = ReturnAllTheThings()
Does that look bad? Well,...
3 tags
Diablo III Beta
I would like to thank Blizzard for letting me into the Diablo III beta. It has served as a firm reminder of precisely why I will never buy the game. Without the beta, I might have succumbed to temptation and purchased it due to extreme boredom, but the beta reminded me of how awful my Internet connection is and how stupid it is to ever make a game require one.
Trust me, if I could pay for a...
2 tags
Microsoft brings the dark ages forward
Microsoft recently posted details regarding its upcoming Windows Store, which will accompany Windows 8 and its new tablet. As much as I support Microsoft’s attempt to bring competition against Apple, I still feel Microsoft continues to miss the mark. I hate how Apple abuses its developers, but I hate how Microsoft worships them. It is the unhealthy opposite extreme.
Developers can also...
cellular-automaton asked: Hey, What do you think of Python? and cool blog there aren't enough blogs about programming and I am glad to have found yours.
4 tags
Package vs Namespace
Continuing my quest to perfect C++, I want to analyze one particular nuance between Java and C#.
In Java, code is grouped by declaring what package it belongs to at the top of the file.
package PowerHouse; class Entity { }
It serves as a namespace for everything in the file. The class belongs to that package and suddenly can see the other classes in the package. In C#, classes are wrapped in a...
1 tag
SQL occasionally has good ideas
I’m not a fan of scripting languages in general, but I am a big fan of the keyword IN from SQL. It lets you effectively compact a bunch of equality expressions (all connected by logical OR). So, in the WHERE clause of a SQL statement, I can simply state WHERE id IN (3, 14, 21, 48) instead of WHERE id = 3 OR id = 14 OR id = 21 OR id = 48.
In my quest to create the ultimate C++, I think this...
1 tag
It's not DLC if it's already on the disc!
DLC stands for downloadable content. So, right off the bat, it’s not DLC if it is on the disc already. It’s just… content. Yet, Capcom feels it can insert a bunch of content onto your game disc and then charge you to expose it. This is simply unacceptable.
To help illustrate the absurdity of it all, let me shift the discussion over to piracy. The game industry is hellbent on...
1 tag
My Perfect C++
I’ve often said that I feel C++ desperately needs a modern upgrade, but languages like C# and Java are not the correct answers. I use both C# and Java at my job, and I have my guilty pleasures in both, but I always end up lamenting the lack of control over my software.
The first major flaw with both C# and Java is that they simply refuse to let go of memory. People have tried to tell me how...
