Effective C++
For Christmas I received Effective C++: Third Edition by Scott Meyers and I've been reading it in between studying for class and going to class. I'm a little more than half way through it now and it makes me want to rewrite so many parts of my engine ^_^. So when I think about coding lately my internal debate is whether to spend some time rewriting the engine or leave things as they are and work on game related stuff. I haven't really decided. My desire is to rewrite things, but my practical side says to just move forward and get something that looks like a game running.
Well, I haven't really coded much in a while. I was too busy last weekend and I just never got around to doing much coding this weekend, though I did spend time on project related tasks. I looked at UML a bit in case I redesign some of the engine I might use some UML diagrams while designing it. I investigated boost.org, which is mentioned in the Effective C++ book. This lead me to STLport, a free port of STL which I now intend to use. The only coding I did do was related to compiling the engine as a DLL, instead of a static LIB. It was a DLL at one time, then I decide against it, and now I'm going back to making it a DLL (multiple DLLs actually), so the framework was already set up to handle it.
Another hang up I've had lately is not wanting to start anything big because I have such little time to work on it. Once my brain is in coding space I find it hard to just stop and switch to doing homework. Once I get started I just want to keep going until the job is done and focus all my efforts on that one task. So I'm hesitant to start any big tasks.
My application to the University of Michigan has finally been submitted. I spent most of the day on Friday writing the final essay I needed in order to submit my application. That has been taking up some of my time as well. Now that it's all done I hope to be able to dedicate Fridays to coding again.
I guess that's it for now. Time to do some Calculus homework. I plan on making a post related to the changes I'm thinking about making to the engine. I'll talk about what the current design is like and the changes I intend to make. I look forward to hearing any feedback and/or suggestions. For now I better hit the books.
Well, I haven't really coded much in a while. I was too busy last weekend and I just never got around to doing much coding this weekend, though I did spend time on project related tasks. I looked at UML a bit in case I redesign some of the engine I might use some UML diagrams while designing it. I investigated boost.org, which is mentioned in the Effective C++ book. This lead me to STLport, a free port of STL which I now intend to use. The only coding I did do was related to compiling the engine as a DLL, instead of a static LIB. It was a DLL at one time, then I decide against it, and now I'm going back to making it a DLL (multiple DLLs actually), so the framework was already set up to handle it.
Another hang up I've had lately is not wanting to start anything big because I have such little time to work on it. Once my brain is in coding space I find it hard to just stop and switch to doing homework. Once I get started I just want to keep going until the job is done and focus all my efforts on that one task. So I'm hesitant to start any big tasks.
My application to the University of Michigan has finally been submitted. I spent most of the day on Friday writing the final essay I needed in order to submit my application. That has been taking up some of my time as well. Now that it's all done I hope to be able to dedicate Fridays to coding again.
I guess that's it for now. Time to do some Calculus homework. I plan on making a post related to the changes I'm thinking about making to the engine. I'll talk about what the current design is like and the changes I intend to make. I look forward to hearing any feedback and/or suggestions. For now I better hit the books.
posted by keith @ 12:26 PM
3 Comments:
Ahhh yes, the STL port... a certain company I know uses that. I've tried using the STL, even for tools. Everytime I try to use it the more I don't like it. I know "they" say that its fast, efficient, powerful, etc. However, I don't like the interfaces, I don't like the cumbersome, over-abstracted methods. And any time you need to figure out what's going on in the code, its like trying to read alphabet soup. I still prefer to write my own container classes and algorithms. Especially when you want specific behaviours (asserts, custom alloc, fixed sizes,...) Besides, I've written so many of these over the years that I pretty much have my own "library". And when all else fails.... "Algorithms in C++" by Sedgewick can come to the rescue. ;)
I actually don't currently use any STL and I'm not that familiar with it, but I have always wanted to get to know it better. If I do start using it, STLport seemed like a well respected implementation that is portable to any platform. I've often wondered if I would come to a similar conclusion as it's seems you have though. Many implementations seem far more abstracted than I may need and I'd probably just write my own code to minimize any overhead. But I need to get familiar with it anyway. Especially if I do any coding outside of gaming it seems like I should be familiar with it.
I agree, being familiar with it would be useful. Especially since so many people use it. And it may actually give you some ideas on how to implement some of you own classes in ways you hadn't previously thought of.
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