OOP, faster data layouts, compilers

Bruno Medeiros brunodomedeiros+spam at com.gmail
Fri Apr 29 08:28:58 PDT 2011


On 22/04/2011 18:20, Daniel Gibson wrote:
> Am 22.04.2011 19:11, schrieb Kai Meyer:
>> On 04/22/2011 11:05 AM, Daniel Gibson wrote:
>>> Am 22.04.2011 18:48, schrieb Kai Meyer:
>>>>
>>>> I don't think C# is the next C++; it's impossible for C# to be what
>>>> C/C++ is. There is a purpose and a place for Interpreted languages like
>>>> C# and Java, just like there is for C/C++. What language do you think
>>>> the interpreters for Java and C# are written in? (Hint: It's not Java or
>>>> C#.) I also don't think that the core of Unity (or any decent game
>>>> engine) is written in an interpreted language either, which basically
>>>> means the guts are likely written in either C or C++. The point being
>>>> made is that Systems Programming Languages like C/C++ and D are picked
>>>> for their execution speed, and Interpreted Languages are picked for
>>>> their ease of programming (or development speed). Since D is picked for
>>>> execution speed, we should seriously consider every opportunity to
>>>> improve in that arena. The OP wasn't just for the game developers, but
>>>> for game framework developers as well.
>>>
>>> IMHO D won't be successful for games as long as it only supports
>>> Windows, Linux and OSX on PC (-like) hardware.
>>> We'd need support for modern game consoles (XBOX360, PS3, maybe Wii) and
>>> for mobile devices (Android, iOS, maybe Win7 phones and other stuff).
>>> This means good PPC (maybe the PS3's Cell CPU would need special support
>>> even though it's understands PPC code? I don't know.) and ARM support
>>> and support for the operating systems and SDKs used on those platforms.
>>>
>>> Of course execution speed is very important as well, but D in it's
>>> current state is not *that* bad in this regard. Sure, the GC is a bit
>>> slow, but in high performance games you shouldn't use it (or even
>>> malloc/free) all the time, anyway, see
>>> http://www.digitalmars.com/d/2.0/memory.html#realtime
>>>
>>> Another point: I find Minecraft pretty impressive. It really changed my
>>> view upon Games developed in Java.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> - Daniel
>>
>> Hah, Minecraft. Have you tried loading up a high resolution texture pack
>> yet? There's a reason why it looks like 8-bit graphics. It's not Java
>> that makes Minecraft awesome, imo :)
>
> No I haven't.
> What I find impressive is this (almost infinitely) big world that is
> completely changeable, i.e. you can build new stuff everywhere, you can
> dig tunnels everywhere (ok, somewhere really deep there's a limit) and
> the game still runs smoothly. Haven't seen something like that in any
> game before.

Yes, that is why Minecraft is so appealing, but AFAIK that is more of a 
game design issue than a technical one. It may not be easy to implement 
such an engine, but I'm sure many game coders out there could have done 
it, it's not "rocket" science. Rather, it was the gameplay design idea 
(and fleshing it out) that made Minecraft unique and popular, AFAIK.

-- 
Bruno Medeiros - Software Engineer


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