Disable GC entirely

H. S. Teoh hsteoh at quickfur.ath.cx
Wed Apr 10 15:29:25 PDT 2013


On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 06:02:05PM -0400, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
[...]
> I'd tend to agree. I've always been huge on videogames (for whatever
> definition of "videogame" ;) ), but after all the mental work of code
> all day even I'm usually more inclined to just veg out with something
> passive. Just don't want to have to "do" any more.
> 
> 'Course, this suggests it may depend on occupation. A day of route
> manual labor, or anything tedious I'd probably be itching to do
> something involving thought (but maybe that's just me).
> 
> I have noticed that programming and videogames both scratch the same
> mental itch, at least for me. If I've been doing a lot of one, I'm
> less motivated to do the other.

I wonder if this is why I enjoy retro games more -- they require less
concentration and lots of fun can be had for not too much effort. I find
that a lot of modern games seem to require a lot of concentration --
keeping track of a convoluted storyline, keeping track of one's 3D
surroundings, being on one's toes to react quickly at surprise enemy
attacks, etc.. After a full day's worth of coding, that's the last thing
I want to be doing. Much better to relax with something that can be
played in a more relaxed/casual way.

Maybe that's why casual games are such a big thing nowadays.

OTOH, though, I find that sometimes I wish to get away from the pain of
having to deal with some really stupid code, and I'd escape for a few
minutes with some very mentally-challenging games (like block-shuffling
puzzles, which according to one analysis[1] are PSPACE-complete, that
is, possibly harder than NP-complete problems!). I guess maybe it
tickles the same mental itch as coding. :)

[1] http://www.antiquark.com/2004/12/complexity-of-sliding-block-puzzles.html


T

-- 
If creativity is stifled by rigid discipline, then it is not true creativity.


More information about the Digitalmars-d mailing list