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• 2D graphics - why use spritesheets?

  - by Columbo

  I have seen many examples of how to render sprites from a spritesheet but I havent grasped why it is the most common way of dealing with sprites in 2d games. I have started out with 2d sprite rendering in the few demo applications I've made by dealing with each animation frame for any given sprite type as its own texture - and this collection of textures is stored in a dictionary. This seems to work for me, and suits my workflow pretty well, as I tend to make my animations as gif/mng files and then extract the frames to individual pngs. Is there a noticeable performance advantage to rendering from a single sheet rather than from individual textures? With modern hardware that is capable of drawing millions of polygons to the screen a hundred times a second, does it even matter for my 2d games which just deal with a few dozen 50x100px rectangles? The implementation details of loading a texture into graphics memory and displaying it in XNA seems pretty abstracted. All I know is that textures are bound to the graphics device when they are loaded, then during the game loop, the textures get rendered in batches. So it's not clear to me whether my choice affects performance. I suspect that there are some very good reasons most 2d game developers seem to be using them, I just don't understand why.

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• how can i prepare myself to become game developer

  - by gowri

  I like to become game developer.. i already worked as web developer for past 1 year . there i used php ,jquery,mysql and some frame work also .It's little boring now same thing again and again .So i start to learn android application development . my question is : if want to become a game developer what skills should i have (like java,c++,etc) ? Where can i get good tutorials(online) ? is previous knowledge will help me ? Please clarify me !

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• Functional Methods on Collections

  - by GlenPeterson

  I'm learning Scala and am a little bewildered by all the methods (higher-order functions) available on the collections. Which ones produce more results than the original collection, which ones produce less, and which are most appropriate for a given problem? Though I'm studying Scala, I think this would pertain to most modern functional languages (Clojure, Haskell) and also to Java 8 which introduces these methods on Java collections. Specifically, right now I'm wondering about map with filter vs. fold/reduce. I was delighted that using foldRight() can yield the same result as a map(...).filter(...) with only one traversal of the underlying collection. But a friend pointed out that foldRight() may force sequential processing while map() is friendlier to being processed by multiple processors in parallel. Maybe this is why mapReduce() is so popular? More generally, I'm still sometimes surprised when I chain several of these methods together to get back a List(List()) or to pass a List(List()) and get back just a List(). For instance, when would I use: collection.map(a => a.map(b => ...)) vs. collection.map(a => ...).map(b => ...) The for/yield command does nothing to help this confusion. Am I asking about the difference between a "fold" and "unfold" operation? Am I trying to jam too many questions into one? I think there may be an underlying concept that, if I understood it, might answer all these questions, or at least tie the answers together.

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• How to teach Exception Handling for New Programmers?

  - by Kanini

  How do you go about teaching Exception Handling to Programmers. All other things are taught easily - Data Structures, ASP.NET, WinForms, WPF, WCF - you name it, everything can be taught easily. With Exception Handling, teaching them try-catch-finally is just the syntactic nature of Exception Handling. What should be taught however is - What part of your code do you put in the try block? What do you do in the catch block? Let me illustrate it with an example. You are working on a Windows Forms Project (a small utility) and you have designed it as below with 3 different projects. UILayer BusinessLayer DataLayer If an Exception (let us say of loading an XDocument throws an exception) is raised at DataLayer (the UILayer calls BusinessLayer which in turns calls the DataLayer), do you just do the following //In DataLayer try { XDocument xd_XmlDocument = XDocument.Load("systems.xml"); } catch(Exception ex) { throw ex; } which gets thrown again in the BusinessLayer and which is caught in UILayer where I write it to the log file? Is this how you go about Exception Handling?

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• Should experienced programmers know database queries?

  - by Shamim Hafiz

  There are so many programmers out there who are also an expert at Query writing and Database design. Should this be a core requirement to be an expert programmer or software engineer? Though there are lots of similarities in the way queries and codes are developed, my personal opinion is, Queries seem to have a different Structure than Code and it can be tough to Master both simultaneously due to the different approaches.

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• Resources for improving your comprehension of recursion?

  - by Andrew M

  I know what recursion is (when a patten reoccurs within itself, typically a function that calls itself on one of its lines, after a breakout conditional... right?), and I can understand recursive functions if I study them closely. My problem is, when I see new examples, I'm always initially confused. If I see a loop, or a mapping, zipping, nesting, polymorphic calling, and so on, I know what's going just by looking at it. When I see recursive code, my thought process is usually 'wtf is this?' followed by 'oh it's recursive' followed by 'I guess it must work, if they say it does.' So do you have any tips/plans/resources for building up your skills in this area? Recursion is kind of a wierd concept so I'm thinking the way to tackle it may be equally wierd and inobvious.

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• When does 'optimizing code' == 'structuring data'?

  - by NewAlexandria

  A recent article by ycombinator lists a comment with principles of a great programmer. #7. Good programmer: I optimize code. Better programmer: I structure data. Best programmer: What's the difference? Acknowledging subjective and contentious concepts - does anyone have a position on what this means? I do, but I'd like to edit this question later with my thoughts so-as not to predispose the answers.

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• Understanding normal maps on terrain

  - by JohnB

  I'm having trouble understanding some of the math behind normal map textures even though I've got it to work using borrowed code, I want to understand it. I have a terrain based on a heightmap. I'm generating a mesh of triangles at load time and rendering that mesh. Now for each vertex I need to calculate a normal, a tangent, and a bitangent. My understanding is as follows, have I got this right? normal is a unit vector facing outwards from the surface of the triangle. For a vertex I take the average of the normals of the triangles using that vertex. tangent is a unit vector in the direction of the 'u' coordinates of the texture map. As my texture u,v coordinates follow the x and y coordinates of the terrain, then my understanding is that this vector is simply the vector along the surface in the x direction. So should be able to calculate this as simply the difference between vertices in the x direction to get a vector, (and normalize it). bitangent is a unit vector in the direction of the 'v' coordinates of the texture map. As my texture u,v coordinates follow the x and y coordinates of the terrain, then my understanding is that this vector is simply the vector along the surface in the y direction. So should be able to calculate this as simply the difference between vertices in the y direction to get a vector, (and normalize it). However the code I have borrowed seems much more complicated than this and takes into account the actual values of u, and v at each vertex which I don't understand the need for as they increase in exactly the same direction as x, and y. I implemented what I thought from above, and it simply doesn't work, the normals are clearly not working for lighting. Have I misunderstood something? Or can someone explain to me the physical meaning of the tangent and bitangent vectors when applied to a mesh generated from a hightmap like this, when u and v texture coordinates map along the x and y directions. Thanks for any help understanding this.

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• Testing loses its effectiveness if all programmers don't use them

  - by Jeff O

  Let's assume you are convinced that the extra time spent unit testing has merit and improves production. Does that still hold up when everyone working on the same code doesn't use them? This question makes me wonder if fixing tests that everyone doesn't use is a waste of time. If you correct a test so the new code will pass, you're assuming the new code is correct. The person updating the test better have a firm understanding of the reasoning behind the code change and decide if the test or the new code needs to be fixed. This much inconsistency in a team when it comes to testing is probably an indication of other problems as well. There is a certain amount of risk involved that someone else on the team will alter code that is covered by testing. Is this the point where testing becomes counter-productive?

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• Which computer side has more salary chance in future programmer , sys admin , network admin , web developer

  - by Name

  I want to know which computer field has more probability of getting high salary with experience in the following fields 1)Programmer c , c++ , java 2)Sys admin MIcrosoft . linux 3)Network admin (Cisco ccna ccnp 4)web developer Any more idea will be good i work as web developer for 3 years and stiing at 40K$. I have to find new job and still look like i don't have offer more than 50K. may be i have chosen the wrong path. My friend in network admin has started from 65K and with experince he is going the ccnp or ccie with more high packages. I may e wrong , please correct me

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• Blending animations for more character movements

  - by Noob Saibot

  I am making a hack n slash 3rd person game. And I want the character movements to be more dynamic not like fighting games where you have a moves list. I want to animate tons of different animations and have them "Tween" between each other? Because I want the controls to not be keyboard mouse. I want it to be all keyboard. that way you have up to 10 inputs (All your fingers) to blend and morph animations to create more fluid movements. In the end this will almost be similar to characters typing a phrase or string of keys rather than move forward mouse look click to melee. My question is. Has anyone done this before and would someone go about trying to tween lets say one for key on the keyboard excluding Tab, Caps, R+Shift, L+Shift, Enter, R+Ctrl, L+Ctrl, L+Alt, R+Alt, Windows Key, and Menu. So thats all the numbers, letters and punctuation keys. Thats 46 keys gives me a combination of 46P1 = 5502622159812088949850305428800254892961651752960000000000L (used Python) and with a minimum entry value of 2 keypresses shortening to half. This is not humanly possible to create so many inique animations in one lifetime. But I'm guessing there is a reason this hasn't been done already. Or if I just used 10 basic keys. Maybe ASDF SPACE (RIGHT HAND) 456+0 (LEFT HAND KEYPAD) it would give me 3,628,800 posible unique animations.

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• Generic Repository with SQLite and SQL Compact Databases

  - by Andrew Petersen

  I am creating a project that has a mobile app (Xamarin.Android) using a SQLite database and a WPF application (Code First Entity Framework 5) using a SQL Compact database. This project will even eventually have a SQL Server database as well. Because of this I am trying to create a generic repository, so that I can pass in the correct context depending on which application is making the request. The issue I ran into is my DataContext for the SQL Compact database inherits from DbContext and the SQLite database inherits from SQLiteConnection. What is the best way to make this generic, so that it doesn't matter what kind of database is on the back end? This is what I have tried so far on the SQL Compact side: public interface IRepository<TEntity> { TEntity Add(TEntity entity); } public class Repository<TEntity, TContext> : IRepository<TEntity>, IDisposable where TEntity : class where TContext : DbContext { private readonly TContext _context; public Repository(DbContext dbContext) { _context = dbContext as TContext; } public virtual TEntity Add(TEntity entity) { return _context.Set<TEntity>().Add(entity); } } And on the SQLite side: public class ElverDatabase : SQLiteConnection { static readonly object Locker = new object(); public ElverDatabase(string path) : base(path) { CreateTable<Ticket>(); } public int Add<T>(T item) where T : IBusinessEntity { lock (Locker) { return Insert(item); } } }

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• Non-zero exit status for clean exit

  - by trinithis

  Is it acceptable to return a non-zero exit code if the program in question ran properly? For example, say I have a simple program that (only) does the following: Program takes N arguments. It returns an exit code of min(N, 255). Note that any N is valid for the program. A more realistic program might return different codes for successfully ran programs that signify different things. Should these programs instead write this information to a stream instead, such as to stdout?

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• Obtaining In game Warcraft III data to program standalone AI

  - by Slav

  I am implementing common purpose behavioral algorithm and would like to test it under my lovely Warcraft III game and watch how it will fight against real players. The problem is how to obtain information about in game state (units, structures, environment, etc. ). Algorithm needs access to hard drive and possibly distributed computing, that's why JASS (WC3 Editor language) usage doesn't solve the issue. Direct 3D hooking is an approach, but it wasn't done for WC3 yet and significant drawback is inability to watch online at how AI performs since it uses the viewport to issue commands. How in game data can be obtained to a different process in a fastest and easiest way? Thank you.

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• SQL Server CTE Basics

  The CTE was introduced into standard SQL in order to simplify various classes of SQL Queries for which a derived table just wasn't suitable. For some reason, it can be difficult to grasp the techniques of using it. Well, that's before Rob Sheldon explained it all so clearly for us.

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• Is there any reason lazy initialization couldn't be built into Java?

  - by Renesis

  Since I'm working on a server with absolutely no non-persisted state for users, every User-related object we have is rolled out on every request. Consequently I often find myself doing lazy initialization of properties of objects that may go unused. protected EventDispatcher dispatcher = new EventDispatcher(); Becomes... protected EventDispatcher<EventMessage> dispatcher; public EventDispatcher<EventMessage> getEventDispatcher() { if (dispatcher == null) { dispatcher = new EventDispatcher<EventMessage>(); } return dispatcher; } Is there any reason this couldn't be built into Java? protected lazy EventDispatcher dispatcher = new EventDispatcher();

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• Style bits vs. Separate bool's

  - by peterchen

  My main platform (WinAPI) still heavily uses bits for control styles etc. (example). When introducing custom controls, I'm permanently wondering whether to follow that style or rather use individual bool's. Let's pit them against each other: enum EMyCtrlStyles { mcsUseFileIcon = 1, mcsTruncateFileName = 2, mcsUseShellContextMenu = 4, }; void SetStyle(DWORD mcsStyle); void ModifyStyle(DWORD mcsRemove, DWORD mcsAdd); DWORD GetStyle() const; ... ctrl.SetStyle(mcsUseFileIcon | mcsUseShellContextMenu); vs. CMyCtrl & SetUseFileIcon(bool enable = true); bool GetUseFileIcon() const; CMyCtrl & SetTruncteFileName(bool enable = true); bool GetTruncteFileName() const; CMyCtrl & SetUseShellContextMenu(bool enable = true); bool GetUseShellContextMenu() const; ctrl.SetUseFileIcon().SetUseShellContextMenu(); As I see it, Pro Style Bits Consistent with platform less library code (without gaining complexity), less places to modify for adding a new style less caller code (without losing notable readability) easier to use in some scenarios (e.g. remembering / transferring settings) Binary API remains stable if new style bits are introduced Now, the first and the last are minor in most cases. Pro Individual booleans Intellisense and refactoring tools reduce the "less typing" effort Single Purpose Entities more literate code (as in "flows more like a sentence") No change of paradim for non-bool properties These sound more modern, but also "soft" advantages. I must admit the "platform consistency" is much more enticing than I could justify, the less code without losing much quality is a nice bonus. 1. What do you prefer? Subjectively, for writing the library, or for writing client code? 2. Any (semi-) objective statements, studies, etc.?

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• How do I improve my code reading skills

  - by Andrew

  Well the question is in the title - how do I improve my code reading skills. The software/hardware environment I currently do development in is quite slow with respect to compilation times and time it takes the whole system to test. The system is quite old/complex and thus splitting it into a several smaller, more manageable sub-projects is not feasible in a neare future. I have realized is what really hinders the development progress is my code reading skills. How do I improve my code reading skills, so I can spot most of the errors and issues in the code even before I hit the "do compile" key, even before I start the debugger?

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• Why was Objective-C popularity so sudden on TIOBE index?

  - by l46kok

  I'd like to ask a question that is pretty similar to the one being asked here, but for Objective-C. According to TIOBE rankings, the rise of popularity of Objective-C is unprecedented. This is obviously tied to the popularity of Apple products, but I feel like this might be a hasty conclusion to make since it doesn't really explain the stagnant growth of Java (1. There are way more Android O/S devices distributed worldwide, 2. Java is used in virtually every platform one can imagine) Now I haven't programmed in Objective-C at all, but I'd like to ask if there are any unique features or advantages about the language itself compared to other prevalent languages such as C++, Java, C#, Python etc. What are some other factors that contributed into the rise of Objective-C in this short span of time?

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• Do most programmers copy and paste code?

  - by John MacIntyre

  I learned very early on that cutting & pasting somebody else's code takes longer in the long run that writing it yourself. In my opinion unless you really understand it, cut & paste code will probably have issues which will be a nightmare to resolve. Don't get me wrong, I mean finding other peoples code and learning from it is essential, but we don't just paste it into our app. We rewrite the concepts into our app. But I'm constantly hearing about people who cut & paste, and they talk about it like it's common practice. I also see comments by others which indicate it's common practice. So, do most programmers cut & paste code?

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• How you return to a code when you don't remember what you were doing?

  - by speeder

  Well, I have some problems with procrastination and whatnot, but those get infinitely worse, when I cannot remember what I should be doing. I mean, I know my project, I wrote 100% of the code so far, and I knew more or less what I was doing, but I don't remember exactly what, I don't remember what file I was editing and why. How I get back on track? (because right now my technique of opening the source code and staring at it is not working)

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• Calling methods on Objects

  - by Mashael

  Let's say we have a class called 'Automobile' and we have an instance of that class called 'myCar'. I would like to ask why do we need to put the values that our methods return in a variable for the object? Why just don't we call the method? For example: Why should we write: string message = myCar.SpeedMessage(); Console.WriteLine(message); instead of: Console.WriteLine(myCar.SpeedMessage());

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• Your experience with haxe and other languages that compile to PHP?

  - by Kim

  I would like to hear oppinions from people who have used a language that compiles to php. One such language I know is Haxe. Other ones I've read about are Kira and Pharen. How well do these languages integrate with PHP? Is it relatively easy to write a plugin for a PHP CMS in them? How mature are their implementations and tools? Would you recommend them to someone who has to use a php cms but hates php?

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• Should I be an algorithm developer, or java web frameworks type developer?

  - by Derek

  So - as I see it, there are really two kinds of developers. Those that do frameworks, web services, pretty-making front ends, etc etc. Then there are developers that write the algorithms that solve the problem. That is, unless the problem is "display this raw data in some meaningful way." In that case, the framework/web developer guy might be doing both jobs. So my basic problem is this. I have been an algorithms kind of software developer for a few years now. I double majored in Math and Computer science, and I have a master's in systems engineering. I have never done any web-dev work, with the exception of a couple minor jobs, and some hobby level stuff. I have been job interviewing lately, and this is what happens: Job is listed as "programmer- 5 years of experience with the following: C/C++, Java,Perl, Ruby, ant, blah blah blah" Recruiter calls me, says they want me to come in for interview In the interview, find out they have some webservices development, blah blah blah When asked in the interview, talk about my experience doing algorithms, optimization, blah blah..but very willing to learn new languages, frameworks, etc Get a call back saying "we didn't think you were a fit for the job you interviewed wtih, but our algorithm team got wind of you and wants to bring you on" This has happened to me a couple times now - see a vague-ish job description looking for a "programmer" Go in, find out they are doing some sort of web-based tool, maybe with some hardcore algorithms running in the background. interview with people for the web-based tool, but get an offer from the algorithms people. So the question is - which job is the better job? I basically just want to get a wide berth of experience at this level of my career, but are algorithm developers so much in demand? Even more so than all these supposed hot in demand web developer guys? Will I be ok in the long run if I go into the niche of math based algorithm development, and just little to no, or hobby level web-dev experience? I basically just don't want to pigeon hole myself this early. My salary is already starting to get pretty high - and I can see a company later on saying "we really need a web developer, but we'll hire this 50k/year college guy, instead of this 100k/year experience algorithm guy" Cliffs notes: I have been doing algorithm development. I consider myself to be a "good programmer." I would have no problem picking up web technologies and those sorts of frameworks. During job interviews, I keep getting "we think you've got a good skillset - talk to our algorithm team" instead of wanting me to learn new skills on the job to do their web services or whhatever other new technology they are doing. Edit: Whenever I am talking about algorithm development here - I am talking about the code that produces the answer. Typically I think of more math-based algorithms: solving a financial problem, solving a finite element method, image processing, etc

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• Any good, easy to learn from books or tutorials for learning assembly? [on hold]

  - by pythonian29033

  I've been a developer since 2009 and I've learnt a lot of languages since, but I've always wanted to understand and be able to code in the lowest level language so I can directly (or at least very close to directly) speak to machines through my code. There was a point in time when someone showed me how to do an if statement in assembly, but out of all the books that I got, I could never really understand where/how to start learning to code in assembler. any help please? I'm obsessed with learning this! PS: if you have any software suggestions, I use ubuntu and am looking to convert to backtrack soon, so it would be preferred if you could give me something that'll be easily installed on debian linux, otherwise don't sweat it, give me the name of the windows software and I'll find an equivalent myself

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