Re: Brandon's Law

"Nathan Mates" <nathan@visi.com> wrote in message
news:3faec40d$0$41289$a1866201@newsreader.visi.com ...
> In article <MPG.1a185fa3ee6ca8c098970d@news.verizon.net>,
> Yes, Pandemic Studios uses C/C++ at the core of all our games, and
> every programmer on the team I work on writes C++. [Can't speak for
> the other teams.] We do use some scripting languages like Lua for
> items, but even those that use it also do the C++ callbacks and the
> like.
>
> Only some developers like Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot series, Jak
> & Daxter) that make it an official company policy to use another
> language like Lisp. That's why I usually say 95+% of professional
> games development is in C/C++; I leave in a tiny bit of room for the
> few companies that deviate from the norm.

What about the next generation of consoles? Have you thought about the tools
you will be using for them already?
I read that the PS3 and Xbox2 will have pretty cool hardware (at this time),
but I understand that the market will demand equally cool games at least
graphically speaking.

In article <bop1s2$90q$1@news4.tilbu1.nb.home.nl>,
Servé Lau <i@bleat.nospam.com> wrote:
>> Only some developers like Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot series, Jak
>> & Daxter) that make it an official company policy to use another
>> language like Lisp. That's why I usually say 95+% of professional
>> games development is in C/C++; I leave in a tiny bit of room for the
>> few companies that deviate from the norm.

>What about the next generation of consoles? Have you thought about
>the tools you will be using for them already?

As to programming languages on the next systems, you can bet
there'll be a C/C++ compiler for them right off the bat. Every popular
chip in the world already has a C/C++ compiler, and for future
designs, free compilers like gcc are designed to favor retargetability
to new CPU designs over being the best compiler on any one
target. Even if the first revisions of the compiler only produce
mediocre code, that's still better than having no compiler. The closer
the chip is to a mature CPU family, the better the compilers will be
from the beginning. [See: XBox, which just used MS Developer Studio]

With 95+% of developers demanding C/C++ from day one, you can bet
the console makers will cater to that crowd to have a compiler
available from the beginning. (This is where the following the herd
mentality pays off-- you're going down a well-troden path, not forging
your own). Boutique languages will not get anywhere near the same
level of support from console makers, period.


>I read that the PS3 and Xbox2 will have pretty cool hardware (at this time),
>but I understand that the market will demand equally cool games at least
>graphically speaking.

I'd say that 90+% of the graphical look comes from (1) the skills
of the artists in question, and (2) the hardware. The programming
languages involved have very little to do with the look; it's more of
an optimization problem where the engine needs to be a minimal wrapper
over the hardware and not get in the way. C/C++ is the best at getting
out of the way once again, not some pet language loved for its
theoretical abilities.

Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpage http://www.visi.com/~nathan/
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios -- http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein

"Brandon J. Van Every" <try_vanevery_at_mycompanyname@yahoo.com>
brightened my day with his incisive wit when in
news:bojtql$1f45ri$2@ID-207230.news.uni-berlin.de he conjectured that:

> Servé Lau wrote:
>> "Erik Max Francis" <max@alcyone.com> wrote in message
>>> and only mentioned "C++" on his resume in 1994 -- a
>>> curious point, by the way, since his resume indicates his first (and
>>> only) software engineering position was in 1996!
>>
>> ah, ok sorry
>
> Yes, I have only worked for someone else for 2 years. I have spent
> the vast majority of my life attempting to write all my own code from
> scratch

Which I daresay is why you can't get a job as a programmer. You can't build
using building blocks : you like to mix your own cement.

Erik Max Francis <max@alcyone.com> wrote in message news:<3FAD7E54.C8FA1F40@alcyone.com>...
> The Silicon Valley, where I live, was hardest hit by the dot com bubble
> popping, and I haven't had any trouble at all finding a job -- in fact
> I'm working two contracts at the moment (one full time, one part time).

Geez, I think it has to do with where you live. I grew up in SV, but
now live in Colorado (I couldn't afford to live in Silicon Valley--too
expensive). I was out of work for seven months when the bubble burst
(and my employer went under). Everyone I knew was just thankful they
still had a job. Another friend lost his job (RIF) and was out of work
for about six months too. Nothing wrong with his skills (AAMOF, he was
Lead Programmer on two commercial games), there just wasn't any work
to be had. He now works at EA, but he had to move to LA to get the job
(he hates LA, but needed a job).

> Everyone I've talked to is pretty much in agreement: The people with
> very little experience that were promoted way too fast (simply because
> during the bubble companies found it impossible to fill their positions
> with qualified applicants) are the ones that are having trouble finding
> jobs doing what they were inappropriately promoted to do. That isn't
> exactly unfair; that's life.

Well, this isn't always the case. Living in SV, there just may be a
lot more work to be had. Yes, inappropriately promoted people will
struggle to find comperable work nowadays, as they should. But just
because you are out of work doesn't mean you're an idiot.