on Build systems, C++
Every once in a while, a discussion flares up on social media about C++’s performance in debug. But what do we mean when we talk about “debug builds”? The answer might not be as straightforward as it seems.
“They’ve done it again”, he exclaimed.
Continue reading Fifty shades of debug
This year I was ready. I had prepared a stock of jokes about Britain, its food, its weather, the absence of good wine and the tumultuous relationship with the EU. It was time for ACCU 2019.
This year’s edition of ACCU was held from April 10th to April 13th, in Bristol as always. I arrived a day earlier from Paris after a short stop in France which was supposed to offer some supply of good weather and trips to a few winemakers in preparation for the harsh conditions of Great Britain.
Continue reading ACCU 2019 trip report
on C++, Game development
While the majority of videogames have a relatively short lifespan, some are still actively developed for years or even decades after their initial release. Let’s see how they can keep up with new techs.
World of Warcraft was initially released in 2004. Wikipedia tells me the latest expansion was published last summer, 14 years after release. The original game could run on Windows 98. Today it requires both hardware and software that didn’t exist at release.
Continue reading How do you keep up with tech in your game?
on C++
Copy and Swap is an elegant (if venerable) C++ idiom than I learnt to appreciate for quite some time without much afterthought. It’s simple, clean and does the job. But is there a catch?
Once upon a time, in the 90s, we started preaching one of the oldest pillars of Modern C++ that is RAII. We taught programmers the simple rule that a constructor must leave an object in a usable state, that we should able to copy it, and that the destructor must clean all owned resources, no matter what.
Continue reading Copy and Swap, 20 years later
on C++, Game development
Is the C++ committee out of touch with its users, or is the game development crowd out of touch with the rest of the C++ community? Following the recent debate on social media, I offer a small introduction of that ‘Modern’ C++ thingie.
I was initially going to write a response to Aras Pranckevičius’ Modern C++ Lamentations but the great Ben Dean beat me to it.
Continue reading Gamedev introduction to 'Modern' C++