Re: Game announcements on LGDC

[Jeff Read <bitwize@geocities.com>]

Bert Peers wrote:

> See, it's already starting.  I luuuuuuv long function names.  I don't care
> if a function is 60 characters long and takes 14 parameters of 7 different
> types.  I got VC++ with autocompletion, drop down lists, and tooltip
> reminders of the parameter's type and name.  To someone who doesn't
> have this kind of advanced IDE my interfaces must be a disaster, enough
> to give negative comments in a LGDC submission review.  Obviously
> I'd disagree, pointing out that this is exactly a plus, making it as readable
> as a newspaper.

Advanced IDE? *smirk* Visual C++ is aimed less at developing code and
more at gluing and duct-taping together Microsoft-authored components.
It's the non-programmer's programmer's tool. Plus it's bloated and costs
too much money. :) Give me XEmacs any day of the week. But enough of
this flamage.

As for long function names, that's a sort of COBOL mentality, that code
should be "just as easy to read as ordinary text", and adding lots of
verbosity is a means to this end. A seasoned COBOL programmer, for
instance, would suggest that I replace the variable STARTX with
STARTING-X-POSITION-OF-SPRITE. Ack. Well, it doesn't work that way
because reading computer code, particularly well-structured code,
requires a different cognitive process than reading a newspaper. The
ordinary rules of readability don't necessarily apply. Using shorter
mnemonics is actually preferable IMHO because it a) prevents my fingers
from wearing down to stubs and b) produces cleaner code that's easier to
read from a clutter standpoint. Parsing entire phrases isn't something I
want to do when I'm looking at the name of a function or variable.
Hence, my functions tend to be concise: MoveSprite, ChangeSpriteShape,
SetSpriteMotion, etc. :)

>   Oh well.  This could probably go on forever :)  I'll just say that I support
> the idea of barring Bad Code from the site, but I want to stay as far away
> as possible from the actual labeling of submissions.

Hey, their code might do something cool, even if their style is poor.
For example, there is a relativistic raytracer out there that's coded as
one big .CPP file greater than 300K in size. I don't think we should bar
the announcement of something interesting or useful if someone feels the
author didn't comment it properly (this is kinda one of my sins :)) or
the function names aren't descriptive enough. 

-- 
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Jeff Read <bitwize@geocities.com>
Unix Code Artist, Anime Fan, Really Cool Guy