--- Erik Mooney <emooney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Remember that just because something's done in an
> official 2600 game doesn't mean that it's the best
> way to do anything. I'd guess it's mostly just a
> function of how the programmer likes to do things.
> If s/he/it was a C programmer taking his first steps
> into assembly, it'll probably have a lot of
> spaghetti, with lots of subroutine calls and such
> and just generally inefficient coding. If it came
> from an assembly veteran, it'll be straightforward,
> except where it needs to not be to be fast or
compact
> or both. I'd wager that the source of my own INV is
> a lot cleaner (except for the invader-kernel bit
> which illustrates the latter part of the previous
> sentence) than something that a complete assembler
> newbie like Pete Holland on this list would be
> writing.
You are completely right. Part of the reason I'm
taking so long (besides being extremely busy on the
writing front right now) is that, as I code, I start
seeing where I can cut things down to make it more
efficient.
One of the ideas I'm working on requires the 2600 to
first check which direction the player is facing.
Having written the CMP statement to cover every
possibility, I'm tooling around the warehouse at my
place of work when a thought strikes me--I didn't need
one of those routines. There are only four directions
the player is allowed to face, and if the computer
determines the player isn't facing in one of three
directions, it has to be the fourth. Kind of like the
statement that you can't solve just five sides on a
Rubik's Cube. So I had to go in and fix that.
Yup, it does look a little like spaghetti. But it
also straightens out real well.
Another thing...the types of routines used might also
be fingerprints. Maybe particular programmers like
putting, say, the game calculations in a certain
order. Not that this has any bearing but it would be
interesting if people could determine who programmed
something just by looking at how the program is
structured. Kind of like how I was able to identify
directors of Bugs Bunny cartoons without looking at
the credits. Well, before I had most of them
memorized.
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