Re: Aw: [stella] atari 2600 programming

Subject: Re: Aw: [stella] atari 2600 programming
From: Glenn Saunders <cybpunks2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 10:13:35 -0700
At 03:41 PM 10/23/2001 +0200, you wrote:
Forget it.

Why not let this guy decide if he can cut it or not? We have no idea what his aptitude is. And I don't think it would necessarily take 1-3 years of external study to be "ready" for the VCS. It all depends on the individual's aptitude.


The VCS is an unforgiving programming environment, but it is also a very simple one, not unlike the limited entities in HTML. The 6502 has very few instructions to memorize. The 2600 has very few registers. The Atari 400/800 OS is far more daunting in comparison. A VCS program typically has very few lines of sourcecode. A stable display (i.e. template) is already available with How to Draw a Playfield and variants. That should all be taken into account.

To me, VCS programming is far easier to grasp than, let's say, full-blown C++ or Java where you have to know all the preexisting libraries to prevent yourself from constantly reinventing the wheel. There is a LOT of rote memorization there. Of course, once you do that, you spare yourself a lot of manual coding [i.e. DrawCircle()) which is what Chris worries about as the death of real-man coding] but to get there it's a long path--at least to me it is. Everybody's aptitude is different.


Glenn Saunders - Producer - Cyberpunks Entertainment Personal homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/1698 Cyberpunks Entertainment: http://cyberpunks.uni.cc


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