I have an unmanaged c++ application that I'd like to port to Windows Raspberry Pi. It was originally developed on an embedded platform but was written to be highly portable using a pseudo-HAL to wall off the 10-15% of platform specific code. So it easily ports to / runs on windows desktop as well with zero changes to the common ~85%. It's currently written to support ANT+ sensors though we would like to add (or may possibly replace ANT with) BT/LE support. That said from looking at a ton of docs and examples online it's not super clear if it's even possible without a rewrite. If it comes to that though we would probably target linux instead. Anyway, three questions -
(1) Is it even possible?
(2) If so what is the best approach (i.e. what API's should I be looking at, and how should I wrap them for unmanaged use)?
(3) Is there a way to programatically pair the RP with our target sensors on the fly, i.e. scan for available sensors and pair by a predefined type and possibly ID (and again if so what API's should I look at)?
I hate to ask such open ended questions but it's just not clear from the examples I've been looking at online since everything is pretty much UWP oriented and I'm not really familiar with any of that at all. Just looking to get a yes/no on feasibility and a point in the right direction if so. Thanks for any input, chris
Figured I'd follow up on this for anyone else that goes down the same path... here's what I found eventually -
1) Is it even possible... Yes it's possible. I was able to get it working though due to the lack of documentation/examples what I came up with may not be the optimum solution. It does seem solid though from the limited testing I've done.
2) If so what is the best approach... Again, not sure this is the best approach but the very short answer is that do make it work you need to use WRL via COM. All the interfaces needed for both scanning and pairing are found in "windows.devices.enumeration.h" and you'll want to use the following namespaces - ABI::Windows::Foundation; Microsoft::WRL; Microsoft::WRL::Wrappers; ABI::Windows::Devices::Enumeration. Since many of the objects/interfaces you'll need are not documented at all (e.g. "IDeviceInformationStatics2") you'll need to use QueryInterface a good bit to find out what's available.
3) Is there a way to programatically pair... Yes, as noted above it's possible. It took me a few weeks to pick through it all and get it working but looking at the various related examples online and piecing it together it seems to work. One thing that I was concerned about was passing BLE pin codes where needed without a UI. That works too though again not really documented (see "AcceptWithPin")....
Related
all.
We are game development company and we develop casual games for PC/MAC/iOS/Android with our own engine written in C++ (90-100%) and we are happy with it!
Now we want to target XNA/WP7 and flash.
What is the best way for doing this ?
Of course we will have to rewrite some low-level stuff like sprite rendering/timing/audio support, but we want to put as less efforts as possible in porting game code itself.
A. We do not want to rewrite game code two time more
B. Ideally even one time more :)
For flash we are going to use Haxe together with this library.
It would be awesome to have C# target support in Haxe. It has been announced but never released and I think it will not be released in nearest future. But I think it will be released in 1-2 years. So in porting different engine components to Haxe is potentially great investment.
Until then we have to decide how to meet A and B.
Possible variants for dealing with it:
Using mokey. However languaged seems to be so primitive and so different from C++/AS3/C#/etc what we decided not to use it.
First of all develop XNA port with the help of brains and C++ to C# converter. Then use C# to Haxe converter. This approach seems to be the best one at this moment, but I have no idea about how much time convertors will save compared to straightforward code rewrite. However, I think they will help.
It is also possbile to use Adobe Alchemy for flash support. However we will have to develop new architecture to separate render/audio and logic into different languages and we want to avoid this - it seems to be more complex than code porting.
So what do you think about 1-3 and do you know better options to achieve A and B ?
Maybe other meta languages/approaches/technologies ?
Thanks a lot!
This is your absolute best/ideal solution:
http://www.mandreel.com/?page_id=48
http://www.leebrimelow.com/?p=2593
Basically it's a framework/compiler that will compile c/cpp/objc to iOS, Android, Flash, WP7, and much more.
For once, I have come across a lot of stuff about the use of C++ being not advisable for SSS and recommending the use of so called interpreted languages like PERL and PHP for the same. But I need the advanced OO features and flexibility of C++ to ensure a scalable and more manageable code.
I have tried many internet articles and searches and none where helpful to the point that I still have no idea if it is possible to write SS-Scripts in C++ and if yes, then how.
I have thought of couple ideas, including writing a web-server in C++ and responding accordingly after parsing the HTTP request. But it would be re-inventing the wheel and I'll end up deviating from my main project and dedicating a lot of work to ensure a functional-cum-secure HTTP server.
I have also considered PHP extensions but again the approach also comes with its own baggage and overhead.
My questions are:
Is it possible to program SSS in C++?
If yes, then what are the approaches at my disposal.
Thanks!
Ignoring, for the moment, the advisability of using C++ for SSS, your first choice would probably be Wt. Contrary to the implications in some of the other answers, no development time is not likely to increase by 10x (or anywhere close to it). No, you're not missing all the nice infrastructure features you'd expect in things like PHP, Perl or Python either.
In fact, my own experience is rather the opposite: while PHP (for example) makes it pretty easy to get a web site up and running fairly quickly, producing a web site that's really stable, secure, and responsive is a whole different story. With Wt, rather the opposite seems to be the case (at least in my, admittedly limited, experience). Getting the initial site up and running will probably take a little longer -- but about as soon as it looks, acts, and feels the way you want, it's likely to need only rather minor tweaks to be ready for public use.
Getting back to the advisability question: developing in C++ may be a bit more complex than in some languages that are more common in the SSS market -- but it's still a piece of cake compared to doing security well. If somebody has even the slightest difficulty writing C++ (e.g., tracking and freeing memory when it's no longer needed), I definitely don't want them getting close to the code for my web site.
I wouldn't recommend it, but you can certainly write CGI scripts in C++ (or in C, or in FORTRAN). But why bother? Languages like PHP do a much better job more easily, and they seem to scale well for some pretty major sites.
CGI is the "standard" way to have C or C++ code handling web requests, but you might also look into writing a module that gets linked into the web server at runtime. Google for "apache module API" (if using Apache) or "IIS module" (if using IIS).
Can you afford 10x as much development time? All the infrastructure-ish bits that you take for granted in php, perl, python are non existent or much harder to use in C++.
I see only two valid reasons to do this:
1. You only have C++ on your platform.
2. The server really has very high performance needs that would benefit from problem specific optimizations.
You can write a CGI application in C++ using an appropriate framework (like this one). But I'd recommend just going with perl or php. It will save you much time. Those tools are just better suited for this kind of job.
EDIT: corrected the link
I couldn't understand your exact requirements (license, etc) but this might be what you are looking for http://cppcms.sourceforge.net.
I got a task related to ANCIENT C++ project which hasn't any documentation, comments at all and all code/variables is written in foreign language. Do I have a chance to analyze this code in a 1 working day and make a design/UML to create new features? I have been sitting around for 3 hours already and I feel so frustrated... Maybe somebody also had same problem? Any advice?
BR,
I suspect the biggest issue may be the fact that it's in a foreign language. You can use various static code analysis tools to try and understand what's going on, but if everything is presented in an unfamiliar language then that's still no use. Your first step (I believe) is to find someone who can speak this language and get them to translate as you go...
1) Use Doxygen , You can configure doxygen to extract the code structure from undocumented source files.
2) Use source Insight, Source Insight is an advanced code editor and browser with built-in analysis for C/C++, C#, and Java programs
Short answer, no - you probably don't have a chance to understand the code in one day. Reading/maintaining code is one of the hardest things to do, especially when it's lacking documentation. The fact that the code is in a foreign language (!) makes it even harder.
Sounds like you are on a very restricted (unrealistic) time-budget, but Working With Legacy Software is a good book if you're working with legacy systems. If you are planning to keep adding new features to the legacy system it's your responsibility to make your management aware of the scope of the operation. Or at least try.
Under this time constraint (1 day) it may or may not be doable depending on the size of the project - if its a few hundred lines of code then for sure. If its a serious project with several tens of thousands code lines, then likely no.
The first thing you need to know is what is this program supposed to do at all. If you have no idea what it does and how it does it, then analyzing the code will give you the answer but it will be a long and frustrating task. So my first suggestion would be to get yourself familiar with the outer workings of the software - what does it supposed to do and generally how it is supposed to do it. If you are doing it as part as your work then you should be able to get someone to walk you through using the program - even if its UI is in a foreign language (which I hope it doesn't, even if the code is written by a foreign language speaker).
Once you know what the software is attempting to do, then it should be fairly straight forward (even if lengthy and daunting) to rewrite all the comments in your own language for you to understand. I suggest doing so in a bottoms-up approach: its easier to understand the small and trivial things a program does, then to understand the top-level logic - and a lot of trivial things in order make up the logic of the software.
Only once you understand - to a large degree, anyway - the inner workings of the program you may write its functional spec and work on features.
Non-free way on Windows:
You can use CppDepend. This application is able to parse your visual project or your source files. It gives you a lot of information like dependency trees. You can try the trial (Maybe it will be enough for what you have to do).
Free way multi-platform:
You can use doxygen with a special configuration (extract code structure from undocumented code) and analyze the result.
I was quite happy with a tool called Understand (15-day eval license available) for this kind of task. However, I agree with Guss that the time you'll need depends a lot on the size of the code, and one day is probably just enough for a small program.
cscope & ctags are a must when I do my own code, and even more when looking to other's code.
You may also try this ::
http://www.sgvsarc.com/product_crystalflow.htm
I have been a Half-Life lover for years. I have a BS in CS and have been informally programming since High-School. When I was still in college I tried to become a mod programmer for fun..using the first Half-Life engine...didn't work so good. So i figured after all my great college learrning :-) I would have more insight on how to tackle this problem and could finally do it. So here I am..finally out in the business world programming java...so I downloaded the HL2 SDk and started looking through the class structure. I feel like I did that last time I tried this...dazed and confused. Sorry about all the back ground.
So what is the best way to systematically learn the code structure? I know java and I know c++..i just dont know what any of the classes do...the comments are few and far between and the documentation seems meager. Any good approahces? I **don'**t wanna start my own mod... I just wanna maybe be a spare-time mod programmer on some cool MOD one day...to keep the fun in learning programming along with the business side.
the comments are few and far between
and the documentation seems meager.
Any good approahces?
Welcome to the wonder that is the Source SDK. No, it's not documented. Experiment, hack, place breakpoints and see what happens if you change bits of code.
There is a wiki you may find helpful in some cases, but it's filled in by the community, and not by Valve, which means that you won't find any actual documentation there, just explanations of how previous modders have hacked the engine.
Honestly, it sucks. The only way around it is to dive in. Try to achieve various changes to the game and don't be afraid to rip the existing code apart. It won't be pretty, but if it works, who's going to complain? Their code is pretty horrible, and most likely, yours will be too.
You can start at the Valve Developer Wiki.
I think the best way is to check out the source code of one of the few open source mods out there, Open Source Jail Break. It will help you at least get familiar with the code.
Beyond that, its just developer resources and forums.
Edit:Plan of Attack seems great too.
Also: This is a great list, including both general and specific topics.
I'd do what I do with any other vague system... set lots of breakpoints and get a feel for the structure by watching it function. Add your own comments/documentation as you go. Test your understanding by making small changes and see if you get expected results.
I've worked with the Source SDK for a little and made some modifications. Really you have to have a good understanding of C and C++. The Source SDK isn't modern C++ and is much more akin to C with classes than any real OOP.
The SDK is simply fashioned in that the major of code is comprised of entities, of which many you can ignore.
Also know that the SDK uses inheritance very heavily, so look to base classes for functionality that you may desire.
I'd say make a list of important files and classes that maybe relevant to what you want to do with the SDK. Then start sorting these files using virtual folders in VS (or real folders on the filesystem) and use the find in files option (or grep) to find your way around.
Some sample files:
eiface.h - Engine interfaces
gameinterface.cpp/.h - Lots of interfaces from external dlls for server
cdll_client_int.cpp/.h - Lots of interfaces from external dlls for client
*_gamerules.cpp/.h - Gamerules (determines logic of game)
world.cpp - Entity that determines the map properties and loads the gamerules and other entities
Also try to use the Source SDK Base instead of the HL2MP Base for a mod. The former is a lot cleaner and easier to build off of.
Last term (August - December 2008) me and some class mates wrote an application in C++. Nothing spectacular, it is an ORM for Sqlite3. We implemented some stuff like reflection to make it work and release the end user from the ugly stuff. Personally, i think we made a nice job, and that our ORM could actually be useful for someone (even though its writen specifically for Sqlite3, its easily adaptable for oter databases).
Consequently, i`ve come to the conclusion that it should be published somewhere (sourceforge most likely) as an open source project. But, as it was a term project, there are some things that need to be addresesed before doing that. Namely, it has some memory leaks that should be fixed, and some parts of the code could be refactored to make everyone´s life easier in the future.
I would like to know more experienced C++ programmers opinion on some issues:
Is it worth rewriting some parts to
apply new techonologies (for example,
boost).
Should our ORM be adapted to latest
C++ standard? Is there any benefit in
doing this?
How will we know when our code is
ready for release?
What are the chances that this ORM
will be forgotten into the mists of
the internet? (i.e is it worth
publishing it beyond personal pride
as a programmer?)
Right now i can`t think of many more questions, but i would like to read on similar experiences.
EDIT: I should probably translate my code + comments to english right? (self question)
Thanks in advance.
I guess I am "more experienced" with regard to your particular question. I co-developed an open source web application language & template system a lot like ColdFusion back in the early days of web design before Java or ASP were around. You can still see it at http://www.steelblue.com/ if you are interested. It's still used at the company I was at when it was developed, but I don't think anywhere else.
What I found is that unless you are already well connected and people are watching what you are doing, getting people to use your open source code is just about as hard as selling somone your closed source program. You really need to advocate for your project and it should have some kind of unique selling proposition that distinguishes it from the compitition.
So, that's the unsolicited advice. Here are some specific answers to the questions you had...all purely my opinion, of course.
I wouldn't rewrite any code unless you have a featuer you want to put in. That feature might be compatibility with a specific platforms or compilers. It might be to support a new db datatype or smarter indicies or whatever. If you are going to put some more serious work into the applicaiton, think about a roadmap of what you can realistically accomplish in the next iteration and what choices will make the app the "most better" at the end of your cycle.
Release the code as soon as it is usable for a specific purpose, any purpose. Two reasons. First off, there might be someone who wants it for that purpose right now. If it's not available, they will use something else. Also, if it's open source, they might contribute back to the project. Second, the sooner you find out how much people want to use the code, the better. Either it will be more popular than you expect and you can get excited about continuing the development....or....you will find that no one is even visiting your web page to see what you've got. In either case, better to know sooner than later what people really want from your project so you can take that into account when planning new releases.
About the "forgotten into the mists." I think most projects are. I don't want to be a downer, but looking at Wikipedia, there were 5 C++ ORM tools popular enough to get mention and they were all open source. As I said above, unless you can sell your idea to people, they are going to go with another proven open source solution. For someone to choose you over them, three things have to happen: 1. They need a feature you have that the others don't. 2. They find your project web site and it demonstrates the superiority of your code. 3. They trust your code enough to give it a shot.
On the other hand, if you are in this for the long haul and want to continue development thigns get easier over time. Eventually the project will get all the basics covered and you can start developing those new featuers that aren't in the other solutions. Also, the longer you are in active development the more trustworthy the project will seem. Finally, you will get more experience in the nitch. 2 years from now you will be better positioned to say where your effort will have the most impact on bettering the project.
A final thought: If you are enjoying it, learning from it, and it's not getting in the way of you keeping food on the table, it's a good use of your time.
Good luck!
-Al
Regarding the open source part:
If you really want to make it an open source project, you really should publish it regardless of it's current state - fully working and debugged - or half working and full of memory leaks.
Just, if it's state is bad, make sure to document it, and give it a suitable version number (less than one?). then others may view your code, suggest improving, join your team, etc...
My--rather random--thoughts on the matter (in the order I think is most important):
How will we know when our code is ready for release?
Like Liran Orevi said: if you're going open source release early. Document it reasonable well, and take the time to provide a road map of planned or hoped for future improvements (these are a invitation for people to help you, so note which ones have no one working on them).
Is it worth rewriting some parts to apply new technologies (for example, boost).
Should our ORM be adapted to latest C++ standard? Is there any benefit in doing this?
SQLite relies on a fairly limited base. Maybe you don't want your tool to demand a much heavier environment. If the code in not currently a tangled and unmaintainable mess, you might want to avoid boost and newest frills. Once you have a stable release (1.0 at least) you can starting thinking about the improvements that can be made for version 2.
What are the chances that this ORM will be forgotten into the mists of the internet? (i.e is it worth publishing it beyond personal pride as a programmer?)
Most things end up in the big /dev/null in the sky, and there is only one way to find out... If it goes anywhere at all, you win. If it doesn't it was a modest investment, and maybe you learned something while you were at it.