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i'm learning c++ in my high school computer science class and I wanted to look at what actual c++ coding looks like, I feel like we spent the whole year on such a small portion of the programming language and my knowledge feels useless. I want to see if I can understand it to know where I stand with it, I am also just curious. My teacher told me that only a small percentage of games are made with c++ but, some he mentioned that might be made with (mostly) c++ were Halo, Diablo and some online role playing games. I read that its illegal to look at the code or you cant get it but if you have the game on your computer shouldn't the code be on there too? How do you extract/view it? Thanks
Doom 3 is available for reading and is written in C++, it is well regarded as well. Note that it doesn't use C++11 or other modern methodologies.
On the topic of game making, the vast majority of AAA games are made in C++. Counting individual games other languages win out, but that is due to mobile platforms being so easy to publish to.
Id software's quake was released on GPL:
Quake on Github
You can also look for other open source games.
I read that its illegal to look at the code or you cant get it
That would be referring to decompiling/disassembling/reverse-engineering someone else's code which depending on where you are from and the reasons is illegal
but if you have the game on your computer shouldn't the code be on there too?
On your computer would be the compiled binary which is not in a human readable form and would require being decompiled/disassembled/reverse-engineered
My teacher told me that only a small percentage of games are made with c++ but, some he mentioned that might be made with (mostly) c++ were Halo, Diablo and some online role playing games.
That would depend on when the game was made and what the target platform was, C++ was used for a lot since it was known as being the most efficient along with C so it was seen as necessary for games. Now however there have been improvements in the processing speeds of computers as well as the efficiency of the languages themselves opening the realm to many languages. Java on Android, Objective-C/Swift on iOS, C# on XBox, etc.
On a PC at this point almost any language can be utilized to write a game, it all depends on what the development team is familiar with and any other factors each team needs to consider for themselves.
DOOM-3 along with many other pieces of id-Software were open sourced years after their release if you wish to browse the source of an actual game. https://github.com/id-Software/DOOM-3
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I recently asked the question if I could limit bandwidth via a C# WinForms applications much like NetLimiter and NetBalancer. I was told that there's two ways to do this. Either via proper QoS or writing something along the lines of an "NDIS Network Filter Driver". Using QoS isn't the way I want to take. So I've looked up some of the stuff required to write drivers and found some interesting points. Points such as a good understanding of C/C++, because the executed code being very prone to BSODs since it could be run in something called "Kernel mode". I also found a GitHub "dump" which looks interesting and tempts me to investigate and look around in.
As you can see I'm no where near advanced enough to delve into this on a professional level. Ignoring that, what would be a good start to start my adventures into writing drivers to monitor - and further down the line manipulate the network to introduce throttling.
Any help, guides or information that might be of help is always appreciated.
PS: I am unsure as to whether this is (as afore mentioned in a comment to my previous question) too broad a question to be answered on Stack Overflow. If so, where would I go to ask this?
Indeed, this would be too broad. Driver writing is a complicated thing which requires a good understanding of how a computer and the OS works. Also, C# (and .NET itself) indeed isn't available in Kernel Mode, so C/C++ is the preferred way. Although theoretically any unmanaged language (like Pascal) could do, I haven't heard of anyone writing drivers in them. Microsoft's own developer resources are also written with C/C++ in mind.
Which brings us to the question of why you want to do it.
If you need it for work and there's a deadline - forget it. Get someone else who already knows this stuff. Or there might be a library out there that fills the need. Any of these options will be cheaper than your time spent learning all this stuff.
If it's for your own curiosity however - go for it! I'd advise by starting to learn C first. Not C++, that's more complicated and for drivers it will be easier with C anyway. But you can pick up C++ later too, it's good stuff. C++ is mostly compatible with C, so you can start with C and then continue with C++.
In parallel, get a good book about OS design. Not because you want to design an OS, but to understand the basic concepts that it is built upon. You should get a good understanding of things such as Kernel Mode/User Mode, virtual memory, interrupts, process scheduling, etc.
Learning a bit of assembly might be useful too (albeit not required).
Finally, when you feel like you've got a good grasp of the above, head over to MSDN and start reading about driver development. There will be long articles and example programs to get you started. Tweak them and play around in a virtual machine until you get what you need.
And also... read this.
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I'm a high school student, and I have a decent amount of programming experience (HTML, Javascript, PHP, Actionscript 3.0). I know C++, but unlike the other languages I know, I have never actually made any decent sized projects with it. I am puzzled at what kind of project I should start, as there are so many things you can do with C++.
I just want some experience making something - but right now I don't know what I want to do!
HELP ME!
Find some open source projects and offer your help. You get to see other's code and have a goal on what to develop.
Find something that interests you. That will keep your attention the longest.
Pick something you're either passionate in, or something that might help you at home.
If you do that, then you have a vested interest in it rather than it being just another application.
For me, I wrote a small system to keep track of my customers. Now I know there are any number of applications that do that but I just wanted something small and custom so it really worked for me.
After that, when it was working, I then went back and refactored etc.
I see this question quite often. My reply is always the same. Programming is about scratching an itch. First find something that interests you and doesn't have a solution (or at least a good one). That's the itch.
Next sort out the best solution. It may be C++, .Net, Java or any one of a hundred other languages. The key is to pick the right tool for the job. If you try and push the square language in the round problem you will fail.
Programming is not about any one language. It's about finding the best solution to a problem and implementing it well using the right tools. This is what makes the difference between someone who knows a programming language, and someone who solve problems. The first are a dime a dozen, the second and worth their weight in gold.
Write a bitmap parser and viewer entirely from scratch, don't use any existing libraries. If you want an even bigger challenge, write a jpeg parser, that will require writing a huffman decompression algorithm and all sorts of other goodies.
I did this in java recently for a challenge, the program was rubbish but the amount of things I learnt made it worth while.
You could geek it up and create a complicated RPG (Maybe start with a simple form or console based game to get logic than maybe move on to directx or something).
I made an RPG myself but really never got to directx... yet. It can be fun because the game can be about whatever you want, your imagination is the only limitation. Figuring out the logic is a great way to stimulate your brain and learn new techniques in the process.
Try and find a copy of The OpenGL Programming Guide and have fun with some graphics programming. Old editions can usually be had cheaply.
The examples are all in C, not C++, but its good to get some experience in C too.
Also, see if your school or community hosts programming contests. One of my first large programs was a game for a junior-high level contest (though that was a long, long time ago).
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I need to interview a candidate with over 8 years of experience in Linux using C/C++.
What would be the best way to judge such a candidate?
Do I need to test his understanding of algorithms?
Do I need to test his programming skills by asking to write a program?
How should I test his understanding of Linux?
It depends entirely on what you want him to do. You haven't said anything about the position that you are hiring for but if, say, you want him to write C# then you need him to prove his adaptibility.
Do you need him to write (or modify or bugfix) algorithms? If not, then it is pointless determining how good at them he is.
On the other hand, in order to understand his abilities, you may be better off talking to him about a domain that he is familiar with. You should certainly get him to describe a recent project that he has been involved in, what his contribution was, what the challenges were, what went well, what lessons he learnt.
"Over 8 years of experience in Linux using C/C++" is a fairly vague requirement without reasons for the time length. What are the specific reasons for that time length? Would you prefer more C/C++ experience if some of it were BSD or Solaris or other Unix? Would you prefer less time or a wider experience with different distributions; would you prefer 5 years experience with Red Hat or 7 years experience spanning Red Hat, Debian, SUSE, Gentoo, and others. What are you trying to get from the person you hire, that relates to the amount of time?
The best way to judge a candidate, any candidate, is on how well he can do the job, not how good the qualifications are. You mentioned Lead Developer, owning a product feature and eventually new features. What sort of feature? A highly responsive and adaptive UI? A UI-free recursive data mining calculation? Offline document scanning/indexing code? Custom device drivers?
Basic understanding of algorithms is important, but that can be tested easily in a phone interview. The ability to map out an algorithm for problem solving, and clearly state the reasons for preferring one over another is much more useful, and harder to test.
Test his programming skills by asking to write a program is a fairly useful BS indicator test; there are quite a few people who are adept at slinging manure who can't actually write a line of code. Another useful test is to give him some code with a defect and ask him what's wrong with it, and how he would fix it.
To test his understanding of Linux, I would look at a basic BS test; fire up a Linux box and ask him to perform some basic tasks, including maybe write and compile "Hello world". This will identify the BS artists. Then I would just go with some stock test, showing that he understands the basics of the Linux design; some file system knowledge, some knowledge of tools, ask about how he would add removable device permissions for a user using SE Linux, how he'd configure access to an application that needs elevated privileges so users without those privileges can use the application.
But ultimately, these are all pretty generic ideas; IMHO, it's much more useful to think in terms of "what do we want the candidate to accomplish", than "how do we test basic skills".
Maybe you should focus on what you need. Can he help you? Has he solved problems similar to yours? What are his expectations, what are yours?
I interview people like this all the time. The answer is that no matter how much experience he has, you must prove to yourself that he is capable of the job.
Joel Spolsky is right, hiring badly is destructive to a team and organization. It should be avoided at all costs.
The more I think about it, the more I begin to think good professional developers must be good communicators - in their code and with people. Think of the old saying - the more you know, the more you realise you don't know.
That's not to say you want somebody who isn't confident: but neither do you want someone that is cocky and unwilling to interact with others.
Recently someone asked about whether they should become a programmer in this posting. No matter how a programmer starts out they will likely learn from many mistakes they've made and as a result have an element of humility about themselves and development in general.
A good programmer continues to learn and keeps a relatively open mind.
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I am reletively new to c++ programming can anyone please tell me how does Direct-X SDK is helpful and how does it works and how can we use it in game programming.I Downloaded it and I found lots of header files and documentation also tells something about game programming.
DirectX is a library (a large collection of classes, really) that allows you to "talk" to the video adapter, sound card, keyboard, mouse, joystick, etc. It allows you to do it much more efficiently then other "standard" Windows functions. This is important because games need all the performance gain you can get - and DirectX has plenty to offer in this regard. Especially when it comes to graphics programming, because it has functions that enable you to use the 3D acceleration features of your graphics card. Windows doesn't have such functions by default.
The DirectX SDK contains:
Documentation for all the features of DirectX;
Tutorials in the C++ language to get you started if you don't know anything;
Sample applications;
The necessary .h and .lib files to add DirectX support to your program;
The debug version of DirectX (I think, I'm not so sure about this one)
The DirectX redist that you can include with your own programs.
If you're not up to speed with C++ then starting with DirectX development will be quite difficult, as either of these things has a pretty big learning curve.
Btw - you did download the latest version from Microsoft webpage, not a 5 years old copy from some web guy, right?
Your question is way to broad. DirectX can help you create games in more ways that you can (considering youre new) imagine.
Rendering (putting stuff on the screen), input (responding to what happens on the users mouse/keyboard), network (for multiplayer), reading files, fonts, 3D-models, sound. To name a few.
I urge you not to try to write something yourself directly utilizing DirectX. Getting something good out of it is an extremely complex task. Dont reinvent the wheel unless you plan to learn more about wheels. (The wheel here being DirectX.)
If you just want to get up and running and make World of Warcraft 2, I suggest you use premade DirectX implementations (usually called game engines) such as Ogre, Irrlicht or HGE (simpler, but only for 2D games).
Good luck, dont give up and welcome back later with your first real question. :)
I'd like to add that "game programming" does not necessitate graphics programming. DirectX, like OpenGL, provides a basis to create a graphics application; but, as mentioned, it's very low level.
As a professional game developer, I would not suggest just jumping into DirectX after learning C++. It's a difficult endeavor that will move slowly and provide you little motivation to continue. It's definitely something to keep in mind for your future; but, for the moment, it would be more beneficial to play with something complete, possibly start with gameplay programming.
Note: In addition to C++ skills, you will also need some mathematical talents. Linear algebra and trigonometry are the primary concerns.
Check out a lightweight engine like Angel. It's a fairly intuitive starting point and small enough that you can fully understand what's happening within it.
As always, try to make small edits and projects for yourself in the beginning and then move on to bigger and badder tasks!
Good luck!
I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but Frank Luna's book on DirectX is a very good intro.
But if you're a relative newcomer to C++, DirectX may be too low-level for what you're looking for. I mean, are you looking to create a colorful rotating cube, or do you want to make a semi-complete game? Assuming the latter, you probably want a framework that abstracts away the low-level details of either DirectX or OpenGL. For that, I can heartily recommend Ogre 3D. The tutorials alone will get you up and running before you know it.
Read: The Art of 3D Game Programming with Direct X 2002.
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I haven't done C++ for about three years and looking to get back and ready. What is the best way? any open source projects that I might want to look at to recall all the details and be ready for interviews?
I started reading (again) C++ Primer 5th edition but was wondering whether there's more efficient way since I did program in C++ for few years before.
Just wanted to add: Does anyone know about open source projects related to finance? (e.g. servers, fix, etc)
I was facing a similiar situation a while back, and my conclusion was - no matter how many smart books you read nothing will suit you better then practicing.
Find some tutorials or set yourself some simple goals and learn by doing.
Hope that helps
PS. A friend of mine asked me once "How do you eat an elefant? - in small pieces, one at a time"
I'd start in on a real project.
If nothing else, download an open source C++ project that's in the same realm as the jobs you want to target, and start modifying. Practice helps more than anything for being comfortable.
If you're going to focus on reading, or in addition to practice, I'd actually focus on reading books that work more on using C++ well, not necessarily learning C++. Effective C++, More Effective C++, and Effective STL are great for this - you'll learn new things while refreshing your old knowledge. You can always use the primer book as a reference to study things you've forgotten as you read about them elsewhere.
Pick something that you know very little about and attempt to make a program that works with that subject area. For example if you've never done GUI work fire up C++ and try to create a simple paint program in the GUI framework of your choice (Qt, WTL, whatever). Or if you've never worked with a database grab SQLite and create a little app that manages your time. Or better yet, combine all these areas into a larger program.
The key is to force yourself to learn how to do real, practical things and solve problems using the languages paradigms. Books are great to reinforce certain practices but they'll never replace hours of frustration trying to figure out why your pointers aren't pointing where they're supposed to.
If you are good at maths (or statistics, probability, finance, geometry) and want to recall how to build re-useable functions, classes, and templates, you are welcome to help us at mathlibcpp. I recommend it, its good learning. Building a complete library on a large subject is very educatively hard ;) I found a chance to use all OO methods I know in C++, even forced to learn more.
Regarding Fix, there is QuickFAST, a very efficient implementation of the 'Fix for streaming' protocol.
Regarding C++, I would look for something that uses Boost, as it seems to be a premiere library for C++ (QuickFAST uses it to some degree).
Check out http://www.topcoder.com. This is an amazing tool for practicing programming in many different languages (C++, Java, C, C#). You can even win money if you get good at it:)
As with anything, write many programs, (re)read the best books (such as Effective C++, already mentioned). :-)
And ledger is an open source finance program written in C++. (GnuCash is another but written in C.)
Most of KDE is written in C++, albeit with Qt's signal extensions. Probably lots of examples of good code there.