http://www.wrong.net Game development done right Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:41:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Using an interface seems like one of those rules.  Everybody knows they should do it, because it makes your code more abstracted and... stuff. However, if you have a gigantic class with a ton of methods, or methods that are very specific to its implementation, then simply providing an interface that ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/10/10/interfaces-necessary-but-not-sufficient/ "You can't turn a pig's ear into a silk purse." "It's not a global, it's a singleton!" Description: An "acceptable" design pattern is placed on top of a concept that is generally avoided Symptoms: Problems associated with a known poor development practice start cropping up.  Problem areas are defended by spouting off the name of the ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/06/20/anti-pattern-silk-pursing/ Dependencies and coupling seem to cause the greatest pain in software development.  I think it's useful to look at the types of dependencies that can exist. Contained Dependencies A contained dependency is a dependency that a class has, but which is not communicated externally.  The class uses the contained object, and so is ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/05/23/types-of-dependencies/ One of the things that's been floating around in my mind is the difference between object types and value types.  Conceptually, it's the difference between a dialog and an integer or string.  In my mind, I understand the intent, but I dislike categorizing by intent, as that leads to fuzzy ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/05/14/defining-value-types/ Ahhh, probably the most controversial subject in development.  I don't know of any single issue that is more likely to get people riled up, either for or against it. My experience is pretty simple.  I've never done pair programming "full-time."  But, like most programmers, I've done it at times - working ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/04/26/thoughts-on-pair-programming/ In skiing, there's a concept called the "fall line."  The fall line just means down.  But it doesn't mean "towards the bottom of the hill," it just means what is immediately down from the exact location you're at - if you dropped a ball, or poured some water, which way ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/04/26/development-the-fall-line-and-process/ And this time I'm going to drift into theory-land for a bit, and I'm not particularly fond of theory-land.  I prefer "getting-stuff-done-land," which is quite often located on another continent. Conceptually, objects are these things that sit in space and receive and spit out messages.  And if we look ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/03/19/a-common-unit-testing-pattern-part-3/ So, reading the last post, it might seem like I'm advocating a lot of extra work to do anything.  Having each class create its own interfaces for everything probably seems a bit insane.  Wouldn't it be better to define a single, universal interface for, say, a database? Short answer:  no.  ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/03/10/a-common-unit-testing-pattern-part-2/ There's two things you frequently hear when talking to developers about TDD.  It's either "our code is too complicated, you can't separate it" or "how can you test a database" (or graphics system, or insert other complicated system). Here's an example of code that someone might have in mind. ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/03/06/a-common-unit-testing-pattern/ Recently, I've been finding myself spending way too much time thinking about tools for game development, and not doing enough game development.  So, after I get through the current crunch state I'm in, I think I'm going to set a goal for myself to write a game in a week, ... http://www.wrong.net/2008/03/04/little-games/