video game

updated 2001-11-09.

Contents:

• 4D toys for children
• Michael Abrash
• assembly language programming
• (funny) Game Tips
• game emulators
• misc

related pages:

• music.html [FIXME: should some of the stuff on this page move there ?]
• computer_graphics_tools.html
• creed.html has some more serious counterparts to the ``game quotes'' I've collected here.
• Some video games run on wearable or handheld computers wearable_electronic.html .
• "The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord" link_farm.html#overlord
• data_compression.html#interpolation for more on high-speed, low-memory interpolation.
• computer_architecture.html#compiler has some more pointers to program speed optimization, including assembly-language

I have wanted to write video games since I was in elementary school. Here's a few related fragments. (extremely rough)

to do: write video game

to do: write video game review website. See http://www.deja.com/[ST_rn=if]/threadmsg_if.xp?AN=501128569 . Rather than just directly rank games (10 = great, 1 = lousy), try to match games up with personalities, like movies or book review places do -- "People who enjoyed *that* also really liked *this*." to accomodated personal tastes.

[FIXME: consider moving most of this information to http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?CategoryGameProgramming or to Game Design Wiki http://ludism.org/gamedesign/ ]

4D toys for children

See also dimension.html for more stuff on 4D.

I have a friend who thinks humans are wired up to handle 3D (three dimensional) objects. While I agree with him that 4D objects are difficult for me to visualize, I believe that's merely because I haven't had a lot of practice. I know a lot of adults have trouble visualizing things in 3D. My personal theory is that they didn't play with enough 3D toys (manipulatives) as children. I'd like to make some 4D toys available to children (simulated on a game computer), to see if they're able, with practice, to visualize objects in 4D.

• Sudden death in the fourth dimension http://kbs.cs.tu-berlin.de/~jutta/swd/hyper-game.html a very simple game; people can play it without even realizing it's 4D.
• it has even been theorized by Russian physiologist Elie de Cyon in 1901 that our experiential organization of the three-dimensional planes of Euclidean SPACE and its x-y-z axes are somehow oriented by our three perpendicular ear canals. Others have further speculated that all animals sense of SPACE varies with their unique physiology. http://www.electronetwork.org/works/ae/order/
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/dimensions.html [FIXME: move to dimension.html ?]
• Mark Newbold's Rhombic Dodecahedron Page This page discusses the Rhombic Dodecahedron and its relationship to the 4-dimensional hypercube. http://www.sover.net/~manx/rhdodec.html points to a hypercube applet http://www.sover.net/~manx/hyprcube.html that lets you rotate and view a hypercube along all 4 perpendicular axis.
• Why 3D can't work. From the "Information Visualization" Dept. by Tai Toh http://www.pixelsandwidgets.com/weblogs/archives/000200.shtml#000200 argues that even 3D is too much for most people. But rather than suggesting that we *train* people to give them new abilities, he suggests we should pander to their weaknesses. (-: me, biased ? :-).
• The "hyperspace travel" in Hyper-Chess http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~djc/personal/hyperchess.html is interesting.
• ``Next Generation, 4D Distributed Modeling and Visualization'' Project team: John Flynn and Hassan Foroosh (Professor Avideh Zakhor) http://www-video.eecs.berkeley.edu/vismuri/murindex.html

  The focus of this project is to construct 4D (i.e., time-varying 3D) models for real world scenery, ranging from objects, rooms, and interior and exterior of buildings, to urban areas and cities. The aim is to devise fast, robust, automatic, and accurate modeling techniques, which lead to compact representations of real world scenery for fast and accurate arbitrary view synthesis and rendering in augmented reality applications.

  -- http://buffy.eecs.berkeley.edu/IRO/Summary/01abstracts/chapter9.html
• "Visualizing the Fourth Dimension Using Color" by Mark L. Irons http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Puzzles/visualizing.4D/

Michael Abrash

[FIXME: move all this to http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?MichaelAbrash ?

Reading his books inspires me to strive for really, really fast code.

Michael Abrash is one of the developers of Quake.

• "A More Accurate Timing Tool" by Mike Dawdy http://www.wdj.com/notgone/708art.htm | http://www.wdj.com/archive/0708/ a critique of Michael Abrash's Zen timer, including far more information than I want to know about the 8259, plus source code to improved timing functions.
• "How-to Get Accurate Timing" http://www.geocities.jp/sios_hp/
• [the Zen timer is available at many locations -- where is the latest and best version maintained ?] | http://www.filelibrary.com/Contents/DOS/76/8.html |
• http://www.bsoftware.com/v2/a18c26p8.htm | http://www.professional.org/pse/plinksp.html | "Misc Source Code -- Game Programming Resources and Links" http://ziron.com/links/msrccode.htm | http://scitechsoft.com/dp_fw.html | http://www.burklabs.com/wdj/wdjskels/07_08.htm | http://sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/source/00index.html
• Borland uses QueryPerformanceCounter for sub-millisecond timing (using the counter in the Pentium).
• a simple example of using the Zen Timer http://er4www.eng.ohio-state.edu/~dalleyg/Syncing.htm
• an example of using the Zen Timer "Making Programs Go Faster" http://www.ercb.com/ddj/1995/ddj.9501.html
• "accurate timers" http://www.8052.com/forum/read.phtml?id=53843 lists several timers for Windows.
• http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ProfileBeforeOptimizing discusses why assuming that something will speed things up is probably a bad idea -- if you're not going to actually measure how fast it is now, then it's probably not worth making it faster.
• http://www.ddj.com/ | http://www.ddj.com/articles/
• Q. Some of the most interesting new material in your book explains what you did with Quake. Why are you so open with your life's work instead of keeping it close to you?
  A. I like feeling like I have a positive effect on the world, and sharing knowledge is the best way I've found to make that happen.

  Q. With the new 3D hardware, is it still hard to write a good game engine?
  A. You bet. More than half the code in Quake is in the tools, not the game itself, let alone the rasterizer. Hardware saves the effort that currently is expended on doing a fast rasterizer, sure -- but that just moves more of the effort to other equally difficult areas, such as physics, networking, game logic, ...

  Q. What do you recommend for up and coming programmers who want to get into the gaming industry?
  A. Do what you love and work as hard as you can, and success will come. John says anyone who's willing to work until they drop for a year or two can have an impact. While being really smart certainly helps, working hard is absolutely essential. Knowing as much math as possible also helps. -- http://clbooks.com/interviews/abrash.html

• http://www.coriolis.com/ ???
• Michael Abrash's Doctor Dobb's Journal Columns http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/8630/dobbs.html
• http://www.ddj.com/articles/1995/9516/
• Port of Michael Abrash's DDJ:ZSort code for XFree86 DGA http://sdss.ucsd.edu/~jesus/dga.html "It works under Linux and FreeBSD and might work under others"
• ($60) _Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book, Special Edition_ (1997-07)(1 200 pages) "a collection ... clearly targeted at game developers and serious assembly language programmers, not for the general reader. ... His complete works are contained in this massive volume, including everything he has written about performance coding and real-time graphics. The CD-ROM contains the entire text in Adobe Acrobat 3.0 format, allowing fast searches for specific facts. " includes "The Zen Timer, Michael's legendary code profiling tool "
• a writer with a somewhat similar style of optimization humor http://www.cubic.org/source/archive/coding/assembly/optimize/

http://sdss.ucsd.edu/~jesus/dga.html

assembly language programming

[FIXME: don't I have a few comments on other languages elsewhere ? Cross-link.]

See also computer_graphics_tools.html#Bresenham for low-level algorithms for drawing lines, circles, Bezier curves, etc.

• http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LearningAssemblyLanguage
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembler lists lots of assemblers, many of them GPLed
• The Art of Assembly Language Programming http://webster.ucr.edu/Page_asm/ArtofAssembly/artofasm.html | http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/Page_asm/ArtofAssembly/ArtofAsm.html | http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/Page_asm/ArtOfAsm.html includes a chapter on "Context Free Languages" and how to implement them.
• "IDA Pro is a Windows or Linux hosted multi-processor disassembler and debugger ... Just grab an evaluation version if you want a test drive." http://datarescue.com/idabase/ (... supports Intel, Motorola, Atmel AVR, Microchip PIC, Microsoft .NET, ...)
• "OllyDbg is a 32-bit assembler level analysing debugger for Microsoft® Windows®. Emphasis on binary code analysis makes it particularly useful in cases where source is unavailable." http://ollydbg.de/

Game Tips

(I am going to move these game tips to some wiki Real Soon Now. Is there a better one than http://freegames.wiki.taoriver.net/moin.cgi/GameTip ? )

I always think the wacky "game tips" in WarCraft and some other games are hilarious; here's a list of similar tips that I hope to put in my video game someday.

See creed.html for some humorous "laws".

See bignums.html#morbid for many little factoids about death and destruction.

• "If you are sitting in Afghanistan, on a former Soviet air base, waiting in your operations hut to recover the crew that went out to pick up casualties from an insurgent attack, and you want to put a movie in the DVD player to kill time while you wait for them to get back,

  Don't pick Red Dawn." -- "Haji the Afghanhound" http://jinxmedic101.xanga.com/693864938/words-of-wisdom/

• "Do not block the donkey's snorkel." -- Craig and Heather 2010-04-26
• "The prudent pilot uses superior judgment so that superior skill is never required." -- Philip Greenspun http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2008/03/04/why-i-want-to-be-an-airline-pilot/
• ``Did you notice, the word missile begins with the word "miss"? That explains a lot about how these things work.'' -- Anu Garg August 12, 2001

•   \|/ ____ \|/
    ~@-/ oO \-@~
    /_( \__/ )_\
       \__U_/ 
  

  A good friend will come and bail you out of jail... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!" -- Dave King 2005-07-18, perhaps quoting someone else.
• Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors. http://www.raptureme.com/humor/hb4.html
• Weiner's Law of Libraries - There are no answers, only cross-references.
• Isaac's Strange Rule of Staleness - Any food that starts out hard will soften when stale. Any food that starts out soft will harden when stale.
• Lerman's Law of Technology - Any technical problem can be overcome given enough time and money.

  Corollary - You are never given enough time or money.

• Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs. -- http://www.jagshouse.com/pearls.html
• "Home is where the Air Force Sends Us" -- Gail Richards http://www.jugglezine.com/CDA/juggle/letters/0,1518,,00.html
• ``Which fundamental human right do you want to give up today?'' http://www.macfergus.com/niels/dmca/cia.html
• ``Pogue's Law: any extra speed introduced by faster chips is soon offset by increasingly bloated software.'' http://www.macworld.com/1999/11/opinion/desktopcritic.html
• "We need to focus on the really important problems!" -- unknown
• • The pain threshold at the tip of a dry finger is approximately 60°C.
  • Saliva boils at 100°C or a few degrees higher, depending on your body chemistry.
  • If you can touch the top of a chip without pain, you're in good shape.
  • If the chip is burning hot to the touch, and a saliva-coated finger sizzles, you're in real trouble.
  -- ``Measuring temperature the all-natural way'' by Brian Dipert http://archives.e-insite.net/archives/ednmag/reg/1997/080197/16df_01.htm#Measuring%20temperature%20the%20all-natural%20way
• "Just like any other human being, a baby isn't like any other human being." -- Samantha Critchell 2001-02-18, possibly paraphrasing Tracy Hogg.

• From: "Arthur E. Sowers" <arthures at access5.digex.net>
  Newsgroups: alt.inventors,alt.inventorworld,misc.int-property,misc.education.science,misc.legal,sci.research.careers,soc.college,rec.arts.sf.science
  Subject: Re: What is the career half-life for PhDs?
  Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 22:57:57 -0500
  Organization: DIGEX
  Lines: 98
  ...
  On Wed, 26 Mar 1997, Chris Lawson wrote:
  
  > "Arthur E. Sowers" <arthures at access5.digex.net> wrote:
  >
  > >March 25, 1997
  >
  > >subject: What is the career half-life for PhD scientists?
  >
  > >I have been accumulating information relating to the subject for some time
  > >now. Career half-life can be defined by tracking, for example, one hundred
  > >PhDs from somewhere after they are awarded their degree and when they are
  > >fully able to exercise their perogatives and tallents in their own labs
  >
  > What particularly concerns me about the half-life of PhDs is that the
  > fission products might be highly radioactive! Has anyone looked for
  > alpha-particles radiating from post-docs?
  >
  > regards,
  > Chris
  >
  > _____________________
  > Chris Lawson
  > claw at ozemail.com.au
  >
  
  Chris, think back about your fundamental physics. Unstable isotopes
  generally decay into less unstable isotopes, or at least isotopes with
  such long half-lives that physicists simply declare that they are not
  radioactive and thus are stable. Post docs probably radiate a lot of
  energy. As life goes on, we all "decay" into more stable and less
  radio-ACTIVE forms, and finally we end in an in-ACTIVE form, called the
  dead state. But taxes go on.
  
  Or, am I being too obtuse for you?  ;-)    see below....
  
  Art Sowers
  -------------------------------------------------------
  Written in the public interest, the essays on
  "Contemporary Problems in Science Jobs" are located at:
  http://www.access.digex.net/~arthures/homepage.htm
  Snail mail adr to me: P.O.Box 489, Georgetown, DE 19947
  Please email me at:  arthures at access.digex.net
  My "home" newsgroup: sci.research.careers
  -------------------------------------------------------
  
  I don't know where this originated from, it was
  passed on to me by someone else:
  
  
  "Some Thoughts To Get You Through Any Crisis"
  
  1. Indecision is the key to flexibility.
  2. Happiness is merely the remission of pain.
  3. The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.
  4. Sometimes too much to drink is not enough.
  5. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
  6. There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack
     of preparation.
  7. You can't tell which way the train went by looking at
     the track.
  8. The careful application of terror is also a form of
     communication.
  9. Someone who thinks logically is a nice contrast to
     the real world.
  10. Things are more like they are today than they ever
      have been before.
  11. Everything should be made as simple as possible, but
      no simpler.
  12. Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for.
  13. Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.
  14. I have seen the truth and it makes no sense.
  15. Suicide is the most sincere form of self-criticism.
  16. If you think that there is good in everybody, you
      haven't met everybody.
  17. All things being equal, fat people use more soap.
  18. If you can smile when things go wrong, you have
      someone in mind to blame.
  19. One seventh of your life is spent on Monday.
  20. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
  21. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life
      is serious.
  22. The more you run over a dead cat, the flatter it gets.
  23. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
  24. This is as bad as it can get, but don't bet on it.
  25. Never wrestle with a pig. You both get all dirty, and
      the pig likes it.
  26. You can observe a lot by just watching.
  27. Three correct guesses in a row and you qualify to be
      an expert.
  28. If you don't know where you are going, any road will
      get you there.
  
  

• ``People stumble over the truth frequently, but most just pick themselves up and carry on as if nothing happened.'' -- Winston Churchill
• ``I do realize that there are easier, more ethical ways to relieve boredom. Ways that don't require killing myself afterwards.'' -- Ben (?), a character in a short story _Reason_ by 1997 Neale Grant http://www-jcr.lmh.ox.ac.uk/~roney/reason.txt
• "Why fall in love when you can go to the hardware store and buy a tool that will rip your heart out of your chest?" -- http://members.aol.com/Nikotai/isms.html
• "Too much of a good thing is wonderful." -- Mae West
• Never blow up the Earth in Chapter One, you might need it later. ~ D. Adams
• "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition." -- Lt. Commander Howell M. Forgy, while defending Pearl Harbor. "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!" Forgy, Howell Maurice (1908 - 1983) US naval lieutenant. Remark made during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 Dec 1941. Attrib. in The Los Angeles Times, 1941
• "Citizens of L.A., please do not fire handguns at the UFO. You may inadvertently trigger an interstellar war." -- (in the movie _Independence Day_).
• "It's hard to find people in society who can administer UNIX and professionally carry a weapon." -- Jim Williams, a former FBI Computer Intrusion Squad agent http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/04/28/infragard/index.html ... http://www.suroot.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/wiki.pl?GeeksWithGuns
• Feed the hungry. Save the Whales. free() the malloc()s. -- unknown
• ``Mars will never be free until the sands run red with Earther blood.'' --
• someone can use complicated terms about subjects that other people have never heard of, but the big words do not prove that this person knows what they're doing, makes any sense, or is providing a genuine service to humanity. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/articles/art10.html
• Oh what torment do the bugs bring me today - Aristotle, 420 BC
• We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way. - Huxley
• Yes, there was a world before electricity. It sucked. -- posted on Slashdot.
• People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die. -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
• there are two ways to write error-free programms. only the third one works! --
• "Happiness is a belt-fed weapon"
• "Walking on water and developing software to specification are easy as long as both are frozen" - Edward V. Berard.
• "XP horkage will not be tolerated. " http://www.mozilla.org/hacking/rules.html
• "If you hit the messengers, messages cease coming." -- Anne McCaffrey and S.M.Stirling, _The City who Fought_ book, ch. 20.
• "Alan, are you sure this is a good idea ?" -- Archer, leader of the Gorgonites, in the movie "Small Soldier".
• It's nice to know where the brakes are.
• "Subspace weapons are unpredictable. That's why they were banned." -- Jeordi LaForge, Star Trek: Insurrection.
• "You should be highly suspicious of any seafood that you're being urged to eat by a scientist." -- Dave Barry, in article "Tales of Suspect Scallops and other unsavory seafood" published 1994-11-29.
• "Happy endings suck the galactic muffin." -- Channa Hap [Anne McCaffrey and S.M.Stirling, _The City who fought_ Ch. 23, p. 427 (1993)][DAV: incomprehensible]
• A bald Tribble is not a pretty sight. -- Karen http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/6321/
• What value is freedom and life to a hero if others remain in bondage? http://www.rdrop.com/~hutch/Stories/KQ/kq_120.txt
• Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.
• Forget world peace. Visualize using your turn signals.
• Hippos kill more people than any other animal in Africa -- http://www.greatestplaces.org/fauna/fauna.html/basehippo.html
• As a computer, I find your faith in technology amusing.
• A black hole in the middle of your back yard is really bad for property values. -- http://plop.phys.cwru.edu/repairfaq/REPAIR/F_humor.html#HUMOR_013
• Death to all fanatics!
• Once you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend.
• There's nothing more intimidating than a naked man with a gun. -- M.C.
• you've been spending too much time with those humans. :-) -- Bob Boonstra 1995-12-01
• Why do we call this planet earth when the surface is mostly water ?
• Why do people long for eternal life when they don't even know what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon?
• Why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo ?
• Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM ?
• Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there?
• Why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor when you can't drink and drive?
• Job Search Tip: Do not hit your recruiter in the head with a water balloon. Aim for a leg. -- Mike Cassidy http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/columns/dispatches/docs/046477.htm
• "It is hard to catch a falling knife." -- Marty Wolf _Computer Reseller News_ 1998-12-14 p. 47
• "Cars Don't Float." -- Phil Mulkins.
• Killing people is bad PR. -- -- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 13:38:01 -0800 -- From: Scott Rainey <scottr at hevanet.com>
• Favorite unused computer book title: _The Compleat Demystified Idiots Guide to the Zen of Dummies in a Nutshell in Seven Days, Unleashed_ (scott hess <scott at doubleu.com> http://www.doubleu.com/ )
• If the windows blow out on your station wagon, perhaps you are using too much overpressure.
• "Physicists and English teachers think differently." -- K.R. (Kathy Ross), _Facts and Faith_ 1998
• "Before having major surgery, get a 2nd opinion"
• If you have to eat two frogs eat the big one first. - Anon via Bill Reveile <mvv at wco.com> http://www.wco.com/~mvv
• Don't knock on Death's Door; ring the bell and run away. He hates that. -- From: Hardrock Llewynyth <dharland at kendaco.telebyte.com> Date: Tue, 30 Dec 1997
• "Use caution when driving a motor vehicle or operating machinery." -- McNeil Tylenol

• Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 09:02:07 -0700
  Subject: "Sarah Carpenter (sarahc)" <sarahc at sequent.com>: The Facts of Life
  X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-52
  From: hackermonk at juno.com (Patrick I Dyche)
  

  The Facts of Life:

  • 1. The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
  • 2. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
  • 3. Money can't buy happiness. But it sure makes misery easier to live with.
  • 4. Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.
  • 5. Psychiatrists say that 1 of 4 people are mentally ill. Check 3 friends. If they're OK, you're it.
  • 6. Nothing in the known universe travels faster than a bad check.
  • 7. A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn.
  • 8. It has recently been discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
  • 9. Always remember to pillage BEFORE you burn.
  • 10. If you are given an open-book exam, you will forget your book.
  • 11. COROLLARY: If you are given a take-home test, you will forget where you live.
  • 12. The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was.
  • 13. It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
  • 14. Paul's Law: You can't fall off the floor.
  • 15. The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think.
  • 16. Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
  • 17. Vital papers will demonstrate their vitality by moving from where you left them to where you can't find them.
  • 18. Law of Probability Dispersal: Whatever it is that hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
• Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. -- Mark Twain
• http://members.toast.net/mark.amos/wisdom.htm has some more-or-less inspirational quotes.
• No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up. -- Lily Tomlin http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/BadScience.html

game emulators

game emulators [DAV likes Asteroids and Joust and Robotron]

See also idea_space.html#emulation .

• http://www.emuhq.com/ [news]
• http://creativemu.emuhq.com/ has lots of information on early video games
• http://www.csun.edu/~hbbuse08
• http://www.ipass.net/~kestep/kemu.htm
• http://www.fensende.com/Users/mcuddy/kem/
• http://www.FensEnde.com/kem/
• http://www.FensEnde.com/Users/mcuddy/
• http://www.eel.ufl.edu/~riffer/arcade/
• http://www.afn.org/~riffer/
• http://services.worldnet.net/winter/arom.htm
• http://valhalla.ph.tn.tudelft.nl/emul8
• M6502 Emulator Copyright (C) Marat Fayzullin, Alex Krasivsky 1996 http://freeflight.com/fms/
• M6809 emulator is based on L.C. Benschop's 6809 Simulator V09. Copyright 1994,1995 L.C. Benschop, Eidnhoven The Netherlands. ???
• Dave's Classic Video Game -AND- Classic console Emulation Page http://www.gamepen.com/gamewire/classic/classic.html
• http://www.aa.net/~miller MAME/W: Windows Front end for MAME
• ASTEROIDS EMULATOR V2.00 (C) Chris Pile 1997. ???

demo

the PC Demo Scene. Some really tight, fast, amazing code here.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demo_(computer_programming)
• pouët.net :: your online demoscene resource http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=3397
• DemoGL http://www.demogl.com/ seems to be a tool to help write audiovisual programs.
• http://linux.scene.org/news.php Scene.org is a non-profit organization aimed at providing the 'electronic art scene' with a forum for communication and for sharing their work.
• http://www.cdrom.com/titles/games/hor_u01.htm "A Demo is music, graphics, code, and design bundled into one small program. Demos are often one or two years ahead of games in coding and graphic tricks." http://www.cdrom.com/titles/games/hor_u02.htm "PC Demos, as they are affectionately called, are not game or commercial Demos. They are beautiful multimedia works of art, produced by brilliant young minds, advertising nothing. They are art for the sake of art."
• http://www.error-404.com
• http://www.scene.org/ scene.org is a site dedicated to the demoscene, concentrating on quality instead of quantity.
• http://www.oldskool.org/ has some ancient (yet clever) videogames. A Guide to the PC Demo Scene http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained/
• PC Demo Fan Club http://www.jerware.org/fanclub/
• http://hornet.org/ Provided a home for the PC demo scene from September 4th, 1992 until September 22nd, 1998. On Feb 17, 2002 the archive was partially restored, and a new search engine was created.

GUI: graphical user interface

Here I'm listing all the GUI toolsets (GUI layer of the operating system) I know about. Why re-invent the wheel ? Some systems have the GUI mixed up in the OS computer_architecture.html#os .

• MiniGUI http://www.icewalk.com/app.php?id=1366 | http://www.minigui.org ``MiniGUI is an LGPLed free software project ... to provide a fast, stable, and lightweight Graphics User Interface support system, which is especially fit for real-time embedded systems based on Linux.''
• wxWindows - "arguably the most complete freeware portable C++ GUI toolkit". http://web.ukonline.co.uk/julian.smart/wxwin/ wxWindows is a class library that allows you to compile graphical C++ programs on a range of different platforms: Windows 95, Macintosh, Linux... . See also the wxWindows Developers' Site http://wxwin.projects.ml.org , a resource for the people contributing to the wxWindows effort.
• the GNOME Project http://www.gnome.org/ The GNOME project intends to build a complete, user-friendly desktop based entirely on free software. GNOME is part of the GNU project. The desktop will consist of small utilities and larger applications which share a consistent look and feel. GNOME uses GTK as the GUI toolkit for all GNOME-compliant applications.
• the KDE desktop http://www.kde.org/
• platform-independent Graphical User Interface (PIGUI) development kit FAQ "portable GUI FAQ" ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/news/answers/portable-GUI-software mirror http://www.zeta.org.au/~rosko/pigui.htm
• Linux GUI Window Managers http://linux.tqn.com/msub6.htm?pid=2801&cob=home with example screen shots http://linux.miningco.com/library/gallery/blscrn20.htm
• ``The Embedded Linux GUI/Windowing Quick Reference Guide'' Updated April 16, 2002 http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT9202043619.html

misc

• http://www.sundialsoft.freeserve.co.uk/ 2D and 3D game libraries for pocket PC devices
• Kyle Doerksen has lots of links to game programming http://www.perpetual.net/kyle/coding.html has posted his report on "Fractal Image Compression" online. Lots of cool stuff.
• Rust game editing design http://www.gamedesign.net/
• http://www.crack.com/golgotha_release/ precompiled executables and source code and data files for "Golgotha" using "a public-domain, competitive outdoor 3D engine" is being finished with help from Linux Game Development Center (LGDC) http://www.LinuxGames.com/
• Oric Software http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/cgi/alexios/Oric-Soft/menu?frames=off&DE=on&UK=on&enter.x=28&enter.y=23
• http://www.defence-force.org/ working on his own video game. Links to other game developers ?
• Game Programming http://www.gameprog.com/ includes a message base and a reference section: Theory Graphics Physics Humor Psychology Artificial Intelligence Sound Demo Effects Math Assembly DirectX
• Coding Topics http://www.cubic.org/source/archive/coding/ Algorithms (3D, Polygons, ...), game programming, Voxel Landscapes, low-level VGA graphics in assembly, Programming gravity, etc.
• _Thinking In Postscript_ a book that covers Postscript language http://www.cubic.org/source/archive/coding/
• Ten Techniques for Faster Image Drawing http://www.gamasutra.com/features/visual_arts/061997/ten_techniques_faster_image.htm "Matt Pritchard is a software developer for Lacerte Software in Dallas, Texas, and the author of MODEX110, a comprehensive freeware Mode X library."
• The Difference Engine http://www.gamers.org/dEngine/ includes the "Quake Documentation Project" http://www.gamers.org/dEngine/quake/ ,
• 3D Engines List http://cg.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ki/engines.html "an overview of software 3D engines for realtime graphics and VR on various platforms. Each engine is reviewed with list of features, ... and links to download a demo or the source. There are currenly 505 engines on the 3DEL."
• http://www.gamesdomain.co.uk/gamedev/ ???
• "Real World Graphics" http://infoweb.magi.com/~dlai/theory.html Tutorials with code ... Theory.
• Roger Rhudy http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~rrhudy2/ has a bunch of information and examples of writing 3D games, including "Graphical Adventure Game Builder for Idiots"
• "Recommended Game Graphics Books!" http://www.cbooks.com/lists/Game/game.html
• "Fidonet's 80xxx Snippets: A file site for 80x86 Assembly Language enthusiasts." http://www.cet.com/~jvahn/ has a list of book recommendations, and pointers to web sites on 80x86 assembly language.
• 3D Graphic Engines http://flophouse.com/~sioux/graphics/engines.html a short description of the many types of graphic engines (from non-real-time photorealistic rendering engines to 6DOF texture mapping engines to high-speed engines), with lots of pointers (some game engines have open source).
• http://www.fastlane.net/~gpwossum/pexdl.html ???
• http://www.gameprog.com/graphics.htm
• Michael Walden start at http://www.voicenet.com/~mwalden/ (some pointers to game programming) ???

misc

• Tomby's Virtual Reality and 3D graphics page :} http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~tomby/3de.html maintains the Xvizn C++ VR library (interestingly, supports a ascii art mode)

"network game support ... learn about how the Open Transport system software extension will make it relatively easy for users from different platforms to play together." -- Eric Klein, Entertainment Evangelist, Apple Computer, in article "The Seven Deadly Sins of Macintosh Game Development", _AppleDirections_ July 1995.

devsupport at applelink.apple.com ... "Several times a year, Apple sponsors local game "kitchens", programming clinics where Apple engineers help you port or perfect your Macintosh game. ... the competition for kitchen slots is fierce, but if you'd like to be considered, send a persuasive e-mail to Eric Klein at <klein at apple.com>." -- _AppleDirections_ July 1995.

From: ki at cs.tu-berlin.de (Karsten Isakovic)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.algorithms,comp.graphics.misc,rec.games.programmer,de.comp.graphik
Subject: 3D Engines List on WWW
Date: 7 Sep 1995 12:11:28 GMT
Organization: Technical University of Berlin, Germany
Lines: 39

Hi,

i just wanted to announce a newer version of my 3D engines list that is
available at

   http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ki/engines.html

It tries to provide an overview of software 3D engines for realtime
graphics and VR on various platforms. Up to now there are 113 engines:

- 37   Texture mapping engines       (+8)
- 11   Gouraud shading engines       (+4)
- 19   Doom/Wolfenstein engines      (+6)
- 17   Flat-shading engines          (+4)
-  8   Wireframe/no shading engines  (+3)
- 17   Landscape rendering engines   (+17)
-  4   Non-realtime engines          (+0)

each with a list of features, contact information (email, link to homepage)
and links to download a demo or the source of the engine.


New features of the list:

- The "Readme Pages" of 49 engines are available.

- The "List of Changes" page ( http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ki/changes.html )
  now has direct links back into the "3D Engines List" for every new entry.

- Some information updates for the engines already in the list.


There is also another page about features and techniques used in commercial
3D games engines.


Greetings, Karsten Isakovic
---
FR 3-3, Computer Graphics, Technical University of Berlin

misc

• http://www.vrnews.com/ ???
• Jason Hutchens http://www.amristar.com.au/~hutch/ talks about the Loebner contest, an instantiation of the Turing test, and some programs he has submitted to it. (AI).
• International RoShamBo Programming Competition http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~darse/rsbpc.html scissors-paper-rock. DAV finds it fascinating that several of the top contenders were "mini-bots" of under 40 C statements in length.
  • Iocaine Powder http://ofb.net/~egnor/iocaine.html a very good scissors-paper-rock algorithm.
• source code to "Aliens Vs Predator" released. http://www.pcgamer.co.uk/news/news_page.asp?news_id=3180 | http://www.avpnews.com/
• Allegro: A game programming library http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/ | mirror: http://alleg.sourceforge.net/allegro/
• http://slashdot.org/articles/00/08/18/1249217.shtml talks about all kinds of games -- from text-based to full 3d, from single-player to fully networked.
• the Classic Video Games Nexus http://fly.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/cvg/nexus/
• http://www.gamegirlz.com/
• "Being shot at can be ... annoying." -- article "Software For Sisters" http://www.computerbits.com/archive/19990700/sisters.htm
• Game Development Search Engine http://www.gdse.com/ "From Programming to Creative Design"
• http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/9315/projects.htm fast 2D sprites; fast entropy coding which claims to be faster *and* more compact than static huffman [FIXME: put my image compression alg online, and email him the URI]
• http://www.games.org/
• strategy game reviews http://www.gamespot.com/strategy/
• Bresenham line drawing algorithm (and variations for texture mapping)
• comp.graphics.algorithms
• texture mapping
• raycasting
• polygonal graphics
• BSP trees
• backface culling
• lighting
• CNET Gamecenter.com http://www.gamecenter.com/ game news and reviews
• "a soundtrack ... accounts for a greater portion of the "atmosphere" of the show than nearly anything else. Without it, the movie (which I otherwise quite liked) was kinda flat" -- Burt Clothier <antar at wolfenet.com> (1999-01-05)(To: pdx-b5-l at q7.com)
• http://www.rendition.com/ToTheRRedline.html Take It To The RRedline Rendition-Ready Programming Contest has links to some cool demo programs.
• Boids and flocking
  • Boids by Craig Reynolds http://hmt.com/cwr/boids.html -- Cool Java animation of a flock of boids. Flocking is a particularly evocative example of emergence: where complex global behavior can arise from the interaction of simple local rules.

    Craig Reynolds http://hmt.com/cwr/ the creator of "flocking boids"; a huge list of links about AL,AI, agents, virtual reality, etc.

    Steering Behaviors For Autonomous Characters http://hmt.com/cwr/steer/ cool Java online demos for Game AI. includes "Obstacle Avoidance" and "flocking".

  • "model-based animation" by Rick Parent http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~parent/book/Modl.html flocking, kinematics (Jacobian), walking, plant growth [FIXME: to read] [FIXME: does the "walking" section apply to robots ?] [FIXME: relevant to computer graphics ?]
  • "Using a Fuzzy Active Walk to Model Flocks of Birds" report by Mohommed M. Kamal, Beatrice Kilel, Russell C. Youmans, 1999-12-01 http://www.science.gmu.edu/~ryoumans/csi801/FinalReport.html [FIXME: check out the links]
• [video game ? general programming ?] http://codeguru.earthweb.com/
• ``I'm a cyborg, with half of my brain residing on bits and pieces of servers all over the world. ... now I'm starting to think that I may be about to lose my mind. I mean, one lightning strike on Google.com and I'll be like Rush Limbaugh only worse -- more than half my brain tied behind my back. ... Still, this can't be good. I mean, I know that Google has mega-backups, but still, I simply can't continue to depend on an outside company for something so important as my mind. ... '' -- ``Kristina in Space: Linux Ate My Brain'' article by Kristina Pfaff-Harris Friday July 13th, 2001 http://linux.com/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=12470
• Video games I wish they'd invent (idea) http://everything2.com/?node_id=1137125
• http://www.codeguru.com/ lots of source code and development tips.
• http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/games/ has some online games and reviews video games from a Christian perspective.

• Some Real Life truisims from the world of game development. You Know Your Game is in Trouble When.... http://www.concentric.net/~swoodcoc/youknow.html (humor). I also find The Game AI page http://www.concentric.net/~swoodcoc/ai.html (more serious Steve Woodcock) interesting.

• [FIXME: pull the relevant stuff out of dma_faq.html and move here.]
• "We need chocolate in order to be creative." -Rose http://www.tikifish.com/context.html
• "I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to worship me." -- http://www.davebastian.com/closet/20qs.html
• ``I have a personal vendetta against the whole idea of double clicks.'' -- Matthew Thomas (mpt) 2000-02-17 http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20455
• [#optimization -- game design ? computer architecture ?] ``Real-Time Music Synthesis & Embedded Applications'' article by Max Fomitchev music.html#Real_Time_Music_Synthesis
• FEED video game special issue: ``The Emotion Engines'' http://www.feedmag.com/vgs/intro.html ``a two-part theme issue on the industry, the aesthetics, and the future of videogames.'' Includes articles ... ``The Uses of Sim Sidewalks'' by Steven Johnson (

  SimCity implies a specific way of thinking about how a city works. While the game's devotees often champion the game's open-endedness, there's a value-system lurking behind each title, a vision of urban dynamics encoded into the underlying algorithms and their onscreen avatars. "In essence," Kelly writes, "SimCity is an urban theory provided with a user interface."

  );
• ``The fastest way to a man's heart is with a sharp knife right through his chest'' http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=495201 Other ways to a man's heart:
• http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=145463
• Things not to say when the U.S. Air Force is escorting an aircraft in your area http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=638223
• [incomprehensible quotes] `` No, wait a minute. If I'm really a woman that means I must be a lesbian. Unless I've been deluding myself about that too... I'm so confused now. I think I'll just go back to my electromagnetic energy-momentum stress tensor.'' -- Arcane Gazebo http://www.plastic.com/article.pl?sid=01/11/08/1350205
• Physics For Game Developers http://www.plastic.com/article.pl?sid=01/11/06/1813245
• "Whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must be silent." -- Ludwig Wittgenstein
• ``Other human beings are difficult and irritating to deal with at the best of times'' -- Zooko O'Whielacronx 2001-11-15 http://www.advogato.org/article/378.html
• [quote] ``I ... realized that we didn't have to put up with this, that we had the technology.'' David Nichols 1990-07-23 http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/bsy/coke.history.txt
• Things You Would Love to Say at Work http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/humor/work_sentiments.html might make good game quotes.
• http://www.cbloom.com/
• WaddleOn adventure game engine http://www.jtse.com/ seems to have lots of links to Linux games and Linux game programming
• ``is it really safe to have 2500 grumpy sleepless nerds in one place ?'' -- MulluskO 2002-01-19 http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/01/18/1445205&mode=thread
• Open Source Gaming Platform http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/22/0256201&mode=thread
• http://www.hawksoft.com/ has some LGPL (the HAWK game engine) and free open source software. [FIXME: check it out]
• GNU lightning is a library that generates assembly language code at run-time; it is very fast, making it ideal for Just-In-Time compilers http://www.gnu.org/software/lightning/lightning.html might be nifty for super-optimization ...
• ``I like high-tech toys that make loud noises, don't require extra work to get the next round in the chamber, and eject spent cases as quickly as possible.'' -- William Stone, III http://webleyweb.com/tle/libe164-20020311-02.html
• ``I have seen the truth and it makes no sense.'' -- unknown ``Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.'' -- unknown http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~adam/local/faq-adam.html#rohitsrules
• "If you're right 98% of the time, why quibble about the remaining 3%?" http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~adam/local/faq-adam.html#ninetyseven
• ``The various pieces of hardware we needed trickled in throughout the day, ... The moral to this story should be obvious: always do a dry-run. Had we assembled all the hardware in the same place the night before, we could have gotten all the software installed and configured and ready to go, and all we would have had to deal with on the day of the event would be cabling and acts of god (or of landlord.)'' -- jwz http://www.mozilla.org/party/1998/page6.html
• "Never underestimate the power of a bored 14-year-old..." -- http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiWipeout
• ``Of course, in Perl culture, almost nothing is prohibited. My feeling is that the rest of the world already has plenty of perfectly good prohibitions, so why invent more? That applies not just to programming, but also to interpersonal relationships, by the way.'' -- ``2nd State of the Onion'' by Larry Wall 1999-08-25 http://www.perl.com/pub/a/1998/08/show/onion.html
• Is Realism Destroying Video Games? http://slashdot.org/articles/02/04/06/1755208.shtml?tid=127
• http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~adam/msglist.html would seem to be an excellent source for more Game Tips.
• ``Saying that man is too dependant on technology is like saying sharks are too dependant on teeth.'' -- Mr. Lizard http://www.mrlizard.com/ | http://www.mrlizard.com/failure.html
• "We don't suffer from insanity. We enjoy every minute of it." http://www.attrition.org/
• ``As a general rule, programmers tend to have a high opinion of themselves. ... BSD Unix hackers, with some notable exceptions, are especially virulent in their self-assuredness. They aren't wrong very often, and when they are, convincing them of that fact requires several armies and quite a bit of heavy artillery.'' http://www.salon.com/tech/fsp/2000/05/16/chapter_2_part_one/index2.html
• Girl Games: In Which Lizard Once Again Exocriates The Press And Marketers And Makes A Confession http://www.mrlizard.com/girlgames.html ``There are people who like to play computer games, and there are people who don't. ... Make *good* games, and men and women (and boys and girls) will play them.'' ``You can't solve problems with your fists. You need a railgun. Or a rocket launcher.''
• Arcade Game Wisdom http://www.geocities.com/tlg_00/arcade_wisdom.html

  • 1. There is no problem that cannot be overcome by violence.
  • 3. If you see food lying on the ground, eat it.
  • 6. Many nice things are hidden inside other things.
  • 11. If it moves, KILL IT!
  • 12. One good guy can defeat an indeterminate number of bad guys.
  • 15. All shopkeepers carry high-tech weapons.
  • 26. Shooting innocents hurts.
  • 29. Whenever huge fat evil men are about to die, they begin flashing red or yellow.
  • 33. The enemy always leaves weapons and other goodies lying around for no reason other than so their bitter enemy can pick them up and defeat them with them.
  • 38. Carpe diem! You only live three times!

• 24 Important Rules Of Combat http://www.geocities.com/tlg_00/combat.html

  1. If the enemy is in range, so are you.

  6. Professionals are predictable, it's the amateurs that are dangerous.

  13. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.

  14. If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid.

• bumper sticker: ``Honk If You've Never Seen An Uzi Fired From A Car Window ''
• [FIXME: make section on periodicals of interest to video game developers; include stuff like http://www.GameDev.net/ ]
• ``Postmortem for Funny Faces'' article by Brian Sowers http://prodigygames.8k.com/articles/pfff.html

  SDL -- The Simple DirectMedia Layer (http://www.libsdl.org) was used for this project. I don’t recommend SDL for most commercial applications, because I’ve definitely found some shortcomings; however, the library’s simplicity and usefulness helped me complete the programming in the time allotted to myself. It is a great library, and I wholeheartedly recommend it -- especially for the beginning game programmer.

• Thomas Jahn http://pixelpracht.flipcode.com/ has a few articles about video game design that he's written in Deutsch and translated to English (or was it the other way around ?). ``Glitzerstaub is a 2D Particle Engine for Delphi.'' sounds interesting.
• ``When sending your wife down the road with a gas can, it is impolite to ask her to bring back beer too.'' http://home.att.net/~scorh/Rednecks.html
• ``Play along with whatever I say, Nancy and remember, I'm making it up as I go so don't believe anything I say no matter how convincing it sounds.'' http://www.spikewebb.com/netsc/adventur/004/c1p3.html
• ``Eh ... Being hungry for two years is better then being dead of starvation for only one.'' http://www.suburbanjungle.com/w/20001225.html
• "There are few things more dangerous than stupid people in large groups" -- unknown
• ``Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!'' ``Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.'' -- Bill Gates at Mt. Whitney high school in Visalia, California.
• Programmer's Virtual Library http://www.strangecreations.com/library/ includes
  • Getting Started in Game Development by Ben Sawyer
  • The rec.games.programmer FAQ,
  • Sound and Music
  • Games Programming
  • Source Code
  • Writing Intelligent Games by Zafer Barutcuoglu http://www.strangecreations.com/library/games/intgames.txt
  • Writing Smaller Games by Diana Gruber http://www.strangecreations.com/library/games/optimize.txt
  • Texture Mapping by Sean Barrett
• X-Mode Frequently Asked Questions - By Zoombapup (Phil) 2-Oct-94 http://www.cs.herts.ac.uk/~sh5ai/modex_faq.txt mirror: http://www.europa.com/~viper/cpp/modex.faq X-Mode Frequently Asked Questions - By Zoombapup (Phil) 12-Sept-94 http://www.oldskool.org/demos/pc/modex.faq (Mode-X is a family of VGA video modes that has several benefits to the video game programmer; which make it easier to build smooth animations )

  Mode-X explainations and code by draeden /vla (asm) http://www.programmersheaven.com/zone12/cat139/749.htm

• ProgrammersHeaven http://www.ProgrammersHeaven.com/ lots of info on Assembler (intel, HC11, PIC, ...) Graphics Demos and their source code Hardware and electronics Linux Sound and Music C and C++ Development Tools Windows programming
• [demos

  http://www.devinfo.com/archives/x2ftp/
  lots of demos and their source code;
  Music/sound playing/programming/writing source code;
  
  http://sunsite.auc.dk/demoscene/code/hornet/effects/3d/
  mirror:
  http://hornet.esoterica.pt/code/effects/3d/
  some 3D and texture mapping tutorials.
  
  
  the PC Game Programmer's Encyclopedia
  http://www.qzx.com/pc-gpe/
  mirror:
  http://www.ece.uiuc.edu/~ece291/class-resources/gpe/
  
  
  
  
  http://sunsite.auc.dk/demoscene/code/hornet/effects/pallette/
  documenting the pallete and how to deal with it
  (Assembler code to change/rotate/fade the palette;
  software to resample multiple 256 palettes into one)
  
  
  http://sunsite.auc.dk/demoscene/
  tons of demo and video-game programming information.
  (code is under "Demo Programming").
  
  
  Abe's Demoschool
  http://www.mds.mdh.se/föreningar/small/abe/
  some demo code (in C and assembler)
  3d-rotation, perspective projection, fixed point math, sorting
  
  
  The Hornet Archive is shutting down
  http://www.hornet.org/code/
  lots of demo source code
  
  
  Game Programming '98
  http://www.wotsit.org/game98.htm
  
  http://www.jado.org/
  ???
  
  
  MaximizeR's coding school
  http://members.xoom.com/max030/
  http://members.xoom.com/max030/download.htm
  demo source code (Pascal, Assembler)
  
  
  

• [keyboard]
  lots of information about the standard IBM keyboard
  (key codes, etc.) from the perspective of a PC programmer.
  http://www.cubic.org/source/archive/hardware/keyboard/
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [???]
  http://www.theregister.com/
  
  
  
  [serial port]
  The PowerGlove Serial Interface
  http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/sigarch/pgsi/
  "The PowerGlove Serial Interface (PGSI)
  ...
  allows a user to interface a Nintendo PowerGlove
  to any computer that has a standard serial port."
  (Inside the PGSI is a MC68HC11 )
  
  
  [PCMCIA]
  PCMCIA Dual Serial I/O Ports
  http://www.psism.com/pca-ser2.htm
  
  
  
  [serial port]
  
  Tomi Engdahl <Tomi.Engdahl at iki.fi>
  http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/pc/interface.html#serial
  
  Craig Peacock <cpeacock at senet.com.au>
  Interfacing the PC
  http://www.senet.com.au/~cpeacock/
  
  [/serial port]
  
  

• [program optimization] http://www.cacheprof.org/
• "One way to see it, If you want a rainbow, you must put up with the rain." - Michelle
• Game Developers Conference http://www.gdconf.com/
• Very few of the mathematicians that I know are murderers. -- Alex Kasman, recommending _The Bishop Murder Case_ murder mystery by S.S. van Dine (1929) http://math.cofc.edu/faculty/kasman/MATHFICT/mf201.html
• ``I will play tetherball with your spleen.'' -- Dave Barry 2001-02-26 The Miami Herald http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/travinfo/archives-9900/2-26-01/barry.html
• ``I will not chew my human's toothbrush'' -- http://www.arcanamatrix.com/furpeople/doggie_pledge.htm
• ``Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.'' ``Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.'' http://www.arcanamatrix.com/furpeople/learnfromdog.htm
• PolarPyramid http://amoras.2y.net/polarpyramid/ game engine: Multi platform, runs on UNIX and Windows32
• ``Never give a sword to anyone who can't dance.'' -- unknown
• ``Write bulletproof code before the shooting starts.'' -- unknown
• A Smith & Weston beats four aces. -- unknown
• ``An army marches on its stomach.'' -- Napoleon.
• # History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided. # History does not repeat itself. Historians repeat each other.
• He travels fastest who travels alone.
• ``You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.'' -- Al Capone
• Captain, I need to kill someone. - Worf
• ``Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.'' -- unknown
• ``When you pull the pin on Mr Grenade, he is no longer your friend.''
• If it was easy, the hardware people would take care of it.
• When in Trouble, And in Doubt, Run in Circles, Scream and Shout.
• Experience teaches you to recognize a mistake when you've made it again.
• ``Join the Army. Meet interesting people. And kill them.''
• God created people. Samuel Colt made them all equal. -- unknown

  ``Men were made big, and small. Samuel Colt made them all equal. Now, Gaston Glock has made some better than others.'' --Dave Wiggins

• ``Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.'' -- unknown, collary to Clarke's law
• "You never know what is enough until you know what is too much." -- William Blake (c. 1790 ?)
• "If you need something and don't buy it, you wind up paying for it anyway." -- Henry Ford
• If you like caffeine and can't stand coffee, drink Mountain Dew. If you drink a case of the stuff within a short amount of time, you can't blink. It's really cool. -David Paul White
• A friend is one who would help you move. A best friend is one who would help you move a body. --Jeff Wayman
• Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of the people I had to kill because they pissed me off. -- Jeff Wayman
• ``now is not the time to take the cheese off the pizza.'' -- Gordon Bethune, CEO of Continental Airlines, 2002
• If you can't take the heat, don't tickle the dragon. -Scott Fahlman
• Even evil people sometimes get up in the middle of the night to eat chocolate chip cookies. --Di Francis
• The best, most fulfilling, most rewarding, most advanced way to make the [angst and] pain go away is this: Extra Strength Tylenol -Martin Frankel
• ``The irresponsible people make life difficult for the remaining 10%'' -- pyotr filipivich 2002-03-09 (paraphrased)
• Never break a whiskey bottle over a woman's head. They take it personal. http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1051097
• "Hey, you have nice elbows!" "Thanks! I grew them myself!"
• ``As software developers, our goal is to produce code that not only solves our current problem, but can serve as the basis of our future problems.'' -- name omitted to protect the guilty.
• Harrisberger's Fourth Law of the Lab: Experience is directly proportional to the amount of equipment ruined. Horner's Five Thumb Postulate: Experience varies directly with equipment ruined. -- http://luc.aleaume.free.fr/new_site/site_fortune/html/definitions.html
• [funny laws; lots of quotes from the Jargon dictionary and similar definitions.] http://luc.aleaume.free.fr/new_site/site_fortune/html/definitions.html mirror: http://www.dat.etsit.upm.es/~jfs/debian/fortunes-es/fortune-mod-9708/datfiles/definitions mirror: http://www.joelmartin.com/quotes/datfiles/definitions
• [game quotes] Viking, n.: 1. Daring Scandinavian seafarers, explorers, adventurers, entrepreneurs world-famous for their aggressive, nautical import business, highly leveraged takeovers and blue eyes. 2. Bloodthirsty sea pirates who ravaged northern Europe beginning in the 9th century. Hagar's note: The first definition is much preferred; the second is used only by malcontents, the envious, and disgruntled owners of waterfront property. -- http://www.dat.etsit.upm.es/~jfs/debian/fortunes-es/fortune-mod-9708/datfiles/definitions
• QOTD: "I'm not really for apathy, but I'm not against it either..." ... QOTD: "Wouldn't it be wonderful if real life supported control-Z?" ... QOTD: I looked out my window, and saw Kyle Pettys' car upside down, then I thought 'One of us is in real trouble'. -- Davey Allison, on a 150 m.p.h. crash ... Renning's Maxim: Man is the highest animal when Man does the classifying. ... Robustness, adj.: Never having to say you're sorry. ... rugged, adj.: Too heavy to lift. -- http://luc.aleaume.free.fr/new_site/site_fortune/html/definitions.html
• [game quotes] The history of warfare is similarly subdivided, although here the phases are Retribution, Anticipation, and Diplomacy. Thus: Retribution: I'm going to kill you because you killed my brother. Anticipation: I'm going to kill you because I killed your brother. Diplomacy: I'm going to kill my brother and then kill you on the pretext that your brother did it. -- http://luc.aleaume.free.fr/new_site/site_fortune/html/definitions.html
• [game quotes] There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives. -- unknown.
• "From the moment AIDS was recognised as a strange and frightening phenomenon, speculation about its origin was irresistible. Growing just beneath the fear and speculation was the xenophobia that has often accompanied transcontinental propagation of epidemics". -- Donald P. Francis in 1989 http://www.ourcivilisation.com/aids/chap4.htm
• ``Uploaded cats are a bad idea.'' -- Manfred Macx, in ``Lobsters'' fiction by Charles Stross 2002 http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0206/Lobsters.shtml (singularity, uploading, future shock, wearables, civil rights for lobsters, etc.)
• http://www.butterfly.net/
• "There are 10 types of people in the world; those that read binary and those that don't." -- Anonymous Poster --
• _The Art of Computer Game Design_ by by Chris Crawford http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Coverpage.html
• Weitz describing fellow astronaut Dr. Story Musgrave exiting the Shuttle's airlock (STS-6; April 1983; maiden voyage of Space Shuttle Challenger) and becoming the first Americans to walk in space in nine years: "Story seemed like a butterfly coming out of a chrysalis, only he's not as pretty." http://www.spacestory.com/flyingdr.htm

• Now I know you have all seen pictures of one person carving a turkey in front of a crowd of appreciative onlookers. This will not be happening at our dinner. For safety reasons, the turkey will be carved in a private ceremony. I stress "private" meaning: Do not, under any circumstances, enter the kitchen to laugh at me. Do not send small, unsuspecting children to check on my progress. I have an electric knife. The turkey is unarmed. It stands to reason that I will eventually win. When I do, we will eat.

  -- Barbara A Tyler. http://www.kxoj.com/am0700.shtml

  If you are now using the word, "branding," more than once per week, you should:

  • Immediately break off all contact with MBAs.
  • Every time you feel the word, "branding," coming on, picture in your mind a burning cow.

  -- Bruce Tognazzini http://www.asktog.com/columns/048GoodGrips.html
• Do you have anything to declare? Ha! Declarations are for structured programmers! -- Luke Palmer http://dev.perl.org/perl6/list-summaries/p6summary5.html
• Jon Ippolito, assistant media arts curator at the Guggenheim and head of the Variable Media Initiative: "Preserving media is like preserving ice cream. Storage is a lousy strategy," explains Ippolito, who hates the museum habit of hoarding outdated software and hardware for posterity. "You're better off getting ahold of the recipe." http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.10/mustread.html?pg=3
• 'You know,' he added very gravely, 'it's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle-- to get one's head cut off.' -- Tweedledee, to Alice, (in _Through the Looking Glass_, Chapter 4: ``Tweedledum and Tweedledee'' by Lewis Carroll) http://www.axel-and-alice.com/nove/thlg/thlg0004.html
• ``A wise person once said that truth is like water. You can hold a little bit of it in a glass in your hand (and drink it if you want to) but there is plenty more out in the vast ocean.'' -- http://www.axel-and-alice.com/ddcl/ddca/ddca0218.html Dr. Virginia Claire (a fictional character in the online hypertext novel by Peter Jerrim)
• "He that fights with monsters should look to himself that he does not become a monster." -- Nietzsche
• ``no husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.'' -- unknown
• the FreeVGA Project http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/S.Weijgers/FreeVGA/home.htm ``dedicated to providing a totally FREE source of information about video hardware. '' by J. D. Neal

  ``Hardware Level VGA and SVGA Video Programming Information Page: Introduction to Low-level Programming'' by J. D. Neal http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/S.Weijgers/FreeVGA/llintro.htm [FIXME: is there a closer mirror than the Netherlands ?]

• ``Automated concept formation programs have some advantages over humans, in that they have no pride (are not ashamed to look at concepts with simple descriptions) and are very thorough.'' http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/JIS/colton/joisol.html
• ``Poor is the pupil that does not surpass his teacher'' -- Leonardo da Vinci, in intro to _Spy Games_ movie.
• ``The Evil Dictator's Union requires that I now laugh maniacally, thus: BWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! That done, I move on to the serious business of World Domination.'' -- the player known as Q (Gavin Doig ?) http://www.nomic.net/deadgames/rfn/omni.html
• The Art of Assembly Language Programming http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/Page_AoALinux/0_AoAHLA.html more than you ever wanted to know about 80x86 assembly language and 80x87 floating-point calculations.
• Power Corrupts. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. Petty Power Corrupts All Out Of Proportion http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/characters/Space/Houston.html
• Assembly Programming tutorial (under Linux) http://nasty_penguin.tripod.com/computer-science/programming/assembly/index.html
• Introduction to GCC Inline Asm by Robin Miyagi http://nasty_penguin.tripod.com/computer-science/programming/c-programming/rmiyagi-inline-asm.txt inline assembly language.

  mirror ? http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Ridge/2544/cprog/c-programming.html also seems to link to algorithms ...

• The Video Game Museum http://www.vgmuseum.com/
• http://www.handheldmuseum.com/ My goal with this website is to document (primarily photographically) every electronic handheld game made in the late 1970's to the mid 1980's. [wearable ?]
• http://www.jjj.de/grfx/grfxpage.html has many pointers to demos, DOS box demos, and fractal graphics

• Acts of God (Score:4, Funny) by sssmashy (612587) on Monday September 30

  I'm not a religious man, but you ever get nailed by a 30kg block of ice falling from a clear sky, you can be pretty sure God was trying to tell you something.

  to which someone else said

  Re:Acts of God (Score:2) by taxman_10m (41083) on Tuesday October 01

  Tell you something? No, I think he was trying to make you dead!

  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/30/1741226

• Reporter: "After all that you've just gone through, I have to ask you the same question a lot of people back home are asking about space these days. Is it worth it? Should we just pull back, forget the whole thing as a bad idea, and take care of our own problems, at home?"

  Commander: "No. We have to stay here, and there's a simple reason why. Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics -- and you'll get ten different answers. But there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on: whether it happens in a hundred years, or a thousand years, or a million years, eventually our sun will grow cold, and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us, it'll take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-tsu, Einstein, Maruputo, Buddy Holly, Aristophanes - all of this. All of this was for nothing, unless we go to the stars." -- Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, Babylon 5

  (Penned by J. Michael Straczynski)

  to which one replies

  The Sun expiring is not the real threat. Astronomers have evidence that within 500 years or so, humanity on earth will be wiped out by nuculear or biological warfare. This evidence is necessarily indirect, but many find it compelling.

  -- http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=52510&threshold=1&commentsort=0&tid=160&mode=thread&pid=5206877#5207161
• Get to the site as soon as possible http://www.equipped.org/groundzero.htm
• Take a large backpack so that supplies can be shuttled to the front zone. http://www.equipped.org/groundzero.htm
• Take water and a filtration system. http://www.equipped.org/groundzero.htm
• Wear boots and durable paramedical type pants with multiple pockets, not scrubs which provide no warmth and are for all intents and purposes useless. http://www.equipped.org/groundzero.htm
• A helmet, gas mask with filters, goggles, are a must. http://www.equipped.org/groundzero.htm
• # Raingear, raingear, raingear...even if it doesn't rain, the firehoses drench everything. # Extra socks. In fact, all extra clothes packed in large ziplock bags to keep dry. http://www.equipped.org/groundzero.htm
• Anything can be made with duct tape, knife, pliers, clothes hanger wire. http://www.equipped.org/groundzero.htm
• pick one leader to organize and establish a chain of command ... and have that person stand in the middle so they are easily seen and obtainable. We had no form of communication other than runners and therefore we needed to know where this person was at all times. ... Pick subleaders in each field and have them design their subunits as they see fit. http://www.equipped.org/groundzero.htm
• Basic Knowledge for Flying Item: Takeoffs are optional. Landings are mandatory. http://whitts.alioth.net/Page11My%20Month%20as%20a%20Student.htm#anchor170556
• "My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really going on to be scared." -- P. J. Plauger
• Military Pearls of Wisdom http://www.globalspecops.com/miljoke2.html includes: It only takes two things to fly, airspeed and money. If it doesn't work, rename it. If that doesn't help, the new name isn't long enough. New FAA motto: We're not happy, till you're not happy. Basic Flying Rules 1. Try to stay in the middle of the air. 2. Do not go near the edges of it. 3. The edges of the air can be recognised by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there. - NEVER get into a fight without more ammunition than the other guy. - Medals are OK, but having your body and all your friends in one piece at the end of the day is better. - Being shot hurts. - C-4 can make a dull day fun. - Prayer never hurts. - Flying is better than walking. Walking is better than running. Running is better than crawling. All of these, however, are better than extraction by a Med-Evac, even if it is, technically, a form of flying. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend. If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid. When in doubt empty the magazine. Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy someone else to shoot at. The important things are always simple; the simple are always hard. Anything you do can get you killed, including nothing. Combat will occur on the ground between two adjoining maps. Four-wheel-drive just means getting stuck in more inaccessible places.
• "Automatic pistols and ammo clips are a girl's best friends." -- Gwynneth Ripley, private investigator in "A Most Dangerous Game" fiction by Tiffany A. White http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/4306/amdg.html
• "The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they're going to be when you kill them." -- William Clayton
• For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism. -- unknown
• "There are three kinds of death in this world. There's heart death, there's brain death, and there's being off the network." -- Guy Almes
• Never pet a burning dog. -- unknown
• "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist...." General John Sedgwick, Union Commander, d. 1864 Killed in battle during US Civil War ... "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..." -- Last words of Union commander General John Sedgwick, spoken as he was watching enemy troops at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
• some war quotes by General George Patton creed.html#patton
• "When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite." Sir Winston Churchill

  "The Americans will always do the right thing... After they've exhausted all the alternatives." Sir Winston Churchill

• http://www.xrefer.com/entry/208861 war quotes. Includes:
  • You've got to forget about this civilian. Whenever you drop bombs, you're going to hit civilians. Goldwater, Barry (1909) US politician. Speech, New York, 23 Jan 1967, 1967
  • In starting and waging a war it is not right that matters, but victory. Hitler, Adolf (1889 - 1945) German dictator. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (W. L. Shirer), Ch. 16
  • Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. King, Martin Luther (1929 - 1968) US Black civil-rights leader. Strength to Love, 1963
  • Fighting is like champagne. It goes to the heads of cowards as quickly as of heroes. Any fool can be brave on a battle field when it's be brave or else be killed. Mitchell, Margaret (1909 - 1949) US novelist. Gone with the Wind, 1936
  • Stand your ground/. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here! Parker, John (1729 - 1775) US general. Command given at the start of the Battle of Lexington. Familiar Quotations (J. Bartlett)
  • More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1882 - 1945) US Democratic president. Speech broadcast on the day after his death (13 Apr 1945), 1945
  • Cry `Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war. Shakespeare, William (1564 - 1616) English dramatist. Julius Caesar, III:1, 1600
• Quotes About the Truth http://www.10ktruth.com/the_quotes/truth.htm (FIXME: finish reading) includes
  • "Truth never damages a cause that is just." Mahatma Gandhi

• Even players who are losing still find challenging things to do in the game, right up until almost the moment that the game is finally over.

  This is, I think, the key property a multi-player game should have. Players at all skill levels should have interesting activities to perform.

  -- Stuart Cheshire, April 1995. http://www.stuartcheshire.org/rants/MonopolyEffect.html [FIXME: general user interface ?]
• Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer. --Dave Barry
• PLEASE DO NOT SMOKE NEAR OUR PETROL PUMPS. YOUR LIFE MAY NOT BE WORTH MUCH BUT OUR PETROL IS.
• GFXZone ... demo scene graphics site http://www.gfxzone.org/ | mirror http://gfxzone.planet-d.net/
• [quotes] "My wife is so immature, every time I take a bath, she comes in and sinks my little boats." -- unknown
• "Even in our most pessimistic scenarios we did not imagine that human society would be so stupid, or so mad, as to accumulate such huge arsenals, for which we could see no purpose. But human society was that stupid." -- Joseph Rotblat http://www.cnn.com/EVENTS/1996/world.report.conference/news/08/rotblat.speech/index.html
• "We had civilians interfacing with military people, and though they may have worked together for some time, they react to stress differently. ... Keep the info flowing!" -- "MadBrad64" http://www.spiceisle.com/talkshop/messages/136637.htm
• "Give a man a match, and he'll be warm for a minute, but set him on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." -- unknown
• http://www.spiceisle.com/talkshop/messages/136736.htm [move to "equipment to have on hand" ?]
• "the Lieber Code", written by Francis Lieber promulgated as General Orders 100 by President Lincoln 1863 for the Union Army http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/lieber.htm includes this interesting quote:

  Art. 29. ...The ultimate object of all modern war is a renewed state of peace. The more vigorously wars are pursued, the better it is for humanity. Sharp wars are brief.

• [war proverb] "One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off." 1 Kings 20:11
• "16-bit Color" article by TANSTAAFL http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article863.asp has a short little snippet of code that correctly reduces full 24 bit color pixels to any lower number of bits-per-pixel (only assumes that red bits are consecutive, green bits are consecutive, blue bits are consecutive, and that the red-green-blue layout is the same for every pixel ... ie, doesn't work with color planes, but who uses them these days ?).
• http://www.gamedev.net/ lots of information, some of it very technical. (FFTs and their many uses ...)
• "Calendar: humanity’s epic struggle to determine a true and accurate year" speech by David Duncan (David Ewing Duncan) From the earliest recorded date (4236 B.C.), people have tried to organize their lives according to the movements of the sun, moon and stars -- and have, for the most part, consistently gotten it wrong. http://www.ieee-uffc.org/freqcontrol/2003FCS/2003_advprog.htm
• The best part of rising from a thousand year slumber is Folgers in your cup. -- Advertising Slogans Targeted At The ... Gods http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1000605
• If I could be anywhere at the moment: "Here, but in an alternate reality where our government isn't ruled by crazy people." --redstar1 http://www.disinfo.com/site/
• If PacMan had affected us as kids we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to electronic music. -- Arjuna Theban (possibly quoting someone else)
• "Paid to play: Looking for a new career direction? Break out your joystick." article by Elizabeth Millard 2003-11 http://computeruser.com/articles/2211,1,2,1,1101,03.html [FIXME: to read]
• http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/199901/msg00001.html designing karate video game
• http://penny-arcade.com/ ??? [video game web comic]
• Microsoft DirectX http://geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/8659/directx.htm points to "GameX: The site about programming games for Windows using DirectX" http://geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/3098/
• "Piecepack: The Flexible, Portable, Affordable Board Game System" http://piecepack.org/
• "Open Scene Graph" http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?OpenSceneGraphFaq Open Scene Graph ... is a 3D graphics library for C++ programmers. A "scene graph" library ... a graph data structure ... allows you to group related objects that share some properties together so you can specify common properties for the whole group in one place. Open Scene Graph can then be used to automatically manage things like the level of detail necessary to draw the scene faithfully but without unnecessary detail...
• "Today we've left off letters, left off entire words. I feel like I'm hosting Eel of Fortune." -- Alex http://wheeloffortune.com/
• "When in doubt, use brute force." -- Ken Thompson
• Localroger's Law of Plant Safety: The more safety notices you see in a place, the less safe the place is. http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/1/19/03430/8484
• Vannevar Bush -- the head of the U.S. Army rocketry program at the end of WWII -- once said we'd never go to the Moon because you'd have to take a rocket the size of a battleship, stand it up on end, and launch it into space, and no one would ever have the balls to do that... http://www.kuro5hin.org/comments/2005/4/7/41932/19363?pid=99#112
• game ideas http://www.madcoyote.com/gen/Gaming/Game_ideas/game_ideas.html

Started 1999-02-16

Original Author: David Cary.

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