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| Re: C Programmers Wanted![message #100400]
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Fri, 04 June 2004 02:34  
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 leonpoi |
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Messages:2
Registered:June 2004 |
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Right oh, I've looked through some of this forum post but it's a bit long right now to see if C programmers are really still in demand. I can programme in C. Have only been doing it for a year and a bit now, though my PhD is writing compuational fluid dynamics codes in C, and since they're not written from scratch I've become quite good at sorting out other peoples codes and dealing with inherited code. I'm not so bad at it, my numerical codes give me published work.
I'll download the source and have a look.
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Civilian
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| Re: C Programmers Wanted![message #100403]
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Thu, 05 August 2004 06:54
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| Roadkill |
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Messages:155
Registered:May 2001
Location: Lords of the Bytes |
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A basic knowledge of C is perhaps helpfull.
But from what i've read i can understand quite a bit without any C knowledge. Some PHP knowledge works well too since a lot of things will seem familiair (at least they did to me).
But that's for modifying existing aspects i think. Adding more functionality, i have the feeling, requires a bit more knowledge of C.
A lot of the plans presented over the years are quite drastic and i feel some more knowledge of C would be beneficial. Mostly an online multiplayer version i would imagine.
The main idea behind asking for people with C knowledge i think is that in theory it should speed up development.
To be honest, it seems that it didn't work out as planned. As with everything, people jump in head first and start considering the time involved later, at which time things grind to a halt.
The main difficulty i've found so far is what you mentioned, the fact that a lot of things are dispersed around a lot of files.
The same thing being checked again and again in various files (starting sector for instance, reset to A9 at several places), quests and characters being hardcoded etc.
Add to that the various rewrites (additions, deletions and moving things) and you have a hard time finding all references to a particular thing at times.
Had it been more modular from the outset, things would be much easier.
The current process i've seen pop up here in these forums a few times of externalizing things (loading from seperate files) will be a huge step forwards as far as "modability" is concerned.
But like i said, things seem to have slowed down a lot (halted?), and add to that that several seperate groups and individuals are working independently at things and you have a mess which will slow progress even more.
But i'm getting off-topic more and more. Sorry about that.
Point i want to close with: i agree with S-Vertal that C knowledge isn't the most important thing to look for in people for this project. Time is the most important thing imo. And a dedicated (and active) project leader would help.
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Staff Sergeant
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| Re: C Programmers Wanted![message #100404]
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Thu, 05 August 2004 07:47
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| TrailBlazer |
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Messages:511
Registered:September 2001
Location: Athens, Greece |
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I have looked at the code without knowing C (but knowing other languages) and after I learned. I can confirm what Roadkill says, even if you don't know stuff you can change things. You can search for comments, words etc and see how similar things are made to work, then "copy-paste" and modify. For more complicated things, though, C knowledge is needed... plus a good feeling of C's philosophy AND the game's build.
As for myself... no time currently...
And, by the way, why externalise stuff? The average Joe modder should be able to compile the code by himself or help of others, and if he can do that he can change some numbers as well. This doesn't force him to use a downloaded executable plus allows him to add/remove stuff.
Then again, that's a bit out of spirit of the project, is it?
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First Sergeant
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| Re: C Programmers Wanted![message #100407]
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Thu, 12 August 2004 11:58
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| Dougster |
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Messages:27
Registered:August 2004
Location: Chatting with Hans |
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Hello everybody. I want to introduce myself and get involved here. I am a 37 year old mechanical engineer who has been using computers for over 25 years, and I have been using linux for over 10 years! I can find my way around in almost any kind of computer program but I tend to favor C and Python from a "get the job done fast" mode of thinking.
I am going to either join in with or else spearhead the linux port. I have read the discussions here about how the game was written for VC6 and whatnot, but consider the advantages of making the game portable...
Most linux programs are easily backported to windows, especially if SDL is utilized. By porting to linux, you are still making a windows version, just a cross-platform version which builds on any number of systems. Since JA2 doesn't need any special OpenGL hardware the portability is increased manyfold. You could potentially run this game on anything from a HP9000 with HPUX to a MacII running MacOS-9 if it were recoded in a portable manner.
While I am not a spectacular programmer by any means, I do understand how the GNU tools work; i.e. the wonderful "configure" command which can either be a curse or a blessing depending on whether or not it works. I have applied for a WhiteHat access, and I will be focused primarily for now on getting autotools set up on a fork of the source code.
The code must fork at the moment for this to happen because it would be too much to maintain the currently viable windows version and be mucking about with the GCC implementation. The best mechanism would be to patch against specific versioned releases to add in the autotools capability and any port-specific code. At some point the code trees could include a merged release which compiles either in native VC6 or using a GNU development platform.
I am scoping out the license to see if a SourceForge project is viable. That would provide a lot of advantages; CVS, bug tracking, etc.
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Private 1st Class
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| Re: C Programmers Wanted![message #100408]
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Thu, 12 August 2004 12:54
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| Jujigatame |
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Messages:38
Registered:March 2004
Location: Oxford, UK |
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Quote:Originally posted by Roadkill:
Still. Externalizing things will make it much easier for people to make mods imo.
Especially when it comes to making more difficult changes. Adding weapons and item-combinations is (seems) easy enough using the source code, but when it comes to changing the starting section it becomes increasingly more work. Having an external file with these type of settings is much easier imo. Just some feedback...
First off, the implementation is faulted with the fact that it overwrites existing values, forcing users to use the externalized sources. That goes against every design principle I know - don't break functionality. It should be a drop-in replacement for any JA2 installation. Having the external file loading should be optional - allowing users to use the preset/virgin values if they so wish.
Second, XML is overkill for the task at hand. XML is best used for heirarchical data. For this sort of thing, INI files are simpler and easier to use.
Third, source changes need to be documented and commented. The CVS comments are sorely lacking, and tracking down multiple files checked in is painful to say the least.
Fourth, any changes should be optional. I've implemented a command line option to turn on and off modified rules, but as things go I don't see any sign of this approach currently being taken in the source - all changes are hard-coded and can't be turned off.
Finally, this project seems to be sorely lacking in control. No responses from any of the mods or those with CVS access so far. So, if there's movement I have yet to see it.
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Private 1st Class
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| Re: C Programmers Wanted![message #100414]
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Thu, 02 September 2004 14:48
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| ebuck |
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Messages:123
Registered:August 2004
Location: Houston, TX |
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I'd like to throw my hat into the ring.
Of course, there's time constraints, real job programming, home, etc. competing for my time, but I believe I can still contribute a bit.
My relevent experience is in obfuscated C code, C++, java migration of said code, OpenGL toolkit, X windows programming, gcc / autotools package, linux / cygwin. I've been programming since 1978, and have worked hard to keep my toolset current and diverse (java 1.5-beta to scheme with a lot of fun things inbetween)
So maybe (just maybe) there will be a gcc out there (someday). But before you get your hopes up, there's a few chunks of code that seem very windows specific. We'll have to see.
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Sergeant
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| Re: C Programmers Wanted![message #100418]
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Sat, 06 November 2004 06:30
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| Rev1 |
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Messages:203
Registered:October 2002
Location: Louisville, KY |
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Hey, all you white hats, I'd like to have permission to contact you individually, for business purposes. I hunt programmers for a living.  Email me if you're interested. I won't contact you if I don't hear from you first.
Here's some info about me:
[Edit: Deleted link, because it pointed back to my former employer. I'm now at Technical Solutions Group .]
Also, I'm developing the following sites on the side:
www.stillwaters.org
www.cxoconnection.com - No info yet on that site, but you can probably get the idea from the title.
Anyway, would love to hear from any or all of you that are here in the US. Those outside the US, I'd be happy to chat with you too, but probably can't offer much, from a business perspective.
Bearpit, if you feel I've used the forum inappropriately with this post, feel free to delete it.
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Sergeant 1st Class
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Programmers ARE still wanted, just not for the whitehat project 