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Towards Complexity

Ben Lovy on August 06, 2019

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger I received a helpful bit of constructive criticism recently. This post is about what I'm going to do a...
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rhymes

An in browser game using JS and something like Phaser and Rust in case you need WASM?

Or you could try using Skia with C++ which also supports WASM

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Ben Lovy

Phaser could be a good fit. I think if I go Phaser, I won't need WASM, and if I go WASM, I probably won't need Phaser. I'm leaning further towards the C++ route for this experiment, though - I'm writing more and more C++ for school as well and find the constant context switching in the course of a day slows me down. Eventually I'd like to get better at that skill but that's not my goal right now.

I hadn't looked at Skia - have you used it? I had also thought about fastUIdraw, but know very little about either. Would you specifically not recommend SDL/SFML? Those were really all I knew about going in.

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rhymes

I'm leaning further towards the C++ route for this experiment, though - I'm writing more and more C++ for school as well and find the constant context switching in the course of a day slows me down.

Agreed!

I hadn't looked at Skia - have you used it?

I haven't used Skia but it's the rendering engine for Android and Flutter and Firefox on some platforms (I think only Windows), so it's probably battle tested :)

I've used SDL a long time ago through Python and PyGame, I don't have recent info on SDL but IIRC it's still going strong!

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Ben Lovy

Ah, cool! Can't be terrible then :) I'll give it a closer look, thanks again. I think it sits at exactly the level I'm looking for in a rendering library

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Damir Franusic • Edited

Languages and projects aside, the most useful move you can make and reap most benefits from, is to get out of your comfort zone. Try something you've never done before, maybe OpenCl, CUDA, FPGA, etc. Whatever path you choose to pursue, you will learn the most by choosing the one you know least about. I've been in your position and being scared is a normal reaction, don't worry about it. Good luck in expanding your knowledge.

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Ben Lovy

Thanks for the tip! That's why I'm considering the SDL/native route - it's the largest departure from what I'm comfortable with, so it stands to reason it's got the most to teach me.

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Simon Massey

C++...? I started in C++ and I worked in an office where Bjarne Stroustrup would come in to do some consulting and talk to my boss. Being an expert in C++ means you have a rating of 25,000 on stack overflow. If I wanted to win at stackoverflow I would still write C++. Have you tried Rust?

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Ben Lovy

That's what I've written most of! It's my favorite language so far.

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Simon Massey

The jury isn’t deliberating. Code isn't a fashion show. It works or it doesn’t. Kruger-Dunning teaches us that incompetent people are happy with their code and craftsman are frustrated. This means that being a malcontent is what success looks like.

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Ben Lovy

In a general sense yes, or course, and I could be incorrect, but at least insofar as it pertains to getting more calls back for a first job I'm not sure too many hiring managers take much of a look.

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Ignacio Vergara Kausel

You can tackle web and desktop in one go, and since you mention learning Rust you can do Rust+WASM which would add an extra dimension to the learning experience. Look at this, perhaps will help you.

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Ben Lovy

This is a great idea, actually. I've built a handful of WASM demos, and always wanted to try something more significant. This project might be a perfect fit after all.

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Erik

Great post! Thanks for sharing. It's always reassuring to see people admit to their insecurities, and encouraging to see them do something about it.

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Ben Lovy

Part of learning is always learning how best to learn, and if something is ever helpful for me, chances are it's helpful for someone else too!