Charlie's Blog

Calculus in VPython

2009-10-01T20:43:00.007-04:00

What you are seeing is a plotted graph of the function f(x) = x^2, and it's derivative f'(x) = d/dx [x^2] = 2x.

We are actually using VPython in my Computer Simulation and System Modeling (CSC 360) class to do simulations.

Check it out Check it out

XNAFib - Update

2009-06-12T05:44:00.009-04:00

XNAFib now can compute up to 20,000 numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. I’ve added a new progress counter and a timer to time how long the computations took to complete plus multi-threading. Also now I'm using an iterative (looping) version of the Fibonacci algorithm which is much faster than the recursive version. A Recursive algorithm uses much more memory and is slower because each recursive call pushes an AR (activation record) onto the call stack thus using more memory. As the values of N gets larger, the possibility of a stack overflow error is very likely. Well I better catch myself before I end up giving a whole lecture on iteration vs. recursion.

The program still completes faster on the PC than on the Xbox 360. It's not surprising because of my PC’s powerful Quad Core AMD Phenom 9600 X4 processor where as the Xbox 360 has a PowerPC Tri-Core Xenon processor plus the Xbox 360 .NET CLR isn't very mature yet. It's hard to compare the PC and the Xbox 360 because here, we are talking about two different hardware architectures.

Well enough of me rambling. I thank everyone who was been reading my blog posts. Thanks and God bless.

XNAFib

2009-06-11T19:02:00.007-04:00

Well with being out of school for the summer boredom had lead me once again to do something that is useless but at the same time cool. Well at least it's cool to me. ;)

Using XNA and Visual C# I have written a little app that will compute the first 40 Fibonacci numbers on the Xbox 360 recursively. I also have a version on the PC also which is faster from observation; as you know with XNA porting from Windows to Xbox 360 is relative easy. Well here is a screenshot of the program running on the Xbox 360. I used the XNA Game Studio Device Center to acquire the screenshot from the Xbox. Well later guys and gals.

Windows 7 Beta Test Drive - Part 1

2009-06-10T18:21:00.008-04:00

Well today I've decided to install the beta version of Windows 7 x64 on my Acer notebook computer. The install was fast and straight forward and it detected just about all my hardware just fine, except I had to go to ATI's website and download the latest Catalyst drivers for the integrated Radeon X1200. After the video drivers were dealt with Windows automatically started the Aero interface and it runs pretty darn good. It's very responsive unlike Vista and I must say that I'm very impressed. Now I'm going to try to run Far Cry on this computer and try out some other applications and I'll keep yall posted. Until then please enjoy these nice screenshots.

$1600 Dollar Keyboard

2008-08-18T16:47:00.005-04:00

I was on YouTube early this morning like 3 AM looking at some of Chris Pirillo videos and I came across something very interesting. The Optimus Maximus Keyboard.

$1600 for a keyboard! That's crazy. I not going to lie, that is one of the coolest keyboards I've ever seen. This keyboard has so many features that I don't even feel like typing them all so go here

It has screens on each key 113 I believe in total. So you can have a key playing a QuickTime video, a key that shows the time, a key that show your PC CPU temperature, amount of RAM used, keys that shows the name of the shortcuts functions for a application. This thing is so freaking cool but still the price tag is killer. That thing almost cost the same as a semester of tuition.

Game Ideas Part 1

2008-08-14T21:34:00.004-04:00

I have many ideas for a game. It's easy to think in your head about an idea of a game but that don't make the game exist. 1) Actually creating the game is what makes a game. Any game developer will tell you this. And they will also tell you when you are just starting out in game development you must start out small. Well I'm past that, I made one of the simplest game there is and that a clone of Pong. Do a Google search on MegaPong. Now next is a shoot-em up game like space invaders. I just don't want to make a space invaders clone, I want to make a game of its game play style but with other goodies that other space invaders clones doesn't have and at the same time doable for my skill level. I have great ideas, but getting the game art and actually writing the code is sorta holding be back. Getting art assets is what brings my motivation level down to the ground. Why? Because I am a programmer not an artist. Finding people that are interested in my passion is hard to find in my area. Good artist is hard to find in my area. Really any kind of good talent is hard to find around here in Bladen County.

If you are thinking about creating video games here are some good resources.

cite #1:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/design/features/makegames/default.asp

Zune Games with XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP

2008-08-08T02:51:00.005-04:00

I was playing around with the 2D tutorial that they have at the XNA Creators Club site. I decided to try to get it the work with XNA 3.0 CTP (Beta) on my 4 Gig Zune. I did It successfully. Basically I just copied to code into an new Zune Game project in Visual C# 2008 Express but I used Visual Studio Professional though. Then I used Paint.Net to resize the all the game sprites and in the load content method I change the values of the position vector of the cannon so It would be in the correct spot on the screen.

Here's a video of me playing it.

Go check out the XNA Creator's Club website. They have cool tutorials and samples to help you get started making your own video games.

XNA Creators Club