Simpelull
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Posted - 2006.07.23 11:45:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Dearwin
There were a few mentions to "clean code", and that if the code was well written from a modularization standpoint, as well as standard of clean code stand point, yes it is true that it would be very easy to port to a OpenGL standard. What made me laugh about this is how ludicrous the idea of "clean code" is on a project the scale of EvE. People write clean code for their Freshman college Java class, people right clean code for their little at home projects. Have you ever taken a more than one programming class in the same language from two different professors? They're methodologies and standards of how to write code can vary as much as night and day. When it comes to games, you tend to have a large number of coders, a short number of hours, not enough communication, and a lot of pressure. At that point "clean code" takes a back seat to release dates.
Drawing all projects over the edge and saying that they all aren't "clean code" is ignorant. I've seen sourcecode from projects that are of similiar size of EvE and still having exemplaric code. Clean code and well written documentations are always beneficial. The only few occations that I can see a valid reason for a code to not be that way is if only one person will work with the code for the rest of the life of the code, and no one else.
This being said, I'm afraid switching to oGL is both easier and harder than most people think. Doing the dX -> oGL switch isn't that hard, which every programmer that has coded in both should know. My guess on the problem is probably the fact that I'm guessing that CCP is using microsoft's .net development environment which adds the possibility to use their magnificent middle-code compiler that enables them to throw in modules from different languages without breaking a sweat. I'm guessing that they're using different languages for different parts of the game, since the complexity of the game is very widespread (distributed database system, game clients / servers, graphical engine, etc etc etc). I'm well aware of the fact that similiar possibilities exists for linux but I'm afraid that I have to admit that they're not at all as easy to work with as microsoft's .net.
I also want a ported client but I think that it's alot harder than most people here think. It's not only about switching from dx to oGl. It's about how the entire game and everything surrounding it is built together.
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