So the last few months (agh!) have had me coding monkey like at work and at home. The work stuff is finally getting there - we’re hitting beta in a fortnight. The home stuff is also finally getting there - that quality bar is hard to reach. Especially when the app you’re writing is so damn addictive you spend hours playing, getting lost in a four dimensional space looking for just one more funky attractor.

Clouded planet

(I hadn’t realised how much better the image quality was compared to my prototype until just now - looking at the Clifford in the previous post with no AA, no autocontrast etc. Yay!)

Anyway - interesting notes on the journey so far:

  • Chip away. Small goals keep you travelling in the right direction. You can only finish if you start.
  • Always start with something that works. The sample Managed DirectX GUI, for example, is horrible in places - but at least it works!
  • Don’t be scared to ditch stuff. My funky 6D GUI widget proved to be confusing. So I’ve nuked it for a 2D one. Mere mortals can use my software again.
  • Time stuff before you ‘optimise’. Drawing 100000 points is slow, right? Well not as slow as pulling a 2048x2048 texture from the graphics card, modifying it then chucking it back.
  • When things are hard, stop. Mysterious bugs become obvious after a bath, a walk in the park or a glass of wine.
  • Don’t overgeneralise. That 2D convolving interpolator wasn’t required in the end.
  • Look into existing solutions. That overly complicated special autocontrast routine is actually a gamma correction model in disguise.
  • Don’t be put off by competing products. There were MP3 players before the iPod.
  • Show off to people. Having others cooing over the software massages the ego and keeps you going.

So, now the hard bit. Getting to the destination and not getting sidetracked. So many of my projects die at this point - I start to worry that it’s going to fail when out of my hands, at least when stuff dies it’s failed due to me. A strange thought process, and one I’m trying to train myself out of.

For now though another snapshot for the road:

Red funnel