Towards improved C++ support for games, graphics, real-time, embedded systems [pdf]

Post by pavlov » Fri, Apr 17, 2015, 10:31 AM UTC

shin_lao wrote: post #20

pavlov wrote: post #19

C++ has left the horrors of the '90s largely behind it, and I'm rather liking it these days... But every time I work on a C++ project, I soon get "array angst" -- a feeling of profound incompetence because I feel uncertain about basic array operations. Seems like every project has its own take on array classes and their ownership semantics. Std::vector appears to be largely useless (or at least it's not used anywhere…

Could you explain why you think std::vector is useless?

Post by humanrebar » Fri, Apr 17, 2015, 12:00 PM UTC

acqq wrote: post #21

harry8 wrote: post #2

"We started by looking at a paper from Paul Pedriana on N2771 “EASTL -- Electronic Arts Standard Template Library”. While this paper was submitted in 2007, neither chairs of LWG recall reviewing this paper and no record of its review exists." I give you the C++ standardization committee. Someone submits a paper to them with their issues and, moreover with solutions fully implemented in a library and also details the…

I also remember Bloomberg submitted in 2005 some very nice template library changes that avoid some very real pain points of STL: www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2005/n1850.pdf "Using an existing implementation of the C++ standard library as a base, we made backward-compatible modifications to enable such per-instance allocators." I still don't know how I'd achieve per-instance allocator in modern "part-o…

Post by yoklov » Fri, Apr 17, 2015, 12:17 PM UTC

panic wrote: post #17

chipsy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're getting it backwards. Games are prominent because it's in their modus operandi. Their relationship with tech remains symbiotic only as long as they can act as a flashy demo. This is a thing that occurs only some of the time, and more often than not, one of the two is compromised. The other side of it, that a lot of games are made, is mostly reflective of the wishful thinking everyone has about games as a busin…

Games have been a huge driving force behind tech from the beginning. For example, Unix only exists because Ken Thompson wanted to port his game Space Travel to the PDP-7.

Post by yoklov » Fri, Apr 17, 2015, 12:41 PM UTC

Paul_S wrote: post #18

yoklov wrote: post #8

The allocator support in C++11 and, from what I've seen, the proposed allocator support in C++1y/z/whatever still leaves a massive amount to be desired. Polymorphic allocators solve what's basically a non-problem for games (ABI boundary problems) while introducing huge other issues. Alignment is a PITA but not really a pressing IMO. The real issue is stuff like rebind and the requirements to call destructors (which d…

There are no gamdevs on the c++ committee, probably because games companies are cheap bastards and don't want to expend resources on something that will affect them 10 years down the line (or even 2). Join the committee.

Post by fulafel » Fri, Apr 17, 2015, 1:49 PM UTC

mrec wrote: post #29

yoklov wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, even if that were something I was interested in at all, I'm honestly not sure what you could do to fix it at this point. I think that ship has sailed. Most of the issues are library issues (and are far deeper than my complaints about allocators). The language issues largely come from having too many features, and its not like any of them can be taken out. FWIW, I'm currently pinning my hopes on JAI, even though…

What's "JAI"? I've never heard of it, and Google/Wikipedia aren't showing any plausible candidates.