Live data from Hacker News

Take Over The Galaxy with GitHub (DCPU16 support)

github.com

1–10 of 89 posts

Re: Take Over The Galaxy with GitHub (DCPU16 support)

#2
Ok after seeing the assemblers/VM's last week I wasn't expecting to see much new this week.. then I saw this:

https://github.com/krasin/llvm-dcpu16/

C compiler support for dcpu16!

In a way this almost saddens me as by the time the game comes out it looks like the community will have javascript ported to the CPU and no one will actually have to program in assembler as per the original idea... ;)

Re: Take Over The Galaxy with GitHub (DCPU16 support)

#3

Ok after seeing the assemblers/VM's last week I wasn't expecting to see much new this week.. then I saw this: https://github.com/krasin/llvm-dcpu16/ C compiler support for dcpu16! In a way this almost saddens me as by the time the game comes out it looks like the community will have javascript ported to the CPU and no one will actually have to program in assembler as per the original idea... ;)

It could run JavaScript, but this is a 16-bit processor we're talking about here, with minimal RAM. It's more likely we'll be using C and BASIC ;)

Re: Take Over The Galaxy with GitHub (DCPU16 support)

#4

Ok after seeing the assemblers/VM's last week I wasn't expecting to see much new this week.. then I saw this: https://github.com/krasin/llvm-dcpu16/ C compiler support for dcpu16! In a way this almost saddens me as by the time the game comes out it looks like the community will have javascript ported to the CPU and no one will actually have to program in assembler as per the original idea... ;)

It could run JavaScript, but this is a 16-bit processor we're talking about here, with minimal RAM. It's more likely we'll be using C and BASIC ;)

agreed, but at this rate I figured I'd suggest the moon

Re: Take Over The Galaxy with GitHub (DCPU16 support)

#5

Ok after seeing the assemblers/VM's last week I wasn't expecting to see much new this week.. then I saw this: https://github.com/krasin/llvm-dcpu16/ C compiler support for dcpu16! In a way this almost saddens me as by the time the game comes out it looks like the community will have javascript ported to the CPU and no one will actually have to program in assembler as per the original idea... ;)

It could run JavaScript, but this is a 16-bit processor we're talking about here, with minimal RAM. It's more likely we'll be using C and BASIC ;)

Yeah this seems like the exact scenario where hand-rolled assembly and perhaps some hand-optimized C will really shine. You don't see a lot of embedded processors running javascript, for example. If your ship can process data and respond 5% faster than an opponent's, all other things being equal, you will come out ahead.

If the current level of interest persists, by the time the game launches, I imagine that the vast majority of people will be downloading and running programs written by others. These will have been pored over and optimized to an extent that most of us would be unable to achieve by ourselves, and it will not pay to roll your own trivial implementation. I'd be curious to see what Notch can do to still encourage people to learn how the CPU works themselves. If the environment and game dynamics are rich enough, perhaps this will not really be a problem?

Re: Take Over The Galaxy with GitHub (DCPU16 support)

#6
Looking at all the amazing work done regarding the DCPU and the article yesterday on Instagram's technology stack made me realize just how far we've advanced. With the tools that we have available now, it is possible to do things in a few days that it took people years if not decades to achieve.

Re: Take Over The Galaxy with GitHub (DCPU16 support)

#8

Ok after seeing the assemblers/VM's last week I wasn't expecting to see much new this week.. then I saw this: https://github.com/krasin/llvm-dcpu16/ C compiler support for dcpu16! In a way this almost saddens me as by the time the game comes out it looks like the community will have javascript ported to the CPU and no one will actually have to program in assembler as per the original idea... ;)

Don't start worrying about the "purity" and "this was never intended". You don't specify a processor instruction set in the real world without expecting people to write higher level languages for it, so why expect people to write at such a low level in a GAME of all places? I am fairly certain everything is going exactly as planned. Notch has got this.

Re: Take Over The Galaxy with GitHub (DCPU16 support)

#9
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could run JavaScript, but this is a 16-bit processor we're talking about here, with minimal RAM. It's more likely we'll be using C and BASIC ;)

Yeah this seems like the exact scenario where hand-rolled assembly and perhaps some hand-optimized C will really shine. You don't see a lot of embedded processors running javascript, for example. If your ship can process data and respond 5% faster than an opponent's, all other things being equal, you will come out ahead. If the current level of interest persists, by the time the game launches, I imagine that the vast…

> I'd be curious to see what Notch can do to still encourage people to learn how the CPU works themselves.

Have some ship customisation stuff tied to assembly programming. People love changing the colour of carpets or wearing hats or collecting and displaying fossils.

Then allow the community to create simple how to guides - "This program will do $THIS_THING; here's how it works; now try to change it to do something slightly different."

I guess Codecademy should have a DCPU section too.

Re: Take Over The Galaxy with GitHub (DCPU16 support)

#10

Ok after seeing the assemblers/VM's last week I wasn't expecting to see much new this week.. then I saw this: https://github.com/krasin/llvm-dcpu16/ C compiler support for dcpu16! In a way this almost saddens me as by the time the game comes out it looks like the community will have javascript ported to the CPU and no one will actually have to program in assembler as per the original idea... ;)

It could run JavaScript, but this is a 16-bit processor we're talking about here, with minimal RAM. It's more likely we'll be using C and BASIC ;)

For those old grey-hairs around and reading that remember RSX-11M/M+, there was a tool known as TKB.

The task builder.

TKB allowed (much) larger applications to run in the address space of a 16-bit DEC PDP-11, using what were called overlays, and overlay trees.

With overlays, the application call tree within an application was analyzed and implemented to allow various sections of code within a tree of subroutine calls to be paged out to backing storage.

If the underlying "processor" is fast enough and if you have enough swap space available, then you can stuff a whole lot of code into a 16-bit address space. Just not all loaded in physical memory at once.

And debugging it... Shudder...

Post reply on HN