I need some inspiration

[mcleano]

As some of you may have noticed due to my lack of posting recently I seem to have fallen off the programming wagon and can't get back on... Anyone got any ideas that might 're-inspire' me?

[tummychow]

Take on a gigantic project (talking complex RPG here, maybe even graphic interface and, if you're really crazy, real time) and try to code it, even if it's outside your capability. Force yourself to explore any avenue you find diverting that might provide a solution to things you cannot do within the scope of your gigantic project. Code the gigantic project as far as you can without boring yourself or losing interest. See what happens.
At least, that's what I would do.

[helios]

Don't you mean you "got on the wagon"? You "fall off the wagon" when you give in to your addiction.

I don't think starting a huge project is such a good idea. First, you have to think about what to do, which is kinda what OP's asking. Second, if you're feeling kinda uninspired, you might realize just how much work there is to do and become overwhelmed. That's happened to me, before.

How about getting an OSS project and playing with it for a while? For example, I remember this one time I wanted to use Unicode with an interpreter, but it only used narrow characters for internal representation, so I tweaked it a bit to read the script as a UTF-8 file.
Or maybe play a prank on someone. Changing a wallpaper remotely or writing an unkillable program are both classics.
http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html (search for "Robin Hood")

[chrisname]

This happened to me a little while ago. I took a break and eventually, started programming again.

[mcleano]

Don't you mean you "got on the wagon"? You "fall off the wagon" when you give in to your addiction.

This is true :\ ...

Thanks Helios for the suggestions, that does actually sound like the kind of thing I need. And thankyou tummychow for the suggestion.

This happened to me a little while ago. I took a break and eventually, started programming again.

Inspiring dude!

[chrisname]

I don't know about open-source (as in, non-GPL) software, but the FSF has a whole page of programs that you could contribute to:
http://directory.fsf.org/
and another list of high-priority projects:
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority.html

[mcleano]

Thansk Chris.

@ Helios... Could you point me in the right direction of methods of working with directories in c++. The first one I found wasn't included in VS which put me off somewhat, and others I have found on msdn seem to be .Net related.

[helios]

What do you mean "working with directories"? Things like listing a directory's content and that sort of thing?

[mcleano]

Yes, specifically that and moving directories. As I said, I don't need to be spoon-fed examples(although I obviously wouldn't object) I just need to know what library can be used. And if your next question is "It's OS specific, what OS are you on?" It would be for Windows.

[helios]

Boost has directory iterators.
For anything else, there's the MSDN.

[blackcoder41]

you might realize just how much work there is to do and become overwhelmed

that is exactly what is happening to me right now.. also confuse what language to pursue.. help please save me.. i need to get back to programming..

c++
java
vb


or learn a new a language
c#

[chrisname]

IMO, you should
- Stay away from VB
- Practice C++ a lot
- Wait a while before learning C# if at all (Java might be better)

[Return 0]

I agree with chrisname... don't bother with VB. I would stick with C++. I know it can be a bit boring writting console apps only, so why not learn a graphics or GUI API?

[blackcoder41]

i guess i'll have c++ and java since i already know those languages and i feel more at home than vb.. but what about..

you might realize just how much work there is to do and become overwhelmed

[firedraco]

you might realize just how much work there is to do and become overwhelmed

Try to set small goals so you don't get overwhelmed. Some people don't mind have a huge project, but usually it's a good idea to have milestones like "Get a sprite to appear on screen", "Move said sprite around", etc.

[blackcoder41]

Try to set small goals so you don't get overwhelmed.

good idea.. thanks, but that's not always easy; we humans always go for the big goals isn't it? anyway i will give it a try.. thanks again..

[chrisname]

Personally I like to split my programs up into smaller chunks.
For example, in my emulator's src/ directory, I [plan to] have the following files:

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Directory | Files                                                        |
+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| src/      | main.cpp em64.cpp em64.h                                     |
+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| src/cpu/  | cpu.cpp pit.cpp pic.cpp opcode.cpp cpu.h register.h opcode.h |
+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| src/ich/  | gui.cpp sound.cpp keyboard.cpp ich.h                         |
+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| src/mch/  | memory.cpp memory.h                                          |
+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------+

Note: ICH and MCH stand for I/O Controller Hub and Memory Controller Hub (aka northbridge and southbridge) respectively.

I find it much easier to organise code when it's split into logical pieces. I also create a namespace for each module; so in main, I have

thread_t cpu_thread = em64::createthread(&cpu::init),
         ich_thread = em64::createthread(&ich::init),
         mch_thread = em64::createthread(&mch::init);

each thread then waits for a message (POWER_GOOD) to be delivered. cpu::init() creates another two threads (one each for theprogrammable interval timer and the programmable interrupt controller). But all main() has to do is create three threads, send them the POWER_GOOD message and then wait for them all to exit. It doesn't have to know about the other two threads because cpu::init() handles that.

I didn't realise before how much I was missing with abstractions like this...

BTW; you guys do not want to see em64.h :l

[mcleano]

Hmm can anyone who's used some of the Directory WINAPI functions lend me a hand. I've tried various different ones and i've had no problems compiling them, but i'm not getting a string that actually contains the path; I get something like "003EBC64" which is but one example as it is diffrent every time.