Worklog for TommyBear

Worklog 1

Progress ODE module and thoughts

(Posted 2005-01-16)

Okay, sometimes it's good to get your thoughts down on paper, screen or whatever. I started writing modules for BMX about a month or more ago with the plan to 'plug' the little holes in an otherwise superb language/library.

From what I can see BMX does something very cool. First it is compiled. Alot of basic languages are interpreted which is deadly slow. BlitzBasic was also compiled which made it quick and is what got me interested in the whole blitz thing in the first place. Secondly puts power in the hands of people who can weild it if they learn and thirdly it allows easy cross-platform for an unbeatable price. Never forget that. You would pay orders of magnitude more for another commercial tool such as this. Something you get free with C or C++, but not without the headaches.

Now... I'm a programmer by trade and my tools consist of C and C++. In my job as a games programmer lately these two languages are paramount for speed and versatility. It is very easy to therefore put BASIC into the inferior basket simply for historical and current performance reasons. Therefore it is utterly refreshing to see products like Blitz3D and BMX. They demonstrate that languages do not need to be slow to be easy to use.

I have always had a fondness for BASIC. It was the first language I touched on my first computer a commodore 16. I was 10 at that time! Now at almost 27, I wish for those days again :)

But anyway enough of my dribble. Down to some actual thoughts on ODE for BMX. I started work on an ODE module for BMX. Work at the studio picked up furious pace and I have now found myself with not a lot of time... but don't worry I plan to finish it soon. The main interface is almost complete, but there's other stuff that needs a lot of work.

First however I have been thinking alot about writing a small 3d sandbox module for BMX. What would the sandbox module do? Well it would allow you to set a camera, some lights and add primitives to a scene. The more and more I think about it, the more I realise that it is important to be able to test the physics stuff out correctly.

So that is what I'll do first before finishing the ODE module. As always I will release my work to the BMX community. The community that always helped me deserves my help.

Tommy.