Everything I wanted to work at this juncture works now. It's almost bittersweet; the teeth-grating hard part is seemingly over.
There is a problem, though. Typical student-made C lexers take upwards of minutes to parse the STL headers. I figured since I didn't need much of the data a compiler needs, I could do a lexless run-over to gather desired information, thus saving oodles of time. Well, it worked, but not well enough. On average processor load on my pretty average computer, parsing all the STL headers takes between one and two seconds. The latest result being 1.53662. Honestly, it's nothing to cry about, but this means I shouldn't just parse this stuff each compile, meaning Ism and I have to work something out to have LGM load ENIGMA as a DLL. This way, it will be able to retain such information.
I had typed up a report of what comes next on the school computers, but those have lately been failing to post here. I guess I'll summarize:
- As soon as I have access to a Windows box, I will reparse the STL headers on it, and then test windows.h to make sure it works (I have no doubt that it will). I also need to test the GL headers.
- Development will need to be carried out on said Windows device for a few cycles. This is because I assume said device (the one I have picked out) is 64 bit. Serprex had some problems with 64 bit machines in the past; I need to be sure they do not persist.
- Speaking of serp, I need his version of the system. He has been optimizing it for a while now. This will probably all be done inside tomorrow.
- Since the development of ENIGMA's parser, a new GM format has been released, along with a new EGM File format. ENIGMA needs to be versed in this new format. The parser also needs updated to use the CFile parser's list instead of the small list of built-ins I used to keep. This is a large step on the road to full extensibility.
And speaking of extensibility, with it come implications. Logically, I can't optimize for run speed, compile time, and output size all at once. So, here's what seems to be destined:
- When testing your game, it will compile quite fast. The output size will be tremendous (approaching the size of GM output as the project grows). Speed will be "decent," which is great by GM standard. Error handling will be as follows, as debated long ago:
- In regular run mode and release mode, errors will either kill you or they won't. They are not likely to be checked for.
- In debug mode, thorough checking will be done that could cause slowdown
- The jury is out on build mode.
- When compiling your game for final release, the process will take from 10 seconds to a minute. This depends not so much on your computer as on your optimization settings. C++ comes with a set of native-related optimizations, ENIGMA's most notable optimizations are to be as follows:
- Unused functions will not be included. This is possible thanks entirely to the CFile parser. [size optimization]
- Unused local variables can be removed. [memory optimization] [possibly {semi-}manual]
- Switch statements will be replaced with a type of hash map where possible. This will be another feat of mostly the C parser. [speed optimization]
Other optimizations become difficult to describe and list due to number and insignificance (they only add up in the long run). Not to mention I'm really tired.
Before I go though, I should elaborate on the implications of having removable systems.
Each of ENIGMA's systems is designed now to be optional. Since R3, when compile time was too high, these groups of related functions have been divided into individual source files. The problem with doing so is that many files in ENIGMA are highly interdependent. Many sources need a few members from instances, most often id, sprite_index, and mask_index. To give access to these variables without requiring all variables, R4 will require a super-parent, if you will, that contains only the most basic of locals. Other locals, like speed and direction, will be stored in a derived parent from which all other objects will derive. This will allow for all non-essential locals to be removed without major recompile.
*yawns* I need sleep today.
