Category: C++

A small C++ Tip. Return values from Constructors

A small C++ Tip. Return values from Constructors

Posted on by David

C++ LogoYou can’t return anything from a constructor.  One way is to use exceptions but those can bring their own issues. Google’s C++ guidelines actually stipulate no exceptions and I’ve heard it from others as well that they prefer not to use them. Some people avoid it by having a mostly empty constructor and then an init() method to do the real initialisation and return a success/fail state.

But there is a simple trick that you can use, just return the state as a reference. Here’s an example. If you want to return more values, use a struct.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Simple {
public:

    Simple(bool& failure) {
        failure = true;
    }

    ~Simple() {
    }
};

int main() {

    bool fail_flag = false;
    Simple f(fail_flag);
    if (fail_flag)
        cout << "failed " << endl;
    else
        cout << "Success" << endl;
}
C++ enum class vs enum

C++ enum class vs enum

Posted on by David

C++ LogoI’d read about enum class in C++. It’s a slight strengthening of the compiler checking compared to plain old enums.  Why you may wonder? Well,

  • Conventional enums can implicitly convert to int, causing errors when someone does not want an enumeration to act as an integer.
  • Conventional enums export their enumerators to the surrounding scope, causing name space pollution.
  • The underlying type of an enum cannot be specified, causing confusion, compatibility problems, and makes forward declaration impossible.

Additionally you can declare the underlying storage type, which lets the compiler catch bugs where a value is too large for the storage. Here’s a made up example to show this:


enum class byteThings : unsigned char {
Thing1 = 0x01,
Thing2 = 0x02,
Thing3 = 0x04,
BigThing = 0x120  // Compiler will complain!
}

The downside is that to get the int value, you now need to do a static cast but it does make your code safer.

byteThings b = Thing2; 
int i= static_cast(thing); // 2

 

C++ Asteroids is progressing

C++ Asteroids is progressing

Posted on by David

C++ AsteroidsThis is a screenshot of it as it stands and yes those asteroids are moving! It looks identical to the C version; the only difference is the code, not the appearance.

What makes it interesting is the structure. The Player and Asteroids classes both inherit from a Common base class that has all the position and move data.

It took a bit of time to get the overall architecture right. There’s a Game class which manages everything; the Player, Asteroid and Lib classes.  But Asteroids and Player classes also use the Lib class so  it took a bit of faffing around to make them all play happily together.

This is the biggest difference between C++ and C; the classes and how they all fit together. My biggest source of frustration has been arm wrestling with the C++ compiler; it sometimes seems as if never get easier! Sometimes a wrongly placed semicolon can generate hundreds of compile errors…

It took half a day to get it right and bullets should fit in much easier. Mind you I’ve had to incorporate two static variables in the Common class. One is a copy of the SDL renderer; this is needed to draw things on screen. The other is a pointer to the Game class so that I can access the DebugFlag state.  This is used to show debug information but I may be able to move the flag itself into the Common base class and change it through a call on a Player method. So long as it is static then changing it for the Player also changes it for the Asteroids and Bullets.

 

Slight change in direction – more C++ and Pi

Slight change in direction – more C++ and Pi

Posted on by David
Raspberry Pi
Image by planet_fox from Pixabay

As I said recently, writing about C and games probably isn’t enough to sustain this site, but if I extend it to include C++ and Raspberry Pi and still maintain the overall direction of writing about game development then that I think will do it.

So I’ve added a new page for C++. I’m currently working on the C++ version of Asteroids and making good progress.

I’m striving to write it in modern C++. To that end, the first entry in the C++ page is a link to a very long document: C++ Core Guidelines written by two luminaries of the C++ world Herb Sutter and Bjarne Stroustrup (creator of C++). You should definitely give it a read.

Interesting fact about the Raspberry PI. Did you know that in March 2020, they sold 640,000! That’s pretty amazing! And while that article says that AAA game playing isn’t something you can do on a Pi, we now know that you can run simple 2D arcade quality games on a Raspberry Pi 4.

I’ve started on the C++ Windows eBook

I’ve started on the C++ Windows eBook

Posted on by David

C++ Code listing photoI made the mistake of starting by trying to convert the final version of Asteroid; all 2,200 lines of C into C++.

It got very messy because I was trying to have all the moving objects (Player ship, asteroids, bullets, aliens ship) all based on a common ancestor class but then was trying to manipulate those instances of the ancestor class and downcast back from the ancestor instances and I don’t think you can in C++. Compiler errors galore!

It was the wrong approach and I wasn’t using virtual functions. So instead I’m doing it step by step, adding on new features. Much like the original C development in 13 different steps.

Here’s the slightly shorter asteroids.cpp:

// Asteroids C++ 2020 Chapter 27
#include "game.h"

int main(int argc,char * args[])
{
	Game g;
	g.InitSetup();
	g.GameLoop();
	g.FinishOff();
    return 0;
}

There are other classes used from Game. I haven’t put everything in one “God” class!

Why C and not C++?

Why C and not C++?

Posted on by David

C++ LogoConfession, I can program in C++ though I’m a bit rusty and my C++ knowledge stops short of creating template classes but I can use them.  But given that probably most games these days are programmed in C++ why is this site about C?

Well it’s been mostly personal preference. I like C; it is a heck of a lot simpler than C++ (understatement!) and compilations are very fast! I know most of C though to my chagrin I admit I got include guards wrong for quite a while. I was using them in .c files rather than .h.

Plus, I haven’t really looked into WebAssembly enough. I know it will work with both C and C++. But it has to be said that there is probably only so much you can write about C, so I will be including C++ in the future. I’d planned to do a C++ conversion of my Ebook(s).

Besides which if you google for something involving C, you’d be amazed how many C++ and even C# websites are in the results!