Matt's Source Code Portal

About

Language(s)

Origionally, I used BASIC on the Apple II/c. Since then, I have used various other languages (for serious programming, mostly C/C++, Java, and Python.) However, I find that only Java has a large existing code base, and even then Java does not offer a very direct interaction with the processor nor were its graphics capabilities or speed very promising when I was first learning to use it. After I began to use C/C++, it quickly because my favorite lanuage and I have used it for most real programming projects ever since. Sometimes I still use Java (or even Visual Basic) for fast GUI's.

Operating System(s)

Origionally, I used an Apple II/c. Then I used early Macs for a long time (LC II, Performa, etc.) but found it difficult to do graphics programming on these macs. Eventually I switched over to Windows and have found programming with it much easier, plus it is the only OS where I can use DirectX. While OpenGL and DirectX are very similar, I found that some complicated things were easier to learn under DirectX than OpenGL. However, since comming to college I have had more exposure to Linux, and for my graphics classes ported my BaseCode to GLUT (and thus Linux.) However the transition left the code very gutted and hacked. Soon I intend to write a more elegant GLUT version which will be only slightly less functional so almost any OS can run the code.

Compiler(s)

I origionally learned C++ on Microsoft's Visual C++ (MSVC++) version 5.0. Over the years I have tried out other compilers (like DJGPP, or gcc with some of the Linux IDE's.) However I have never found myself very product with them, partially because I find browsing and editing source code to be very cumbersome, but mostly because MSVC++ gives very elegant error descriptions and fast to use debugging and breakpoint features. It is very nice to have a breakpoint like "NULL pointer dereferenced" or "Segmentation fault" with a complete (back to the main() function) call stack, and any function in the list can be selected and the variables at that point in the function analyzed. So currently my code runs on MSVC++ .NET and (with the exception of video textures) MSVC++ 6.0. I haven't tested it on earlier versions of MSVC++, or any other compiler. However, most components of my code should run on any platform, even if the API or OS specific code does not.