It’s 4 a.m. I’m wired. Could be from the coffee I had around 7 p.m. Could be from taking the day off from work to get some rest after a terrible week prior. In any event, maybe some blogging will make me tired.
A big reason I’m pumped is I’ve been able to accomplish quite a bit on my video game design and development course this past week, despite some real-life pitfalls.
I’m finally at the point in C++ For Video Game Development where I’m learning the Standard Template Library (STL). Basically, this is the point where I am caught up with what I’ve already known in C++. The STL is a library of ready-to-use snippets of code that I, the programmer, can access so I don’t have to re-invent the wheel.
Most of the STL deals with lists and how to manipulate the items in the lists that a programmer creates. For example, a grocery list. Instead of having to create a program that creates my grocery list, adds items to the list, sorts the list, deletes items from the list, etc. There is a Standard Template (the ST in STL) that I can use to do all of that.
Without the STL, creating the digital grocery list would be the equivalent in real life to having to make the paper and construct the pen every time you want to make a list.
Now, I’ve studied C++ before, but not this in-depth. I actually coded in it when I worked on a text-based game awhile back. It’s been difficult to be forced to go back and learn C++ longhand, so to speak. But it’s good to understand C++ at a much higher level than I previously did.
I got a 90% on my first quiz in Mod 2 of C++. I might be ready tonight to take the second quiz. That is if I don’t pass out from lack of sleep. After that, I’m really jazzed because I’ll start learning Windows programming and start creating some 2D video games.
Now I just need to fall asleep.