Re: GP: Re: GameProgrammer: AI and AL

[Karel Bagchus <H.Bagchus@cable.a2000.nl>]

Hi,

At 06:01 PM 9/2/99 -0700, Chris Gripeos wrote:

>If you are planning to program AI or 3D engines take all the physics and 
>mathematics classes that you can!!!!!!

I know.... I have to admit that all the abstract stuff I learned (and
forgot) during
math classes and thought of then as "extremely un-usefull" find their
applyance
in the things I do today. Needless to say that my highschool math books are
right next to my programming books on my bookshelve.

Then there are subjects that they never tought at school, but they do appear
in programming documentation. Having had Math in Dutch an literature on
programming always being in english, I'm alsways not 100% certain if what
I think I read really is what I think it is. There was a discussion a few
years ago
to start teaching math/physics/chemistry in schools in English instead of
Dutch.
The idea was shot down by dutch language purists, what I think is really a 
missed opportunity. 

>I went to a school dedicated in teaching 2D and 3D games. We covered 
>everything from designing a game to programming it. 90 Percent of the time 
>we spend on either learning how to render a 3D scene or learning physics and 
>mathematics.
>One thing is for sure, if I had decided to learn all this myself I would 
>have missed a lot.

On the other hand, I find that first-hand experiance solving a problem gives
me more understanding of the solution then when someone teaches me
the solution to a given problem. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well
enough... 

>Also!! I would have never gotten the job I have as a game programmer if it 

>wasn't for the math and physics skills I aquired at school, even though I 
>have a good programming background.

I'm self-employed and have my own company so for me getting an
employment position isn't really an issue. Instead my company is being 
evaluated on the things I can show off with (wich basically comes down 
to the same thing but in a different way :=)

Karel.




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