[ydl-gen] Coding for PS3?

[Derick Centeno]

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Hi Mike:
Congrats on your accomplishments.

As far as making games for the PS3, you'd have to apply to Sony's  
Programmer Development
program or their Game Development program.  When you think you are  
ready you can go to Sony's website for the PS3 and search the details  
for yourself.

I haven' studied to your level however I did have some introduction  
into advanced BioMed sciences.  Although it's been over 20 years ago,  
I still recall an interesting problem presented as a test question  
which could provide an insight for you what you are confronting  
regarding your current desire.  Briefly, there was a problem where  
given a blockage or failure in the Krebs cycle one had to recommend a  
corrective course of action to restore the energy sequence.  Of  
course, the specifics matter however what I'm pointing at for our  
purposes is the requisite necessity that to answer the problem  
correctly a thorough comprehension of the energy cycle process, at  
the molecular level, was required.  This is not impossible, just  
merely tediously demanding.  The clear underlying supposition of the  
test question was to determine the level of a student's  
understanding, especially as the answer involved a recommendation of  
procedures resulting in correction of the problem.  In other words,  
the answer included a complete comprehension of the entire process.

Programming on the Cell is like that.  One must correctly comprehend  
not just a series of standard programming procedures in a language;  
one must also comprehend and master the sequence of correctly  
addressing the entire systemic potential of all components within the  
Cell.  Not doing so, won't cause failure; it will however make your  
program sub-optimal in it's performance and functional value for your  
intended user.  Also more formally trained competing programmers and  
companies, who may work on the same process or service as your  
program who make the time to master the Cell's subtleties will  
produce better programs several magnitudes of order more useful.  The  
non-programmer/user may not be skilled at coding software, but the  
user always comprehends what works for him/her and what doesn't.

Therefore whether in Gaming or in programming within Linux (or in our  
case, YDL) the demand for a serious and thorough focus to process and  
comprehension is at a level which challenges everyone.

Here is a link addressing an aspect of the above discussion differently:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=15981

I'd like to point to another comment I've made elsewhere because it  
can lead you to other technical references regarding the Cell which  
could be useful to you.  Here it is:

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/dw_thread.jsp? 
forum=739&message=13997986&thread=177675&cat=28

I've had basic formal programming experience and a lot of real-world  
programming experience across a variety of languages.
Although the lingua franca, is C and C++, much of the Cell like most  
things, in Linux and Unix is done in C.  Exploring and mastering  
every nuance in C is very challenging, but not impossible.  Your  
education has provided you with the discipline to match and overcome  
the minutiae.  If you maintain your effort in a consistent manner you  
may be able eventually be able not only to discover errors in open  
source code, but also be able to submit corrections of those errors.

The practical skill gained via participating in available open source  
projects can help you "leap" beyond normal sequential based formal  
education training.  However, you may miss some important concepts  
also.  One way around that is to participate with your university's  
Computer Science research projects and strengthen those  
relationships.  Review your math and strengthen your capability in  
coding a variety of implementations of various important and esoteric  
algorithms.  Believe me, you never know which effort will be rewarded  
by you knowing something which another does not.

I'm continuously surprised over what my efforts in researching a  
particular detail lead to.  One interesting, yet challenging  
algorithm for running on the Cell as a student project (just to "wet"  
one's appetite) would be to successfully program the Henderson- 
Hasselbach equation such that errors resulting from what Dr. Nakamura  
(Applied Numerical Methods in C) describes as machine epsilon errors  
become accounted for.  Keep in mind that anything currently rewritten  
would have to be reconsidered in terms of implementing the Cell's  
capacity.  This means that programming shortcuts due to limitations  
in standard processors are not efficient or necessary any longer  
which also means that new ones, whatever you (or anyone else) will  
come up with will need to be an entirely new approach utilizing the  
Cell's capacity and the efficiency of it's RAM and storage systems.

My, my isn't that something?  Well, the only thing meaningful to say  
is that the Cell makes us all beginners.  I'm not sure that this  
challenging a project is what you were considering, but it is there.

Another wrinkle to consider:  In Linux and YDL as well, it is  
possible to write code for a server and a client.  These are  
different programming skills.  Just thought you'd like to know.

Have a Great Time and Good Luck...  :)

On Oct 24, 2007, at 9:37 AM, Michael Torres wrote:

> Hey guys,
>
>   This may seem like a very simple question that
> requires a complex answer, not in the actually words,
> but what it will entail. So, here is my question. If I
> wanted to get involved in learning to code for the
> PS3, which would be for YDL I suppose, what books or
> language would be best to learn? Eventually it would
> be nice to be able to make games for the PS3, but I
> know that is a long way off. I haven't formally
> studied anything higher than basic computer science,
> but I am getting my PhD in Molecular Genetics, so I
> think I am capable of learning, but don't really know
> where to begin. I have always wanted a project like
> this on the side, that I am passionate about and could
> be fun. Any resources or direction would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Michael Torres

======================
A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought.
- -- Sir Isaac Newton


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