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The thing that I can't get my head around is how they could iteratively test their code given the (presumably) slow speeds of compilers back in the day. In oth
by YPPH 4y ago
The thing that I can't get my head around is how they could iteratively test their code given the (presumably) slow speeds of compilers back in the day.
In other words, how did they write code and make sure it worked as expected?
Surely you couldn't be recompiling the game every 10 seconds. Was there a strategy employed?
- dehrmann 4y agoMake has been able to detect modified files for at least 20 years. As long as your changes are fairly isolated, if the project is structured well, you'll only have a few files to compile, then you re-link. Or use actual libraries that are dynamically linked.
- mordechai9000 4y agoI haven't watched the video, but isn't the strategy usually to compile source files into object files, and then link them together into executables and DLLs? So you would only recompile the source file you're working on, and just relink, much faster than recompiling everything.
- psyklic 4y agoIn addition to this, it wasn't typical to test your code every ten seconds. A good programmer can write a significant piece of functionality and have it work reasonably well right away (and even start on the next item while it's compiling!).
- dannyking 4y agoRelevent xkcd: https://xkcd.com/303/ https://xkcd.com/303/