mikeash.com pyblog/friday-qa-2009-02-27-holistic-optimization.html commentshttp://www.mikeash.com/?page=pyblog/friday-qa-2009-02-27-holistic-optimization.html#commentsmikeash.com Recent CommentsFri, 29 Mar 2024 08:12:31 GMTPyRSS2Gen-1.0.0http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssPatMcGee - 2009-09-20 00:54:31http://www.mikeash.com/?page=pyblog/friday-qa-2009-02-27-holistic-optimization.html#commentsRelevant book: "Discussion of THE Method", Billy Vaughn Koen. <br /> <br />The Engineering Method: The strategy for causing the best change in a poorly understood situation within the available resources. <br /> <br />I.e., if you understand the situation, you're doing technician work, not engineering. <br /> <br />I found it fascinating. Among other things, it's a collection of heuristics applicable to just about any engineering problem. Not to mention the discussion in which he claims that just about everything is engineering. <br /> <br />Pat <br />2c6cc7454e83b42c6239ede9ef585bf2Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:54:31 GMTPhil Holland - 2009-03-07 03:45:30http://www.mikeash.com/?page=pyblog/friday-qa-2009-02-27-holistic-optimization.html#commentsA little late for your next Q&amp;A, but at some point, I'd be interested in entries on the proper uses of libffi, Accelerate.framework, or the llvm.cb1116ad66c1f60fa5df06aeccbf62f4Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:45:30 GMTmikeash - 2009-02-27 22:00:30http://www.mikeash.com/?page=pyblog/friday-qa-2009-02-27-holistic-optimization.html#commentsYep, great point. For a game, "fun" is basically the <i>only</i> thing to optimize. It implies other optimizations (an action game that gets 5fps is not much fun!) but in the end that's all that matters. Maximum fun for the programmer time available.d11d41a735ea62434f95661867bd1308Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:00:30 GMTmillenomi - 2009-02-27 15:59:20http://www.mikeash.com/?page=pyblog/friday-qa-2009-02-27-holistic-optimization.html#commentsLet's not forget that you can optimize for things even less traditional than performance. Valve is famous for their build-run-playtest cycle they use to literally optimize for maximum fun (with Newell even advocating advanced forms of "profiling" such as biometrics taken from playtesters during play -- !!!). <br /> <br /> <br />3106f74e2ec9d22e794c65a623aba90eFri, 27 Feb 2009 15:59:20 GMT