For this semester we had a large project to complete. we had to build a CPL to Quad compiler. essentially, its almost a C to asm compiler, just so youll understand the scale of the project. I'm 90% done, just have to add a nice error reporting stuff, but basically it compiles right every program i give it.

It was the first time i thought how uni studies actually contributed to me as a programmer. But most importantly, it gave me a feeling i rarly have. Being proud of your work as if it was a baby that just got born. Now dont get me wrong, I'm proud of everything i've done until now, But I rarly get this kind of rush.

just thought i'd share.

People enjoying programming always makes me feel happy =)

Writing that kind of stuff is actually quite fun. My current project uses all kinds of script formats to specify different things and it's been an interesting experience albeit it's not a full-blown compiler.

I had a simmilar project, it would look at a chunk of memory (where a program was residing) and spit out alll the 68k commands that composed the program (from the binary data). You could then compile the program using the standard 68k compiler and see if the program still ran. That was a hard, but fun project.

I like getting that feeling from programming and I often get that feeling from it. When I start to not feel proud about a portion of a program I've written, it usually means it is time to look it back over and refactor.

Currently I have been in a bit of a slump working on my game, although I have been fixing some more minor things, I haven't been storming ahead like I once was. This may be in part because of some modules that I need to look over and refactor, and I plan to do this in the next couple of days. When I'm not doubting the code that I have written, it is much easier to write new code.

I also think that I am beginning to see how the 80/20 rule applies to game programming. I have all the foundation built, it is mainly content creation and testing from now on. I need to add more levels, more enemies, and maybe more powerups and items. I should write a graphical level editor at some point so players will be able to make levels when I release the game. I think that refactoring some of my code and being able to be proud of it should give me the push I need to get over the last hill in the development of my game.

Back more on topic: There is nothing like that feeling of seeing the code you wrote behave exactly as it was designed to behave. Especially when the implementation is very clean and elegant, although that isn't always necessary, I find that I am usually much more proud of code that is clean than code that has some hacks in it.

Also on topic: Programming a compiler like you are talking about seems like a fun project that a lot could be learned from. I haven't had any college programming classes because I opted to major in Electrical and Computer Engineering rather than Computer Science (I am currently/will be in the fall a Sophomore, I am taking summer classes right now). So I don't have any experiences with cool projects like that. I decided on the other major because It seemed from the curriculum I read that there was a whole lot of classes that would bore me to tears that I had to take at first before I got the the fun stuff (Although that may be a poorly informed statement, since I haven't taken the classes). (Not to mention the 3 semesters of a foreign language and some other stupid requirements that I would need for some reason, but don't for my current major).

I have babbled quite a bit here, maybe I will stop now. Hopefully this post was in some way entertaining or worth reading for someone out there, ;-)

For me, programming combines two activities that I love, namely, creating something and problem solving.

It does make me proud when I know I've written elegant code, but it makes me even prouder when someone else says so.

--- Rod