Results for "Author: bigcalm"

A demo of the A* (A star) pathing algorithm used in many games to find a path across a varied map. This is merely a demo, but with optimisation it could be modified to be used in a game. Most tiled map games, board games (such as chess), and route finders all use the A* pathing algorithm as a quick an efficient method of finding a route from A to B. The code also contains my implementation of a Heap or Binary Tree (which is sadly lacking from VB).

For all those jaded ex-Computer Science students out there, here's a revisitation of certain data structures which are taught to be useful. Includes a Stack, Queue, and Binary Heap (occasionally called a Binary Tree). These are fast, well tested, and should provide you with useful functionality for virtually any programming you do.

By using the "Performance Timer" in all modern PC's it is possible to achieve timing accuracy of greater than one microsecond (yes, 1 millionth of a second). This code shows you how to use API calls to access and use it.

This code allows accurate collision detection down to pixel level. For use with Sprites, and using API calls to make this fast enough to work with a simple game.

Grep for Windows! Search plain-text files (including VB and C Source files) for keywords and regular expressions, with a barrel-load of options and features to choose from! Source includes file-finding, automatic registering of a file type, load/save and much more.

A clone of the MsgBox() function, but allowing any buttons you like. I know similar things have been done before, but I don't think they're as complete as this one.

This article covers all the main methods of artificial intelligence in games. Ideal as an introduction to artifical intelligence, though I think most decent games programmers will know all this stuff anyway. Briefly covers Patterning, Finite-State Machines, Neural Nets, Genetic Algorithms and Algorithmics. Any comments greatly appreciated. Ta

This is the first ever VB implementation of the RijnDael (pronounced Reign Dahl) block cipher algorithm. This form of encryption has recently been adopted as the Advanced Encryption Standard - the standard which is set to replace DES, the way that most encryption is done nowadays.

An Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program. The goal of this ongoing experimental project is to build a neural net capable of recognising zipcodes or text within bitmaps. Part 3 includes a much faster net (array based, rather than Class/Collection based), simulated annealing, and Nguyen-Widrow initialisation. Other keywords: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Perceptron, Feed-Forward, BackPropogation

This project shows you how you can write multi-threaded components, in true VB style (i.e. Not using API). This code should ONLY be downloaded with those who have the _Enterprise_edition_ of Visual Basic, because I have used parts of Visual Basic unavailable to those who've got the standard editions. The multi-threaded example is a conversion of my A* code into a threaded DLL. _This_code_is_also_NOT_for_the_newbie - I'd say you need a good understanding of COM (and preferably threading) before you attempt to understand how this project actually works. Please follow the instructions in the ReadMe file to compile the right things in order. Good luck!

A demo of the A* (A star) pathing algorithm used in many games to find a path across a varied map. This is merely a demo, but with optimisation it could be modified to be used in a game. Most tiled map games, board games (such as chess), and route finders all use the A* pathing algorithm as a quick an efficient method of finding a route from A to B. The code also contains my implementation of a Heap or Binary Tree (which is sadly lacking from VB).

For all those jaded ex-Computer Science students out there, here's a revisitation of certain data structures which are taught to be useful. Includes a Stack, Queue, and Binary Heap (occasionally called a Binary Tree). These are fast, well tested, and should provide you with useful functionality for virtually any programming you do.

By using the "Performance Timer" in all modern PC's it is possible to achieve timing accuracy of greater than one microsecond (yes, 1 millionth of a second). This code shows you how to use API calls to access and use it.

This code allows accurate collision detection down to pixel level. For use with Sprites, and using API calls to make this fast enough to work with a simple game.

Grep for Windows! Search plain-text files (including VB and C Source files) for keywords and regular expressions, with a barrel-load of options and features to choose from! Source includes file-finding, automatic registering of a file type, load/save and much more.

A clone of the MsgBox() function, but allowing any buttons you like. I know similar things have been done before, but I don't think they're as complete as this one.

This article covers all the main methods of artificial intelligence in games. Ideal as an introduction to artifical intelligence, though I think most decent games programmers will know all this stuff anyway. Briefly covers Patterning, Finite-State Machines, Neural Nets, Genetic Algorithms and Algorithmics. Any comments greatly appreciated. Ta

This is the first ever VB implementation of the RijnDael (pronounced Reign Dahl) block cipher algorithm. This form of encryption has recently been adopted as the Advanced Encryption Standard - the standard which is set to replace DES, the way that most encryption is done nowadays.

An Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program. The goal of this ongoing experimental project is to build a neural net capable of recognising zipcodes or text within bitmaps. Part 3 includes a much faster net (array based, rather than Class/Collection based), simulated annealing, and Nguyen-Widrow initialisation. Other keywords: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Perceptron, Feed-Forward, BackPropogation

This project shows you how you can write multi-threaded components, in true VB style (i.e. Not using API). This code should ONLY be downloaded with those who have the _Enterprise_edition_ of Visual Basic, because I have used parts of Visual Basic unavailable to those who've got the standard editions. The multi-threaded example is a conversion of my A* code into a threaded DLL. _This_code_is_also_NOT_for_the_newbie - I'd say you need a good understanding of COM (and preferably threading) before you attempt to understand how this project actually works. Please follow the instructions in the ReadMe file to compile the right things in order. Good luck!