Lately, I've been reading up on using physics over a network and synchronization and the issues to work around and I've been slightly put off. It seems there is no generic way to handle this and the path you take is highly dependent on your game. Since I don't actually have a game, that puts me in a little bit of a bind.
I wanted to try to use Havok physics in my project, but I really don't feel like learning it with no specific task at hand. I certainly love all the features it has and the demos are amazing, but for some reason I don't see the utility in it right now. Newton physics was just a mess project wise and now I am thinking I should not even have a base physics system in my project.
I think the real problem is I don't have a focus at the moment. I have all these things I want to do, but no concrete ultimate goal. 2 years ago, I wanted to learn reverse engineering and low level programming and spent 2 years getting good at it. A year ago, I wanted to learn how to do network coding so I spent a year working with TCP. 4 months ago, I wanted a better networking system, so I spent the time working on one. All of that is done done now and I did learn a lot, so it's on to the next thing.
What's the next thing though?
* I have no knowledge of graphics related stuff, like rendering, shaders, and everything in that domain. I mean I could spend a year or so on that, but I've never been a big graphics person from a programming perspective.
* I do have a todo entry for learning device drivers and the like on Windows, but I see that becoming less relevant for me as Windows approaches the post XP era. I don't think I'll even have a real need for this now.
* I'm not up to date on the latest web technologies. Then again, I could never do web design, only web programming, so learning ASP.Net would be the key thing here. I do want to make more net driven applications that do not solely revolve around an actual program server but rather a web server, so I do have some interest here.
* I need to learn more programming languages that you don't use the monolithic design principle with as you do with C/C++. I wanted to learn erlang a while ago and Ada, but I just couldn't commit to it. Even my advances with Lua slowed down, but I did have some good use out of it for a time.
I think that sums up general domains of interest I am lacking in skill wise at the moment. I think I will be taking it easy the next week or so and try to find something to concentrate on for the month of May.
I think I am just getting burned out again as this feeling has been happening more frequently as the years pass. I now see the benefits of having a job and much less free time. I'm not complaining though, I don't mind my current situation. However, not talking or interacting with people on a daily basics and not having any real "friends" is starting to take its toll. QQ for me, right?
Anyways, maybe I should spend less time programming and start writing again. I still need to write my own book and that would certainly take up a bit of time I find myself having between regular programming. I've also taken an interest in learning how stocks are traded and have been looking to try and make Mad Money. Not for the money though, for the excitement and experience. Trying to get good at something is always a challenge I like to take, and this stuff is outside the regular norm of things I concentrate on.
Decisions, decisions. I ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon yesterday as I've been wanting a few things and just been holding out on buying anything for no good reason. I saw a watch on Amazon in Match I really liked, but it wasn't released until a week ago or so, so I got that. I ordered some of my favorite Old Wisconsin turkey bite snacks because those things rock but are often out of stock. Finally, I got a bunch of blu-ray movies for me and the family since I think they are worth it over the DVD versions we have of them.
I've also been thinking a lot about getting additional computer hardware, but I can't seem to justify a reason for it. I've spent literally hundreds of hours researching servers, SFF builds, and looking at new technology coming out and just can't find a reason for wanting to actually upgrade anything. I think I will upgrade my video card when Win7 comes out, but by then I will just build a new computer as I don't want to lose this one due to having so many node-locked licenses on here.
Looking forward, I don't quite know what I will be aiming for. i have been trying to horde up experience and that's been going well, but as I mentioned above, I am kind of running out of basics to learn, which is a good thing, but leaves the question of what to do afterwords. I'm sure I'll think of something though, I've certainly got the time right now and the ability, just finding the right logic based motivation can be hard.
I think that's all for now, I'm going to listen to I Am America (And So Can You) on my IPod since I just got the audio book the other day on ITunes. I've been watching The Colbert Report and The Daily Show a lot lately and loving it. I think The Daily Show is more of my favorite though.
Good stuff [smile]
