Posted January 22, 200619 yr Well, I think its about that time that I just laid to rest this myth that the Playstation 3 is a nightmare to program for due to the Cell processor. I think even without all the IBM stuff that has been sent out specifically saying how to program for Cell, all it would take is a quick cat command in the BASH command line in Cell to learn everything you need to know thanks to well documented programming methods by IBM.:cool: One of the main thing people refer to is " activating the SPE's ". I don't think many people realize how simple the process of letting your program know which SPE to use and how it will be used actually is. Which kind of leads its way into people thinking, " oh launch titles won't be using all 7SPE's ". Well, just to let you know, CELL will use all the SPE's all its own even if the programmer doesn't force the program into realizing SPE's are activated. The PPE of Cell is the composer of the orchestra, and won't allow its little helpers to sit around doing nothing. So even without programmer input all 7 SPE's will be utilized. When you hear a developer like Bandai stating " we are using only 1 SPE and the PPE ", what they are really saying is " Our programmer has only activated and specialized 1 SPE into doing its own tasks while the PPE is distributing the processes to the other SPE's currently unassisted ". Just to give you a little insight into the ease of SPE activation. What does it take? Well, first of all within the instruction set for Cell is a handly library called libspe library called with the #include <libspe.h> call. This new library pretty much includes all your SPE creation and management functions. Now that we have that open, what do we do to tell the program we want to use an SPE for something? Its as simple as this. First you need to let the compiler know an SPE is being used by putting spe_gid_t_spe_create_thread(int policy, int priority, int spe_events) under your # includes. Simple eh? Well, now that the compiler knows your going to eventually call in an SPE to handle threads. All you need to do is use this line spe_create_thread(parameters) with your parameters and returns at the end. SIMPLE! You guys still think its difficult to program for the SPE's of Cell? Wink So a natural program would look a little like #include <libspe.h> #include <iostream.h> spe_gid_t_spe_create_thread(); int main() { spe_create_thread(int SCHED_RR, *99, 0) /* Run code for SPE here */ return 0; } And there you have it. Of course, a real program is alot more complicated then that, but you get the idea of how easy it is to utilize the SPE's of the Cell processor now. So please, lets forget about the nightmarish stuff and realize that 5 years of work went into this processor to make it as accessible as possible. Cell is smart enough, by the way, to know that the first SPE in the line is SPE0, the next is SPE1 and so on and so forth. So if you don't specify which SPE your talking about, Cell will automatically assume that as you call and kill SPE's it will be doing so down the numbered line. Smart not to allow this to happen after SPE3 considering you'll be sending instructions to SPE4 which is all the way on the other side of the EIB ring, which could cause latency issues if you do it too many times uncontrolled in a program. Anyway, just wanted to let you guys in on a few things and clear that myth up. While Cell is NEW to program for, and it requires a new level of thinking, it is not really difficult at all. It just requires knowledge of all the inner workings of Cell to take advantage of it effectively. As you can see everything is set up in a ringed fashion. The SPE's start at the top left, which is referred to as SPE0 and goes from left to right. So the upper right SPE is SPE3 and then starts over at SPE4 on the bottom left of the die. The EIB as you can see is a ringed designed which allows for the 308GB/s bandwidth within the Cell processor. I've just downloaded the alphaWorks CBE ( Cell Broadband Engine ) simulator which IBM sent out and have been working with Cell for the past few months on and off when I get the time. Its actually really fun to program for.
January 22, 200619 yr oooh WOOOOOOW nice copy-paste, I cant express to you how pointless this is.... WHO IN THE FUCK ON THE myg0t FORUMS IS GOING TO BE DESIGNING GAMES FOR THE PS3!?!? lol, +b this fgt.
January 22, 200619 yr t3rm1ght said: oooh WOOOOOOW nice copy-paste, I cant express to you how pointless this is.... WHO IN THE FUCK ON THE myg0t FORUMS IS GOING TO BE DESIGNING GAMES FOR THE PS3!?!? lol, +b this fgt. Quoted for truth
January 22, 200619 yr Author Yeah....This was on the gamespot forums, I figured that I should tell people here in case they didn't already know. I don't need to hear that again...
January 22, 200619 yr Vort3x said: Yeah....This was on the gamespot forums, I figured that I should tell people here in case they didn't already know. I don't need to hear that again... no one cares, +b
January 23, 200619 yr spanky618 said: cool sig t3rmight. looks better than your older one ty, I made it while on vactation, I had nothing to do
January 23, 200619 yr t3rm1ght said: oooh WOOOOOOW nice copy-paste, I cant express to you how pointless this is.... WHO IN THE FUCK ON THE myg0t FORUMS IS GOING TO BE DESIGNING GAMES FOR THE PS3!?!? lol, +b this fgt. ROFL irl.:wow:
January 23, 200619 yr t3rm1ght said: oooh WOOOOOOW nice copy-paste, I cant express to you how pointless this is.... WHO IN THE FUCK ON THE myg0t FORUMS IS GOING TO BE DESIGNING GAMES FOR THE PS3!?!? lol, +b this fgt. Rofl. Dude your a fucking fgt yourself. This kid had just found somone to look upto (You) Atleast he's posting somthing intresting...better than all your Vb "virus" thread and your attempts to gloat about your programming skills.
January 23, 200619 yr blindwilliejohnson said: Rofl. Dude your a fucking fgt yourself. This kid had just found somone to look upto (You) Atleast he's posting somthing intresting...better than all your Vb "virus" thread and your attempts to gloat about your programming skills. lawl raged irl
January 23, 200619 yr Haha, termight everyone here is jealous of how leet you are, I am too. But I cbf doing anything about it.
January 23, 200619 yr Hmm.. Termight, I actually looked into it last night. After doing some research, and building some coding equipment, I actually made my own PS3 Game. It will be available in about a year. I got recruited by Rockstar. Sorry termight, :( http://www.ratemenude.com/uploads/male/174.jpg
January 23, 200619 yr ipwnnubbers said: Hmm.. Termight, I actually looked into it last night. After doing some research, and building some coding equipment, I actually made my own PS3 Game. It will be available in about a year. I got recruited by Rockstar. Sorry termight, :( http://www.ratemenude.com/uploads/male/174.jpg I just started working on the PS4 and Xbox 720 last night, you lose.
January 25, 200619 yr Zero mention of the actual assembly code which is necessary to optimize and run efficiently. So yeah that whole post is wrong. There was a Gabe Newell interview circling around and he wasn't complaining about c++ being difficult. He was mentioning registery problems learning a new assembly language with the new complicated processor.
