Fully documented source code for Elite on the BBC Micro

Re:Fully documented source code for Elite on the BBC Micro by DEADBEEFC0FFEE on Sunday September 27, 2020 @11:25PM (#24612678)

You must have been very proficient, my understanding is the Elite code was particularly optimised.

I tried 6502 on the beeb but really found it a slog.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Fully documented source code for Elite on the BBC Micro by jlokier on Sunday September 27, 2020 @11:31PM (#24612713)

The Elite code was great for learning techniques from!

I recommend everyone should read some well optimised code occasionally, and figure out how it works, to see how it's done.

I didn't know much in the way of assembler techniques before reading the Elite code. For example I didn't even know how to do things like multiply or square root, or draw lines efficiently. That's where I learned those things.

It did take quite a lot of studying the printout to get it. So many "aha! that's how they do it" moments.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Fully documented source code for Elite on the BBC Micro by NCG_Mike on Monday September 28, 2020 @04:55AM (#24614515)

I assume they had a scaled up integer sin and tan tables and used matrices for scale, rotation and projection?

I do remember seeing this in 68K.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Fully documented source code for Elite on the BBC Micro by MarkMoxon on Monday September 28, 2020 @05:52AM (#24614891)

There are tables for sin, cos and arctan, but these are only used for drawing the planet’s circles. All the ship-drawing and universe manipulation is done using the small angle approximation, so there’s no need for lookup tables.

Lots more info here:

https://www.bbcelite.com/explore/articles/deep_dive_pitching...

[ Parent | on HN ]