The Epic History of Game Programming Languages
This is a writing sample from Scripted writer Leanne Flynn
Note: These are excerpts of a 6000 word article on the history of programming languages and gaming. The Epic History of Game Development & Programming Languages The evolution of programming languages and computer game development is epic in every sense of the word. The world of programming language history is peopled with epic characters and legendary heroic conflict. The goals of the earliest programmers were deemed impossible, anti-social and even irreverent by those who opposed them. With the promotion and progression of machine-making throughout the tumultuous years known as the Industrial Revolution, great thinkers- poets, philosophers, scientists and engineers- turned their attention to ways to 'communicate' more effectively with machines. And there have always been gamers, long before there were electric machines, there were avid gamers. Give a gamer an interesting machine and a language to program it with, and as you know, that gamer is going to turn their machine into a game. During a time when others were making machines that did work, and turning machines into weapons, gamers were engineering machines that taught skills and encouraged fun. To understand how we ended up with Holographic communication and 3-D game magic tricks like like the newly released Oculus Rift, we should appreciate programming language history and the roles that game developers have played in enhancing our understanding and appreciation with our environment.
World War 2 and The Radio Wars: The Era of Cryptology
The first electronic digital computers, Colossus and ENIAC, were constructed during World War II. Shortly after the war, those first stored program architectures at the University of Pennsylvania (EDVAC), Cambridge University (EDSAC), the University of Manchester (Manchester Mark 1), and Princeton University (IAS machine) became shared with students, government employees, and corporations to be used for other, non-war related, purposes. This change, this decentralization of computers and the knowledge of programming them, allowed computers to be easily reprogrammed to undertake a variety of tasks. The commercialization of the computer in the early 1950s by companies like Remington Rand, Ferranti, and IBM was inevitable as post war companies turned their attention to profits, and turned their attention to personal computing and games. Computers became available an became understood by universities, government organizations, and large corporations. Game development and game programming became a reality.
Virtual Reality, Remote Viewing, Particle Entanglement and Einstein
Recently publicized was the news of a brand new type of computer programmed display- a 3D holographic representation of an image or a person right there in front of us. Like how R2D2 displayed urgent messages from Princess Leiah and Obi-Wan Kenobi, but life sized. How magical is that?! Applications of this are in development right now, and to be certain game developers that have studied programming language history are about to create some phenomenal situations with this newly available programming language information. One possible application as noted by developers and investors is the concept of a 'telephone call' that goes just that far beyond the Skype or Facebook or Google videophone experience. Your person on the other end of the line actually physically appears to be in the room with you. Is this what Einstein meant by 'action at a distance'? How far can we project a holographic image? How far away can we project a sound? These are the types of questions that game developers consider.
For game developers, the game is on to apply this impressive holographic programming to all different types of gaming activities and instructions. Is the holo-deck on its way? Are we about to order Earl Grey Hot from an empty cupboard? No doubt the entire planet of humanity, the global tribe, is waiting to hear about applications of the holograph and how we can advance and apply that programming technology. The implications for restoring damaged eco-systems and optimizing quality of life are astonishing. From space invaders to satellites- game developers are involved in programming language development that has applications thought to be impossible just a few years ago. They really are achieving what many people still believe to be impossible. With the popularization of information gathered through The Genome Project, published and distributed in the best selling book called The Genome Project, the study of programming languages, game theories, and cybernetics have become epic and astonishing in their goals. With 3D printed organs built of living cells, the urgent need to produce opportunities for those new cells to communicate effectively with the entire person has opened up brand new employment and research and development opportunities for programmers that understand games. The study of ethics and creating global agreements through honest communication about these new applications has never been more important. Ways to secure information that allow for ethical information sharing, especially about health and quality of life, are being saught by corporate executives all of the world. Game developers with their understanding of the history of programming languages have become very valued as employees in more companies every day. The future is bright and filled with awesome opportunities for fun for anyone choosing a course of study or a career as a programmer involved with game development.
So, If I Become a Game Developer And Focus On Windows, Will I Live Forever?
That's a big question! Turing would have an answer. Schrodinger would have an answer. Einstein probably wrote an answer to that question somewhere in his notes. Lord Byron and his daughter, Ada, would certainly have answers about how language programming and game theory explain all we need to know about entropy, aging, healing and longevity to live a very, very long time. And forever is certainly a very, very long time. Cybernetics experts are like wizards in so many ways, that it would not surprise me at all if great gamers knew more about that type of immortalist wizardry than they tell the rest of us! Perhaps we each must seek and then find our own magic cup before we can teach our machines and our people what living forever means.
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