Mathematics and Physics for Programmers (Charles River Media Game Development) [Paperback]

Danny Kodicek (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1584503300 | ISBN-13: 978-1584503309 | Publication Date: May 2005 | Edition: 1

Many programmers frequently have limited backgrounds in the mathematics and physics needed for game development or other complex applications. Sooner or later, all programmers run into coding issues that will require an understanding of mathematics or physics concepts like collision detection, 3D vectors, transformations, game theory, or basic calculus. This book provides a simple but thorough grounding in the mathematics and physics topics that programmers need to write these algorithms and programs, using a non-language-specific approach. Applications and examples from game programming are included throughout, and exercise sets follow each chapter for additional practice of the techniques. The CD-ROM provides simulations of the mathematical and physical principles discussed in the book along with the source code.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Danny Kodicek is a freelance programmer and multimedia designer specializing in Web site, game, and CD-ROM development. He currently resides in the United Kingdom, where his previous clients include the BBC and the Royal Air Force. He is a frequent contributor to director-online.com and a speaker at Macromedia UCON.

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1 edition (May 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584503300
• ISBN-13: 978-1584503309
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #686,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars retraining some programmers?, July 19, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mathematics and Physics for Programmers (Charles River Media Game Development) (Paperback)

Kodicek tackles a persistent problem in computing. Many game programmers have either forgotten what physics and maths they learnt, or they never learnt much of it to being with. In programming, you can go a long ways without calculus. Essentially, you are dealing with discrete maths.

But as games have become more sophisticated, they attempt to emulate reality more accurately. In order to attract users who can key off their existing physical intuition. So the gaming industry needs programmers to be trained in the physics and maths. Of course, as the book shows, the physics barely ventures beyond first year undergraduate level dynamics, and the affiliated maths.

So to a physicist or mathematician, this book is not interesting. But for the rest of you, the pseudocode methods should be understandable. And you can translate them into whatever language you work in.

The CD is strictly optional. A good enough programmer can dispense with it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what I needed, September 23, 2008

By 

Ryan J. (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mathematics and Physics for Programmers (Charles River Media Game Development) (Paperback)

I took physics, linear algebra, and calculus when I was in college.

Unfortunately, upon getting my IT job developing business applications, I did not have much use for them and when I became interested in game development, I realized that I had forgotten a great deal of information that I learned while I was in school.

I did have my linear algebra and calculus text book, but I misplaced (or sold) my physics book. I first looked online for quick tutorials, but a lot of tutorials left a lot to be desired.

This book briefly reviews the necessary basics which quickly returned to me and later applies them 2d and 3d scenarios.

I especially like the language agnostic approach the author has taken with the pseudocode in the book. The introduction states that no knowledge is assumed from the reader as each following chapter builds on a previous one. While, so far that statement has held true, I do wonder if a reader with absolutely no knowledge linear algebra, trig, calculus, and physics will fully grasp what the author is saying. Nevertheless, I do not see that as a negative since the book would be prohibitively huge it were anymore detailed.

The glossary is a nice inclusion and so far has been thorough enough to find everything what I was looking for.

I am certainly glad that I lost my physics book. Otherwise, I would not have this fine book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Little explination, November 17, 2009

By 

David Tucker - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mathematics and Physics for Programmers (Charles River Media Game Development) (Paperback)

I picked this book after reading lots of reviews. I wanted a book that covered game physics and could help me reconnect to the math I was using on the job. But this book, while covering every topic I was interested in does a very poor job of explaining what is going on. The author often throws out a complex equation with no explanation of the terms and transforms the equation into a seemingly different variation with all new terms and zero effort to tie them together. The code is too agnostic, and not useful for reading or using. I am back at amazon looking for a better book, this one is to simple for someone versed in the math and lacks the explanations needed to help someone get back up to speed on the subjects. If you had never had a college physics course or taken calculus you would not be able to get anything out of this book at all.