Vector Games Math Processors (Wordware Game Math Library) (Paperback)

by James Leiterman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The increased complexity of the hardware in video game consoles such as the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox and other embedded systems has resulted in a demand for programmers knowledgeable in vector-based program-ming. Vector Game Math Processors explains how to write parallel-based floating-point and integer-based math algorithms for use in video games as well as scientific applications.

* Understand all aspects of vector-based programming using the PowerPC, AltiVec, MIPS, x86, SIMD processors.

* Learn how to use various vector processor instruction sets.

* Discover how to program public and proprietary platforms with a vector-based mind-set.

* Explore trigonometric functions and advanced vector math, including matrices and quaternions.

* Learn about vertex shaders.

* Incorporate the sample vector and pseudo vector code into your own programming projects.

On the CD The companion CD contains example code discussed in the book. The files are compatible with the Macintosh, Windows, and MIPS platforms.

About the Author
James Leiterman is a senior computer engineer who has been developing hardware and software professionally since 1978 and programming video/computer games for 17 years. He has worked for several game companies including LucasArts, Atari, a casino gaming company, and two Internet online game companies, shipping nine computer games. He lives in Los Angeles, California

Product Details

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc. (November 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556229216
• ISBN-13: 978-1556229213
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,351,431 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, December 21, 2004

By	Ingeborg Martinsson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is for professionals and intermediate programmers interested in optimizing 3D vector calculations of their code. So this book gives you a clue what and how to do. I think a really professional book from a professional. It gives you a nice start to build fast code for vector and matrix calculations.
Maybe faster then the DirectX implementations. ;-)

Some important notes about the book:

1. nice explanations and figures
2. no nonsense code or listnings
3. all working code and compiled binaries
4. 4 platforms supported - so if you are coding a proggy in OpenGl for Mac and Windows. It will compile with a appropriate compiler.
5. no stupid or extrordinary woodoo assembler code - understandable code!
6. many instruction sets are explained and implemented like MMX, 3DNow, SSE and so on

A great buy. Satisfaction is guaranteed.

Martin
Berlin

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unreadable, April 19, 2006

By	J Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt - See all my reviews

The author seems knowledgeable in the area he covers, but, unfortunately, can't write: there isn't one clear paragraph in the whole book, not one coherent chapter -- this book reads like a transcript of a mental patient's ranting: disjointed and random, ungrammatical, having no logical structure, no direction; with concepts used w/o being defined before (or after!); wrong words used all the time (or, alternatively, missing a word now and then) -- all in all, a sizeable load of gibberish that's torture to parse and impossible to understand. Even vector math itself is not defined!

The author, if he must write at all, should team up with a competent technical writer, maybe as a coauthor, especially since the publisher, Wordware (based on my observations, a second-rate outfit in general) doesn't seem keen on providing adequate editorial contribution