pikmin2/docs/writing_code.md

Writing Code

This document will outline some basic principles of writing code for this project, and some examples.

Clean Code

The size of the project requires a lot of repeated code, here are some commonly used examples to help you practice clean and concise code.

General

• randFloat() generates a random float from 0 to 1.
• randWeightFloat(f32 range) is shorthand for (range * (f32)rand()) / 32768.0f;, which generates a random number from 0 to range.
• You may run into code that looks akin to:

iterator.first();
while (!iterator.isDone()) {
	Code
	iterator.next();
}

Which we have further condensed into:

CI_LOOP(iterator) {
	Code
}

• You may run into code that looks akin to:

if (x*x + z*z < r) {
	
}

Which, for enemies, you may want to look at the isCreatureWithinRange function, otherwise you can use the IS_WITHIN_CIRCLE define, which squares and compares for you.

• SET_FLAG(x, val) is shorthand for x |= val.
• RESET_FLAG(x, val) is shorthand for x &= ~val.
• P2ASSERT() along with other defines can be found within JSystem/JUT, we recommend you acquaint yourself with this file, as it shows up constantly within the Pikmin 2 codebase.
• You can find more in types.h, trig.h, BuildSettings.h and Dolphin/Math.h.

Enemies

• CG_PARMS(x) is shorthand for static_cast<Parms*>(x->mParms).
• C_PARMS is shorthand for static_cast<Parms*>(this->mParms).
• CG_PROPERPARMS(x) is shorthand for static_cast<Parms*>(x->mParms)->mProperParms.
• C_PROPERPARMS is shorthand for static_cast<Parms*>(this->mParms)->mProperParms.