Feature: 'Day in the Life: Andy Thomason, Games Technology Researcher and Writer'

In today's main Gamasutra feature, Andy Thomason, a researcher and writer for the recently Sony-purchased console tool developer SN Systems, takes us through a typical day in his life, from boat building through cache-locking and console programming. In this part of the feature, Andy discusses his mid-morning routine: "10:10 AM – Work through my emails. One from Andy Howe, one of the original Tomb-Raider crew that I worked with at Confounding Factor. Andy has moved from Bristol to Vienna to work at Rockstar. There is an email from Havok, who are helping us to optimize our PSP compiler. Running a sophisticated physics system on a hand-held console is an interesting challenge. Other emails are from Sony Computer Entertainment, my accountant, and Vicarious Visions, who have been sending us some compiler tests for the PSP. 10:30 AM – Build tools team meeting. Today we talk about a new assembler parser that will cover a broader range of processors. The current range of consoles and hand-helds often have four or more completely different processor architectures, each requiring a different compiler and assembler. Most games programmers use inline assembler, where assembly language code is embedded in the C or C++ that makes up the game. With next-gen consoles, the problem of covering so many processors is getting even greater and so we need a fast, testable method of generating new assemblers and compilers. " You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including more information on a typical day in Andy's life (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).