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I was thinking just then, “hey, you do know that adding 6Tb storage to your PC is a big deal?” Well, that’s when it struck me, actually, yes it is!

They’ve been sat in the NAS case for almost a year now since I cut Windows on all my PC’s at home. And I never got round to setting it up for Linux. It kinda got that way, I had a 2Tb SSD to shove all my stuff on.

So a week later and Aliexpress delivers my HD caddies. Straight away, unboxed, 2 x 3Tb drives straight into them, and all setup. And voila! They all work and now I’m sat here with a tiny Mini PC, with about 10.5Tb of storage in total connected to it.

So, yeah… It’s a big deal.

… Now on to organising it all. (That’s the bummer…)

Straight up, yes they are. I have two, an 11 inch standard HD and a 15 inch 4K. Both power over USB, both have extra USB C ports on them and both have USB C video input and HDMI.

They are also thin, very light and come with a magnetic cover which acts as a stand. The brightness and colours are perfect to me.

But, …

When it comes to the resolution and the size of the monitor itself, especially the 4K monitor, ‘size matters’.

I do a lot of programming and screen real estate is essential for displaying code. The more code you can see on the screen, the better. And here’s were the 4K monitor falters.

At that resolution, you know 4 times the space of a HD screen. Well, in resolution anyway. You’d think, or at least I did, silly me. You’d think that opening 4 browser windows in each corner or the monitor. Oh yeah, that is cool.

Nope. It’s a 15 inch screen. Splitting it up into 4, 7 inch screens doesn’t work. Simple as. You strain your eyes reading tiny, tiny text.

For programming they are superb. But to split the screen up smaller, nope.

Oh, I’ve also got a 28 inch 4k monitor and I can confirm it doesn’t look too bad splitting 4 browser windows.

I’ve not long got a new PC and my first Windows 11. As usual, I set it up the way I like it.

Then, I boot up to find Edge has opened all my Chrome tabs.

The weeks go by and I see reports of the same thing on YouTube.

And now today, I’m getting emails from Microsoft asking me to recover my Google account through them.

Hmm

After a thorough going over of the code, I’ve managed to get this one working. Although painfully slow, at least it works. In the future I will be looking at other algorithms which are much faster. I only remembered this one from a long time ago so I just thought I’d have a go on my own without any help with implementing it.

// File: generate.agc
// Created: 19-09-21

/*
	Attempting to generate a maze using a decent algorithm.
	Unfortunately this particular algorith is painfully slow,
	but for the time being, it does work.
*/

type MAZE
	seed as integer
	wid as integer
	hgt as integer
	maze as integer[0,0]
endtype

function maze_get_odd_random(max as integer)
	val = random(0, ((max - 2) / 2)) * 2 + 1
endfunction val

function maze_not_visited(obj ref as MAZE, xpos, ypos)
	val = obj.maze[ypos, xpos]
endfunction val

/*
	The width and height have to be even numbers.
	NB: In AGK this means 0 to width (as even) for example
		NOT 0 to width - 1
*/

function maze_gen(obj ref as MAZE, wid as integer, hgt as integer, seed as integer)
	obj.seed = seed
	
	SetRandomSeed(seed)
	
	obj.wid = wid
	obj.hgt = hgt

	/*
		Wierd way of assigning a multidimensional array
		Assign the first dimensions length
		And then assign the length of each separate part
		ie.
		a[0].length = 5 (giving a[0,4])
		is not the same as
		a[1].length = 10 (which gives a[1,9])
		
		Also, AGK arrays end with the value assigned.
		ie. length is 10 so the array goes from 0 to 10
		instead of 0 to 9.
	*/
	
	obj.maze.length = hgt

	for c = 0 to hgt
		obj.maze[c].length = wid
		
		for x = 0 to wid
			obj.maze[c, x] = 1
		next
	next c
	
	/*
		If I remember correctly, I choose a random cell.
		But, it has to be, erm, ODD or EVEN???
		I will find out...
		
		It has to be odd.
	*/
	
	currentx = maze_get_odd_random(wid)
	currenty = maze_get_odd_random(hgt)
	
	// set position to 0
	
	obj.maze[currenty, currentx] = 0
	
	done = 0
	
	repeat
		
		// iterations to run through (might increase)
		for route = 0 to 63
			
			/*
				Basically direction is UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT
			*/
			
			direction = random(0, 3)
			
			select direction
				case 0:
					if currenty - 2 > 0
						if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx, currenty - 2)
							obj.maze[currenty - 2, currentx] = 0 // clear path
							obj.maze[currenty - 1, currentx] = 0 // between
						endif
						dec currenty, 2
					endif
				endcase
				
				case 1:
					if currenty + 2 < hgt
						if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx, currenty + 2)
							obj.maze[currenty + 2, currentx] = 0
							obj.maze[currenty + 1, currentx] = 0
						endif
						inc currenty, 2
					endif
				endcase
				
				case 2:
					if currentx - 2 > 0
						if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx - 2, currenty)
							obj.maze[currenty, currentx - 2] = 0
							obj.maze[currenty, currentx - 1] = 0
						endif
						dec currentx, 2
					endif
				endcase
				
				case 3:
					if currentx + 2 < wid
						if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx + 2, currenty)
							obj.maze[currenty, currentx + 2] = 0
							obj.maze[currenty, currentx + 1] = 0
						endif
						inc currentx, 2
					endif
				endcase
			endselect
		next
		
		/*
			Print this mazes iteration (just for testing)
		*/
		
		Print( ScreenFPS() )
		maze_print(obj)
		print("Calculating...")
		sync()
		
		/*
			Check if maze is done (the silly bit)
		*/
		
		done = 0
		
		for h = 1 to hgt - 1 step 2
			for w = 1 to wid - 1 step 2
				if obj.maze[h, w] = 1
					done = 1
					exit // quick exit if not done
				endif
			next
			if done = 1 then exit
		next
		
	until done = 0
	
endfunction obj

function maze_print(obj ref as MAZE)
	print (obj.wid)
	print (obj.hgt)
	//print (random(0, 2) - 1) // HUH
	
	for h = 0 to obj.hgt
		s as string = ""
		for w = 0 to obj.wid
			if obj.maze[h, w] = 1 then s = s + "#" else s = s + " "
		next
		print (s)
	next
endfunction

// File: generate.agc
// Created: 19-09-21

/*
	Attempting to generate a maze using a decent algorithm
*/

type MAZE
	seed as integer
	wid as integer
	hgt as integer
	maze as integer[0,0]
endtype

function maze_get_odd_random(max as integer)
	val = random(0, max / 2) + 1
endfunction val

function maze_not_visited(obj as MAZE, xpos, ypos)
	val = obj.maze[ypos, xpos]
endfunction val

/*
	The width and height have to be even numbers.
	NB: In AGK this means 0 to width (as even) for example
		NOT 0 to width - 1
*/

function maze_gen(obj ref as MAZE, wid as integer, hgt as integer, seed as integer)
	obj.seed = seed
	
	//SetRandomSeed(seed)
	
	obj.wid = wid
	obj.hgt = hgt

	/*
		Wierd way of assigning a multidimensional array
		Assign the first dimensions length
		And then assign the length of each separate part
		ie.
		a[0].length = 5 (giving a[0,4])
		is not the same as
		a[1].length = 10 (which gives a[1,9])
		
		Also, AGK arrays end with the value assigned.
		ie. length is 10 so the array goes from 0 to 10
		instead of 0 to 9.
	*/
	
	obj.maze.length = hgt

	for c = 0 to hgt
		obj.maze[c].length = wid
		
		for x = 0 to wid
			obj.maze[c, x] = 1
		next
	next c
	
	/*
		If I remember correctly, I choose a random cell.
		But, it has to be, erm, ODD or EVEN???
		I will find out...
		
		It has to be odd.
	*/
	
	currentx = maze_get_odd_random(wid)
	currenty = maze_get_odd_random(hgt)
	
	// set position to 0
	
	obj.maze[currenty, currentx] = 0
	
	done = 0
	
	repeat
		
		// iterations to run through (might increase)
		for route = 0 to 3
			
			/*
				Basically direction is UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT
			*/
			
			direction = random(0, 3)
			
			select direction
				case 0:
					if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx, currenty - 2) and currenty - 2 > 0
						obj.maze[currenty - 2, currentx] = 0 // clear path
						obj.maze[currenty - 1, currentx] = 0 // between
						currenty = currenty - 2
					endif
				endcase
				
				case 1:
					if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx, currenty + 2) and currenty +2 < hgt
						obj.maze[currenty + 2, currentx] = 0
						obj.maze[currenty + 1, currentx] = 0
						currenty = currenty + 2
					endif
				endcase
				
				case 2:
					if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx - 2, currenty) and currentx - 2 > 0
						obj.maze[currenty - 2, currentx] = 0
						obj.maze[currenty - 1, currentx] = 0
						currentx = currentx - 2
					endif
				endcase
				
				case 3:
					if maze_not_visited(obj, currentx + 2, currenty) and currentx + 2 < wid
						obj.maze[currenty, currentx + 2] = 0
						obj.maze[currenty, currentx + 1] = 0
						currentx = currentx + 2
					endif
				endcase
			endselect
		next
		
		/*
			Check if maze is done (the silly bit)
		*/
		
		for h = 1 to hgt - 1 step 2
			for w = 1 to wid - 1 step 2
				if obj.maze[h, w] = 1
					done = 1
					exit // quick exit if not done
				endif
			next
			if done = 1 then exit
		next
		
	until done = 0
	
endfunction obj

function maze_print(obj ref as MAZE)
	print (obj.wid)
	print (obj.hgt)
	print (random(0, 2) - 1) // HUH
	
	for h = 0 to obj.hgt
		s as string = ""
		for w = 0 to obj.wid
			if obj.maze[h, w] = 1 then s = s + "#" else s = s + " "
		next
		print (s)
	next
endfunction

Not quite working… Need a nap… Not well…

So I got an algorithm done last week that produced a perfect maze. Unfortunately though, I wiped my 2 x 1Tb SSD’s on my PC and didn’t back up the code.

So I am starting again.

(I’m not too good by the way, so I am documenting this)

I didn’t want a recursive algorithm because I think that on low end architecture this would be bad for memory usage. This meant that the algorithm would possibly be slower. For a 40 by 40 maze it would still be instant, even though there was a silly check in there.

Here goes. (back soon with some snippets)

I’m using AGK and will port everything to C.

Okay, now that Christmas and New Year is finally over and I’ve got pockets like a white eared elephant, I decided to have another blast at these tuple things because they were doing my head in.

All along I’ve been thinking that a class/struct would be much better. In most cases I would be right, but then I thought, “Hang on, this is C++. Let me check if I can return a tuple from a function.”

Hey, turns out I could.

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <tuple>

using namespace std;

auto get_tuple(string name) {
    return make_tuple(name, 1);
}

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    auto t3 = get_tuple("FOO");
    auto t4 = get_tuple("BAR");
    
    cout << get<0>(t3) << endl << get<0>(t4) << endl;
    
    return 0;
}

And voila, just like that I can now return multiple values from a function.

The one thing you have to be careful of is the setup. A typo mistake or a type mistake can and will cost hours of debugging so be wary of things like this:

    auto t1 = std::make_tuple("foo", 1, 2);
    auto t2 = std::make_tuple("bar", 1.0, 2);

Now even if I added to the first tuple “foo”, 1f, 2, this would not match the second as the second tuple uses a double value. A pain for debugging.

Just the fact you can return multiple values of data without having to define a complete struct or class is actually quite a nice addition.

I have done some research into tuples now and found that these use cases are good, but for larger data, it is so much better even to still use a struct/class because with the above examples you still are having to use index values to access the data items. Where as a struct/class, the data items are named.

Although this however can be overcome by using enums, larger tuples are very likely better off being converted to a struct/class.

Even after 35+ years of programming I’m still learning.

Time to move onto something else… Bigger…

Been busy working on my secret project.