All,

I've create a simple game that can use mouse or keyboard. When I compile with a Dell Latitude with Win 10, it functions fine. When I compile on Kubuntu 22.04 on Acer Nitro it lags. It starts out fair enough but the cursor I created starts leaving a trail. Also as I click the cards (match game) The first set does fine, the next a little slower and eventually you can't tell if it took your command it so slow. Again, this is only on the Linux compile.

I haven't set frames per second as I've seen on some of the tutorials. Is this the issue? Maybe the default FPS are different between the two machines? Thanks.

Thanks Edgar. I was surprised as you. I'm running Kubuntu in a dual boot. At first I thought it was a mingw32 (Windows) Vs a Linux GCC issue. Then I remembered that the tutorials I'd seen applied a frames per second command. I haven't had a chance to try it yet. I thought maybe by not defining FPS, the default difference between the two setups might be causing an issue.

In any case, here are the cards and drawing functions. There is a rest if the two cards / blocks don't match but thats not the lag. Lag come in after the cards flip back over to white and I click another block. A couple times of this and it's 1 to 3 secs waiting and I can't tell if my click was registered or not. Plus there is the cursor trailing. That's not critical. I can take it out and use the system cursor only. I just put it in to see if I could get it to work

It might help to have the structure code.

Thanks Daniel, I'll give it a shot. I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks Daniel. Times like these I miss the old days of MS Quick C. It had a step function that treated your code like a BASIC line interpreter. You could execute your code line at a time. It allowed you to watch the values of listed variables as well as seeing if your code made it in to loops or functions as expected. Was a big help in trouble shooting. Now I have to pepper in print statements to monitor variable and position in the code. But I digress. Thanks again.

You've really got to format your code better with proper indentation and a single brace style. It makes it hard to read.

Also, your event loop needs a little work. Wait for an event as long as the queue is not empty (it will be an instant wait). Draw once. Do logic once for each tick of the system timer.

Finally, learn to use gdb, the gnu debugger. It will let you step through code and print out values of variables. Check out my debugging guide on the wiki here :

https://github.com/liballeg/allegro_wiki/wiki/Debugging-and-logging-with-A5#debugging-with-gdb

No time to learn like the present. That GDB guide has most all the commands I use anyway.

Look up style guides for tips on formatting your code. I use something like this :

int main(int argc , char** argv) {// braces go on the end of the line
   // 3 space indent for new block, eliminates the need for braces (in Python)
   if (condition1) {
      dothis();
   else if (condition2) {/// all ifs and elses in the same clause go at the same indentation
      dothat();
   } else {
      stop();
   }
}// closing brace goes on the same indentation level with the line of the starting brace

This is typical C++ style. C users probably want the opening brace on its own line.

As for an event loop, you need to exhaust all events. You were drawing something like 5 times per event, which would make it horribly slow and back up the event queue.

This is a typical event loop for me :

Bah. You're just artificially boosting your LOC. Compensate much? XD

I use same line opening brace in Java and new line opening brace in C/C++, mainly because my enforced gradle tasks demand I do!

Just to add to the debate 😎

Ok to carry it further. In Edgar's example that Polybios referred to, should we use braces for ease of reading when they aren't needed?

With a single statement after the if condition, couldn't you do this?

if (condition1)
dothis();
else if (condition2)
dothat();

I can't get the proper formatting. I have the dothis and do that indented.

Ok Dizzy, which formatting are you referring to? If I just add spaces the site ignores them, If I do the code format it put the code in a separate box. Thanks.

Ace - click formatting help right next to preview in reply to post.

<code>code goes here</code> code tags

Yes, that's bad in my opinion. Too easy to add a line and have a dangling if.

I agree Edgar. I was minimizing to see if I got the correct formatting.

I also agree the braces are clearer. I've had a few times where the indention gets messed up in copy/paste and shifting code around. With a single line if/else, followed by a mis-indented line, it's easy to forget what goes with what.