Failed to load JavaHL Library.
These are the errors that were encountered:
no libsvnjavahl-1 in java.library.path
no svnjavahl-1 in java.library.path
/opt/local/lib/libsvnjavahl-1.0.0.0.dylib:  no suitable image found.  Did find:  /opt/local/lib/libsvnjavahl-1.0.0.0.dylib: mach-o, but wrong architecture

Finally discovered that this was due to an incompatibility between the 64 bit Eclipse/JVM and the 32 bit subversion-javahlbindings libraries I got from MacPorts.  (Subclipse’s answer to just use those from CollabNet did not work for me as I had the same error with my https repository with CollabNet’s build of Subversion.)

This many hours in, I should have given up and returned to using svn from the command line as I had been doing for a few months, but I would not give up!  I could not bear the idea of slogging through this whole upcoming project without IDE integration with source control.

The answer:  I built the subversion-javahlbindings for 64 bit which required some learning about MacPorts.

To enable the x86_64 target in MacPorts:

In /opt/local/etc/macports.conf, add x86_64 as one of the universal targets:

universal_archs         i386 x86_64

Then add the universal variant to the macports install of the subversion javahl bindings (I also needed no_bdb):

sudo port install subversion-javahlbindings +no_bdb +universal

This then required me to build a number of other dependencies with the +universal variant:  zlib, cyrus-sasl2, ncurses, expat.  I hope I haven’t broken a bunch of other macports software I am using by doing this.  The nice thing about MacPorts, though, is that they only use MacPorts libraries and separate everything off into /opt/local.  So this should not affect any other OS X stuff.

This may not be an issue at all with Snow Leopard; I don’t know.  I am running Leopard and have not been compelled to upgrade.  Thought about it a bit tonight.

That got packaged into a shell script, clj, which was added to my path and chmod +x so that I could run the REPL with
clj

That worked for a while, but then I got frustrated not having command history (arrow up to get your last so many commands).  I followed the instructions here to use the JLine ConsoleRunner, which works just fine.

(Here is another set of instructions to do the same thing, but with rlwrap.)

When I went exploring for more Getting Started material, I found the Clojure Assembla, which led me to Leiningen and labrepl.  This made me rethink how I got clojure in the first place.  Akin to test-driven development, you can do something along the lines of “deploy-driven” builds – get your tools/environment with the build tool.  Clever.  Here are  some great instructions on how to get clojure using the clojure build tool, Leiningen.

There is also cljr, but I have not used that yet.

I got Leiningen and labrepl installed and started working through some of the labrepl exercises.  It’s nice to have some more supporting learning materials in addition to the Programming Clojure book.  It is a good introduction to the language, but it is not Learning Clojure.  I will likely also get Joy of Clojure.

For some background on where Clojure came from, there is Rich Hickey’s keynote at the 2009 JVM Language Summit.

What I am fully immersed in right now, though, is learning Clojure.  I am reading Programming Clojure and a variety of online resources.  Functional programming languages have always been an over the horizon quest for me.  A bit of Lisp in college Programming Languages, a few months of watching SICP lectures, read part of an Erlang book, etc.  I have never quite gotten it, though.  Now the light bulb is finally starting to go off.  I don’t know if it’s that I’ve reached a brain critical mass or if it’s Clojure.  I went to a functional programming meetup, and foldr finally really made sense to me.  That might have just been due to how well it was presented there, though.

Presented for JaxJug, April 15, 2009.

What I think I really need to do, though, is just start some OpenGL tutorials and start creating games on OS X, then add the Cocoa bits later.  From what I understand right now, I don’t really need to use much of Cocoa to make a game for OS X.  So I can just add the Cocoa parts later after I figure out how to program a straight game.

JRuby Presentation

That beginning game programming book really served well for its purpose.  Now my next goal is to make a copy of an existing game from scratch.  Is there any question what game I will make?  Tetris, of course.  It is, by all means, the game I have personally spent the most time with.  I have an old Game Boy with one game: Tetris (my inheritance from my Dad, sitting next to my desk right now).  Tetris is on my phone.  Tetris rules.  

So the real question was what platform I would target, which I grappled with for a while.  That’s a loaded question, because it means starting off on a path learning a set of tools such as graphics libraries.  It, at least *seemed* like a big commitment.  I finally settled on developing games for OS X, mainly because that is the platform I use most nowadays.  There is a pretty big initial learning curve since I have never developed for the Mac before.  I will be using Cocoa, Objective C, and OpenGL, all new to me.   Plus, I assume I will be using all of the OS X development tools, such as XCode, also new to me.  It’s all doable, but a little daunting in toto.

There are a few other ways I could have gone about targeting OS X, such as with Flash, Java, or SDL.  None of those quite felt right, though.  I feel (and this is all very intuitive, gut-based, no deep analysis involved… hey, this is a hobby after all… it’s all about doing what I find fun and interesting) like doing it the true OS X way will really be the way to make an OS X game.   SDL is still kinda interesting to me, so I may dive into that at some point, too.

Since I have a big tools learning curve, it will probably be a while before I actually get anything done on the actual game.

I’m working on learning game programming like a job.  But I decided what I really want to do with this hobby is to make video games as art.  This article by Jason Rohrer of Passages and Between, pretty much sums up how I’ve been feeling about games and what I want to do with them.  

Roger Ebert has a quote which plays a big role in that article.  Ebert keeps on popping up in a lot of things I’ve been reading about lately – I’m reading his Great Movies book; his blog, which has some great writing (which I found looking for info on Synecdoche, NY); and he also figured prominently in an article about Sita Sings the Blues, which I read and discussed at length with my friends.   I used to think he was just a big blowhard, but I’ve changed my mind.  The dude is really smart and has some very thought-provoking things to say – like comparing Synecdoche, NY to Ulysses or that everyone should have a rice cooker.

Work took up all of my programming time for the past couple of months, but I am about to start back into my game programming book.  The Wii has given me even more inspiration.