Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹

@darbotron

Programmer & Designer. Human, husband, parent, skateboarder. Gamedev since '96. Company founder. BAFTA member & winner. GameDevHeroes Programming Hero 2019. Co-creator DJ Hero. #UKGI Cthulhu fhtagn ;,; www.darbotron.com www.linkedin.com/in/darbotron

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Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· 6d

Career update 👨‍💻 Today I started work at Unity in Stratford-upon-Avon! I'm working on the Platform Systems team* (*yeah, doing console stuff 😅)

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Jul 8

This dude looks familiar for some reason.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Jul 8

You know that feeling when it looks suspiciously like someone you know had their photo used for a game character.

A digitally altered black and white photo which looks very like someone I know who works for the company where the game it is from is made.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Jul 7

Finally lost it & submitted a bug for @rider.jetbrains.com about auto-complete constantly inserting build-breaking using statements & the lack of available settings to stop this. Given their form for claiming stuff fixed with no fix & ignoring issues for years I'm not holding my breath 😅 #gamedev

C#/Unity: autocomplete inserts using directives which break code compilation

In this bug I am referring to an issue which occurs almost hourly in Unity projects, and which causes constant friction in team projects since people are frequently breaking builds as a result of checking in code in which this issue has occurred.

Note that this happens in C# code when using Unity, but I see no reason why the same issues wouldn't happen in C and C++ if autocomplete inserts #include directives in those languages.

The Issue

In any Unity project, the game code assembly can see the Editor assembly when the game is being run in the Editor.

This means that when you absent-mindedly / accidentally accept an autocompletion from Rider in Unity C# gameplay code there is a good chance that it will have added a using directive for a namespace or type from the Unity Editor assembly.

However, for obvious reasons, the Editor assembly is excluded when making a "standalone" build of the game which runs outside the Unity Editor; and this means any code with a using directive which includes a namespace or type from the Editor assembly will fail to compile.

Why it is a Massive PITA

This situation is exacerbated by the fact that in Unty games it is fairly common to need special case "when playing the game in the editor" behaviour in gameplay code - and this is typically achieved by simply wrapping the editor specific code with #if (UNITY_EDITOR) .... #endif

When Rider autocompletes code within conditionally compiled code it silently inserts the using directive at the top, which will work fine when compiling in the Editor, but will break the build on the build machine when committed.

Why it is an Even Bigger issue in Multiplatform Projects

I work almost exclusively on multiplatform games, so the code I work with contains a large amount of #if PLATFORM_X ... #elif PLATFORM_Y ... #endif type code.

In a multiplatform codebase, the issue of builds breaking across multiple platforms because of a using added by auto-complete is even more prevalent.

I would estimate that 3/4 of all failed builds for the build machines building console versions of our game were caused by this single issue.

Why the existing autocomplete options in Rider do not fix this

When other people have raised this issue (many, many times) in the past they are usually told to use one of three existing Rider features which I have been told "will fix this":

1. Disable the checkbox Settings -> Editor -> General -> Code Completion -> [ ] Show Import Items in basic completion.

In fairness, this does prevent the issue, as autocomplete now won't insert suggest autocompletions which require a using statement.

However, having autocomplete suggestions only from existing imports drastically reduces the usefulness of autocomplete. You might as well suggest people google for the type name.

2. Use Settings -> Editor -> Code Cleanup -> Optimise imports ... to clean out the incorrect using xxx; statements.

This does not fix the issue at all!

Rider doesn't take into account conditionally compiled code which is not active when optimising imports and will consequently remove using statements which are necessary for some platforms and not for others

3. Use the filtering options in Settings -> Editor -> General -> Auto Import to control which assemblies are considered for code completion.

This also doesn't fix the issue - the issue here isn't that some assemblies should be ignored for code completion, it is that inserting a using directive is not always the best option.

Possible fixes for the issue

These are all suggestions for additional Code Completion settings options.

A) "[ x ] hold <key> when accepting autocomplete to insert fully qualified type name"

Allow the user to choose whether to autocomplete by adding a using statement or by adding the fully qualified type name when autocompleting.

This is my "minimum viable solution" as it doesn't require the auto-complete code to take conditional compilation into account, and will still be very much prone to cause the same issue by human error.

B) "[ x ] always insert fully qualified type names in conditionally compiled code"

If the code being auto-completed code is withing a #if PREPROCESSOR_SYMBOL .... #endif then it will always use fully qualified type names for the autocompletion and never insert a using statement.

Does exactly what it says on the tin, I can't think of a way this could fail to address the issue.

C) "[ x ] if code is conditionally compiled, add imports with the same conditional compilation constraints"

I'm 95% sure this would work, but it will definitely be more complex and edge-casey than option A or B.

With this option, if autocompleted code is within a #if PREPROCESSOR_SYMBOL .... #endif then the using statement would be added with the same conditional compilation constraint . e.g.

using Some.Namespace.Or.Other;
#if PREPROCESSOR_SYMBOL
using Inserted.Namespace;
#endif

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Jul 2

FFS. This is my end of Planet of the Apes moment.

Nendodroid "Hideo Kojima" super deformed action figure.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Jun 27

"Sometimes ideas, like men, jump up and say, 'Hello!' They introduce themselves, these ideas, with words – are they words? ..."

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Jun 16

Standard "You are not getting me to buy 2 killteam boxes" Warhammer behaviour... (yes, am silly enough to have magnetised individual hands with 2mm magnets so I can make a Tau Liberator who can also have their special equipment removed and be an Infiltrator) #killteam #Warhammer40k

magnetised left hand holding a grenade pack (to make the mini a "Liberator")

magnetised open left hand holding nothing (makes the mini an Infiltrator (the default type))

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Jun 9

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Jun 4

OMFG here's Penny (turned 3 a couple of weeks ago) who looks almost just like him!

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· May 29

NOPE

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· May 17

gah. It was only Beast, no Jubilee. Weird that I remember owning a Jubilee mini fig & there never was one?! lol.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· May 17

More tests: these are some of my son's Necrons I promised to base for him with the airbrush. This is a 3 layer zenithal style metallic job - I think I need a slightly brighter silver for the brightest level, but looks pretty good I reckon.

3 Necron Skorpekh Destroyers: undercoated black, then applied 3 layer zenithal metallic. They look cool af.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· May 16

I really need to proof read my messages better! "medics" = Necrons. I always make a few extra minis to test out & refine the idea I have for the paint job ... not 100% sure this hits the mark tbh, but I am happy with the general direction... #warhammer40k #necrons

A necron warrior, black all over, silver shoulders, & green glow

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· May 16

Rainy Saturday. Nothing specific to do. Looming visit from a friend to play Kill Team. Answer: cobble together a Hierotic Circle from random medics, & break out the airbrush!

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Apr 26

Clearing out my loft & found a still sealed mint US copy of pokemon red!! I got it in 1998 via a friend of a friend who worked at Nintendo of America at the time & it's from the 1st production run of US carts. I googled what these go for & I reckon it needs to be auctioned 😅😅😅

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Apr 24

that set is one of my favourite possessions. IT'S SO DAMN GOOD.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Mar 25

Post a non-religious picture you think of as holy

a blue Santa Cruz Screaming Hand sticker (disembodied zombie hand with a screaming mouth in the palm)

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Mar 21

Got the LEGO Game Boy for my birthday.... yhe build is SO clever &, for me, the nostalgia is almost physical. If, like me, you had an OG Game Boy & are "very keen" on LEGO I guarantee this will hit you bang in the happy glands.

LEGO Game Boy - part built: at step 80 in the instructions

The finished LEGO Game Boy held in my left hand

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Mar 17

100% the same sentiment - except my personal idea of peak videogame graphics is WindWaker HD

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Mar 17

"Noseybonk" from the 80s UK kid's TV show Jigsaw

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Mar 16

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Mar 15

Mother's day has almost always fallen a few days before my birthday, my mom came to stay and got me an amazing birthday present! www.lego.com/en-gb/produc...

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Mar 8

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Mar 4

This part of "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish" where Ford Perfect unexpectedly arrives at Arthur's house might be my favourite quote from the HHGttH series. In my mind, a shockingly insightful piece of satire which has lost nothing of its relevance in the time since it was written.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/162557-it-comes-from-a-very-ancient-democracy-you-see-you

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Mar 4

Finally got around to reading the Folio Society editions of the HHGttG books I got for my 50th last year. They are works of pure comedic & prosaic genius. Every word I read makes me sadder that Douglas Adams was taken from the world so young. This is the start of chapter 31 of the 4th book.

If you took a couple of David Bowies and stuck one of the David Bowies on top of the other David Bowie, then attached another David Bowie to each of the arms of the upper of the first two David Bowies and wrapped the whole business up in a dirty beach robe you would have something which didn't exactly look like John Watson, but which those who knew him would find hauntingly familiar.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Feb 23

666 day streak achieved. Am assuming that the duolingo owl thing will now turn red, grow horns, & develop an evil laugh.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Feb 22

This is one of my favourite jokes in the entire THHGttG series (this is from "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe").

Text from photo: It is a curious fact, and one to which no one knows quite how much importance to attach, that something like 85% of all known worlds in the Galaxy, be they primitive or highly advanced, have invented a drink called jynnan tonnyx, or gee-N'N-T'N-ix, or jinond-o-nicks, or any one of a thousand or more variations on the same phonetic theme. The drinks themselves are not the same, and vary between the Sivolvian 'chinanto/mnigs' which is ordinary water served at slightly above room temperature, and the Gagrakackan 'tzjin-anthony-ks' which kill cows at a hundred paces; and in fact the one common factor between all of them, beyond the fact that the names sound the same, is that they were all invented and named before the worlds concerned made contact with any other worlds.
What can be made of this fact? It exists in total isolation. As far as any theory of structural linguistics is concerned it is right off the graph, and yet it persists. Old structural linguists get very angry when young structural linguists go on about it. Young structural linguists get deeply excited about it and stay up late at night convinced that they are very close to something of profound importance, and end up becoming old structural linguists before their time, getting very angry with the young ones. Structural linguistics is a bitterly divided and unhappy discipline, and a large number of its practitioners spend too many nights drowning their problems in Ouisghian Zodahs.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Feb 20

I can have room please human?

Border Collie looking straight at camera in a pleading way.

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Feb 16

Many people have said it before, but here's further proof: a future with AI programming tools seems to be a future where all the open source ends up FUBAR (because numptys who don't really understand what their IDE has generated for them...)

Image: "Godot's GitHub has increasingly many pull requests generated by LLMs and it's a MASSIVE time waster for reviewers – especially if people don't disclose it. Changes often make no sense, descriptions are extremely verbose, users don't understand their own changes… It's a total shitshow. #godotengine"

Alex Darby // darbotron 🛹@darbotron· Feb 1

I present to you Splooten-khamun (credit: Abe Darby)