Michael Abrash's graphics programming black book
by Michael Abrash · first published 1997
63% recommend34% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
A deep dive into 1990s PC software rendering, VGA tricks, and CPU cycle-level optimization, ending with Quake's development. Suits readers wanting performance-tuning method and graphics history, not current practice.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book (http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Abrashs-Graphics-Programming-S...) includes a good sized chunk written about Quake as it was being developed. Even though the book is now about fifteen years old I still…
on “Video/audio from Mike Abrash's CGDC 1996 talk on programming id's Quake” ↗Not sure what's in them because I can't find their Table of Contents, but if you're looking for other great books on specific games: 1. Masters of Doom 2. Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book
on “Great books on classic video games” ↗…have been impacted by his story, his games (not just the Wolfenstein/Doom/Quake franchises... I'm talking Commander Keen, boys and girls), his code, reading Masters of Doom, etc. I can see my copy of Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book Special Edition sitting here, which was such a treat to read when it came out, because it has so many great chapters on the development of Quake and little stories about John's discoveries and thought…
on “Id Software founder John Carmack resigns” ↗If you are interested in reading further about BSP (Binary Space Partitioning) [1], check out the following chapters from Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book: Chapter 59: The Idea of BSP Trees http://downloads.gamedev.net/pdf/gpbb/gpbb59.pdf Chapter 60: Compiling BSP Trees http://downloads.gamedev.net/pdf/gpbb/gpbb60.pdf Chapter 62: One Story, Two Rules,…
on “Quake 3 engine in Rust” ↗One book I'd recommend for this is Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book. Of course it's a bit dated but there's a lot of knowledge to be learned from it and it has good discussions about why and when to optimize... Plus some of the more dated chapter can be seen as a good…
on “The demise of the low level Programmer.” ↗…which implements a shader architecture if memory serves. I haven't looked at it for many years, but I remember it being a useful resource when learning this stuff. Other useful resources are, of course, Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book[2] (despite it's age, is still a great read filled with useful information), and for a really deep dive into the graphic's pipeline, ryg's (of Farbrausch fame) A Trip Through the Graphics Pipeline[3].…
on “How OpenGL works: software renderer in 500 lines of code” ↗The imprecise overruns because you'll draw over it is a clever optimization. It's interesting to compare and contrast these techniques from other excellent sources, like Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book, Special Edition [1]. Thought my technical knowledge topped out somewhere in the middle of the 'Quickly Drawing Tiles' section, the prose and algorithmic detail is lovely, the rationales and code is…
on “Pushing Polygons on the Mega Drive” ↗If this interests you I suggest Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book. I have a copy I'd sell, although you can find it for free, legally, online. It's about a thousand pages....
on “Getting started with bare-metal assembly” ↗Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book Special Edition https://www.phatcode.net/res/224/files/html/index.html
on “Ask HN: How were video games from the 90s so efficient?” ↗The 199os were a time when we tried all sorts of tricks to get the last bit of performance out of the hardware. One book which stands out is the one Michael Abrash wrote: Michael Abrash's "Graphics Programming Black Book" https://github.com/jagregory/abrash-black-book https://www.drdobbs.com/parallel/graphics-programming-black-... As CPU power, the number of cores, RAM sizes, HDD sizes, graphics card capabilities have…
on “Ask HN: How were video games from the 90s so efficient?” ↗This is well known to game developers, and common advice in 3d engines for sorting for z-culling. You can look this advice up in a raft of 1990s books when we were implementing our own 3d, eg Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book
on “Hoare’s Rebuttal and Bubble Sort’s Comeback” ↗Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book. He's also got a few "Zen of ..." books: http://www.drdobbs.com/parallel/graphics-programming-black-b...
on “Ask HN: What are the best books on low-level programming” ↗I'd go with these two instead: Michael Abrash’s Graphics Programming Black Book http://www.jagregory.com/abrash-black-book/ Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice: Principles and Practices https://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-Graphics-Principles-Practi...
on “Bootstrap yourself to write an OS from scratch” ↗…problem at hand that requires it. However I have found a few books that are technical while being enjoyable and engaging at the same time, in much the same way as a novel: "The Feynman Lectures" (Physics), "Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book", "Thinking Forth" (Programming). These books are well known, I think their popularity is in no small part due to how accessible they are without diminishing the quality of their technical content - I…
on “A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics” ↗I guess Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book fits the bill, though no amount of literature replaces getting your hands dirty in late 80s-early 90s level hardware+software. However, while you can do this, you're still missing the things you learned…
on “Tacit knowledge is more important than deliberate practice” ↗