Toni Westbrook dot Com

Sharing Software Development Knowledge With You

General

1. What is Synthetic Dreams?
   

   Synthetic Dreams is my software (and now hardware) development business. It is my goal to grow a business that is dedicated to truly imaginative, helpful, and just plain fun technology. There are a number of software companies out there, but it is my dream that Synthetic Dreams will embody a spirit of abolishing limitations while having fun doing it. My strengths are in software development, and I hope to use Synthetic Dreams to assist as many people as possible to achieve their own goals.

2. Why Include Ads in Your Blog?
   

   I've included ads on this blog for a couple reasons. First, the purpose of the blog is to provide as much help as I can in the areas of software development and computer science. I do this for free as I don't think learning should ever be limited by financial road blocks. Along that same vein, the more this blog pays for itself, the more time I can spend with it, the more I can write tutorials and articles for you. While some people dislike advertisements, they really can be used as a tool to increase the ability to offer real services. Additionally, what's nice about adsense is it does target advertisements to the content of the blog, so many links actually are useful. Every business needs to advertise to survive, and there are a lot of good businesses out there with some great products. All in all, I believe ads can work for everyone if they're used appropriately and tastefully.

3. Why Are Your Code Samples in VB.NET?
   

   I chose VB over C# on this blog for purposes of accessibility. People tend to learn a BASIC based language before a C derivative, so while C# people would probably understand VB, VB people might not necessarily understand C#. This is not a statement about the strengths of either language or anything other inference, I just want to ensure the greatest number of people can understand the code.

4. I need technical support for a Synthetic Dreams product.
   

   Check out the Synthetic Dreams Knowledgebase, we try to document all the features and common issues with our products.

Shredz64

1. Why do it?
   

   In December of 2006, I attended the TPUG World of Commodore convention in Toronto, Canada, and found hundreds of people still very much interested in the Commodore 64 and expanding its capabilities, even today. I saw some awesome demos of people building network adapters, online games, MIDI interfaces, and other cool stuff for their C64s. I fell in love with the idea - I love the C64 and I love hacking around with software and hardware alike, so I figured this would be the perfect project! Around the same time I had also read about Jeri Ellsworth and her amazing work and success with recreating the C64, and I was just really inspired all around. If all goes well, perhaps I can present my little project at next years TPUG conference! Really, when it comes right down to it, I work on "more serious" projects all the time, for my day job, for private contracts, all the time. They pay the bills, and I do enjoy them, but I also like to do fun, wacky stuff. We live in a world where a computer older than 6-7 is considered useless, let alone 25 years. Well, I absolutely love my Commodore 64, it has a lot of meaning and memories for me, and I love doing fun things with it - and there's no reason why it can't do a lot of cool things, even still. You don't always need a piece of equipment that can perform 4 billion calculations per second, sometimes 1 million is more than enough. Plus, come on, hooking a playstation guitar up to a Commodore 64 is just damn cool.

2. What language did you use?
   

   A lot of people have asked if Shredz64 was coded in BASIC. It is actually coded in a combination of C and 6510 (6502) assembly. The BASIC interpreter of the C64 is simply too slow and limited to pull off the timing and size of the game. Most of the high level functionality, such as processing if the correct notes were played, the menu systems, and sprite management were done in C, while the low level interrupt handling, sound engine, memory management, timing, and speed sensitive operations were done in assembly.