Mythruna

As I slowly build up the physics integration in little highly testable baby steps, I often think back to a time shortly after I moved into this house.  We had a big section of concrete ripped up and replaced with a smaller slab and I wanted to build some paths of stone pavers.  Two basically identical stone paths from our wood deck to the new concrete.

I'd read all kinds of information about how to do it and was big into watching home improvement shows  back then.  I knew all the steps but I'd never done it before.

The general steps I followed for this type of project were to dig a shallow wide "trench", put some weed block cloth down, a bed of sand, level it, and then place the pavers.  (I think they were 15" square and I set them on a diagonal.)  Once you get them in then you level them, pound them down a bit and so on, until they are all nice and level with one another.

So I did that, dug my trench, laid the weed cloth down, dumped in a bunch of sand in, and used a board to make it all smooth.  I then carefully placed the pavers and spent the next hour or two getting them level with themselves and the other pavers.  It was horrible.  I'd use my level, try to pound down the high corners, occasionally lifting the paver to throw a handful of sand in, etc..  I was positively dreading the next walkway.

Partially from procrastination and partially from rethinking the problem, this time I tried to do it exactly like I'd seen it done in the shows.  I put some boards down on either side of the sand and made sure they were perfectly level.  Then I used my long carpenter's level to smooth down the sand, sliding it on those boards and using the bubble in the level just to double check as I went.  I had that sand nearly smooth as glass and universally level.

It was starting to get late in the day and I could procrastinate no more... so laid the pavers carefully, lining them up, etc..  Then I checked them for level.  All but one paver was perfectly level and the odd one out only needed a few hits from the rubber mallet.  For some jobs, what they say is true: prep is everything.

I have to remind myself of this often these days.  Some of the physics engine work feels like wasting time.  I know it will have dozens of bugs when it's all in and working... just like I was sure I was going to have to level-check the pavers once I put them in.  But each new bug I find in this step-by-step early stage is one that would have been 100 times harder to find later... if I ever did.  I already found at least 10 problems with the old collision code that we'd just never noticed.

Hopefully this all pays off in less hammering later.  There is a certain confidence that comes with every level being better tested... I just wish it would fully offset the impatience I feel. :)

We all share your impatence. Most of us understand that you are doing due dilligence. Good story.

It's like trying something for the first time. We all feel it.