Graphs, graphs, graphs!

This past week, the Codebusters Team have come down with graph fever! That is to say, after a couple days of hard work, our developers have managed to display a working graph natively within the Slick library without the use of any external plugins! Through the use of calculus, we will then be able to easily compute both of the velocity and acceleration graphs (derivatives!), given a set position graph.

On the optimization front, while half of our modest resources have been dedicated to the task of making the simulator running amicably on a budget-oriented computer, progress is still very much in its infancy. With that said, we have already managed to decrease CPU usage on a dual-core system by 10-15%, and thus, our goal of reducing peak usage to less than 50% overall still stands. While memory (RAM) usage is less of an issue, we are nonetheless dedicated to limiting resource utilization in that area as well. 

In terms of the "Simulation" tab, we are happy to report that the inputting of default values into each of the properties is well underway, and as always, our graphics team is hard at work creating the images and textures that will increase the overall visual appeal of the program. Furthermore, advancements have also been made in implementing the many physical laws that will govern the movement of the sumobot while it is in the "Simulation" state.

Thus, while the team have encountered our fair share of challenges and obstacles over these past few weeks, we are nonetheless still running full steam ahead towards a final release, and we hope to return with more good news in the days ahead. =)

-The Codebusters Team