Creating traffic simulator with VB .NET

[Wouter van Teijlingen]

Dear Readers,

This is my first post to this group. I was pointed to this group in a
other vb group, so i have better luck here!

For my learning curve of VB .NET i want to make a traffic simulation
program. Before i start programming, i need to know if there even is a
possibility to make a algorithm in VB .NET that is able to let traffic
drive and making the lights go green, orange or red.

Thanks in advance,

Wouter van Teijlingen

[Wouter van Teijlingen]

Cor Ligthert wrote:

Wouter,

You can control the RS232 port if you are asking that.
Mostly is that answered by Dick Grier in this newsgroup.

When you make a message like "how can I do the traffic lights using the comm
port or RS232" he will probably answer you because in my idea has he some
kind of filter on that in his newsreader.

That's not what i mean. It has to be software only. Imagine the following:

I have train. When the train passes the train passage has to close. The
''battle trees'' have to be closed until the train is away. I don't want
to combine this with hardware at all (only the computer).

So when i press the button GREEN cars can ride. When i press RED, when
train comes by, cars must stop. So the train must comeby, let's say,
every five minutes.

I hope this makes things better understandable. Thank you for your help.

Bye,

Wouter van Teijlingen

[Wouter van Teijlingen]

Cor Ligthert wrote:

Wouter,

You can control the RS232 port if you are asking that.
Mostly is that answered by Dick Grier in this newsgroup.

When you make a message like "how can I do the traffic lights using the comm
port or RS232" he will probably answer you because in my idea has he some
kind of filter on that in his newsreader.

That's not what i mean. It has to be software only. Imagine the following:

I have train. When the train passes the train passage has to close. The
''battle trees'' have to be closed until the train is away. I don't want
to combine this with hardware at all (only the computer).

So when i press the button GREEN cars can ride. When i press RED, when
train comes by, cars must stop. So the train must comeby, let's say,
every five minutes.

I hope this makes things better understandable. Thank you for your help.

Bye,

Wouter van Teijlingen

[Wouter van Teijlingen]

Cor Ligthert wrote:

Wouter,

You can control the RS232 port if you are asking that.
Mostly is that answered by Dick Grier in this newsgroup.

When you make a message like "how can I do the traffic lights using the comm
port or RS232" he will probably answer you because in my idea has he some
kind of filter on that in his newsreader.

That's not what i mean. It has to be software only. Imagine the following:

I have train. When the train passes the train passage has to close. The
''battle trees'' have to be closed until the train is away. I don't want
to combine this with hardware at all (only the computer).

So when i press the button GREEN cars can ride. When i press RED, when
train comes by, cars must stop. So the train must comeby, let's say,
every five minutes.

I hope this makes things better understandable. Thank you for your help.

Bye,

Wouter van Teijlingen

[Cor Ligthert]

Wouter,

That was what I understood, however there should be an interface between
your train and your computer in my opinion.

Or is it completly without any fysical beside the computer and is it
simulating.

I saw this link in another newsgroup by the way.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/is...NETSerialComm/

This is with fysical, however I cannot keep it forever in my clipboard

:-)

Cor

[Cor Ligthert]

Wouter,

That was what I understood, however there should be an interface between
your train and your computer in my opinion.

Or is it completly without any fysical beside the computer and is it
simulating.

I saw this link in another newsgroup by the way.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/is...NETSerialComm/

This is with fysical, however I cannot keep it forever in my clipboard

:-)

Cor

[Wouter van Teijlingen]

Cor Ligthert wrote:

Wouter,

That was what I understood, however there should be an interface between
your train and your computer in my opinion.

Or is it completly without any fysical beside the computer and is it
simulating.

I want to make the program without any fysical connection. It's all
simulated on the computer. The train is simulated on the computer, the
trafficlights and battle tree's. Just everything. I wondered if this was
possible to make in VB .NET.

-- Wouter van Teijlingen

[Wouter van Teijlingen]

Cor Ligthert wrote:

Wouter,

That was what I understood, however there should be an interface between
your train and your computer in my opinion.

Or is it completly without any fysical beside the computer and is it
simulating.

I want to make the program without any fysical connection. It's all
simulated on the computer. The train is simulated on the computer, the
trafficlights and battle tree's. Just everything. I wondered if this was
possible to make in VB .NET.

-- Wouter van Teijlingen

[Cor Ligthert]

Wouter,

I would not know now why not.

However are you thinking about a complete graphical interface, than I would
ask this as well in the newsgroup

news//news.microsoft. public.dotnet.f ramework.drawin g

And tell than about the graphics you need.

Cor

[Cor Ligthert]

Wouter,

I would not know now why not.

However are you thinking about a complete graphical interface, than I would
ask this as well in the newsgroup

news//news.microsoft. public.dotnet.f ramework.drawin g

And tell than about the graphics you need.

Cor

[Andy O'Neill]

"Wouter van Teijlingen" <wo*****@nedlin ux.nl> wrote in message
news:ct******** **@reader08.wxs .nl...

Cor Ligthert wrote:

Wouter,

That was what I understood, however there should be an interface between
your train and your computer in my opinion.

Or is it completly without any fysical beside the computer and is it
simulating.

I want to make the program without any fysical connection. It's all
simulated on the computer. The train is simulated on the computer, the
trafficlights and battle tree's. Just everything. I wondered if this was
possible to make in VB .NET.

-- Wouter van Teijlingen

You can do it, but I think it'd be dead hard to do anything beyond trivial.
Not just in vb.net, in any language.

One road and one car would be kind of easy.
Say.
The car just goes left to right until it comes to the lights... then
reappears on the left of the picture.
The lights turn from red to amber to green....
The car stops if < so-many-pixels from the lights if they're red.
You can hard code all the tricky bits.
You need a car.jpg a background.jpg and three lights.jpg.
Or maybe one lights.jpg and you draw a green/red/amber bit on it.

More cars and more roads is hurting my head just thinking about it.

You're tallking the sort of programming that games designers do.
You need to think about collision detection between the cars.
How do the cars "know" which road they're on and where it goes.
How do they work out that there are lights ahead.
The algorithm woukd be really tricky.
I'm not exactly sure how games designers do this.
I think there's like a mathematical model they use controls the movement and
where stuff is and hence collision detection.
This model is then used by the graphics bits.
So the lights being green is (say) a Light_Colour property of that light
object the buncha-cars-on-that-road will check to see if they move. It's
also one of the properties the stuff does the graphics will check as it
decides which of three lights.jpg to stick in the picture.
You heave inheritance to make vehicles then cars/trucks inherit from that.

Simulation is hard though.
I would imagine the vast majority of us on this ng do business programming.
--
Regards,
Andy O'Neill