Demo (computer programming): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:09, 8 April 2006

Revision as of 08:05, 10 April 2006

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A '''demo''' is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer [[subculture]] known as the '''[[demoscene]]'''. Demos are the main way for [[demogroup|demosceners]] to demonstrate their abilities in [[programming]] ("code"), [[music]] ("zik"), [[drawing]] ("gfx"), and/or [[3D modeling]]. The key technical difference between a classical animation and a demo is that the display of a demo is computed in [[real-time computing|real time]] (like people performing a play compared to showing a movie), making computing power considerations the biggest challenge. Demos are mostly composed of [[3D animation]]s mixed with [[2D computer graphics|2D]] effects and [[full screen effect]]s.

The boot block demos of the 1980s, demos that were created to fit within the small (generally 1024512 to 4096 bytes) first block of the [[floppy disk]] that was to be loaded into [[Random Access Memory|RAM]], were typically created so that [[software cracking|software crackers]] could boast of their accomplishment prior to the loading of the game. What began as a type of electronic [[graffiti]] on cracked software became, however, an art form unto itself, and demo makers continue to push themselves to the limits of their abilities by making these short demos to this day.

For a more self-explaining definition, see [http://www.pouet.net Pouet.net] for one of the most active [[Demoscene]] repositories.

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Small file sizes have been an integral feature of certain types of demos from the very beginning, when [[Software cracking|software crackers]] needed to squeeze a crack intro into a very small leftover area of a [[floppy disk]] or [[Random Access Memory|RAM]]. It was also important for [[Bulletin Board System|BBS]] advertisement intros to be relatively small, since they were typically included in every file downloaded from the BBS.

Sometimes even the platform itself dictated some size restrictions: the size of the [[boot block]] of a [[floppy disk]] (generally 1024512 to 4096 bytes) orwas in [[DOS]],also the 64KBmaximum limitsize of a segmentboot wouldblock alsodemo. beThe thecommon upper64-kilobyte size limit for intros, on the other hand, was the segment size in the 16-bit X86 architecture and also the maximum size of aan bootMS-DOS-based block.COM demoexecutable.

In later times, the practical need for very small demos had diminished, but the willingness to compete in squeezing much into little space had not disappeared. It was therefore necessary to introduce artificial size restrictions in order to challenge the authors. In modern demoscene events, there are ''demo competitions'' with relatively loose size restrictions, and ''intro competitions'' with quite strict limits of 64 kilobytes or less.