Criticism
Common criticism towards Game Maker is its odd typing system, where variables can only be strings or real numbers, yet also be indexed like arrays. There is no way to make a variable hold an array, the name of the array implicitly accesses the zeroth element. As such, there is no way to pass an array as a script argument, except by passing a string holding the name of the array, which is then used to access the array itself. The other data structures are not very well integrated into the language, requiring a type unsafe index handle to the data structure, and requiring explicit deallocation (which has the potential for memory leaks). Additionally, they are only available to registered users.
Although not directly a part of the language, another common source of criticism is Game Maker's creation of .exe files that consist of a runner and the textual GML source, waiting until the end user runs the game to parse into an Abstract Syntax Tree. This facilitates decompiling, and causes much slower start up times than necessary.
Read more about this topic: Game Maker Language
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public. The conventional is uncritically enjoyed, and the truly new is criticized with aversion.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“I, with other Americans, have perhaps unduly resented the stream of criticism of American life ... more particularly have I resented the sneers at Main Street. For I have known that in the cottages that lay behind the street rested the strength of our national character.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“Good criticism is very rare and always precious.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)