I believe iOS uses Objective C, Galaxy is just a simple version of C. I've never tried Objective C before so I can't comment, But if you're willing to learn, I'd say the easiest way to learn is read about the basics (I believe there's some tutorials in the wiki) take an existing code, and study how it works. That's the best way to get a grasp of how the language works. If you need help learning Galaxy, I do recall you requested for mentorship awhile back. I'd be more and happy to help you out. But keep in mind the most I can help with is to explain concepts and stuff, but it'll be up to you to give it a try and watch it all come to life. There's no point if I do it for you, cos programming is something that improves with practice.
seems like everyones throwing out opinions and all started with something different. for you im not gonna suggest a single one. but i reckon you either need to pick it yourself or place the names in a hat. probably the first one. :P plus it dont really matter what you learn cos you probs be trying them all out yourself first hand. as for books, dont think you need them. just jump in and have fun. trial and error and persistance and GO :)
If you want to get in the game industry you should maybe learn C+ + (remove the space between the +, it turns my text green if I write + and + together) . But I dont know very much about the topic, just get the impression that C+ + is used a lot there.
If you want to get in the game industry you should maybe learn C+ + (remove the space between the +, it turns my text green if I write + and + together) . But I dont know very much about the topic, just get the impression that C+ + is used a lot there.
It's not about learning a language that's used a lot. It's about learning a language that's not too hard.
Java, C, CPP, Basic, etc etc. They're all the same in some sense. If you wrapped your head around one then you'll have a much much easier time learning the others.
Good god don't learn Ruby, learn .NET or Java is instead as your first newbie language. I'd stick with something statically typed so it can help you learn the syntax for your first language.
Of course it cannot do any harm to learn something else, I didnt say otherwise, was just trying to think objectively (dont know if my attempt was very good, lol).
Everyone saying "just dive right in", shut up. That is the dumbest thing you could possibly do. You will be WAY in over your head if you have no prior experience. Do you need to start as basic as TI-BASIC? No, you don't. Just don't start out learning C++ or even Java right away. Even hear at school people learning Java start with a semester of Alice to teach them the general syntax. I cannot stress enough that learning the syntax IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of learning your fist language, not the language itself. No on is going to be using Alice for a comercial purpose, and yet it is used for the first semester of the intro to java class.
Get what I'm saying? Diving in head first is okay as long as you have the life vest of the knowlege of syntax on. (Wow I am so impressed with my analogy lol)
Note that there are different syntax formats out there. The two most common I have noticed are the "A lot of {}" and the "A lot of ()" formats. (No, not the technical terms for them hehe). Others are equally as important though, like the "A lot of <>" format, like XML and HTML. You will see what I mean as you start searching out different languages, if you haven't already.
(I am at school so I don't have Chrome's spell check and I am too lazy to do it myself, so sorry about the errors :)
I don't think learning the syntax is as important to thinking like a programmer. Yeah, the syntax is definetly crucial, but someone needs to learn to think how a computer or programmer would think, (i.e. if I score a goal in soccer then give me a point else it went out of bounds.)
Things like that. If you can't think like a programmer or find out how, it would be a lot harder to learn the language or programming in general.
Sorry if I was unclear. That is what I meant, and why I suggested learning TI-BASIC. TI-BASIC uses simple English commands to get stuff done, while teaching you basic stuff like while loops and text display. It also teaches you stuff like "I have to close my loops or the world explodes" and stuff like that. I shouldn't have said syntax, that wasn't really what I was talking about. I totally agree with you.
Would getting an internship at say Blizzard, Santa Monica Studios, Sucker Punch, or Naughty Dog be a way to learn from professional programmers or would that just show me a little bit of their daily life? Do they even take interns? I always thought interns were just people who went on coffee runs and lunch runs. Anyone ever intern at a place and give some details on what they had you do? I think all but Naughty Dog is actually close by to me.
It depends on which department you actually intern for. They do infact have many insane programmers working for the game engine. However the whole studio is many times bigger with sound design, level design, testing, QA. (In fact there are always more artist than programmers working for a studio).
So yeah, you will learn a lot about game design in general but not so much about programming.
No, interns don't just get coffee (at least in my experience). They're actually there to learn, as well as to establish valuable industry connections.
It would depend on what department you intern for, though, as Progammer said. Also, the interns those studios do take are generally university students, so once you start going to college you can definitely look into that and be sure to get your advisor on board and let them know what you want to do.
Oh, and intern spots for top studios tend to be EXTREMELY competitive. Don't be afraid to cast a broad net - you may very well end up getting turned down for every studio within 1000 miles, but get offered an internship on the other side of the country.
Everyone saying "just dive right in", shut up. That is the dumbest thing you could possibly do. You will be WAY in over your head if you have no prior experience. Do you need to start as basic as TI-BASIC? No, you don't. Just don't start out learning C or even Java right away. Even hear at school people learning Java start with a semester of Alice to teach them the general syntax. I cannot stress enough that learning the syntax IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of learning your fist language, not the language itself. No on is going to be using Alice for a comercial purpose, and yet it is used for the first semester of the intro to java class.
Get what I'm saying? Diving in head first is okay as long as you have the life vest of the knowlege of syntax on. (Wow I am so impressed with my analogy lol)
Note that there are different syntax formats out there. The two most common I have noticed are the "A lot of {}" and the "A lot of ()" formats. (No, not the technical terms for them hehe). Others are equally as important though, like the "A lot of <>" format, like XML and HTML. You will see what I mean as you start searching out different languages, if you haven't already.
(I am at school so I don't have Chrome's spell check and I am too lazy to do it myself, so sorry about the errors :)
I disagree 100% with this post. Syntax is not important in programming, in fact it's probably the least thing you should worry about. Syntax is just memorizing terms and that's it. Once you understand the basics of how all programming languages work, that is, how objects are constructed, how to structure code, and getting the gist of syntax (while you do need to know this, it comes naturally).
Everything after learning how to bracket your methods, set up functions, and the like can be discerned from documentation.
What IS important to understand to be a GOOD programmer is how memory works, how to write efficient code that's clean and modular, and how to document. Sounds lame but most programmers fail at these really essential things. Yes you do want to know good algorithms, how to use threading -PROPERLY- and how to make use of available technologies. Learn how to not "reinvent the wheel" when you can, that's what makes an efficient and effective programmer.
Syntax is just the wheel to the car. You got to know how to drive the car more than know how to turn the wheel.
I disagree 100% with this post. Syntax is not important in programming, in fact it's probably the least thing you should worry about. Syntax is just memorizing terms and that's it. Once you understand the basics of how all programming languages work, that is, how objects are constructed, how to structure code, and getting the gist of syntax (while you do need to know this, it comes naturally).
Everything after learning how to bracket your methods, set up functions, and the like can be discerned from documentation.
What IS important to understand to be a GOOD programmer is how memory works, how to write efficient code that's clean and modular, and how to document. Sounds lame but most programmers fail at these really essential things. Yes you do want to know good algorithms, how to use threading -PROPERLY- and how to make use of available technologies. Learn how to not "reinvent the wheel" when you can, that's what makes an efficient and effective programmer.
Syntax is just the wheel to the car. You got to know how to drive the car more than know how to turn the wheel.
Anyone smell something burning in here? I think it's TacoManStan!
Well thinking back to my own experience I attempted to learn C++ at first but found it very confusing. I then learned a BASIC knock off with simple syntax and learned programmers logic. However in my opinion it does not really matter which language you learn as the basic logic of programming applies to all languages (once you understand one its very easy to learn another).
Another tip that I did not use is to use an IDE. I attempted at first to program using notepad and a compiler as many tutorials seem to suggest. This was very difficult as a beginner and added allot of unnecessary steps. I suggest you start with a simple IDE that just does highlighting and compiling for you (don't worry about using its debugger). Then move on to a more complex IDE like visual studio or eclipse.
One way or another programming is a great thing to learn even if you never actually use it to program anything the problem solving skills and logic you will learn are very valuable.
@Keyeszx: Go
I believe iOS uses Objective C, Galaxy is just a simple version of C. I've never tried Objective C before so I can't comment, But if you're willing to learn, I'd say the easiest way to learn is read about the basics (I believe there's some tutorials in the wiki) take an existing code, and study how it works. That's the best way to get a grasp of how the language works. If you need help learning Galaxy, I do recall you requested for mentorship awhile back. I'd be more and happy to help you out. But keep in mind the most I can help with is to explain concepts and stuff, but it'll be up to you to give it a try and watch it all come to life. There's no point if I do it for you, cos programming is something that improves with practice.
seems like everyones throwing out opinions and all started with something different. for you im not gonna suggest a single one. but i reckon you either need to pick it yourself or place the names in a hat. probably the first one. :P plus it dont really matter what you learn cos you probs be trying them all out yourself first hand. as for books, dont think you need them. just jump in and have fun. trial and error and persistance and GO :)
If you want to get in the game industry you should maybe learn C+ + (remove the space between the +, it turns my text green if I write + and + together) . But I dont know very much about the topic, just get the impression that C+ + is used a lot there.
Use the Plain Text option to get rid of the green.
It's not about learning a language that's used a lot. It's about learning a language that's not too hard.
Java, C, CPP, Basic, etc etc. They're all the same in some sense. If you wrapped your head around one then you'll have a much much easier time learning the others.
You should try learning good old Fortran '77
Good god don't learn Ruby, learn .NET or Java is instead as your first newbie language. I'd stick with something statically typed so it can help you learn the syntax for your first language.
@s3rius: Go
Of course it cannot do any harm to learn something else, I didnt say otherwise, was just trying to think objectively (dont know if my attempt was very good, lol).
Everyone saying "just dive right in", shut up. That is the dumbest thing you could possibly do. You will be WAY in over your head if you have no prior experience. Do you need to start as basic as TI-BASIC? No, you don't. Just don't start out learning C++ or even Java right away. Even hear at school people learning Java start with a semester of Alice to teach them the general syntax. I cannot stress enough that learning the syntax IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of learning your fist language, not the language itself. No on is going to be using Alice for a comercial purpose, and yet it is used for the first semester of the intro to java class.
Get what I'm saying? Diving in head first is okay as long as you have the life vest of the knowlege of syntax on. (Wow I am so impressed with my analogy lol)
Note that there are different syntax formats out there. The two most common I have noticed are the "A lot of {}" and the "A lot of ()" formats. (No, not the technical terms for them hehe). Others are equally as important though, like the "A lot of <>" format, like XML and HTML. You will see what I mean as you start searching out different languages, if you haven't already.
(I am at school so I don't have Chrome's spell check and I am too lazy to do it myself, so sorry about the errors :)
Great to be back and part of the community again!
just dive right in :P trust me you will be fine :)
@TacoManStan: Go
I don't think learning the syntax is as important to thinking like a programmer. Yeah, the syntax is definetly crucial, but someone needs to learn to think how a computer or programmer would think, (i.e. if I score a goal in soccer then give me a point else it went out of bounds.)
Things like that. If you can't think like a programmer or find out how, it would be a lot harder to learn the language or programming in general.
@iSaintx:
Sorry if I was unclear. That is what I meant, and why I suggested learning TI-BASIC. TI-BASIC uses simple English commands to get stuff done, while teaching you basic stuff like while loops and text display. It also teaches you stuff like "I have to close my loops or the world explodes" and stuff like that. I shouldn't have said syntax, that wasn't really what I was talking about. I totally agree with you.
Great to be back and part of the community again!
though you can learn loops from tigger editor and about loops crashing worlds :P
Would getting an internship at say Blizzard, Santa Monica Studios, Sucker Punch, or Naughty Dog be a way to learn from professional programmers or would that just show me a little bit of their daily life? Do they even take interns? I always thought interns were just people who went on coffee runs and lunch runs. Anyone ever intern at a place and give some details on what they had you do? I think all but Naughty Dog is actually close by to me.
@Keyeszx: Go
It depends on which department you actually intern for. They do infact have many insane programmers working for the game engine. However the whole studio is many times bigger with sound design, level design, testing, QA. (In fact there are always more artist than programmers working for a studio).
So yeah, you will learn a lot about game design in general but not so much about programming.
@Keyeszx: Go
No, interns don't just get coffee (at least in my experience). They're actually there to learn, as well as to establish valuable industry connections.
It would depend on what department you intern for, though, as Progammer said. Also, the interns those studios do take are generally university students, so once you start going to college you can definitely look into that and be sure to get your advisor on board and let them know what you want to do.
Oh, and intern spots for top studios tend to be EXTREMELY competitive. Don't be afraid to cast a broad net - you may very well end up getting turned down for every studio within 1000 miles, but get offered an internship on the other side of the country.
I disagree 100% with this post. Syntax is not important in programming, in fact it's probably the least thing you should worry about. Syntax is just memorizing terms and that's it. Once you understand the basics of how all programming languages work, that is, how objects are constructed, how to structure code, and getting the gist of syntax (while you do need to know this, it comes naturally).
Everything after learning how to bracket your methods, set up functions, and the like can be discerned from documentation.
What IS important to understand to be a GOOD programmer is how memory works, how to write efficient code that's clean and modular, and how to document. Sounds lame but most programmers fail at these really essential things. Yes you do want to know good algorithms, how to use threading -PROPERLY- and how to make use of available technologies. Learn how to not "reinvent the wheel" when you can, that's what makes an efficient and effective programmer.
Syntax is just the wheel to the car. You got to know how to drive the car more than know how to turn the wheel.
Anyone smell something burning in here? I think it's TacoManStan!
Well thinking back to my own experience I attempted to learn C++ at first but found it very confusing. I then learned a BASIC knock off with simple syntax and learned programmers logic. However in my opinion it does not really matter which language you learn as the basic logic of programming applies to all languages (once you understand one its very easy to learn another).
Another tip that I did not use is to use an IDE. I attempted at first to program using notepad and a compiler as many tutorials seem to suggest. This was very difficult as a beginner and added allot of unnecessary steps. I suggest you start with a simple IDE that just does highlighting and compiling for you (don't worry about using its debugger). Then move on to a more complex IDE like visual studio or eclipse.
One way or another programming is a great thing to learn even if you never actually use it to program anything the problem solving skills and logic you will learn are very valuable.
... I just learned C# by lots of reading :D
Good luck in learning what ever programming language you're learning. I'm gonna stick with C#.