Learning to Program

russspruce

Hey guys, a friend and I are starting to work on our first game! He already knows how to program, but I want to learn as well so I can make an equal contribution. So do you guys have any advice for where to learn, and what sites to look up? I'm thinking of C++ for the moment, but will take any advice.

Awk

What languages does your friend know?

Keep in mind your first game is going to be tic tac toe or something basic.

a5ehren

If your end goal is to make XBox Indie games, you need to learn C# and how to use the XNA tools. If you are sticking to PC, you'll probably want to learn C++.

For C++, this site is my favorite reference tool but I have no idea how good their tutorials are: http://www.cplusplus.com/

If you are using Visual C++ (the Microsoft one), use this site instead as Visual C++ has many subtle differences from "standard" C++: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/hh386302

Here are some links for C# and XNA if you want to go that route:
C#: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/hh341490
XNA: http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/basics/xna_framework

You can get free "Express" editions of the Microsoft tools here: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/express
Don't download the VS11 beta tools, as most add-ons won't work with it yet.

If you want to learn standard (aka ANSI) C++, the easiest way is to install a Linux distribution (or MacOS) and get a dev environment set up. If this is the way you want to go, let me know and I can help.

Jam Warrior

Not yet checked it out as am on work's crappy browser right now, but found this today and will be looking into it later:

http://codeyear.com/

CelestialBadger

C++ is too hard to start with. Try Python and Pygame

http://www.pygame.org/news.html

JWashke

As someone who started with learning C++ I would not recommend it. I've heard Python is good for learning as Celestial Badger mentioned, but have not done anything with it myself.
Personally I would recommend C#, between Unity and XNA and the vast amount of tutorials and resources for them, it seems like a good way to learn to make games.

Like Awk said, you should find out what your friend knows and was planning to do this in, if he already knows how to program he should have an idea what language he wanted to make it with and what tools he wanted to use. Also like Awk said, start small, tic tac toe or blackjack will likely be your first game, followed by more complicated things like Connect4, and Battleship.

kyaranger

There is no "Visual C++" language, only C++. Microsoft Visual C++ is a programming environment, not a language.

Anyway, in the end, it doesn't really matter what you start with. I would recommend that you start with an object oriented language, as that is the most commonly used these days. Once you learn the basics in any language, going from one or another won't be too difficult. C++ has the most difficult learning curve, but there are a lot of features that you simply won't need at a beginning level.

It really depends on what you want to do. XNA uses C# and Silverlight while Android devices use Java. Most games for the PC are written in both C++ / C and Assembly. I learned starting with C and then moved on to C++ ( I don't really recommend this route).

What is important, is that you stick with one language and not skip around. You might also want to consider picking up Unreal script. It has a very java like syntax and feel to it. UDK is also extremely useful for not just programmers but artists as well. Keep in mind, that there is *A lot* that goes into the production of a video game. So, have fun.

jackal

I think the argument that once you learn one language other languages are easy is misleading. There's a whole world of languages that follow different paradigms and have different idioms. Managed/Unmanaged, Strong/Weak typed, Static/Dynamic Type, Functional/Procedural, OOP/non-OOP and even with OOP you have prototype based vs inheritance based. Going from Java to C# or Ruby to Python would be easy, but Python to C# wouldn't be and C++ to Ocaml would be quite a culture shock.

This doesn't really matter in this case because the correct answer is to learn what your friend will be using.

Jasconius

understand that if you start with C++ and immediately jump into a game that your friend, presumably already experienced, is writing, anything you do will probably be disastrous and burdensome

Programming requires massive amounts of repetition and failed projects, learning from mistakes, etc, to become effective.

You must begin with small things, and do lots of them, and do them badly, and then learn why they sucked, and do it better the next time.

The language is less important than your attitude about learning.

If you have zero patience then python is probably better than C++, however

bowen

To expand upon what Jasconius said. Programming is like car building. Building a game is like building your own sports car. When you first learn, you're going to be learning how to build your own bicycle, then gocart, then maybe some sort of street legal car. You will be a long ways away from the sports car and likely anything you want to do to help will have to be redone.

jackal

I wouldn't expect him to write production quality code, but an extra set of eyes is always helpful.

Grey Paladin

If you want to learn how things work on the barest level I highly recommend "The Elements of Computing Systems" once you know a bit of programming. It explains many of the concepts that are abstracted away in higher level languages in a simple, concise, and newbie-friendly fashion (that is, as long as you have some previous programming experience).

GnomeTank

I definitely recommend Python + PyGame or Ruby + RubyGame to start (and if I let my bias creep in, it will be Ruby every time, because it's awesome).

At any rate, they are simple to program in (no need for a huge IDE or even a compiler, very simple write-and-run), PyGame/RubyGame are simple to use and there are tutorials everywhere, and they will both teach you the basic concepts of programming, which are language independent.

Jumping in to something like C++, or even C#, can be mind boggling frustrating if don't already have some basic concepts of programming down. Languages like Python and Ruby are much more forgiving and have syntaxes that approach "sane" for a normal human that isn't using to looking at brackets and semi-colons all day.

Tofystedeth

I normally recommend Python for learning to program, but if you're looking to go directly into games, C#/XNA is a really good bet. It's not quite as easy as Python, but it's not as obtuse as C++/C, and it is really really good, for getting games or game-like things together.