Return Styles: Pseud0ch, Terminal, Valhalla, NES, Geocities, Blue Moon.

Pages: 1-4041-

Learning how to program

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 3:03 ID:spTKaoYR

Hey, I'm sure you get plenty of these threads and hate them to bits, but, here goes anyway.

I want to learn how to program, and end up in something like videogame development eventually, so, how do I get there?

There are so many different languages, and so many tutorials around I don't really know where to start.

Thanks for shitting up this thread with copy-pasta in advance.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 3:10 ID:q8o1VFuJ

Name: G.J. Sussman 2007-08-12 4:34 ID:Heaven

better than SICP

LOL

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 4:36 ID:5NkuxCt7

everyone always think game developing is "fun" and "exciting"

learn to bite the dust

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 5:27 ID:PnIbj1te

Learn C. Download the Doom source code (Wolf3D is primitive 16-bit fail, Quake might be starting to get a bit complex for a firsttimer) and read it until you understand what it's doing. There are some dissections of the Doom source on the interwebs - see doom.wikia.com.

That's a start.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 6:02 ID:E9leKCKQ

Read SICP.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 8:35 ID:Sn/gT93Z

>>5
Link to Doom source code.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 8:40 ID:L/Sg4N8o

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 12:46 ID:ZN3kjsgZ

Learning to program to make games is silly.  Very few people who can speak fluent english even make games.  Regardless of how 'motivated' or 'determined' you are you will fail at academic and professional development if that's your driving force.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 13:04 ID:PnIbj1te

If googling for "doom source code" and reading the first five or so pages is beyond you then you don't stand a chance.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 13:10 ID:ItBg02bM

>>9
Ever heard of ID software or Blizzard dumbfuck?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 13:11 ID:pwbMyzUM

Google DAVID AHL. He makes the best games, and they're all in basic so they're easy!

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 13:30 ID:ZN3kjsgZ

>>11
And they are just clamoring for developers, and aren't dwarfed by foreign game companies.  Stop playing WOW and graduate highschool newfag

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 16:45 ID:Heaven

>>1
Forget it. It's the shittiest job ever. In a large part that is so because of silly people like you. For some reason every 16y old boy wants to be a game dev when he grows up and of course a lot of them try to do that, ignoring the fact that there's absolutely no job opportunities and even those few that sometimes open up require you to work insane hours for very shitty pay.

How the hell did you people even come up with this idea? You haven't even write a simple console application, have you? So why do you think this is a job for you? Just because games are fun? By the same logic maybe you should become a gynecologist?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 17:38 ID:2l3fRLN9

Oh this is a very mean post by you #14 :(

I mean everyone started at some point.

And there are many sections of game-developement.

But it is true, i saw many documentaries on TV about Japanese game-developers.
They really work like hell and they must.

I can't do any programming myself.
But i wouldn't learn to programm just to develop a simple game.

I want something bigger xD.

How about a "game" that fuses the reality and the virtual world.

Well we communicate nowadays with the PV or machine via Controllers like Keyboard or mouse.

BUT how about some devices, that can put your mind!! in the virtual-world ?

This technology would be a big step for human kind :)

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:00 ID:cBi/gb5S

>>15
There's so much wrong with your post that I don't even know where to start.. OK, forget it, everyone has to start somewhere, so just go to the fallowing link and read everything there, it's an easy to learn and useful language. Write a tick-tack-toe clone, then come back and tell us whether you still want anything to do with game development.

http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:03 ID:kP46h0hN

To be honest 14 IS mean but the truth is thats thats what its like today. I think 14 is just being cruel to be kind basically.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:03 ID:kazOwMi+

That's right >>15!

When you want to do something you've already been told the cruel reality of, and that cruel reality is an overpolluted sector with a snowball's chance in hell of getting a job in even for experienced developers, and if by some miracle you do get a job you work tons of hours for shit pay and get laid off within a month, you can still do it because it's MAIKIN' GAYMS! Afterall, no programming experience at all is just a benefit, right?!

You will be living the American Dream, doing something impossible because you believe in yourself, because if you believe in yourself, you can do anything!

USA, USA, USA, USA!

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:13 ID:Heaven

>>15,17
The /prog/ version of ``newfags,'' or expert trolls? I can't decide.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:25 ID:y5oa4Ggt

>>15

Wow. I remember when I used to think like this. I was about 12. I sent an e-mail to a professional graphics programmer and asked more or less the same stuff (except the complete shit about "how do I fuse reality and game zomg?"). He told me to fuck off and that it wasn't so easy.

Best advice ever.

However, OP, I can advise that one publisher actually wrote a series for lamer noobs to write games.

The publisher was PrimaTech and the series was "Prima Tech's game development". Specifically one book may be the sort of thing you want and it is called "Multiplayer Game Programming" by LaMothe.

All you need to know is C++ for these books, so I suggest you start learning it. There are many good books on C++ and also many bad ones so good luck with that.

You also need to know a minimum of maths.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:35 ID:2l3fRLN9

#15 that is me xD^^

Well i mean it what i write.

"Fusing reality and virtual reality" kind sounds pathethic , i know.

But where are the inventions coming from if you don't have any dreams?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:44 ID:kazOwMi+

>>21

Just remember, everybody's dreams always come true.

Also remember that you're a complete fucking moron.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:50 ID:2l3fRLN9

#22

Hahaha, you a very nice mannered person. Insulting someone is pretty easy......

SO you mean then it is better to have no dreams at all?!

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:51 ID:Heaven

>>23
kill yourself

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 18:54 ID:kazOwMi+

Have "dreams", just don't have impossible ones that will just make you miserable and want to kill yourself.

Actually, on second thought...

Name: Marcusthehedgehog 2007-08-12 19:04 ID:R1x/e15H

When you use your imagnation, theres no limit to the places you can go and the things you can do.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 19:12 ID:Heaven

>>26
Even massmurder!

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 19:26 ID:Heaven

>>21

Miss yourself

>>26

Yes there are limits -- there are always limits -- go kill yourself now.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 20:45 ID:Heaven

>>28 has not reached Satori

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 21:55 ID:7qEuCpuz

>>1
If you want to work in the video game industry you are better off getting a liberal arts degree and working on storyline development.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 22:17 ID:tAgzbDqX

>>30
Or going into graphics design, but of course it depends on what you actually have an aptitude for. Suffice it to say that only the BEST of the best can be programmers in the game industry, but mediocre artists who can't make it anywhere else can work on games professionally.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-12 22:27 ID:G2XLgP3k

Suffice it to say that only the BEST of the best can be programmers in the game industry
Based on what I've seen around EA, that "BEST" is a more like "mostly gullible neophytes".

All the best developers I know, people whom I actually look up to and continually blow my mind, wouldn't touch game development except as an evening hobby. They have better things to do than hanging out in front of EA's offices chainsmoking and visibly shaking from the nerves. These people are dying on their feet.

Don't believe me? Visit Vancouver sometime.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 4:39 ID:Heaven

>>32
Truth.

Name: sage 2007-08-13 5:08 ID:91sndiNh

Heh. Wow.

OP here, and I'd just like to say to you all, thanks. I really have been put off going into the Gaming Industry at any point in my life.

Really, I'd just like to be able to understand how computers work a bit better. Programming as a concept interests me, but I'm the kind of guy that needs a target to really get into doing anything. I was using the gaming industry as a target, but I guess that was a bad idea.


I don't know, really. I just like to learn shit. I'm just really bad at knowing where to start, heh.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 5:09 ID:Heaven

FUCK! I don't believe I bumped this shitty thread by accident. Sorry guys.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 5:18 ID:v0BAExYV

Programming skills :.........i think i am too dumb for it.

There was someone in the highschool who was an expert.

He programmed almost everything himself, drivers, firewalls etc. etc.

I mean, i wish i am just as intelligent as him.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 6:10 ID:9+GUCqTz

>>36 I wish I could be as intelligent as him.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 6:24 ID:9+GUCqTz

DRIVERS AND FIREWALLS

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 6:33 ID:v0BAExYV

#37,38 ? Your intention of your posts?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 6:36 ID:jQ5VYsF9

>>39

FOR FUCKS SAKE, LEARN TO QUOTE YOU FAGGOT

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 6:36 ID:xhg/47tM

#40
I still haven't worked out how to quote. Is it just the right-shift operator before the post number?

>>>42

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 6:37 ID:v0BAExYV

I am too dumb for it xD

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 6:38 ID:9+GUCqTz

To mock

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 9:55 ID:cuA9jHtT

Name: ee™ 2007-08-13 10:18 ID:dH6zq1BL

lol where am i?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 10:55 ID:Heaven

>>45
Oh and right where i was wondering where ee™ is

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 14:09 ID:dacqwyZM

if you're like 18 and above and has yet to learn programming, forget it, chances are there are better and younger asians who would be hired and paid with dirt.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 14:18 ID:Heaven

>>47
YOU DONT FUQIN LEARN PROGRAMMING TO GET PAID YOU LEARN PROGRAMMING TO MEDITATE MOTHERFUQER

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 19:06 ID:PsU5k0eX

I know nothing of programming, but I would love to learn.
Here is what my naive approach would be, which I assume would take about 6-7 months of study.

I would first learn the fundamentals on a bare-bones *nix system like Debian or possibly FreeBSD, using an editor like Vim, and the GCC.
[Fundamentals]
Basic C programming
Basic C data structures

Advanced Unix Programming
Assembly
Computer Architecture and Design

DNS & BIND
TCP & IP
Unix Network Programming

HTML/XML
Apache
MySQL
1 scripting language: PHP, Perl, Ruby, Python, Lua, etc...

Visual Studio (C++)
ASP.net
Ajax

Along the way I would learn about GNU make, CVS, Digital Logic, the Windows Registry, and fully understand a text on Discrete Mathematics.

Some projects along the way might include:
an imageboard
an instant messenger / irc client
a game
a device driver

Professional programmers please feel free to laugh, yet modify and correct.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 19:17 ID:Ft2MgS+w

My driving force for being a computer science student is I want a job where I can come into work in shorts and a t-shirt and not move from my computer.

Of course a lot of it depends where you get hired.......

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 20:27 ID:91sndiNh

>>49

6 to 7 months?

Well, uh, where would I get started?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-13 20:48 ID:Heaven

>>51
for the most part, its an ordered list.
start at the beginning, Basic C programming with a text like Dietels or Kochans, accompanied with Steeles reference. If the problems aren't hard enough, pick up a numerical analysis text and implement the algorithms.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-14 7:16 ID:iJSYg+Fl

1. Learn C++. Possible alternatives: C, C#. If you are a fag: Java, Haskell or Python.
2. Learn Calculus
3. Learn Linear Algebra
4. Learn classical physics
5. Learn a 3D API. OpenGL or Direct3D.
6. Learn how to play sound get input etc on your target system.
7. Read about game engines and how to make them.
8. Make Game
9. Profit

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-14 8:46 ID:Heaven

1. Learn to code
2. Die sad, alone and hungry :(

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-14 9:10 ID:Heaven

LOL
if you put too many points in lowlvl programming skillz your build is screwed. better save up for true damage dealers liek lisp or haskell

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-14 10:39 ID:+DuNI7KI

7. Read about game engines and how to make them.

you probably can't do this as no good literature exists about it

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-14 22:14 ID:P/AhzoDc

1. Start learning C
2. Write code
3. Goto 2

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-14 23:14 ID:6cP1oleu

>>34
Game programming isn't nearly as specialized or "glamorous" (i use that term loosely) as people like to believe.  If you want to write original and useful code for video games, you'll be as deep into generalized problems of data structures and algorithms as anyone else.  This stuff is cool, but it's cool like a graduate course in computer science -- you're not exactly letting your imagination run wild while virtual worlds spring from your fingers.

There are all kinds of interesting things to do in the field of computing, and many of them are probably more fun than working in the game industry these days.  Seek out the best books to introduce yourself to computer science.  Don't try to just learn a language - that's missing the point.  Look at what's happening in the general field, start and _finish_ small projects.  If you like what you find, go for a degree.  THEN decide what industry you want to work in.  Right now you've got it all backward.

And for the love of god, avoid all game development "community" sites.  It's the blind leading the fucking blind.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-14 23:18 ID:FFyrrKoj

It's the blind leading the fucking blind.
Damn. For once that perfectly fits the situation.

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-14 23:20 ID:Heaven

>>59
and you contributed how?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 2:06 ID:Heaven

>>60
and you contributed how?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 2:40 ID:t15Pte+O

>>61
and you contributed how?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 2:45 ID:1vZ+3b0+

>>62
and you contributed how?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 2:48 ID:BcUMLuC/

>>63
and you contributed how?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 2:57 ID:m0nPeQT8

>>64
and you contributed how?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 9:32 ID:yn2I/yFk

>>65
and you contributed how?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 9:40 ID:m0nPeQT8

>>66
and you contributed how?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 10:33 ID:mJ6LvnL2

>>67
and you contributed how?

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 10:51 ID:7Px81fwW

C-C-COMBO BREAKER

Name: Anonymous 2007-08-15 20:42 ID:S8Mi37jV

>>69
and you contributed how?


Don't change these.
Name: Email:
Entire Thread Thread List