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comment by DutchmanDavid
DutchmanDavid  ·  4215 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: "Before I die I want to ..." What would you write on the chalkboard?

    What have you been programming / in what language(s)?

I know C, C\\, Java, C# and PHP as well. If I have to name 1 language I'll go for C\\, as I eventually want to create a game C\\ is the way to go, as it's an industry standard. I still don't know C\\ entirely, as I still miss some basic information (like template programming (?))

    The term "great programmer" is so hard to define though

I just compare myself to great programmers as Michael Abrash (great x86 assembly programmer), John Carmack (lead programmer for id Software) and Stuart Denman (lead programmer for Drakan: Order of the Flame) and see that I still lack a lot of skill like math and algorithms, a better understanding of the CPU I'm working with, etc.

    Maybe provide yourself with a project that when completed, will define you as a Great Programmer?

I still have a long way to go, but I have indeed set a personal goal for myself after which I can claim to be at least a Good Programmer :p

    I'm still working on a simple Space Invaders clone

This is pretty much the way to go: Start small.

I'm a graduated from community colleges (that's after Highschool but before University, right?) about 3 months ago, but as I never really finished High School I still lack a load of information when it comes to math, so I'm thinking of finding a job and learning in my free time using a Distance Education system. When I payed my debts and got enough gadgets and books and everything else I basically wanted the last 10 years I'll start with a bachelor degree.

edit: How do I escape the plus symbol?





Sparsile  ·  4215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hubski doesn't like Cplusplus! And I have no clue >.<

Have you programmed any games yet? Or still wanting to hone your programming skills a bit first?

Templates aren't as difficult as they may sound! ^^ If you wanted you could do some Cplusplus tutorials or get a book on Cplusplus, there are plenty! A proper education would definitely help though, they give you a solid foundation in the field. It isn't easy learning everything by yourself unless you have a good amount of motivation to keep you going!

Yeah starting small is definitely the way to go! If you haven't heard of Lazy Foo yet: Starting out on Game Development.

As for the maths, it might be handy to learn as you go! Learn whatever it is you need to accomplish programming a certain thing. I find it quite boring studying mere theory, but it gets fun when you get to have a goal to work towards. I totally recommend Khan Academy. If you haven't heard of it yet, it is becoming more and more popular and has an extensive coverage of maths, and much more! They also recently launched a computer science platform which teaches programming through the use of Javascript, in case you find that interesting.

I have no idea what community college is, we have no such thing here (Belgium). Over here it's kindergarden -> elementary school (6 years) -> secondary school (6 years) -> university (5 years, academic bachelor, master) or "high school" (3 years, professional bachelor)

user-inactivated  ·  4214 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You can use † or ⊕ instead

DutchmanDavid  ·  4215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Have you programmed any games yet?

I have, but they're nothing to write home about. They were barely finished! I made them for school. A school which teaches "C with classes", as in "C without templates or even constructors and destructors". Nothing about algorithms or anything. Then again, it wasn't university so I won't blame them (too much).

    get a book on Cplusplus

I will, as soon as I get some money. I currently simply download .pdf version of books and read them on my tiny tablet and if I like the book within 10 pages, I'll add it to the list of books I'll need to buy. :)

    If you haven't heard of Lazy Foo yet:

I have! But mostly for his OpenGL tutorials. I tried to follow them once and it didn't work out too well, as I barely knew how classes worked back then. I've saved the link to read it later. Thanks!

    I totally recommend Khan Academy.

As do I. I restarted on another account about 4 days ago and already got 125,000 points and also have ~500,000 points on another account. It's a great website to learn math if you suck at reading books.

    a computer science platform which teaches programming through the use of Javascript
I thought it was Python.

    I have no idea what community college is

As I'm Dutch I translated MBO (Middelbaar Beroeps Onderwijs) via wikipedia, which translated to "community college". I guess it's "secondary school", as university is too high and elementary school (aka highschool, right?) is too low.

edit: I checked wikipedia and it claims it's "technisch secundair onderwijs" for the Belgian.

Sparsile  ·  4215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Also, if you happen to want to do some 2D graphics and haven't heard of SFML yet, it's definitely worth checking out! It's straightforward to use and easy to learn. It can also be used with OpenGL. I've switched from SDL to SFML for the SpaceInvaders clone I'm working on atm, and I am simply loving it.

Just sharing!

DutchmanDavid  ·  4215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I already know everything you know, but still thanks for sharing! (If not for me, then for someone else reading this thread)

Sparsile  ·  4215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hah great! Hope it can help someone else then!

Sparsile  ·  4215 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah I find that the most difficult part of making games- finishing them! It's so easy to just leave it there to gather dust once you've completed a reasonable portion of it.

Oh in case you want some more OpenGL tutorials: Nehe's tutorials are really good. But maybe you've found out about those already too!

KA is so incredibly popular nowadays! And they deserve it. I haven't used it for quite a while now though, so much to do... Gl with it!

Now you got me wondering if it's Python! Ah:

    All of the user’s code is written using JavaScript and uses Processing.js to generate all the graphics.
from here.

Ohh so it's equivalent to TSO over here. Now it makes sense! I was in TSO as well. I did "Techniek Wetenschappen", which focused on maths/physics/chemistry/biology. We didn't get any programming though. Our "Informatica" course which we had only during the first 2 years didn't go any farther than "How to use Word/Excel".... which was pretty useless.