Wolfire Games Forums

If any, What is your programming language?
When I grow up (mentally) I want to program like dave and jeff.
Unfortunately, I dont know where to start.

Jeff, I'm guessing you use C++, That's the one I want to use.
At the moment i just make games, and little "simulations" in flash.

I have a copy of the C++ language and I want to dive right into rigid body physics, but thats probably not what im supposed to do.

ALSO, how did you learn the language? (Im asking anyone who knows a language)

I'm having the same difficulties (only if you're on a Mac as well)! And as a matter of fact, I just posted a thing on Craig's list and someone replied calling me a faggot to buy a book when there are none for Mac in that category. If you want to know what I sent back to him, just say, cause it defiantly isn't appropriate for these forums other than sending a private message . It's pretty damn funny the way I cussed him out too... But back on track... you won't be able to find a book on Mac games using C++ unless you start using straight C I'm sad too.

I usually use Python, C/C++, and PHP depending on my needs. PHP for web development, C for anything requiring iterative speed (i.e., doing the same thing over and over as fast as possible), C++ for speed with added flexibility (though I actually haven't used it much), and Python for everything else.

As for how, I used (and use!) a combination of web and book resources. Buy a good reference book for whichever language you intend to work with. If you've programmed before, most reference books will give you a crash course in the syntax of the language to get you started, but if you haven't programed before, you might want to find an online or book-based tutorial as a companion to your reference book that introduces programming concepts using that language.

If you're new to programming, I'm going to give a (another) plug to Python, since it's very flexible and will let you experiment with all kinds of programming (math, graphics, UI) without compiler and linker headaches.

Also, you may find it valuable to have someone who already knows the language that you can email/IM questions and such. Forums work well for this, too.

NickD, I do nearly all my development on a Mac. And while true, you might not find a book called "Making Games on Your Mac," you should look for books relating to game development using technology availabe on a Mac. I.e., OpenGL, C/C++/Python, SDL, etc. You'll find plenty of those. And avoid books focusing on Direct X and such. Beginning OpenGL Game Programming and More OpenGL Game Programming get into the nitty-gritty of game programming using OpenGL from shapes, to 3D models, to terrain generation, to shadows. Game Programming with Python offers a higher-level look at game programming issues while still offering down-to earth examples via Python. It also deals with making a game in Python and making it run fast. All these books will work for Mac game development.

_Nik

ActionScript

Swedish

HTML, Java (been a while...can't remember much...), MML (still new at it...), LUA (Also still new at it...), Loathing Editor Scripting (Complete n00b...)

I know a lot of C++ already, and I actually own Beginning OpenGL Game Programming but a lot of the scripts are for Windows computers ... like #include <windows.h> for example. I cant find out what to replace that with for a Mac.

Edit: oh yah... and just call me Nick .

NickD wrote:like #include <windows.h> for example. I cant find out what to replace that with for a Mac.

Just leave it out. There is no equivalent, nor a need for one on the Mac platorm.

_Nik

C. Perfect simplicity. Why use C++? along with it's 'features', it also brought alot of other bothers too. You shouldn't have to cast a void pointer.

Nayr wrote:C. Perfect simplicity. Why use C++?

When your task is better suited to and OO environment and you want a larger standard library.

_Nik

Dude, C++ is much better than C. You really should use the OO paradigm. Given that C++ is backwards compatible with C, there isn't really any excuse not to. I like Objective-C best, but can't use it very often due to its limited cross platform application.

Java is also very awesome. I use that often for whipping up quick cross platform stuff that I can easily run on wolfire.net. Eclipse is also the nicest IDE I've ever used.

REALbasic, however, has a special place in my heart. I use that most of all.

I still think that Flash is hell of tight ! AcTIoNsCRipT! Too bad you cant do much 3D with it. That's why I'm going to switch to Shockwave, even if it's buggy as a mo-fo .

Jeff wrote:Dude, C++ is much better than C. You really should use the OO paradigm. Given that C++ is backwards compatible with C, there isn't really any excuse not to. I like Objective-C best, but can't use it very often due to its limited cross platform application.

Java is also very awesome. I use that often for whipping up quick cross platform stuff that I can easily run on wolfire.net. Eclipse is also the nicest IDE I've ever used.

REALbasic, however, has a special place in my heart. I use that most of all.

Ah, there was a time when I liked Java.... now I can only hope that the most I'll have to do with it is help other people

_Nik

I hate java. It's really slow and it can kiss my – *static*

Java is not as slow as you seem to think. You should benchmark it before saying that it's really slow. It'll surprise you. It has other downsides though, like high memory consumption, long VM startup time and a half-hearted OO layout. Smalltalk is better in all those things. Smalltalk is also faster than Java, partly because its VM has been optimized for about 25 years

I like Java and Smalltalk, and Ruby which is a descendant of Smalltalk. I'd like to learn about C#, but I'm not sure whether it's worth the effort since I already know Ruby and it's the language of the future™.

I've programmed in a lot of other languages, but I liked none of them as much as I do like the ones mentioned.