My Dilemna about Games Programming..

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dezell123

Banned
Dec 14, 2000
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Let's see,let me explain.

My parents are willing to get me a book for Christmas. And I want a book that has to do with game programming. I want to game program in VB,with DirectX and all,but there really isnt a good book for it. But I am a intermediate programmer in VB,so this might be plus. The only book that would be worth it for this is Visual Basic Graphics Programming,that goes very little into games.

On the other side, There are really good game programming books that are really good with C++,and DirectX,but I don't have any C++ knowledge. There are some really good books for this, they are Windows Game Programming Gurus and Game Programming Gems

So here's the dilemna. Should I get a C++ game programming book,although I have no knowledge about it,or a VB graphics programming book, for I have intermediate knowledge of VB.

Thanks.
 
N

NakaNaka

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2000
6,304
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well to my knowledge C++ is the main language that is used in game programming. and if you want to get into games ...
 
BoberFett

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
VB is fine for games but not heavily written on. As I said in the other thread, any VB game book you get is going to suck. Get a book dealing with DX or OGL and just use the online guides to find out what sort of quirks porting from C++ to VB has.
 
D

dezell123

Banned
Dec 14, 2000
554
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Ok,C++ it is. I have already decided C++ beforehand, consider it is so more versetile.

So which book should I get?

Game Programming Gems or Windows Game Programming GUrus?
 
R

RGN

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2000
6,623
6
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<< You are better off learning C#, but that's a .NET language and isn't in its final release version yet. >>



This is wrong. C# is not much more than a bastardized version of VB.
 
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Dougster

Senior member
Dec 14, 1999
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Just out of interest... what sort of thing are you hoping to do after you've got this book?
 
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mithrandir2001

Diamond Member
May 1, 2001
6,545
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<<

<< You are better off learning C#, but that's a .NET language and isn't in its final release version yet. >>



This is wrong. C# is not much more than a bastardized version of VB. >>


You don't know what you are talking about. C# is a completely new language created to be the ideal language to develop .NET applications. It has NO legacy strings to hold it back. The only relationship it has with VB (or rather VB.NET) is that both compile to share the same CLR, but that's a feature of .NET. Indeed, it is much easier to code in C# than C++, but that doesn't make it a VB variant or any less powerful. C# is perhaps the finest language I've seen for the Windows platform yet...it is a genuine RAD language with a rather short keyword list, simple syntax and powerful capabilities.

C++ is slowly on the way out because it is not fully OOP compliant, thanks to its legacy strings with ANSI C. I guess some of the long time C++ ATL folks can't handle that, but they can't change reality.
 
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dezell123

Banned
Dec 14, 2000
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oh,I dont know. I will start small,and then work to something big. I want to start learning while I'm young (14) so I'm awesome by the time I'm out of college.
 
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Dougster

Senior member
Dec 14, 1999
687
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Something big, well to be brutally honest...


No wait, I'm not in the mood for brutal honesty, and who am I to crush young confidence. Forget I spoke.
 
D

dezell123

Banned
Dec 14, 2000
554
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Hey,who said I was gonna do it by myself? I'm not a one man army..heh

I just want to be a programmer on a team/
 
B

bleeb

Lifer
Feb 3, 2000
10,868
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You can't really program very powerful programs in VB, my suggestion is to get the C++, DirectX line of game programming books and learn to model 3-D objects first. Then work your way up to coding up small little programs like Tetris. There are a lot of important programming fundamentals that aren't covered in the books so, you will probably need several books.
 
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Dougster

Senior member
Dec 14, 1999
687
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And on another note, I wish people would stop bickering about what languages are "better" than others.

Every language has its pros and cons! Furthermore, some are specifically designed with certain tasks in mind. For example, if you're interested in AI, Lisp and Prolog would be of use.

As a senior lecturer at Cambridge (UK) CS dept said to me recently, a good programmer is one who has an ability to learn any language, and its strengths, very quickly. He had a really good analogy for this, but I can't for the life of me think what it was. How annoying.

And:

<< You can't really program very powerful programs in VB >>

Well maybe you can't.
 
D

dezell123

Banned
Dec 14, 2000
554
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oh,I dont need Learn Visual C++ books,I can get them from the library. I need a rare book that I can not find in a store,just only on amazon or BN.

So which one? Game Programming Gems or Windows Game Programming Gurus?
 
Y

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
5,079
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bah. Java2 0wns j00 all!! just playin.

But I believe .net to be evil. It's plain evil.

C++ rules.
 
R

RGN

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2000
6,623
6
81


<< And on another note, I wish people would stop bickering about what languages are "better" than others.

Every language has its pros and cons! Furthermore, some are specifically designed with certain tasks in mind. For example, if you're interested in AI, Lisp and Prolog would be of use.

As a senior lecturer at Cambridge (UK) CS dept said to me recently, a good programmer is one who has an ability to learn any language, and its strengths, very quickly. He had a really good analogy for this, but I can't for the life of me think what it was. How annoying.

And:

<< You can't really program very powerful programs in VB >>

Well maybe you can't. >>



Yes, I would agree. However, lets qualify this. THe first language you learn will be the hardest. After you get basic concepts, you should be able to transfer to another language quickly.

mithrandir2001 is very correct on the abilities of C#, however, it is programming for the Windows platform only. (oh, yeah, so is VB like I stated...) If you use something like C++ you can easily port to other platforms - something you should think about if your going to be a carrer programmer. Don't limit yourself to a PC like system...

In short, you have to make the choice, but starting with C/C++ will not cause you to be 'behind'

 
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indd

Senior member
Oct 16, 1999
313
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last year I tried to get into game programming, so I was checking out DirectX and OpenGL (I already know C/C++). I got a DirectX book and it was really really confusing and pretty difficult to use. It was probably just my crappy programmings skills, but there is a LOT of complexity and weirdness to overcome to get into DirectX. This won't help if you don't know C++ yet, either. Well, I gave up on trying to programming games back then.

This spring I took a graphics class and we used OpenGL (using gcc on a silicon graphics boxes). It was a whole lot lot lot easier to use compared to DirectX. I was writing programs very quickly.. I like how OpenGL is structured.. it makes a lot of sense. Oh, and also the programs we wrote were basically in straight-up C, but the same calls will work for C++. OpenGL is also platform-independent and is ported to several OS's, so that's another plus.

I don't know how the two compare after you overcome the learning curve.

just some thoughts
indd


 
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