A question on programming languages

[Sazex]

Hi guys, I've actually been meaning to ask this question for a while, but I'm not sure If anyone knows the answer,

anyways, recently I've picked up programming on a Basic language designed in C++ (for video game designing purposes) I'm starting with basic and slowly moving my way up, and understanding how programming works.

So my question is this:
once I think I've mastered this BASIC language, what language should I move on to next?

Java
Javascript
C++
C#

keep in mind that whatever programming language I do want to learn next its primary usage will be for game development.

[IrascibleOne]

Here's what I would suggest :

Code: Select all

if(gameLocation == 'browser'){
     return PHP + Javascript;

}else if(gameLocation == 'desktop'){
     return C++;
}


It isn't nearly that straight-forward though, I think. For browsers you could also do Flash/ActionScript, Java, or HTML5 Canvas/Javascript. Kinda depends on exactly what you want to do.

Outside of browsers, there's got to be hundreds of possibilities. After looking through the web and from hearing others talk about it, C++ is probably the way to go. You could also do Python if you want to do everything in Blender. That's what I will do if I ever find time to make my own mini-game.

The key is that, whatever language you choose, once you get the concepts of programming in one language down, learning a new language isn't nearly as difficult.

[SPARTAN-001]

The key is that, whatever language you choose, once you get the concepts of programming in one language down, learning a new language isn't nearly as difficult.

Exactly. Once you get the concepts of programming down, you'll be able to transfer most of those concepts to many other languages. The actual syntax may vary, but the high level concepts stay the same mostly.

[Renix]

The key is that, whatever language you choose, once you get the concepts of programming in one language down, learning a new language isn't nearly as difficult.

+1
My first programming language was PHP. From there learning other languages was really easy and simple. As long as you get the general knowledge about programming, such as functions, loops, and maybe even OOP, from one language, learning others is a piece of cake.
I'd also like to add that WebGL seems to making some waves of late in regards to browser based games, so +1 for Javascript+PHP as well.

[Sazex]

Thanks guys, it looks like I'll use unity3D next, however, that requires C#,
which poses another question,
what is the difference between C++ and C#?

[SPARTAN-001]

I believe that C# is more similar Java than C++, although I've not used it, so that could be wrong.

[Renix]

Wow, a lot has changed for me in the past few years.
I should have just told this person to not even bother with learning BASIC. It's a waste of time and he'll never use it in the real world.
Most commercial developers will look for people who can program in C++ and DirectX. Both are easy to learn. My last investor had a team of programmers who specialized in C++ and DX alone. If you're planning on multi-platform, Java and OpenGL are your best friends. C++ and OpenGL works fine too, but with Java you have the LWJGL and Slick libraries which makes the whole process of game development a lot less painful. (OpenGL is a little more difficult than DirectX).

Both C# and Java drew from the C/C++ to define their syntax. And both of them are compiled to an intermediate language. The key similarity is the basic syntax (semicolons, curly braces, array indexing, case-sensitiveness, etc), and you already have that from C/C++, it just might be less apparent. That's where the similarities end.

[IrascibleOne]

Yeah, I'd probably alter what I said too. Something I've really learned over the last couple of years is 'it depends'. For instance, what are your end goals, what are your game(s) going to be played on, and what are the requirements for these game(s)? I could probably go on, but the point is to pick what best fits your project's needs and your goals.

And PHP...I probably wouldn't even mention it unless becoming a web developer was part of the goal. Even then, it's so easy to learn bad practices and write disgusting looking code with it...