Hi I need a little bit of help yes I know there are FAQ''s here but I would rather hear different people''s opinions rather than just reading a FAQ well here goes. I have never NEVER programmed anything in my life to my knowledge nor do I know how to. I eventually intend to make my own gaming company but that is getting ahead of myself a little bit. Next collage year I intend to take a course in VB and after that a course in c++ bare in mind that I just intend to make computer game''s what other courses/programming languages should I take/learn what books do YOU recommend I buy and how much on average would this cost me for book''s programming tools ect and please give me any other advise you have on this subject no negative posts please thank you in advance.

1) Grammar is your friend. People will be a lot more responsive if they don''t have to struggle to understand your post.

2) C++ is pretty much the only language you need to get started. There are other options, of course, but C++ is by far the most popular language for game programming.

3) I''m not sure what books to recommend since you haven''t taken a programming course before and are planning to learn VB before C++... I''m not familiar with VB so I can''t help you there.

4) Game programming books are hella expensive (I see them for 59 USD all the time). You only need a few, though, since you can also get a lot of info from the internet. Google.

Just my 2 cents...

start small, code softly and carry a big debugger

prepare to do a lot of work for little to no result. that was one of my biggest hurdles- rushing into apis when i barely knew c++. prepare to spend a couple of years learning the engineering of software (not just c++ syntax) before being able to put a small decent game together.

material u should learn in first year: c. c++. data structures. all the maths u can (Boolean algebra, linear systems, differential calculus, matrix algebra, sets, recurrence relations, trees and other graphs, number theory).object oriented software engineering. computer architecture. documentation for software engineering. assembly language programming.

i personally think vb would be a waste of time. tho i have only really fiddled around with it. besides u could learn vb in a week outside of college.

on a final note: keep open minded. stl is your friend. don''t code os specific. don''t do drugs.

only users lose drugs... so nyer

If you are just starting to learn how to program, I would recommend you do not focus on game programming for awhile. Game programming is certainly a distinct and large subset of software engineering, but if you want to write even halfway decent games, you need to understand the principles underneath it all. More often then not, those principles have little to nothing to do with game programming themselves. Much like a hammer has nothing to do art, but you still need the hammer to set the nail to display the picture. After all, if you create a masterpiece in art, it''s worthless if you don''t know how to display it, right?

The same goes for games. Anyone can write a game. But not anyone can write GOOD games, and only a small few can write GREAT games. Especially if you don''t know how to do even the basics of general software engineering. Countless friends have told me they are going to be rich some day, because they have this great idea for a game.. But they refuse to learn software engineering, insisting they can just learn to program games. I keep asking them when they will get done with it everytime I go to McDonalds for a Big Mac.. Too bad they keep wasting their paychecks on "How To Program Only Games" books, instead of "How To Program The Basics" books.

Over the years, I''ve spent well over 10000USD on books, compilers and tools. Of course, since I learned the basics first, got a decent job which allows me to afford the more specialized books, thats not that big of a deal.. ;-)

So thats my two cents worth.. And for what it''s worth, I have never written a game more complex then "pick a number"..

Yet I''m not the one flipping burgers for a living..

Go figure.