*COUGH* Game Development With Java *COUGH*

*AHEM* Must have something caught in my throat...

To be honest the question was simply "i am finding this hard, should I go back and learn VB or the like first?" and most of you seem to agree that I should stick with C++, in the end I''ll probably end up knowing a bit from a couple of languages,and from what is said c/c++ is a GOOD (not saying the best) tool for game developement, so I''ll just continue with C++. Now stop the flames!!!!! would people recommend the book "windows games programming for dummies" ????? ta.

byezbye
tommy

Learn Assembley , then when u learn C++ you will understand all about pointers and whatnot. You may need to nut out the oop aspect tho

Once you have a firmer grip of using C++ you can move on to windows programming,
I''d recommend "Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus", I heard it''s basically the same as
"Windows Games Programming for Dummies" but more up to date and has more info.
Don''t expect for any 3D info there, it''s mostly about the fundamentals of windows programming and directX.

Man, what a freaking flame war a lot of this thread was.

If you''ve already started in on C++, stick with it - it''s going to take time to learn it but the effort will be worth it. Especially if you want to get a job programming, there are very few places that C is being used for new projects (some embedded systems work, but we''ve pretty much moved to C++ even for our embedded stuff). I suppose if you want to get work as a maintenance coder C is a good thing to learn, but while I wouldn''t go so far as to say it''s dead it''s current use is very limited.

As to Java, well, it''s a neat language to learn but it''s not fast enough for realtime 3D with decent frame rates. If you want to do 2D stuff, and do it over the Web, Java is a a decent thing to learn. It''ll always be around for Web-based programming but the languages future is definitely NOT in high-performance entertainment applications - despite Java3D and the various OpenGL bindings that are out there.

Once you learn C++, if you absolutely positively have to squeeze the most out of your PC, learn x86 assembly and then get into MMX/SSE/SSE2 programming - it''s amazing how a little tricky SSE coding can improve matrix math performance! Or, I suppose, invest in a copy of the VectorC compiler...

Delphi is a decent language in and of itself, but you''ll effectively be starting over from ground zero. If you HAVE to throw out all you''ve done on C++, I''d recommend this over Java for doing games if you''re interested in realtime 3D work.

Just IMNSHO.

TCS: Does alienating a large group of people with arrogance take practice, or does it come naturally? It''s fine to disagree with people, but keep it civil. There''s no need to resort to AOL-ish insults because you disagree with someone''s language choice. Do you think people are going to want to follow your advice when you call them idiots? Do you honestly think that''s an effective way to share your views?

In any case, I think there''s been enough decent advice to close this thread to keep it from becoming even more of a flamewar than it already is. Tommy, I''d just stick it out with C++ -- it will eventually become a lot easier as you get the hang of it. However, it can''t hurt to dabble in as many languages as possible. Even if the language isn''t directly applicable to what you''re doing you can get a lot of insights into new ways of designing things.