Hey, I'm 16, never done any coding, and next year I am taking AP computer science. I love gaming and I love GFX. I would like to know where I should start and what I will need to know going into this class? I imagine we'll be using c++ so if you have the gifted finger, please point me in the right direction.

http://www.gamedev.net/page/reference/faq.php/_/for-beginners-r1

And if you're interested in getting a head start in C++, here you go:

http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/

If your starting a new course to CS, I can say with 99.99999999% certainty you will not be using C++. More likely to be Python / Java or C#.

I just finished 4 year CS course at University and we didn't touch C++ with a barge pole for some reason :(

Hi,

For most people, starting with C++ is a bad idea. Anybody in the business or education who is worth anything knows that, so don't let anybody tell you otherwise. The C++ is too forgiving of inferior coding habits. In experienced hands it is very flexible and allows the developer to adapt to a wide variety of programming needs. That flexibility also allows bad code to be made and bad habits are of course time consuming to undo.

Better choice of a first language would be Python, C#, Lua, Java, or other relatively beginner friendly one. In my opinion, choosing an auto-memory management (garbage collecting) language is the best for a newbie. You won't need to program memory management yourself for a long time, until large and complex software made by you demands better performance. It will probably take at least a couple years for you to reach that level. Many game developers sell their games which have auto garbage collection provided by developing games thru a game engine, but there are ways that garbage collection friendly languages can take care of memory automatically. You won't have to be concerned about these issues for a long time, so just pick a good beginner friendly language.

In general, I would steer you to Direct3D/ DirectX in the long term, given that you love GFX. SharpDX and SlimDX are worth at least looking at them, since you expressed that you want to get prepared for coursework.

It is critical that you make some simple applications for a while after you settle on a language. Make "Hello World", text / letter display application, sorter, indexer, search, or whatever relatively simple applications that are recommended. It would be ideal to find a book, course, or tutorial which has similar applications as these in the lessons.

Next you should settle on a development framework, preferably what is used in the course that you will be taking. A game engine is ideal long term, but use what is in the course for your early learning stages.

Eventually you will make a few simple 2D single player games, then 2D multiplayer games, 3D single player, and finally 3D multiplayer games in a few years if things go well.

Everyone is against C++ for beginners but I began with it and I'm doing just fine.

Lots of games companies make their games in C++; don't be put off because people say it's not a nice beginner language. They're right - it's not, and C# is a much better language.

EDIT: Not at all to undermine the experiences and thoughts of others - just get tired of seeing 'DON'T YOU DARE START C++' when a majority of the industry uses it.

Yeah, that's why I wrote this:

For most people, starting with C++ is a bad idea

dezachu, the few who made good progress in game development (means successful sold games) after starting with C++ usually were among the more orderly students. If we took a survey then I believe that we would find most C++ first students with success had some structured learning such as book or college courses.

Everyone is against C++ for beginners but I began with it and I'm doing just fine.

Lots of games companies make their games in C++; don't be put off because people say it's not a nice beginner language. They're right - it's not, and C# is a much better language.

EDIT: Not at all to undermine the experiences and thoughts of others - just get tired of seeing 'DON'T YOU DARE START C++' when a majority of the industry uses it.

I never said in my post i was against it as a beginner language. It was my Second (I did Java first). What i said was in Education they dont teach C++ first, they nearly always go for a simple scripting language like python and then move into OO with Java/C#.

OPs question is about learning C++ for school, i said i dont think they will teach him that to start off. Glass_Knife has linked tutorials.

Everyone is against C++ for beginners but I began with it and I'm doing just fine.

Lots of games companies make their games in C++; don't be put off because people say it's not a nice beginner language. They're right - it's not, and C# is a much better language.

EDIT: Not at all to undermine the experiences and thoughts of others - just get tired of seeing 'DON'T YOU DARE START C++' when a majority of the industry uses it.

I too learned C++ first, and made my first game with DirectX. Boy was it hard. I have no problem with using a more interactive and forgiving language to start with, but sometimes I think C++ gets a bad wrap. Other than pointers (which are not that hard to understand), it isn't so much harder than any other language. They all have their good and bad points.

Pointers and memory management do indeed seem to be the root of 'BAD C++, BAD!'

Andy, dreamer, I didn't mean to imply you're both bashing on C++, it was more a generic 'if you go anywhere on the net they'll tell you C++ is bad', sorry if it came across as against you two.

I know my high school introduced CS as a subject once it became an academy and from what I've heard they use Javascript in year 1 and progress into C/C++ in year 2. I guess they're hoping it kindles the interest of the sleeping CS gods

At my university, they recently switched the computer science program to use c++ in the introductory course. Although, they only implement very basic console programs in that class. I'm pretty sure they don't teach the delete operator at first and just ignore memory leaks in that class. *shudders* You could definitely learn the basics programming that way, but don't expect to make anything substantial. With c++, there is a lot more to learn before you can start to make practical programs. Many other languages' learning curves aren't as steep.