Programming

So any programmers out there? Know any cool tricks or have any good tips?

None what so ever... Except, I have programmed a set of traffic lights and a set of railway crossing lights from an old BBC computer :D

I'm not a professional programmer, but I studied software engineering and have a degree in computer science. I still program as a hobby.

What is it you want to do or achieve?

Programming is a broad and complex discipline with many specialities.

I know only Fortran programming :lol:
I'd like to know more, though. (I have always wanted to mess with Robotics. Yeah, I wish...:p)
Any other program that is easy enough for a beginning?

What is it you want to do or achieve?

I want to learn the complexities behind software programming, I'm concidering a career in game developement or computer graphics, either way I want to learn how to create programs. Right now I have very, very little experience and everything I've learned is just simple actions and codes on Visual Basic (the only program I have-- to poor to get a better one) and it's all stuff I've taught myself over the summer from a book I got at the library: noooot the best way to learn. I've got time though, I'll most likely take some college courses this year or next. Any tips?

Ah Programming. That is what led me to do Comp Engineering in the first place. I know Pascal Slight VB and slight C and we did a crash course on Matlab. Got nothing out of that though.

Can't say I know much at all about programming but I've learned a bit of Java over the last few months, it's pretty enjoyable so far...

katishere, are you in high school? Why not try and see if your school has computer science or programming courses, I know mine does.

And I hope at Katishere's there is some good programming course. We only have Fortran. Easy thing, but you can only do some maths and nothing more, as far as I know.

Ive tried learning stuff like C++ and PHP but I dont get very far. :P

I know a bit of Visual Basic and C++, but nothing fancy.

I want to learn the complexities behind software programming, I'm concidering a career in game developement or computer graphics, either way I want to learn how to create programs. Right now I have very, very little experience and everything I've learned is just simple actions and codes on Visual Basic (the only program I have-- to poor to get a better one) and it's all stuff I've taught myself over the summer from a book I got at the library: noooot the best way to learn. I've got time though, I'll most likely take some college courses this year or next. Any tips?

Career in game development or computer graphics? Hmmm.... you've picked difficult ones.

Do you play computer games? If you do, perhaps try to participate in the modding community, they are particularly active for first-person-shooters (eg. Counter Strike, Quake, etc.) Modding is a great way to gain experience in game design, and working in a development team.

If you like computer graphics, you could do artwork for game mods. 3D games need 3D modellers, texture artists, and animators/riggers. Graphics are important for 2D games too.

To round off you education, I'd highly recommend a course in college or university. Although the game industry likes enthusiastic people, formal qualifications in the form of diplomas and bachelors degrees is becoming increasingly important.

For programming languages, C++ is the dominant language for games. However if you have little programming experience, C++ will be very difficult to learn. Try something simpler, such as C, which is popular for operating systems, games, and graphics. You will need to have some basic knowledge of computer systems to use C, but it is not that difficult to learn. (For tutorials on C++ and C, try http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial.html.) Otherwise try a scripting language like Python (www.python.org), which is very popular and is used in some games for modding (Battlefield 2 and 2142 uses it to script game logic).

For C and C++ programming on Windows, the easiest way to get started is to use Dev-C++ software, downloadable from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/dev-cpp/devcpp-4.9.9.2_setup.exe
It contains the Dev-C++ integrated development environment (basically a fancy code editor), and the MinGW C and C++ compilers (a compiler takes your program code and turns it into an executable program).
Alternatively, throw out Windows and switch to Linux! ;)

Career in game development or computer graphics? Hmmm.... you've picked difficult ones.

Do you play computer games? If you do, perhaps try to participate in the modding community, they are particularly active for first-person-shooters (eg. Counter Strike, Quake, etc.) Modding is a great way to gain experience in game design, and working in a development team.

If you like computer graphics, you could do artwork for game mods. 3D games need 3D modellers, texture artists, and animators/riggers. Graphics are important for 2D games too.

To round off you education, I'd highly recommend a course in college or university. Although the game industry likes enthusiastic people, formal qualifications in the form of diplomas and bachelors degrees is becoming increasingly important.

For programming languages, C++ is the dominant language for games. However if you have little programming experience, C++ will be very difficult to learn. Try something simpler, such as C, which is popular for operating systems, games, and graphics. You will need to have some basic knowledge of computer systems to use C, but it is not that difficult to learn. (For tutorials on C++ and C, try http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial.html.) Otherwise try a scripting language like Python (www.python.org (http://www.python.org)), which is very popular and is used in some games for modding (Battlefield 2 and 2142 uses it to script game logic).

For C and C++ programming on Windows, the easiest way to get started is to use Dev-C++ software, downloadable from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/dev-cpp/devcpp-4.9.9.2_setup.exe
It contains the Dev-C++ integrated development environment (basically a fancy code editor), and the MinGW C and C++ compilers (a compiler takes your program code and turns it into an executable program).
Alternatively, throw out Windows and switch to Linux! ;)

Hi!

I'd like to add a few bits to this if you don't mind.


There are several 'beginner' languages around that let you learn the first steps of game development such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DarkBASIC. If you really want to dive in, you can go straight into DirectX development. If you want to keep it simple at first, you can start off with DX in Visual Basic or C#.

Finally, you can now get an unrestricted, 'lite' version of all the Microsoft development tools. Go here -> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-gb/express/aa975050.aspx and choose your language :)

I have a degree in Software Engineering and specialised in computer graphics, so can agree that qualifications do help, but aren't necessary. Most of the stuff I learnt about the subject was entirely self taught.

Is it possible to compile Windows applications with the Microsoft Visual C++ Express Edition? It works well enough for consol applications, but I can't get any Windows apps. to work.

Is it possible to compile Windows applications with the Microsoft Visual C++ Express Edition? It works well enough for consol applications, but I can't get any Windows apps. to work.

It should work for both really. Are you getting any errors or does it just refuse to compile?

It gives me 54 LNK2019 and LNK2001 errors, which are all described as an unresolved external symbol, and are apparently located in files that have the same names as all of my header, source, and resourse files, but with a .obj extension. The programs were all written on the full version of VS2005, and worked just fine on that. Also, there's no Windows Application template when I create a new project, just the Consol Application template. Do I need to download the windows template seperately?
Edit: I didn't have it set up properly to use the Platform SDK. It works fine now, thanks for the help.

In my former life (pre-children) I was a legacy systems programmer (Cobol, DB2, etc), but I'm starting a Java course tomorrow. I'm a little excited!

I'm studying comp engineering and I took programming as a subject (obviously) we were studying c++ in turbo c++ 4.5 but it was quite difficult for me :(
I even failed that subject, my tutor at school told me that programming c++ needs a lot of logic, but I just... I could understand it, but when I was in the computer I just didnt know how to organize the instructions... specially with the loops, so could anyone give me some tips for it?

my tutor at school told me that programming c++ needs a lot of logic

exactly. according to me if you get the logic to solve a problem, then it can be solved in any programming language. all you need to know is the syntax.
and i guess the only way to really learn programming is the hard way, code code code code code. :) learn the basic of how a loop works and try working out a few problems, just the algo. that should help you :)

C++ is pretty complex to learn, but I've been assured by people far more intelligent that me that it's also the most useful. If you have no experience of HTML or php I'd suggest doing some stuff in them first, then moving on to something like Java, so that you get the basics. Definitely a good idea to take a college course though, far easier than trying to teach yourself, and you should get access to a load of software for free then.

according to me if you get the logic to solve a problem, then it can be solved in any programming language. all you need to know is the syntax.

Absolutely. I taught myself to code with mIRC's editor of all things, when I was in my teens, and that definitely proved useful when I moved on to learn some actual programming languages! Writing things in psuedo-code first could help too, I suppose.

I'm at university doing a computer animation programming course the stuff were learning or have learnt is Mel, Python and C++ so far.....

It's something I think you have to want/love to do because there's a lot to learn and it can be frustrating and stressful. There are lots of books and tutorials you could also use to help you get started.

It all depends on the stuff you want to get into :)

Programming is fun. Know one and ya know all. As a result, i started off with C/C++ in my school days, pursued a Comp. Science Engineering degree and now know bits and pieces of Java/ASP/VB/C# .NET/PHP. ;) Jack of all trades, master of none like soooooo many others. :(