Languages?!?

Sirpineapple

Hey everyone.

so i'm a 6th year student and i'm gonna do computer science next year in college.
I want to get a job in software programming or game programming.

just was wondering what you'd recommend I read up on. I know html pretty well and am teaching myself javascript at the moment.

is there a particular programming language that I should aim to understand?

thanks.

Evil Phil

Where are you thinking of doing the course? Most places will cover Java but individual courses may cover other languages. The course curriculum should have the details you need, and they are usually downloadable from the course website.

Sparks

HTML's not really a language as such (though javascript is).
Python is a relatively easy one to pick up, but if you're going into CS, at this point you really want to be choosing a language for what it'll teach you, not what you can do with it. Pascal, Modula-2, Python, Erlang - these will all teach specific, different things and ways of thinking, but you don't find them used in industry much compared to the workhorses of C, C++, Java and others. That's not a bad thing - C, C++ and especially Java are horrific languages to try to learn programming with.

Mind you, it's April. If you're hitting the leaving and then first year in September, I'd recommend reading more general books instead of trying to learn a language. See if you can find a copy of Knuth somewheres and take a read for the very basic fundamentals; or learn to use a unix command shell or a decent editor like vim or emacs. The very basic mechanics, in other words, so that when you get to the classes, you can focus on the lesson instead of on trying to make the tools work.

Pygmalion

Most courses teach with Java and would move onto C++ later on I gather (teaching a few other languages for specific modules).

As for them being hard languages to learn programming with I'd say with a bit of Javascript you won't find it too hard, I'd say a majority of the work is in getting into the right mind-set for problem solving and getting familiar with the idea of functions, loops and variables, the rest is stuff you can easily look up and will be the same in most languages.
I learned C++ with only a tiny amount of previous experience (in PHP) and didn't find it that difficult to translate the knowledge, despite the languages being very different in some ways (Pointers were a bit annoying but eventually it "clicked", and if you use Java you shouldn't really encounter them more than in passing)

Though I actually decided not to learn Java before going into my course as I figured if I already knew it I'd be bored out of my mind with it, I'd recommend learning some basic Linux shell commands (if you don't already) or continuing to use Javascript.
Try some projecteuler.net problems if you're into maths and want to practise programming, the problems don't really favour any particular language or anything (although some of them are easier in some languages than others, and some harder of course, as they vary a lot).

+1 for recommending vim or emacs though (although never used emacs myself), they do indeed look outdated as hell and impossible to learn, but there's a reason they're still widely used

FYI, Java and Javascript are not related in case the names led you to believe otherwise.

Sirpineapple

I'm hopefully going to trinity or UCD , but the points are gonna rise so i dunno.

thanks.

what other kinds of things should i be expecting to do in college ? applied maths?

Gybe

I wouldn't worry about the mathematics end of things, most of the maths on the course is useless unless you are going into very specific roles after the degree ( usually it's a mix of probability and vector mathematics ). If you have a good vector mathematics module pay attention as it will be very useful if you intend to make games.

Most places will teach Java first and try and go through fundamentals then introduce you to C++ and other languages. As others have said I would definately get used to Python and a solid editor like emacs/vim. Read through books like pragmatic programmer and knuth ( sorry to re-iterate what others have said again).

Good luck with the learning!

CreepingDeath

Sirpineapple wrote: »

just was wondering what you'd recommend I read up on. I know html pretty well and am teaching myself javascript at the moment.

HTML and javascript are really confined to web pages not game programming.
For serious games programming maths and physics are definitely applicable.

For pure speed, most PC games are written C/C++, but Java has it's place too in mobile games on phones.

Don't jump straight into 3D game programming.
Start on simple 2D stuff, eg. your own "pong" or "bricks" game.

Alternatively, browse the web for game development tools.
You might be able to design / prototype up a game faster.

pwd

C++ is probably the best one to learn if you want to be a games developer. As mentioned, this would often be used by games publishers.

There are other languages that may or may not be of interest to you:

Games on websites such as Newgrounds.com are done in Flash/Actionscript. You can make these sorts of games with Silverlight/C# also. Silverlight is a relatively new framework, so there are far fewer examples of them online which use Silverlight.

The xna framework is offered free by Microsoft, as is Game Studio. This uses C#. This provides a framework for developing games for Windows and the X-Box. A lot of games published on XBox Live Arcade would be developed with this. It's also possible to use Silverlight with xna. It's intended for hobbyist game development rather than for serious commercial releases.

Possibly you'd be best off learning C# and developing games with xna or Silverlight at this point. While C++ would be the one you'd need to know in the long term, it shouldn't be too diffcult to learn if you know C#. With C# you could use xna to develop small games within a reasonable timeframe. Trying to jump directly into games programming with C++ would probably have a much steeper learning curve.

Skud

surprised nobody said flash yet. silverlight or flash/Flex are easy to pick up and you can get something visually rewarding from it. Actionscript (language behind flash) is very Java esque for the most part.

I think doing something that you can see - will encourage you more than say something you print to the command line. - starting off anyway

If you want a job - then you gotta be good at the basics. If you know operating systems too will help you in the real world

Currently a first year CS student learning Java. I find it quite easy to understand. If you like to challenge yourself you should find no problem with it. The basics are quite easy to understand. I have also started C but I find this harder than Java.

Most IT's do Java as the first language. As for Java. Here is the tool I use.

Download the Java JDK

Install this before installing Textpad!!

Download and install textpad Textpad (Not free but works without registration) When Textpad is installed, Hit Configure>Preferences>Tools>Add> Java JDK/SDK Tools.

Copy the code below:

class HelloWorld{
       public static void main(String [] args){
     
       //Print "Hello, World!" to the screen
       System.out.println("Hello, World!");

       }
}

Save the above code as "HelloWorld.java" (The file MUST be saved with the same class name (Word after "class" on the first line of code))

Then hit Tools>External Tools>Compile (Ctrl+1)
Must compile first!

Then hit Tools>External Tools>Run (Ctrl+2)

Your first program!!

pwd

pwd wrote: »

Games on websites such as Newgrounds.com are done in Flash/Actionscript. You can make these sorts of games with Silverlight/C# also. Silverlight is a relatively new framework, so there are far fewer examples of them online which use Silverlight.

Skud wrote: »

surprised nobody said flash yet. silverlight or flash/Flex are easy to pick up and you can get something visually rewarding from it. Actionscript (language behind flash) is very Java esque for the most part.

um

mneylon

Some kind of C would probably give you a good grounding which you could then use with other languages.

I'm not sure how practical college courses are, though I suspect a lot of that would be down to the individual students.

I wouldn't get to hungup on specific languages too early on - you'd need to be able to adapt depending on who you end up working for and if you are too narrowly focussed on a single language then you may find yourself in trouble