Confused on beginning programming, any suggestions?

Question

Hello all. For years I've wanted to learn a programming language. Not only do I want to develop apps, but possible help find new answers to things. I also want to get into game programming in the future. I'd like to work on indie games, because I know for a fact I won't be making anything console wise for years.

I've dabbled in C++, C#, and C when I was younger, but those languages are always believed not to be well for beginners. I will have to agree for C++ and C, because there's a lot of things that confuse me about it, even in syntax. I really want to be proficient in C++ in the future, but I feel as if now is not the right time.

Languages I have been looking at are C#, Java, Python, Ruby, and Lua. But I don't know where to begin and if these languages are good enough for this generation of programs and such. People always seem to drill in my head that if it's a scripting language, then good luck getting anywhere outside of web development and that they aren't used for most of today's games and programs.

What language should I start with? Should I go straight for C++ now?

And one more question, are all programming languages basically the same syntax wise? A friend told me that in the end, most code ends up looking like C++ so I should just go for it, but I don't know if this is really true or not, but I can see where he is coming from.

Thanks if you can help me!

Answer 1

Start with C++ === PRACTICE!

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Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++ by Bjarne Stroustrup

- http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Principles-Practice-Using-C/dp/0321543726

Cplusplus.com

- http://www.cplusplus.com/

Cprogramming.com

- http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/c++-tutorial.html

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Code::Blocks

- http://www.codeblocks.org

- http://www.codeblocks.org/downloads/binaries

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Coding Unit Programming Tutorials

- http://www.codingunit.com/

Answer 2

If you want a shallower learning curve than C/C++ offers, you can start with Java or even HTML/Javascript.



Many widely used programming languages do have a C-style syntax and thus the code looks superficially similar to C/C++ code. However, there are some other syntaxes around, such as those used by Basic (and its derivatives), Python (and its derivatives), Perl, etc. Code in those languages may look quite different from C-style code.

Answer 3

Python's absolutely amazing, it's really simple and it can handle most of the difficult stuff for you till you are ready for it. C# is really great too. The best thing about both of them is that they have these add-ons that are great for games, Python's one is Pygame and C#'s is XNA. I don't know much about Lua, and Ruby is similar to Python, but Python is better supported and more people use it, hence it's easier to seek help for things. I tried learning C++ but the memory management and pointers were crazy, it is definitely quite hard to learn and takes perseverance, but if you're up for that then go for C++.

Also C# is quite good for beginners in my opinion, it's not as hard as it seems.

As for many languages being the same, languages like C++, C# and Python are object-oriented programming languages, so they use things like functions and classes. This makes them quite similar to each other in contrast with a langauge like Lisp,

Answer 4

Coming from someone who also wants to get into game programming , but, somehow ended up getting into web coding, I'd recommend just diving into C++, I need to start with it again, but, because I learnt a lot of Java first (I'm not proficient in Java) I found the syntax of C++ really easy to get to grips with, probably because they're both object oriented, well, C++ is intrinsically object oriented, but, whatever.



So, in short, I'd say just jump into C++, I'm sure others will give you different advice, but, this is what I think.



Happy coding!

Answer 5

You should consider Unity 3D game engine, which uses C#. UnrealEngine 3 is initially a lot cheaper, but it uses its own scripting language, I think UnrealEngine 4 uses C++. Quake 3 engine is open source.



I have though on 2D, but also cross-platform. C++ is a must, 2D libraries choices are few, like SDL, or CoCos 2D-x.

Answer 6

I would start with python or lua. they're both easy and are good for basic things. don't bother jumping straight for C++ right now - it's good to learn the fundamentals of programming before going into something as complex as that.



here's a good resource:



http://codeacademy.com/



it starts out by teaching you the basics of Javascript and, afterward, lets you pick new languages to try from then on. python is one of the options.