Education and programmers

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Original post by Cgr Can a person make an efficient programmer..... If that person only took up to pre-algebra at school?

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Original post by Cgr Secondly, I'd like to know what's the best language to learn if you're not an educated individual?

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Original post by Cgr I don't have any projects to work on.

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Original post by Silicon Munky If you're serious about getting into game development I'd suggest C/C++. It's not the easiest language to learn, but most pc and console games are built using it and it will help you understand what the machine is actually doing, more so than with a higher level language like java or C#.

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Original post by TheUnbeliever (emphasis mine) This isn't true. C++ models a particular abstract machine. The very fact that it's abstract means that it's not too hard (for some definition of not too hard) to write an implementation for different platforms, but also means that you don't actually have a clue what's going on. In fact, you're going to be hard pushed to know what the machine is actually doing unless you're working on the bare metal (i.e. without an existing operating system running) in assembly language (without an optimizing assembler). There was relevant discussion recently, spawned from a claim that pointers were how the computer works, starting with this post.

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Original post by Cgr I'd like to know what's the best language to learn if you're not an educated individual?

• Python is a very friendly language that does not require you to know the entire language to use it effectively (as C++ does - it's a very large and complex language with hidden traps that are often difficult to avoid unless you know the language VERY well - hardly a beginner language).


• It does not force you to use classes for everything (as Java does - just because everything is in a class does not mean you are using OOP and sometimes classes may not be appropriate, also this complicates the learning process).


• Python also has a clean and clear syntax (unlike C, IMO) which makes it very newbie friendly and makes it easier to read other peoples code.


• Python has great documentation and support groups and has support libraries for anything you could want (for game development, Pyglet, PyGame and PyOpenGL are just three). It also runs fast enough for any game a beginner is going to create - by the time performance becomes an issue, you will be ready to learn a language like C or C++ and you can use C/C++ and Python together in a single project, if you wish.


• Dynamic typing also makes Python extremely beginner friendly as one does not need to declare variables before use, rather they are created when you first use them and you can store anything in any variable. Some people may think this is more error prone, but in all my years of using Python, I have very rarely found this to be a source of error.


• Python has an interactive interpreter where you can enter single statements (or functions and classes, if you wish) and see them execute. Great for experimenting, prototyping or just playing around. Definately a useful tool for beginners and pro's alike.


• Python insulates you from tedious, low level concepts such as memory management and pointers (worth learning, but not for your first language).


• Finally, everything you learn in Python can be directly applied to other languages like C++ and Java.

#include <iostream>int main (){    std:cout << "Hello, World!";}

class Hello{    public static void main (String [] args) {        System.out.println("Hello, World!");    }}

print "Hello, World"