Conclusion

You probably were hoping for a more cut-n-dry conclusion to the "what programming language do I use" dilemma. Unfortunately, there's no solution that's optimal for all applications. C is suited for fast and small applications, but doesn't support OO programming well. C++ has very complete OO support, but is frighteningly complicated. Visual Basic and Delphi are easy to learn, but are non-portable and proprietary. Java has a lot of neat features, but is slow. Authoring tools can get your app working quickest, but are only useful for a narrow range of applications. It might just be best for you to figure out what kind of game you're writing and pick the language that would best support your game. It's a good thing that the "try it free for 30 days" offer has become the industry norm :-)

John Hattan is the owner of The Code Zone, the biggest software company in Watauga, Texas. You can reach him at johnh@gamedev.net if you have any comments on his article.