5 replies to this topic

[AlexBlin]

Hi I'm a 3d Artist and I would like to take up programming. I have just about no experience to programming at all. My future goal is to make 2d games and then move on to 3d games and maybe use a game engine such as Unity or UDK. What language should I choose? There are so many and I don't know what would be right for me to start learning.

- What do you recommend for my first program language to learn?
- How and where should I learn to program? Online video's? Books?
- What are the benefits of this program language and why should I choose it?

I don't have a problem for developing for mobile or pc. (I only have a windows computer though)

[ApochPiQ]

I would suggest picking up C# and XNA. That'll cover your 2D games pretty easily, and you can move on to script Unity with C# as well.

[AlexBlin]

Thanks ApochPiQ I'll go with C# and Unity and my 3d modeling will all go good together after I learn C#.

Whats the best way to learn? any good website (I know this website is good for it too!) but any other websites? How did you learn it? or your language?

[MrDaaark]

Get a book on C#. You can also try the MSDN C# tutorials, but they aren't as in depth as a book.

[Dynamo_Maestro]

For C# here are the books I would recommend, all 3 too, the first two are for C# 5.0 and might need pre ordering so the 4.0 version can be used if you cant wait for it to be released.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/5-0-Nutshell-The-Definitive-Reference/dp/1449320104/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
Excellent book, gets straight to the point and explains nicely, examples are a bit too basic at times but the book focuses on making you understand how things work rather than the potential power of features, the book does not cover everything and states early on the areas missed.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NET-Framework-Edition-Professional-Apress/dp/1430242337/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
This book does a lot more in depth than the book above, but misses out a lot of important sections, still it is a great book to read side by side the book above

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Professional-4-0-NET-Wrox-Programmer/dp/0470502258/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345459174&sr=1-9
Not sure if they are bringing a updated version of this book, it covers the remaining topics not mentioned in the books above but tends to have a really messed up way of explaining.

In regards to frameworks like WPF, MVC, WF, WCF get a separate book on them only when you want to learn about them, the books above may briefly mention about them but honestly their a different topic altogether that requires a focused book.

I could compliment C# all day I am practically obsessed with the language, try it out, you wont be disappointed, just be careful with your research, while sites like gamedev / stackoverflow go in detail of their compliments / criticisms, most sites online are usually flooded with statements that are never really backed up and dont make sense but they can have an impact on what you choose.

[AlexBlin]

Thanks Dynamo! I'm gonna order them. How complicated of a language is it exactly? About a year ago I started Java but didn't get anywhere with it, not sure why maybe it was the way I was learning it. I'm gonna stick with C# seems to be pretty good, and each language has its pros and cons I would amuse.