Hello everyone, I''ve been playing video games since I was a little kid. It''s always been something I loved. Now I want to learn how to make them. Here are my questions. I''m learning C++ right now (I''m reading the book C++ Weekend Crash Course) is this the best language to learn? Are there any other things I should be learning at the moment? C++ is the only thing I''m working on right now. Once I''ve learned a good amount of C++ (Or should I learn everything about it?) what do I do next? Thanks for the help.

Never heard of your book... and I''ve done lots of researching. Well, Learn C++ really good. I know it looks basic, but it''s the principles that you use to program games. Get another book after that one, Accelerated C++ then The C++ Programming Language. Once finished those, start programming in either DirectX or OpenGL. It''s up to you, but it''ll take a while before you get there

C++ Is a good language but if its too hard for you then try one of the BASIC languages first.

After learning C++ a good amount (understanding pointers arrays classes and stuff like that) you can move onto graphics programming with DirectX or OpenGL. you don''t need to know everything about C++.

So far all I''ve learned is these few commands. I know how to use them fairly well though.

cout
cin
if
else
while
int, float, double, long, char, string?? is that one?
the whole binary thing blew my little mind...I wasnt in the right mind frame at the time to sit down and figure out how that math actually worked.
just learned these bad boys today..
for
break
do
and something about nested loops..a loop command inside a loop command? right?

anyways...my arsenal of C++ is just the basic basic stuff at the moment. But I plan on having this book finished by next friday. Oh and the author of "C++ Weekend Crash Course" is Stephen R. Davis. He alsow wrote C++ for Dummies I do believe. Thanks for the info. Lookin forward to learnin some cool stuff with you people. Peace.

I don''t believe that one book your going to have finished by friday will be enough of a pre-requisite to programming games. You definitaly need a lot of experience with c++ before you can write a game.

But don''t skip any of this stuff, program every day in c++ not just replicate code out of the book. Start solving problems that bug you in the day in c++. Challenge yourself you need a lot of pre-game-c++-coding before you move on to game code.

At least learn ALL the keywords and their functions in C++ before moving on, and make a bunch of sample programs so that you''re comfortable with everything. Particularly, you should learn to use classes properly. Not everyone may agree with me, but I think making a clean object oriented program is much easier and more logical than making a good procedural based one.

Also, though it''s not required, learn the STL; it''s a godsend. Once you start using it, programming C++ without it will seem like a total pain in the ass.

When you are learning to program, the language used is relatively unimportant. The main thing is to learn the concepts of programming (i.e. searching, sorting, data-structures, multi-programming etc.etc).
Regardless of which language you choose to program in, you will learn how to program based on these fundamental topics. If you learn the theory behind the coding, you will find that you can easily move from language to language.

I do however believe that the best languages to learn in would be C/C++ or Java. Personally, I think that C/C++ give a better low-level understanding of more advanced topics such as multi-programming which are virtually implemented for you in languages such as Java.

But in the long run, don''t expect to learn everything in a day. Learning all the keywords and standard functions for any language does not make you a programmer.

quote:
Once I''ve learned a good amount of C++ (Or should I learn everything about it?) what do I do next?

No-one ever learns EVERYTHING about a language (unless you created it yourself), but I think you should learn a little more for now. Read up on dynamic memory and basic data structures (Linked-Lists should be enough to start with). Once you reach that level, you should be ready to start learning a little WIN32 / OpenGL / DirectX parallel to your general programming studies.

Good Luck.