how do you keep up with constantly chaning technology?
Author
I have recently begun learning .NET, and also c#, and i find the amount of material to be overwhelming. It is kind of stressing me out knowing how fast technologies changes, and how much work it can be to keep up. So how do you all keep up with rapidly chaning technology. For instance do you learn as you go, learn as you need it, or like to learn a new technology when it comes out.
It's one thing to ride the hype, another to be stable.
I have coded a variation of languages using variation of techniques, and it's the techniques that changes, not so much the languages.
If you learn C# today, and become good at it, I'm positive that you can do windows development for many years from now. But if you learn for instance C++, which is over 20 years old, it will still remain compability with the OS's to come even in the future. C++ (and C! even older!) is very much alive today, and I doubt the interest for these languages will cold.
I'm sure you think about java. But IMO java is not a good language to use for programming applications to start with, C# is much better at that, so that would be a safer choice today, C# will become a greater language than java ever was, BUT C++ is a steadier option if you ask me. Why? Because C/C++ works on so many platforms you could not even name half of them.
Then it comes to techniques (sorry, can't spell that), like algoritms and API's etc, those are likely to expand in the near future, but is not language specific in many cases (thinking of the API's, not the algos). As an example, I started coding "game programming" (doing demos really) back in 1995/96, then everything was done in software mode, using normal 2D graphics adapters. I then had to learn DirectX/OpenGL just to adopt, and changes like that will always occur in your personal evolutional process, that's a deal of being a programmer.
And don't worry for not catching up, then you're into programming, the changes come to you, you just have to keep up listening for it, and the more you know about programming, the more you will know where to listen, and what to listen for.
Albert "thec" Sandberg
I have coded a variation of languages using variation of techniques, and it's the techniques that changes, not so much the languages.
If you learn C# today, and become good at it, I'm positive that you can do windows development for many years from now. But if you learn for instance C++, which is over 20 years old, it will still remain compability with the OS's to come even in the future. C++ (and C! even older!) is very much alive today, and I doubt the interest for these languages will cold.
I'm sure you think about java. But IMO java is not a good language to use for programming applications to start with, C# is much better at that, so that would be a safer choice today, C# will become a greater language than java ever was, BUT C++ is a steadier option if you ask me. Why? Because C/C++ works on so many platforms you could not even name half of them.
Then it comes to techniques (sorry, can't spell that), like algoritms and API's etc, those are likely to expand in the near future, but is not language specific in many cases (thinking of the API's, not the algos). As an example, I started coding "game programming" (doing demos really) back in 1995/96, then everything was done in software mode, using normal 2D graphics adapters. I then had to learn DirectX/OpenGL just to adopt, and changes like that will always occur in your personal evolutional process, that's a deal of being a programmer.
And don't worry for not catching up, then you're into programming, the changes come to you, you just have to keep up listening for it, and the more you know about programming, the more you will know where to listen, and what to listen for.
Albert "thec" Sandberg
Quote:Original post by thec
It's one thing to ride the hype, another to be stable.
I have coded a variation of languages using variation of techniques, and it's the techniques that changes, not so much the languages.
I'd tend to disagree with some of that, I do agree that say C++ will still be C++ in 10 years but I'd say its the techniques that stay the same.
The bubble sort has been taught for 30 years, same with linked lists and tree strucutres.
in 20 more people will still be teaching the chain of command pattern and gerneric programming. Its new programming languages that will change as well as new API's. Students will be learning the successor to Java and C++ in school but still be learning how to progrma linked lists and tree structures. And they'll still be writing games with OpenGL and directx.
THat's my 2 cents:)
Cheers
Chris
Yeah, of course... what I ment was like then per pixel lightning came, cube mapping, those techniques are not "new" as for science, but new to programmers finally able to implement them in real time, those are the algos that will come, this is a game developers forum after all :-)
Of course you do not throw away bubblesort (or quicksort to be realistic) like you threw away LISP, that was not what I ment.
But if we talk heavyweight programming languages here, not that much will change. Anyway, learning a new language when you know one of the more complex ones (such as C#) is just like changing underwear really, not saying I'm not doing that more often tho.
Albert
Of course you do not throw away bubblesort (or quicksort to be realistic) like you threw away LISP, that was not what I ment.
But if we talk heavyweight programming languages here, not that much will change. Anyway, learning a new language when you know one of the more complex ones (such as C#) is just like changing underwear really, not saying I'm not doing that more often tho.
Albert
Quote:Original post by corrington_jYou don't need to "keep up"; you just need to know what you need to get your job done.
I have recently begun learning .NET, and also c#, and i find the amount of material to be overwhelming. It is kind of stressing me out knowing how fast technologies changes, and how much work it can be to keep up.
The knowledge/APIs/language aren't going anywhere.
Indeed. My father has been programming Cobol for nearly 30 years now. Things don't change as much as they seem to.
It actually doesn't change as much you think.
Once you learn the paradigms and the patterns everything else is details that usually are very easy to grasp. It comes with experience by wasting all your life by doing it.
Once you learn the paradigms and the patterns everything else is details that usually are very easy to grasp. It comes with experience by wasting all your life by doing it.
Just my two cents.
From my experience, the only things that really change are the API's and the languages themselves. Languages are easy to learn and pickup since they are all more or less the same, the API's like OpenGL and DirectX are the hard things to "keep up" with but as has been said, you only need to know what you have to to get done what you need to do. So learn as you go is how I do it.
From my experience, the only things that really change are the API's and the languages themselves. Languages are easy to learn and pickup since they are all more or less the same, the API's like OpenGL and DirectX are the hard things to "keep up" with but as has been said, you only need to know what you have to to get done what you need to do. So learn as you go is how I do it.
Keep up? My games are software rendered and written in C (well, C and Lua). :) Also, most indie developers recommend the use of older versions of DirectX as many people don't have the latest versions and/or hardware that supports them. DirectX 7 is OK I think.
Quote:Original post by thec
Yeah, of course... what I ment was like then per pixel lightning came, cube mapping, those techniques are not "new" as for science, but new to programmers finally able to implement them in real time, those are the algos that will come, this is a game developers forum after all :-)
You have to make an effort yourself to keep up with change. Because I notice everywhere that once people learn something, or use something, they will stick with it no matter what. People still make mp3's despite WMA/Ogg being smaller and better. People will use the AVI videoformat forever no matter how good WMV/MP4 will become. The people that were downloading videocd's (MPEG1) before divx 3.11 stick to those and ignore avi's as 'too new'.
In programming it's similar. Once you know C++ you will probably never mess with C#, although almost all people that did try it love it and stick with it.
With DirectX a lot of people use it like it's still DX7. Most of the tutorials and posts here are about separate vertex buffers/index buffers and ignore meshes, even though that's just a class that combines those two together with some useful helper functions. Hell, people are still thinking about converting to triangle strips manually to speed things up. Never mind the beginners asking DirectDraw questions because they just started learning it, 5 years after it was phased out.
Most of the tutorials and I guess amateur games just use softwareprocessing and don't even test for hardwareprocessing, just like the geforce card and its hardware T&L was never invented.
The bottom line is, once you know something your knowledge is already fading and getting obsolete. You really have to make an effort yourself to read up on new stuff and learn new techniques or else you'll be making games that would have looked old already in 2000.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
