my damn mom signed me up for some stupid ass engineering program from june 25 to july 25, that just messes my whole summer up, :(, but i don't want to be a damn engineer, i want to be a game programmer, and learn c++, this is so wrong ::( what is an engineer anyway, i don't want to build buildings and brdgies and stuff, this is a total waste of time

There is such as a thing as a software engineer too.

shmoove

I would just TELL your parents that you don't want to be an engineer, you want to be a game programmer. If they say, "NO, I DON'T CARE, YOU'RE GOING ANYWAYS!" then I recommend learning C++ in your spare time. Or, you can tell them you want to be an engineer, but not a CIVIL engineer, you want to be a SOFTWARE engineer, and explain the differences and how they're similar. Your mom is sure to come around after you tell her that.

EDIT:

Quote:
There is such as a thing as a software engineer too.

Exactly. Gah, beaten.

It's also worth mentioning there is more to being a game programmer than learning C++, and many of those other things can be learned in engineering schools (even if it's civil engineering).

shmoove

Yeah, what sort of engineering did she sign you up for?

Also, realize that:
A) You use many of the same thought processes in all branches of engineering, so a lot of mechanical will transfer to civil will transfer to software, etc.

B) Game programmers make a very small percentage of programmers in general, so you will probably not be a game programmer right away. This class will teach you what it's like to be the people hiring you to write a program so you won't end up being a whiny ass programmer who doesn't understand why requirements change. (and, in all honesty, you sound like a whiny ass sort of person)

C) Programming skills are useful in all engineering fields. Will you learn C++? Maybe, or it might be C (because C++ is too bulky to run on embedded systems), or it might be Fortran (because of all the legacy code), or it might be Mathematica/Maple (because those are great for prototyping systems with lots of math), etc. You want C++? Cry me a river. Your first game programming job will as likely be using some scripting language (i.e. not C++). If you don't know other languages, or all you only have "C++ skills" as opposed to "programming skills", you're SOL.

D) What were you planning on doing from June 25 to July 25? Sitting in front of your computer learning to program off the internet? Now you'll be sitting in class learning skills that are very valuable to programmers from people who have a good chance of knowing what they're talking about (as opposed to the internet). Not only that, classes are much more social. Meet some people. Hey, some of them probably want to program, too. Why not get together a small team?

Anything you ever do is what you make it.

I've had to do all kinds of bizarre stuff. Courses in accouting, two weeks of corporate sensitivity training (Denny's insists on it), life and health insurance licensing course, defensive driving course (3 times so far). I didn't really *want* to do any of them, but I did, and I found out that once I let myself, I had a blast, met some new people I wouldn't have met otherwise, and learned a thing or two despite myself.

Approach it with an open mind. It certainly won't hurt you.

~Pax