By the way, I''ve heard that by the end of the year, Visual Basic is going to be revolutionized in a way that it can deliver the power and speed of C++, even with it''s simplified-code format. I''ve also heard that it will use a universal library, meaning no more runtime files, etc, just like C++! If anyone has any more information on this, please post it.

I started with vb and after one hour or so was sick of it i hated the i got a c compiler and immediatly loved it then i changed to c++ and now am using it oop is the way to go learn c++ in my oppinion it''s really easy or you might even want to start with asm don''t get frightened by people who say it''s hard it''s really easy it just depends on what you start with but i guess nowadays c++ is the best thing easy to use,fast, resources everywhere and you get your first results fast. I also think the other ''programming languages'' are just a pile of junk to forget as fast as possible they slow and not in any way usefull
for the things fast and easiest to go c++, time critical stuff with asm forget about the rest....

I think you should start with C/C++ (they really aren''t that hard). I started learning C around age 10, and I understood it more than well enough to write programs with it. I continued to learn C++ afterwards, and I now know it as well. I learned VB after learning C/C++, and it seemed weak in comparison to the power that C/C++ give you.

Delphi (as far as I know) is almost as fast as C/C++ (not a huge difference, a relatively small one in fact), and is better to learn than VB. Java is much more annoying than C/C++ (plus it is much slower since it must use a virtual machine), and I advise learning it after you learn C or C++.

Anyway, here''s the answers to your questions:
1. I think you should use Delphi or C/C++ instead.

2. An algorithm is a linear method of solving any problem that it is designed for. For example, using trigonometry requires miniature algorithms of though. If I have these two sides of a triangle, and this angle, then do this. Otherwise, do this. Et
cetera.

3. Not in the least. C/C++ is greatly different than Visual Basic. Windows was written in C. Linux was written in C. How could you write an OS in VB? You can''t . C/C++ was designed to be low level enough to do most any task with, that''s why it is more complex, yet normally faster and more adaptable.


http://www.gdarchive.net/druidgames/

Visual Basic is a big no for games development, it''s slow, unportable and teaches you bad habits.

Start off with C, there''s no reason not to then move onto C++ after, when you understand the fundamentals of C then C++ will be easy.

I began programming by fooling around in QB. But I just copied and pasted a lot of code, and never really understood what was going on.

Then I dowloaded VB3, and later borrowed VB8 Enterprize from a friend. I made hacked-together programs that didn''t work too well and relied on controls.

Then I got CiH, formatted my drive, and graduated, so I never saw that guy again that I got VB6 from. So I stopped programming, and started level editing for Quake III.

I got bored of that, so I downloaded QB again. And I learned a LOT. I even programmed a simple arcade game. It was like duck hunt, but with spaceships.

Then, for Christmas, I got Visual Basic 6 Learning Edition. I looked at the book that came with it, and decided it was useless. The MS programming tutorials are very, very bad indeed. But I kept at it, and since I had actually learned what I was doing in QB, I quickly made the switch to VB. I went to a VERY, VERY good site called DirectX for Visual Basic, and started reading the tutorials. And I didn''t cut and paste. I learned what I was doing. Perhaps the best thing I could have done was to program everything with Option Explicit on. That teaches you good habits.

I just got Visual C++ 6 Intro Edition, and am learning C++. I don''t know very much, but I know enough to program some simple math algorithms.

But I got VC++ just as I was doing something very cool with VB, so I lost interest in it. Now, I am spending more time working on my DirectX7 tile-based RTS game in Visual Basic. It runs at a steady 75 FPS, with occasional 82 FPS peaks. (2d, 1024x768x32). Once I finish it, I''ll go back to C++.

If you do decide to go with a BASIC language, here''s a word of warning: Avoid GOTO statements and labels whenever possible. I learned bad habits that way. Instead, use DO...LOOP and FOR...NEXT loops. They are much more readable, and have almost identical C++ equivalents.

I thought I''d tell you my story in the hopes it may give you some insight into how you should approach learning languages. But if there''s anything you should know, know this: Don''t hack together code using Microsoft controls or MFC. Use logic, and write your own code. It pays off in the end.

When learning a language, this is the first program I ever make: Tell the user to input a positive integer, and tell them that the program will find the sum of all the integers between 1 and that integer. Then use a loop to brute-force solve the problem, and display the answer. The answer should equal this, if x is the integer that was input: (x * (x + 1))/2
If it does, your program worked. I find that coding this simple program always works to launch me into at least the basics of a language.

Basic and Visual Basic are great for learning simple programming structure, but I would start with Java. It''s very much like C++ but 100 times simpler. You can start with it, and transition to c later. In other words Java->C->C++ is the way I would reccomend. They are very similar and if you are good at math and have a book or two around(I also reccomend C++ by example and Java by example if you can find/afford them), there''s a chance be able to learn all three quickly, as well as learn good programming habits.

IMO: don''t start off with VB, like earlier posts mention it teaches you bad habits, if i were you i''d start with simple procedural programming in C++ then go for OO (so that you can really understand what OO is good for) it teaches you a lot more how programs actually work, VB hides most of that from you

VB is good for windowed apps but then you''d better use Delphi where you can at least see the code that you generate by drag and drop, yes you can make games in VB but then it looses practically every advantage it has over C++ (although it might not seem that way if you don''t have a good grasp of C++ programming)

C++ can be very boring at first (in the sense that it doesn''t do anything spectacular) so if you want quick results you might want to try some applet programming in java or something, java and c++ are similar but java is a lot easier

if you want to go for game development you''ll probably be learning C++ in the end anyway

BTW: you can drag and drop in Visual C++, but you won''t be doing that for quite some time, best is to start with text-based programs

look for yourself: www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial
and try it: www.bloodshed.net