I can't tell if this is a troll or someone who just woke up and decided to make a game. C# is a less complex language, however I wouldn't consider it harder. And there are more than 3 threads about this same thing on the first page of the beginners section.

Any language will initially be difficult for a beginner -- but yes, C#/XNA is generally considered to be a bit easier and more approachable than C++ and SFML/SDL/Allegro, unless you're already an experienced C++ programmer.


Do you have any prior programming experience, even if you think it might not be relevant to games?

What exactly do you mean when you say you don't have much time available? Do you mean you don't have much time each day, or do you mean you have a deadline (6 months to complete a game for an assignment for example?) you need to meet? If you only have a little time each day and are trying to be productive then any language you're comfortable with should be fine, but if you have a fixed deadline you might want to consider easier options than C# or C++ to help ensure your success.


I agree with the above response: trying both languages out for yourself and making a more informed opinion based on your own personal preferences is an excellent idea. Although C# is generally considered easier and faster to develop with, some people absolutely swear by C++ instead, and you may well be one of those people.

You might also consider the amount and quality of reference materials available: for each language, think up a couple of topics you think you'll need to look up/learn about, and try to find resources for each language. Take note of how much material is available for each language, and check the quality of some of them is suitable.


Hope that helps!

I say just go ahead and learn C#. It's an essential skill for modern Windows programming to know C# (or at least some .NET language) and how to use the .NET Framework. C# will be much less painful to learn and you will be a deadly programmer when you learn it. Moving on to learning C and C++ will be FAR easier, as you will already understand programming and the languages are very similar in style, syntax and structure. But, in the end, you will need to know both to be a really effective game programmer and be eligible for a wide variety of jobs in the games industry... I just think learning C# first will be much easier.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking language A is "better" than language B. Most such claims are complete nonsense, unless we're saying BASIC and VB.NET sucks (just kidding! lol). Programming languages also do not (I repeat, do NOT) have any attribute, element or property called "power". All Turing-complete languages are "powerful". Theoretically, any Turing-complete language can calculate the entire span of existence of the known universe. C# is not "less powerful" than C or C++, nor is the reverse true. Likewise, assembly language is not more "powerful" than C... Languages also do not have any sort of fixed performance. The performance/speed of code varies from machine to machine, API to API, programmer to programmer, etc... Some languages can be theoretically faster than others due to physical limitations or advantages (e.g., JIT compiling or interpretation), but no programming language has a "top speed". Well-written C# code can easily outrun badly-written native code, and vice-versa. Managed languages, despite being theoretically slower due to JIT compiling, can sometimes be superior in performance to native code considering the gains in memory efficiency, reduced bugs, cleaner and better-written code, etc. While I can usually squeeze a couple more milliseconds out of C than I can with C#, sometimes complex algorithms can be faster in C#. It really all depends... just, like I said, never subscribe to any belief that any language is necessarily "better", "faster" or "more powerful" that any other (provided we're talking about practical, Turing-complete languages...not brainfuck or anything impractical).

If you start with C#, then you'll have the opportunity to learn the essence of Windows application programming (via Winforms) and the essence of DirectX (via XNA Framework). Both of these are easy-to-use APIs that are quick and easy to get started with but provide very deep, far-reaching and low-level capabilities. There's no reason you can't write a big, bad multi-million dollar Windows application with C#, just like you can with C or C++! There are plenty of them out there! When you feel you have "outgrown" the XNA Framework, which is like to happen when you want to write next-gen games for Windows, XBox or other platforms, then move on to learning SlimDX (the C# wrapper for DirectX and all its related APIs) and OpenGL.

I say just go ahead and learn C#. It's an essential skill for modern Windows programming to know C# (or at least some .NET language) and how to use the .NET Framework. C# will be much less painful to learn and you will be a deadly programmer when you learn it. Moving on to learning C and C++ will be FAR easier, as you will already understand programming and the languages are very similar in style, syntax and structure. But, in the end, you will need to know both to be a really effective game programmer and be eligible for a wide variety of jobs in the games industry... I just think learning C# first will be much easier.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking language A is "better" than language B. Most such claims are complete nonsense, unless we're saying BASIC and VB.NET sucks (just kidding! lol). Programming languages also do not (I repeat, do NOT) have any attribute, element or property called "power". All Turing-complete languages are "powerful". Theoretically, any Turing-complete language can calculate the entire span of existence of the known universe. C# is not "less powerful" than C or C++, nor is the reverse true. Likewise, assembly language is not more "powerful" than C... Languages also do not have any sort of fixed performance. The performance/speed of code varies from machine to machine, API to API, programmer to programmer, etc... Some languages can be theoretically faster than others due to physical limitations or advantages (e.g., JIT compiling or interpretation), but no programming language has a "top speed". Well-written C# code can easily outrun badly-written native code, and vice-versa. Managed languages, despite being theoretically slower due to JIT compiling, can sometimes be superior in performance to native code considering the gains in memory efficiency, reduced bugs, cleaner and better-written code, etc. While I can usually squeeze a couple more milliseconds out of C than I can with C#, sometimes complex algorithms can be faster in C#. It really all depends... just, like I said, never subscribe to any belief that any language is necessarily "better", "faster" or "more powerful" that any other (provided we're talking about practical, Turing-complete languages...not brainfuck or anything impractical).

If you start with C#, then you'll have the opportunity to learn the essence of Windows application programming (via Winforms) and the essence of DirectX (via XNA Framework). Both of these are easy-to-use APIs that are quick and easy to get started with but provide very deep, far-reaching and low-level capabilities. There's no reason you can't write a big, bad multi-million dollar Windows application with C#, just like you can with C or C++! There are plenty of them out there! When you feel you have "outgrown" the XNA Framework, which is like to happen when you want to write next-gen games for Windows, XBox or other platforms, then move on to learning SlimDX (the C# wrapper for DirectX and all its related APIs) and OpenGL.

This should be required reading for everyone before posting on a [name of managed language x] vs C++ thread

I can't tell if this is a troll or someone who just woke up and decided to make a game. C# is a less complex language, however I wouldn't consider it harder. And there are more than 3 threads about this same thing on the first page of the beginners section.

nooooooooo, C# is a more complex language - it has much more in it than C++ and is growing all the time (even if half of what they add these days is confusing people about the best way to use it) But programs written in C++ are more complex out of the necessity of dealing with a lot of machine level concepts that are dealt with for you by the C# runtime. C# has features that are far beyond anything C++ by itself can comprehend such as support for dynamic typing, memory management and a completely different system of linking & compiling that's much faster, cleaner and more advanced. There's nothing stopping you from making all these things in C++, and there are low level things you can make C++ do that are unavailable in C# (without unsafe code or interop) but those are available by virtue of the language being simple, not complex

C# is a more complex language, C++ is a more complicated one.

Take from that what you will.