Well, I am not one to complain, but I have noticed a disturbing trend recently. Everyone wants to develop leading edge technology, yet they don''t even understand the fundamentals of programming. Knowing a programming language is not the same as knowing how to program. I recently responded to a post about some 3D engine optimization. I was shocked that when a hash table was mentioned as a possible solution, the original poster had never even heard of the term. It didn''t bother me that someone didn''t know what a hash table was. After all, everyone has to learn. What did bother me was that the subject seemed rather advanced for someone who didn''t know what one was. I went on to explain what a hash table was, but it did get me thinking. Game programming is one of the most difficult programming practices around. You cannot develop professional quality code without understanding the underlying fundamentals of Computer Science and programming. I believe that this problem stems from two parts. First, computers today are fast enough to run a simple game developed using sloppy, ineffecienct code. Second, too many people are just rushing in without even trying to develop a solid foundation. Many of the posts here involve people who are just over their heads. You''ll get a question about Direct3D, and after explaining it about three times, you realize that the person doesn''t really even know C/C++. I''m not trying to be hard on anyone here, and I encourage every game programmer to follow their dreams, but I also feel that it is the responsiblity for us more experienced programmers to help direct the newer programmers in the right direction, and stop leading them away from it.

I completely agree. When I was 15, I was working in the software developement department of this company called Open Text (www.opentext.com) and I thought I was a real hot shot until I started trying to write games and realized how difficult it could be to get good performance or how hard it is to complete an ambitious game. I think game programming can be a great way to learn programming because one has to get down to the bare bones of programming when creating high performance games, yet one has to be willing to learn everything about programming, even if it isn''t as glamourous as the graphics portion of a 3D shooter. Definitely start out with Tetris and some of the other old arcade classics. They''re fun to make anyway.
-Derek

Hey I-Shaolin. I could not agree more. I just put up something similar to this in a message the other day which I think you responded to. I also checked out your "letter" in a reply in ne of the previous messages. Thanks for mentioning the bit about the guy at EA who did''nt start programming until 30. I did not start until I was 26 and am 31 now. I have a CS degree and have been in industry for 2 years now.

To all those that want to program games, also make sure you know how to engineer software. Building software is about 20% programming, if even that, and the programming occurs very late in the cycle of building. There are many days where you sit and write documentation for 8 hours a day.

I''ll throw my hat into the agreeing pool as well. I''m a professional software engineer, but screw around with games as a hobby. I was much more into it when I was younger, but I never finished a single project. To date myself, these were ambitious BBS doors I wanted to code.

Anyway, I''m getting back into the gaming thing again if only to hone my professional engineering skills while doing something I enjoy. My first project is a board game akin to Monopoly called Stock Market, if anybody''s ever heard of it. It already exists so I don''t have to worry about creating any rules, and it''s going pretty well so far.

The point is, I got really frustrated with myself when I was younger because I was too ambitious with my projects. I think the key to hobby programming is to start with something small & tractible, then grow from there.