   Once you know C++ you're all set, right?
  I keep hearing that C++ is what I should program in, even for games, but its hard to learn.I was surprised when I found this posthttp://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=29197what do you think? 
  C++ is just a language. ;  Well, once you have satisfied the peer-pressure and wasted your time with c++, you can now move to functional languages.I suggest you fire up that Emacs and say good bye to that failed paradigm called OOP. ;quote:Original post by Captian Goatse  Well, once you have satisfied the peer-pressure and wasted your time with c++, you can now move to functional languages.I suggest you fire up that Emacs and say good bye to that failed paradigm called OOP.   IPTF (the coolest new acronym... evar! I pity the fool.) who don''t get OOP.I know I prefer std::string over alloce/realloc/free on char* all day. And iostreams, though odd looking, are nicer than printf. I dont care what you say.And EMACS???You''re a sick bastard you know that right?Then again I''m a sick bastard too. I prefer to waste my time re-implementing the entire std namespace. I go off onto tangents... if I want to build a socket class, I need to handle strings to pass directly to them like "http://pie.com/". This of course necesitates a string class. Of course, the string just has to be multibyte. It also must be reference counting, so you don''t have needless string copies. This of course necessitates the creation of mutex/sephamore/etc classes to allow it to work in a multithreaded environment. It just goes downhill from there :-p.I also like to waste my time creating library functions for handling plugins, and ebeding xml code into .so files automatically. I used php to do it fastest.I hate game toolkits. I prefer to use my own sweat and blood and tears to make better tools. Of course, this means I havn''t finished anything larger than console tetris... besides a few awsome tech demos .There are many languages to choose from. C++, C, Java, C#...Learning C++ will be good for you as long as you maintain a social life. Unlike what I did :-p.ayup... my right toe is actin'' up again... I can sniff the crisp of a flamewar... better git'' out the aspestus walls... damn language wars... ;quote:Original post by Captian Goatse  Well, once you have satisfied the peer-pressure and wasted your time with c++, you can now move to functional languages.I suggest you fire up that Emacs and say good bye to that failed paradigm called OOP.   I''m not gonna even bother getting into which language is "the best". foofightr is right on.  C++ is just a language.  You can make a decent game with lots of languages out there(C, C++, C#, Java, Blitz, etc)Also, keep in mind that whatever language you choose to go with will teach you a decent set of skills.  The art of figuring out how things should work logically and then getting the computer to cary that out is 90% of the work.  Once you get a good grasp in one language it''s not all that hard to move to other languages.  Sure, procedural programming, object oriented programming, and functional programming all have their own flavor of how you accomplish your tasks, but the basics are still the same.Having said that, most of the professional game making community uses C++.  So, if you just want to make games for yourself or want to use use game-making as a playground for learning programming techniques then sure, pick whatever language you like.  Try BliztBasic, try a functional language, etc.  But, if your goal is to get a job in the game industry then learn C++.-John;quote:Original post by coorrae  I keep hearing that C++ is what I should program in, even for games, but its hard to learn.I was surprised when I found this posthttp://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=29197what do you think? C / C++ are definatly the languages to learn if you want to do programming on a professional level or get the most power, performance, and portability out of projects you create.If you just want to tinker in your spare time there is nothing wrong with using something like blitzbasic.If you don''t know any type of programming you are probably a lot better off learning a different language before you take on c/c++.  Something link Basic (QBasic especially) or PASCAL.I highly recommend VisualBasic NOT be your first language.  Lots of people will disagree with me, but my reasoning has to do with VB dealing more with pointing and clicking to make your interface than actually stressing the basic concepts of programming you''ll need for other languages.  But like I said, plenty of other people will disagree with me, and in the interest of preventing a flame war I won''t hold a debate about it, just remember that it''s  my opinion.   Drakonite[Insert Witty Signature Here] ;  Blitz3D kicks bottom. It is a great language for producing reasonable games in a short period of time. It''s a great language for prototyping very complex games (I know of several software houses that use Blitz or similar languages for this purpose). It''s a perfect language for teaching yourself game programming techniques. Think of it as a very general game engine with a BASIC-like scripting language as a front end. It''s a valuable tool.It''s a shame that the language isn''t that great. I''m not a fan of BASIC, and although Blitz makes some improvements there''s still stuff like data structures that aren''t handled particularly well. A little bit of OOP - inheritance and methods, or even just pointers to functions, would make it go far. Here''s to BlitzMAX. ;quote:Original post by Teknofreek    But, if your goal is to get a job in the game industry then learn C++. Or lisp. Scripting, AI and anything that has not to do with raw hardware profit from the multiverse of functional programming.It is funny how you guys have this retarded monovision that does not see outside of C, C++, C#, Java or any shitty C offspring. Granted I like C++, but it happens so that I like lisp even more.When learning another language, don''t learn language from that above list. Learn a language that is actually a new language and not dialect. Switching from C++ to C# is like switching from American English to Irish Accent.;  >>> suggest you fire up that Emacs whats Emacs?whats functional a language?it means it actually works?- kidding>>>If you don''t know any type of programming you are probably a lot better off learning a different language before you take on c/c++. Something link Basic (QBasic especially) or PASCAL.thats what I did, I started in qbasic, because people would say or imply that qbasic is all the basic there is. I did the job, but I hate that language so much now that I reached its limits.I know all of the basics of c++ and OOP, but its the complex libraries ''help'' that just confuse me.Ive reached the point where no matter I program in other languages, it will no longer help me learn c++.but back on topic, I love OOP, and speed, but am I really going to be able to learn make games in c++? It gets so frustrating if for example, I dont know why I have to do more than just put "setgraphics(800,600);". And when I run something, I dont understand what im supposed to do when it says "iostreams are deprecated", or "linker error" ;  Yes, you can most defniitely make games in C++. Is it easy? Not until you learn C++ and a graphics library. C++ doesn''t have graphics built in, so you''ll have to learn the interface to direct X, or openGL, or use a wrapper for them such as SDL. The plus side of that is that you have choices, so you can start out with a graphics library that DOES give you setmode(800,600) and then move on to a library that lets you pick the number of backbuffers, the depth of the Z buffer, the refresh rate, etc.If you''re new to programming, I''d suggest you start with Common Lisp. It is a different language, and though it isn''t perfect, its pretty good at letting you ignore the gritty stuff while still being very powerful. You can learn more about Lisp from the ALU''s Website(be warned, the page is harsh on the eyes =-/  )Emacs is is an advanced text editor made before the days of friendly GUIs, and while it is very powerful, it is also much more difficult to learn than Visual Studio or the like. 