Need help finding good comp. languages.

[jack12341234]

:) I'm trying to learn a good computer language, does anyone have and good suggestions. Its going to be mostly for making games, I've tried one called blitz basic, and its ok, and i'm looking into visual basic2006. Just help me find a good one!! lol. Thanks


p.s. if you could give me a good website that teaches about cascading style sheets(css), i'm already good with html, just need to learn that better, thanks.

-alex:yes:

[Physicist]

For games, I guess C++ or Java, maybe if you want to cheat Game maker language which I understand is basically Delphi.

[Kiros]

Crap... I wrote up a perfectly good article yesterday... Looks like it didn't post correctly :(

Anyway, learn C++ first. It's a very powerful and flexible language. The concepts needed to program in C++ will help you later on in programing in other languages.

If you wanted an order, I would have to say: C++, Visual C++, C#, Java, Python, Basic, Visual Basic and then maybe Delphi and Pascal. That will get you started on a great programming platform.

Now if you want to stray off and go into web coding, I suggest this order: HTML (and CSS), XHTML, DHTML, JavaScript, PHP, Perl, ASP, and then learn about databases (SQL).

That will do it. :) Again, go C++ first. I favor it (and its visual variations VC++ and C#) far over any other language!

Good luck, Jack!

[JunkBondTrader]

BASH is my language of choice (but I'm guessing you're not on any UNIX based system so thats not help and it's not for games, mainly just for automating tasks in fact). I'd reccomend Java because then it's really portable and will run on any computer that's running a JVM (obviously, it has to meet the requirements for your game).

As for CSS I reccomend a book called HTML and XHTML: The Complete Reference (covers CSS too). Or for learning online try http://w3schools.com .

[Kiros]

Ah yes, very good website. Love the w3 organization :D

Also, Jack, I forgot to mention earlier, but you should look at some open source programs. Run them, explore them, then look at their source to see what code does what. If it was programmed by an expert or at least practical programmer, then it will definitely have comments that you can read to see what certain functions do.

The same concept goes for HTML, XHTML, and CSS. If you like a site (not a PHP based one, as those aren't always as they seem), then you should look into it's source and see what you can find. The reason I don't want you looking into pages with PHP is because PHP code generates pages based on certain conditions - they may not always be the same and you shouldn't try to strain yourself debugging mishaps from PHP web pages).

Oh, and as for debugging, it really helps in applications to have a good debugger (usually comes with a compiler and the IDE). Learn to use a debugger that you like. Also, if you really get into debugging, it would be a good idea to pick up on Assembly. There are plenty of disassemblers out. If you do become well-versed with Assembly, then you will be set for hard core programming and application cracking :P

[JunkBondTrader]

If you're looking for a good compiler and debugger I reccomend the GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) and the GDB (GNU Debugger). They can be found on http://gnu.org . I think you can get them for Windows (if that's what you're using, Macs come with GCC (or at least mine did) and also include a free IDE called Xcode). As for Linux the GCC and GDB probably came preinstalled.