Re: Starting to program, Games?

["slick willy" <elskorcho@earthlink.net>]

ok, time for my dos centavos now.

there seem to be two camps on the issue of learning programming, the book
readers and the source readers. i have to side with the book guys for now.
the reason is that books offer further explanation of the source they
provide (usually, small manageable snippets of code) as well as practice
problems that let you explore on your own. of course, there are drawbacks to
using books to learn how to program such as the vast number of books on the
market which are so hastily thrown together and so crappily written that it
makes you wonder, when getting a degree in computer science, what the BS
really stands for. believe me, buying a "programming" book that teaches you
as much about programming as your dad's pet rock is REALLY annoying.

seriously, i would suggest buying a highly-recommended book to learn
programming. that being said, allow me to recommend "A Book On C" by Kelley
and Pohl. VERY good if you want to learn the language. also, if you want to
learn C++, "C++ Primer" is excellent, but you'd better have a good grasp of
the english language before reading it because it tends to be a bit wordy.

if you must read source code (i'm not against it), i advise that you read
very small programs to start with. you'll go blind if you try to figure out
what a 100,000 line program is doing the first time out. the source you
study had better be extremely well documented as well. you have a better
chance at administering an enema to a hyperactive hummingbird than
deciphering code with no comments, especially if you dont know the language.
if you are learning via a *nix platform, man pages are god's gift to you.
use them religiously.

ok, i'm done now.
--Bill



=================================================================
The GameProgrammer.Com mailing list is for the open discussion
of any topic related to the art, science, and business of
programming games. This list is especially tolerant of beginners.
We were all beginners once

To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE please visit:
http://gameprogrammer.com/mailinglist.html