RE: QOTW (Well, more like Question Of The Season...)

["Andreja Zivkovic" <andy@zivkotech.net.au>]

At the moment I'm a hobby programmer (actually I'm a student studying
Computer Science, but my Uni assignments are really basic, and not at all
related to game programming). I do all my (home/game) programming in
Windows, because I'm interested in writing some basic games, and when I
started learning, I thought windows would be easiest overall, since I don't
have to deal too directly with the hardware (18 months later I still don't
know if this is a correct assumption). Also, I'd like to eventually write
something that's not utterly crap, and give a copy to my friends to see.
None of my friends use Linux, so I don't want to try to write games there.
DOS is old and I believe WinMe doesn't even have a DOS mode, so I don't even
have any choices left (not that I'm complaining - DirectInput makes input so
easy!).

I'm sure may people starting out with programming think they'll start
learning in DOS or Linux, so they don't have to deal with all the windowing
issues (and hence it would be easier than starting in windows). I beleive
the opposite is true, so I'd recommend starting with windows if you want to
learn windows later anyway. Get a decent book that has a complete program
example, and use that code as your base, and only change what your program
needs. I've (almost) written my first complete game, in DirectX, but I have
don't know (and don't fully understand) how to get into full screen mode. I
just copied the code from another program, so I can concentrate on the
_game_ programming part. Once I know more about game programming, I'll learn
about windows programming. Until then, I'll use the same code that puts me
into full screen mode.

There was a point made, saying that windows tools are expensive. I believe
most people that can afford to buy (or rent) a computer can afford MS's VC++
learning edition (I don't know exactly how much it costs, or if you can get
it by itself), or a book that has the learning edition (that's what i did).
I think this statement may not be popular with some people, but most people
that learn programming, continue programming for many years, if not the rest
of their lives. Over this time, you build up a collection of books, used for
reference (i've only been programming for about 18 months, and I own 3
books, all of which are specific to windows). Why not start right away and
get a good book to start learning with? The book I first bought (although it
wasn't about game programming, because I had to learn C++ first) came with a
compiler, and even students that want to start programming should get a book
(they already buy books for school, so why not get a book they're interested
in and will use, unlike that book on physics, or chemistry which will start
collecting dust once the year is over). I've also found reading a book is
easier than reading off the net, and most books are of better learning
material than anything I've found on the net.

Also, it seems there's no books about writing games for Linux. The old books
I'd assume have code and examples for DOS, the new books for Windows, but
part of the problem with Linux, in my opinion, is the lack of good and easy
to find information. At Uni we use Solaris, so when doing Uni assignments at
home, I do it all in Linux and I sometimes find it hard to find the right
man page. Finding information needed to write games I would guess is a lot
harder. The best thing about linux is that you can find the source code for
almost everything in other programs (you just need to know the name of a
program that does part of what you need). Windows programs with open source
is scarce, so you can't rely on learning from other people's examples.

Sorry if i've strayed from the question a bit, but I hope it's the type of
answer you're looking for.

Andy

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