C++

[LastPoet]

C++ is my favorite language, I started by doing some online tutorials, but in order to move towards more advanced stuff I bought some books about it. Most of them are in portuguese though. Look up in this forum thread for some good pointers on books, etc:

http://www.cpp-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10587

[Jackalope]

The benefits you get with Java are that it is very easy to learn, and the same code can be compiled to work on multiple different platforms. It's also very popular in the industry.

Download the NetBeans IDE and have a play around: http://netbeans.org

All true.

I'm in the 'learn multiple languages' camp. Where I live and work, Java programmers are a dime a dozen. There's tons of legacy code out there that still needs to be worked on, and that gives the multi-lingual an advantage.

Unfortunately, having either a degree or years of experience is almost a requirement.

[downbeatplumb]

Unfortunately, having either a degree or years of experience is almost a requirement.

Bugger, I have neither.
I did some quite decent programming 'back in the day' writing versions of space inavders and gallaxians and the like but I havent touched a keyboard for that sort of thing for many moons, I shall give Java a look if that is what the mighty Tiberious recomends.

[Darwinian]

Unfortunately, having either a degree or years of experience is almost a requirement.

Bugger, I have neither.
I did some quite decent programming 'back in the day' writing versions of space inavders and gallaxians and the like but I havent touched a keyboard for that sort of thing for many moons, I shall give Java a look if that is what the mighty Tiberious recomends.

You forgot to mention that 'back in the day' was the era of the ZX Spectrum

[downbeatplumb]

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!!

I is an old fart.

[LastPoet]

Heh, making a galaxian in C++ is a nice training idea

But if it is a simple game like that, yeah, java will be much easier to do so. C++ is a very deep programming language for newbie game programming, it can get confusing since it can be used in almost all the programming paradigms (procedural, Abstract data types, Object oriented programming). But if you can proficiently program in C++, you can program in any language that exist today. Infact, most of the Java language syntax is based on C++, minus all the trouble with pointers, memory handling and stuff.

[Tiberius]

Bugger, I have neither.
I did some quite decent programming 'back in the day' writing versions of space inavders and gallaxians and the like but I havent touched a keyboard for that sort of thing for many moons, I shall give Java a look if that is what the mighty Tiberious recomends.

Of course, nowadays you can develop programs yourself and sell them online without having to have a degree or experience in the industry. Quite a lot of programmers make a living this way. If you want help with Java, let me know and we can have a few chat sessions or something. I'm not a Java guru, but I've been using it for 5 years now so I know a lot of the language.

[Napoléon]

C++ is a very deep programming language for newbie game programming

My university sucks arse.

[Forsaken]

If you are looking for a career in development, I suggest you take up C#. The Microsoft.NET development platform is really popular and expected to really dominate in the next few years. I have to disagree with some comments in this thread urging you to learn multiple languages. First of all, it will be simply impossible to master all major platforms if you want to do some serious development work. You need to take a pick and dive deep into that language. Secondly, once you master one of the language, others will come naturally to you with minimal training. The structured of major programming languages are similar, be it Java, C, C++, C#, PLSQL, etc.

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I suggest pluralsight.com for your training needs. The instructors are simply awesome.

[Chuff]

I would also recommend Java or C#.Net, both are in big demand.

I have been doing this for 8 years and its very rare indeed that we get asked for people with C++