Which language?

[SteveV]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking for some recommendations on which language you would recommend.

 

My background is in programming, using VB.net and DBPro regularly, along with a number of other standard and proprietary languages. So coding techniques and standards isn't an issue, it's just a case of which one of the supported languages is easiest/most appropriate to get started with. Unfortunately 20 years of programming has never lead me to C/C++.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Canardia]

Considering your situation, you would have to learn anyway something new, unless you want to write headers for VB.NET (should be quite similar as the existing C#.NET headers).

 

For new languages the most supported choices would be C++ and BlitzMax, and both with Lua as an addon language to make certain things easier in Editor and in the game code.

 

I started LE with BlitzMax, then went to C++, and I never regretted it. Other people might be happy with BlitzMax, other might just love the C++ syntax itself which gives also a great motivation to code anything in C++. Especially when you start to use STL maps, it's the most productive and easiest language of all. You have hundreds of powerful open source libraries too which are always up-to-date, while in BlitzMax someone needs to convert them first.

[SteveV]

Thank you for the response. Now C++ Express is free, I may just try it along with Leadwerks.

[AggrorJorn]

I think your golden with either C# or C++ then. Perhaps using C++ is hereby the challenge or the exciting thing to do.

[ZioRed]

Considering your situation, you would have to learn anyway something new, unless you want to write headers for VB.NET (should be quite similar as the existing C#.NET headers).

I think there is no need to write VB.NET headers, it should be enough compiling the C# wrapper and add reference to the resulting DLL in any .NET language.

[Naughty Alien]

..i would say, give it a short go with any of given options and see/feel which one suits you better and just go that way..

[gordonramp]

I have gone from DBPro to Lua. Lua seems relatively easy to pick up.

[Rick]

I'm hoping to bring C# scripting ability to LE soon.

[Foolish]

I'll be the guy who endorses Blitzmax then. If you come from a BASIC background, and hate pointers, addressof, and you aren't going pro, then you might want to look at Blitzmax with the BlIDE IDE.

[Canardia]

You don't actually need pointers in C++, as you can use references for almost everything (VB uses references too: ByRef/ByVal somename).

[Mumbles]

BatVink, if I'm not mistaken...

 

The worst part of C/C++ is its syntax. I built up slowly from DBC, then to DBP, and was moderately proficient with that. I looked at C++ and it was so confusing, I just didn't understand it. I even bought a book "Teach yourself C++ in 24 hours". Chapter 5 (or 24) was all about pointers, and at that point I gave up.

 

I wasn't until I was taught Java at uni that I really got a feel for the syntax, because Java is more-or-less the same as C++, just with a few differences. Indeed, coming up from DBP, java was easy to pick up, and most of my first and second years, were actually spending trying to teach everyone else, as they just couldn't seem to learn from the lecturers. Once I knew java, C++ came naturally/ One thing I learned from Java is to not use pointers - they're complicated, and most of the time they're also not needed.

 

Then I realised that C is even quite similar to DBP. There's only a few major differences. I could list them here if you're interested. But as with most programming languages, the largest difference is just the way your code must be written. Most of your DBP knowledge can be carried over to C++ once you know what the syntax is.

[SteveV]

BatVink, if I'm not mistaken...

 

You are not mistaken

 

Thanks for all the replies, I'll be pondering them while I get to grips with Lua for the editor scripting.

[Pixel Perfect]

If your not doing anything too processor intensive Steve then it really doesn't matter, chose the language you feel most comfortable with. If you are then imo you'd be better off using C++

 

I never understood all this confusion over pointers but then I started with assember language and moved on to C. I guess if you do it the otherway round from a high level language then it may seem a bit daunting!

 

Nice to see a familiar face from my DarkGDK days on the forum. Do you have a particular project in mind?

[SteveV]

Nice to see a familiar face from my DarkGDK days on the forum. Do you have a particular project in mind?

 

I'm playing with LE so I can be more familiar with it when I write about it in the newsletter. I've only just made it to the world of Shader Model 4 (and like it so much I went and bought another graphics card for a second machine!). As my interest is in track-based projects (think racing, it's the closest description of what I'm dabbling with), I'm looking at getting some nice roads and some AI racers on it. A lot of what I do can be pre-processed, such as racing lines, so the realtime processing is about half a dozen racers getting around a track with some nice eye candy to spice it up.