Get with the program

Social Forums Non-Philosophical Chat
1

Who here knows any programing or scripting languages?
I know old fashioned GML.
I tried to work on HTML and PHP
I made a few simple pages.
I could make a whole blog out of HTML if i wanted to.
But i’ve been focused on game development,
instead of text.

2

I have experience in using the advanced logistical applications of Rocky’s Boots and attained my degree in 1987 on an IBM PCjr.

3

I don’t know GML, but PHP and HTML might give you the wrong impression of the kind of power you can acquire. Everything takes ages to write and gives limited results.

More powerful languages and some things to maybe keep in mind:

  • Python is very powerful (high reward for low scripting effort) and designed to be beginner friendly. It is used for some of the most advanced applicaitons on Earth and must have thousands of high quality video game libraries. It is also much slower than systems languages, like C, Perl, Lisp, etc. Yet some people insist on using it for systems things. Don’t do that. It is also not quite as portable or web friendly as Java.

  • Java is very powerful also, has a more old-school grammar that will prep you for many other mainstream languages, and is the internet’s workhorse, from web based video games to everything else. Its portability, web-friendlyness and abstractness, combined with a grammar that makes conceptualizing things (as a game, for example, might benefit from) fairly easy compared to systems languages. Python or this is probably your target.

  • C++ is already basically a systems language, but has a paradigm similar to Java vis a vis conceptualization. It is considerably more difficult, less portable, but also considerably more powerful and makes gazillion times faster programs. It is also what is mainly used for high end commercial video games, the multi-hundred-million-dollar type. If you feel like investing yourself seriously, this may be your highest cost-benefit reward.

  • C, Perl, Lisp, etc are systems programs. They use an older, less abstract paradigm that makes the absolute fastest in software, but is also much more complicated to grasp, much less portable, and won’t have a gazillion libraries for video games.

  • Ruby is a weird animal, but has a dedicated following and is used a lot for video games.

  • Rust is for evil cult robots, the dark side. Learn it and join the borg. Bye bye. If Skynet could talk, it would talk Rust.

  • Worth mentioning also that if you become a Bash wizard and learn Linux file hierarchies, you could get a job as a sysadmin. Get you a couple of Cisco certificates and you’re in business. Not particularly game oriented, but a useful and needed skill. How many of those crazy Christian groups you hang with could use an updated, modernly managed system that looks good and runs smooth? They can cough up a budget for it. Things to keep in mind.

Ironically, I am writing this to procrastinate on my programming project. Back to verk.