False, especially for small-scale games. AAA-titles will always need C and C++, but XNA is a very good game development platform - and it's all managed!

The .NET garbage collector is NOT a reference-counting system. I should also say that to write any kind of performant code in java or .NET you need to have a very good grasp on how their memory management systems work. That's arguably just as complicated as managing it yourself a la C or C++.

And to BrontoByte: get an idea for a simple program you want to write, and go do it. Look up tutorials when you get to things that you don't know how to do yet.

Ok, I will try to make a tic-tac-toe game but I have no idea even what or where to start. Is there something that I always need to type sort of as a template in the beginning of every program? I have no idea how to use it, make it, type it, or anything...

If you want to make a simple game like that, I suggest Visual Basic or a game coding language called Blitz.

How can I do it in C++? I want to learn the basics then work my way up into the more complex languages... (Plus I already have downloaded C++ )

Do you mean Dev-C++? Make a command line game then? Either that or you'll have to learn visual C++.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 22 2008, 7:16 pm by A_of-s_t.

I have no idea what any of this means. I just started. I know absolutely nothing about programming what so ever. I want to learn though.

Program: Visual Studios C++ 2008 Express Edition

Thats not very basic . But, since you have it, look up "Visual C++ commands" at google. There's usually a pdf file with every command in it.

Im guessing Visual Studio C++ is like VB and VC#, so, make a new Application project and you probably just need to drag and drop buttons and such. Double click the button to add code and so on.

Dev-C++ = a program

Command line game is self explanatory.

Either make the command line game or learn visual c++ (idk what he meant by tgat)

If you know absolutely nothing about programming then I wouldn't even start with tic-tac-toe. I would just do a bunch of simple programs that just contain simple variable and output statements, then start introducing some control structures such as if's and while's. After that when you're familiar with the fundamentals then you can tackle a tic-tac-toe game. However, anything you do for a while until you learn more is going to have to be simple text input and output, unless you start using Visual Basic, which makes making a GUI ridiculously easy.

Anyone who supports Visual Basic doesn't know shit about programming. Stop telling him to go to Visual Basic!

Brontobyte...
Here's what you do:
Download Dev-C++ - http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html
Install it and get a feel on how it works. Make sure you can get something simple to compile and run:


Continue through the tutorial - http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/program_structure.html

If you get this to run, then you have a basic template and you can make other stuff in the main section code.

You got me there, I wasn't thinking about smaller games. I would agree I did like XNA when I was experimenting in it. Very much like C#.

That's not a bad idea. But first figure out how you're going to handle input/output because you're only working with the command prompt.
I used 0,1,2.
The board without a move would be
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
then 1 as Player1 and 2 as Player2.
To input they would put a number between 1 - 9.
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
This would teach you output/input of the command prompt, arrays, reading variables for win/lose detection, loop and if statements, clearing the screen, and possibly functions(depending on how you code it).

I think I wrote this a bunch of different times each using a different style of programming.

Go in your C++ IDE and start a new console application.
What are things you know you will have to understand?
-Outputting text to a console.
-Declaring Variables/Arrays.
-Outputting Variables as text to a console.
-Accepting input from the console.

So google for a tutorial something like "C++ Output to a console Tutorial"
Then practice writing and compiling an application that outputs text.
Then create a variable such as int A = 0;
Now have that same application output the variable instead of the text.

One step at a time. Think what you want to happen next in the program and figure out the code to make it happen.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 22 2008, 8:44 pm by Cole.

"Stealing" source code snippets and modifying it. Took me a while to grasp the register concept, though... I was used to having variables like in every other language. Eventually I learned the opcodes and what they do (and then found instruction sets and used them when I wanted to find specific opcodes.) Again, not the best approach, but it worked in the end.

If you need any ideas or hints on a tic-tac-toe game, I've made them all over the place in many languages and platforms (even in battle.net bots.)

Visual Basic is the easiest place to start making GUI programs. We have established that. You obviouslt didn't read through the topic in a coherent manner. If he is just starting, I'd recommend Dev-C++ (which I mentioned before) or Borland C++. From there, he can go to any GUI programming tool to make a game.

Still wrong.

..The easiest place to start making GUI programs would be to develop good programming habits, then consider GUIs. If you start with GUIs, you'll learn nothing regarding I/O (among other core concepts) and thus, jeopardize your goal in programming. If you have good habits, you can easily use any GUI toolkit available.

I still maintain that Visual Studio is the best development environment for new programmers. Its debugger and intellisense features are really good. I haven't used dev-C++ for a few years but when I tried it it still couldn't stand up to VS (6.0 at the time).

To start a new console program in Visual Studio (C++):

Go to file-> new project.
From the left, under Visual C++, select Win32.
From the right, select Win32 Console Application.
Type in a name for your project.
Hit OK.
*NEXT STEPS ARE VERY IMPORTANT*
On the next screen, click "application settings" on the left side of the window.
Check the "empty project" checkbox
Hit "finish"

On the right side of the screen you will see the Solution Explorer. If you don't, select View->Solution Explorer. This shows you all the files involved in your project. There will be 3 folders there - you can delete them because you'll probably only have 1 file.

To get started, right-click on your project name in the solution explorer and select Add->New Item. On the left side, click "code." On the right side, select "C++ file." Name your file (usually main.cpp or the name of your project) and hit Add.

In this file, you can start writing code.

When you're done working for the day just save everything. To get started again, simply open the solution (.sln) file and you can pick up where you left off.

You want a cin.get(); instead of a return 0; so the program remains open.

lol. You make the assumption that I have disregarded learning C++, which I never did. If his goal was to make a tic tac toe game, hand down, VB would be the best way for him to jump in and learn. But, if he want to start a career, then learning the basics of C++ is the best place to start, as devilesk said.

The VB language isn't all that bad, even though most people say it is. Its very simple and has similar santax to what my TI - 83+ uses. Excluding a widely used program such as VB is like disregarding a large part of coding. VB is a way to START, but eventually, you'll realize that you have to move on to harder concepts since VB can't do everything. Its mainly good for creating quick apps.

Yeah. Sorry, I'm too used to just using a notepad and a console so it stays open anyway. That and I copied the code from the tutorial.

No, if you want to make a tic tac toe game, learn I/O.

No, you use python for that.

He isn't making a Tic-Tac-Toe game because he wants a Tic-Tac-Toe game. I pointed out that's how I started, because I read on a tutorial it would be rather simple to make. He then decided to try to make a Tic-Tac-Toe game for the same purpose, to get an introduction to the fundamentals of C++, not to make a simple game.
Visual Basic is a bad bad language. Why do I consider it bad? The syntax. Nearly all "good" programming languages (Java, C#, C++) have similar syntax to C. Heck I'd say even PHP syntax is more similar to C than Visual Basic.

C# should eventually replace Visual Basic as Microsoft elementary programming language and is Microsoft's competitor to Java. C style syntax, essentially the same GUI creation tools as VB, and similar functionality as VB. C# is faster and more developed ( not taking into account VB.net).

No. Your program shouldn't need to do this. Console programs are meant to be executed from the console, and as such, the output should still be on the screen.

For purposes of debugging, at least from visual studio, if you "start program without debugging" (ctrl-F5 instead of just F5), it will keep the window open for you.

That said...if your console program is meant to be double-clicked from windows, adding before the return 0; is the right way to go. But this only works for windows.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 22 2008, 10:15 pm by Heimdal.