2008-07-06, 03:18 PM
You're on the right track. I think you made the right decision about getting a general computer science education. Learning on your own is a must if you want to get ahead. Yeah, you'll learn in school, but there's so much practical stuff that isn't taught.
Here's what I think you should do now:
- Read a *good* programming book. C++ is one possibility, but don't disregard other languages. This is important: make sure it's a good book, none of that "learn to program in 3 days" garbage. There are a lot of bad books out there. Sorry, I can't recommend a good introductory C++ book to you since I learned it from bookless classes and random bits online. But reviews on Amazon are a pretty good indication and almost everything published by O'Reilly is good. If you're willing to learn something other than C++, I recommend Learning Python. A scripting language like Python will make it easier for you to get your hands dirty and write programs that do useful things.
Continue reading. Read a few books on your own each year and you'll be in great shape.
- Use what you've learned. This one's a little tricky. But basically, if you find something you can program a solution for, do it. Looking at other people's code could be helpful too. You could look at some open-source games. In particular, an open-source private server. At this point, they might be a little overwhelming to you, that's ok.
It's not a race. Programming is a life-long thing. Don't worry if you're not programming games as soon as you'd like.
Here's what I think you should do now:
- Read a *good* programming book. C++ is one possibility, but don't disregard other languages. This is important: make sure it's a good book, none of that "learn to program in 3 days" garbage. There are a lot of bad books out there. Sorry, I can't recommend a good introductory C++ book to you since I learned it from bookless classes and random bits online. But reviews on Amazon are a pretty good indication and almost everything published by O'Reilly is good. If you're willing to learn something other than C++, I recommend Learning Python. A scripting language like Python will make it easier for you to get your hands dirty and write programs that do useful things.
Continue reading. Read a few books on your own each year and you'll be in great shape.
- Use what you've learned. This one's a little tricky. But basically, if you find something you can program a solution for, do it. Looking at other people's code could be helpful too. You could look at some open-source games. In particular, an open-source private server. At this point, they might be a little overwhelming to you, that's ok.
It's not a race. Programming is a life-long thing. Don't worry if you're not programming games as soon as you'd like.