noob here - help please where do i start??

HardcoreOtaku · Post by **HardcoreOtaku** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:39 am

Hi peeps,
can I have some advice on where to begin (for a total noob) game programing?

I've bought a C++ book
http://safari.samspublishing.com/0672324253

and downloaded
Borland Turbo C++ which I'm having trouble installing
I'm after a free C++ compiler can anyone recommend me one or am I on the right lines already.

The audio part I won't have to worry about as my job is I make and release electronic dance music.

Any help appreciated,
Cheers

Ixmucane · Post by **Ixmucane** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:52 pm

If you have old Turbo C++ 5.0 or 5.5, junk it unless you are an archaeologist.

Current popular freeware or open source compilers for Windows include:
- Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2005 (plus the Platform SDK)
- MINGW (with GCC)
- Cygwin (also with GCC)

The difference between the two GCC tool suites is that MINGW's main goal is file compatibility with Microsoft tools and Cygwin's main goal is Linux emulation.

Then there are open source IDEs to supplement the command-line compilers:
- Ultimate++
- Eclipse, with CDT
- Dev-C++
- Code::Blocks
.
You can build some programming experience from following interesting tutorials or with simple modifications of some existing game.

mirkvid · Post by **mirkvid** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 5:33 pm

after you learn some c++ and object oriented programming i would suggest you read "teach yourself game programming" by michael morrison. some of the windows programming code may be confusing at first, but its a great book for begginning 2D game programming.

http://www.michaelmorrison.com/mambo/in ... &Itemid=35

after reading this, i moved on to learning some directx and applied it to some of the ideas from the book and come up with some pretty neat stuff!

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:19 am

Hahaha - I taught myself C++/ASM 13 years ago with Sams "Teach Yourself Borland C++ In 21 Days" and some game programming book ("Flights of Fantasy" I think), along with a pirated Borland 4.01 C++ Compiler =)

Ahhh the memories.

mirkvid · Post by **mirkvid** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:37 am

wow. teaching yourself assemble does NOT sound fun. (assembly is very cool however)

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:51 pm

Lots of trips to ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi back in the day to examine various demo source codes - that was the best way.