My plan for learning to program

[sparda]

ahh! C#... no! please, NO!... Java, VB oh the horror! Those things I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole! Come to think about it, there was a point when I wanted to learn XNA, and possibly make some quick bucks selling my games (with the initiative to come in XNA 3.0), but then I decided I had better things to do. C# and Java are good to learn nevertheless, as there are lots of jobs that would require their use, so you should still familiarize yourself with such languages. I'm not too sure about VB, as I'm the ONLY (I think) programmer, EVER to have lived that doesn't know VB AT ALL (or BASIC for that matter), and don't want to learn it frankly.

I like portable GUI's so I use Byuu's portable GUI toolkit. Byuu, for those of you who don't know, is a master programmer and SNES hacker and one who I admire furiously. He wrote the BSNES emulator, and is the only developer who maintains it, albeit with some outside help. The GUI toolkit is called: "hiro v0.005" and can be found at: http://byuu.cinnamonpirate.com/programming/

Don't let the lack of major version, and lower subversions fool you (Byuu is notorious for using such version conventions), his code is solid, and works well under Ubuntu 8.04, and Windows Vista alike. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. Although, you'll have to dive into the code (and it can get quite complex), and figure out what the hell is going on, since Byuu is also notorious for his lack of adequate documentation, and commenting. Anyway, if you're familiar with http://www.romhacking.net then you should know this monster coder, if not then whatever, you can still use his toolkit just fine, with the aforementioned code-diving that is

[JaxDragon]

I said C++ because its what I'm used to. I'm sure C# etc. are good, I'm just not a big fan of the .NET framework because its not multiplatform.

[sparda]

Well, now that you mention it, I forgot to say that hiro is written is C/C++. So, if you can work with his code you'll retain the multi-platform nature, given that you do so as well with the code you write.

[MarauderIIC]

What's so bad about C#? I'm using it professionally, it's pretty neat.

[JaxDragon]

I'm not saying C# is bad, it is probrably very good. I'm just not a fan of microsoft and the .NET framework(what C# was made with) because it's not multiplatform(I don't know why I care about multiplatform so much, it's just something I like because im a linux user)

[dandymcgee]

I'm not too sure about VB, as I'm the ONLY (I think) programmer, EVER to have lived that doesn't know VB AT ALL (or BASIC for that matter), and don't want to learn it frankly.

Any intermediate programmer without about 10 minutes of spare time and access to the Visual Basic IDE could learn it's syntax and how the form editor works. After that it's a matter of opinion. I think it's great for whipping up a quick and dirty GUI program with some nifty functionality, but I really dislike the fact that it's so commonly used to teach programming. It provides newbie programmers with the completely wrong idea about what programming is (IMHO).

Last week I showed a friend in my computer science class the game I'm working on in C++/SDL and he asked "what program did you make that with?", I replied "it's programmed in C++ and SDL", and he said "Oh, I'll have to check that out". When I explained it wasn't one of those "Drag & Drop" things like VB or GameMaker he seemed very confused and disappointed. He said, "You mean you actually wrote all the code.. like with text?!?!?!... I don't like programming like that."

As far as C# I can't speak on the matter because I've never used it, but my assumption was that it's a hybrid between VB and C++ in the way uses the Drag & Drop GUI design style while using a syntax similar to that of C++. If anyone knows otherwise feel free to edumacate me .

[MarauderIIC]

Yeah pretty much. They have premade controls you can use or you can make your own if you're so inclined. I'm using C# with ASP.NET and it's doing everything I need it to. Backend is actual code. So yeah, it's 99% a GUI-friendly version of C++, imo.

[Anarki]

I started learning with C and C++. That's what I would use, but that's just me.