l33t haxx0rs, stand up and be counted

[Mr. Lothario]

     It just occurred to me to wonder how many people here are programmers (of whatever skill levels), since video games and programming seem to go hand-in-hand. How long have you been programming, and what language(s) do you program in?

     Myself, I only know C and Objective-C, and I use the Cocoa frameworks. (Speaking of which, anybody who hasn't used them yet, you're doing yourself a disservice.) I took my first formal class in programming about two and a half years ago, although my interest in learning to program began well before that. Trying to teach myself to program using books never amounted to much, though. At present, I'm enrolled in a class in video game programming at Palomar College in San Marcos, CA.

[Jeb]

I'm currently majoring in computer science, but my classes haven't started yet. Just noobish flash and html stuff for me now
in 4 years i'll be a ?∑?? H4xXx0? (so leet that i can't even type cause da damn browser is regulating on me)
jeb
ps. Ph34r m3

[kos.viper]

ya but you're going to be coding on a PC, EWWWWWW

I'm currently enrolled in a Computer Science class right now at my HS, fu college people.  Just starting to work w/ visual basic

[Deadeye]

basic, fortran, pascal, cobal, c+(+), java2, perl, and sql (and things like uml and html).  

my first computer class was basic back in 1980.  the only language i really use anymore is j2ee.

[iGnome]

lol in grade 10 this year im going 2 be learning how 2 make a webbersite i wub teh bannana men

[electronicjo]

I used to code in REALbasic(LMAO), but then I decided to get serious and stepped up to C++(using Codewarrior and the PowerPlant framework). Currently, I'm not taking any classes, so I've basically tought myself from the piles of information on the internet.

Anyone who wants to help me on porting a PC application that converts RS and Ghost Recon model files into 3DS format(probably a few other formats as well). I've obtained the source code from the creator, not commented much, but it's a try.

[Jeb]

you get computer programing classes in HS? damn thats tight, my hs had a webdesign class and a 3d design class. I got a D in my webdesign class dispite the fact that i know HTML, Javascript, CSS, a shade of flash, not to mention 6 years of experience in photoshop at the ripe old age of 18. But yet my teacher gave me a D.

 The only reason for this, the wanna be Leet haxxor sys admin at my school happened to have a great peice of spyware that basicaly proved i modified this loser's website, (the rapid of our school if you will).
also my final website was a dedication to howard stern

My 3d design class i pwned at, untill i got lazy and began showing people how to take other people's finished files that were already done and make them your own work. I never really got in trouble for that, but i was banned from the internet, email, harddrive acess, and disk drive usage  .

[Geek USA]

i spent most of my web design class showing the teacher how to use photoshop and flash5 and stuff, heh.

[Ace]

I'm a second year computer science major. I know C++, Java, and have a good understanding of C even though I never studied it. I'm probably going to start messing around with Cocoa; I have heard great things about it from everyone who tries it.

[alaric]

I've been programming in some form since junior high. I grew up on codewarrior, but the cocoa framework from Apple is much better.

I've done some programming with the following languages: HTML, Java, Javascript, C, C++, Objective C. That doesn't mean I'm good at it though.  

My real area of expertise is in Unix/Linux systems and networking. A few friends and I run a small computer graphics & design business. I run their Linux webserver and network.

I'm a freshman Computer Science / Information Systems major in college.

btw, has anyone here played much with 802.11 wireless networking? I've built my own "pringles can"antenna and would like to compare results with others. You'd be surprised how much wireless activity there is town like Fargo!  

[bronto]

Visual Basic = noob. Thank you.

[Deadeye]

they started teaching us basic on trs80's back as early as second grade.  computers were part of our math classes from that point on.  in high school we had fortran and pascal.  not that we use those languages anymore, but you wont be using c++ by the time any of you get out of college either.

now, like i said, i'm mostly working with the xde framework in j2ee.

[Destructo]

programming...no.

i leave all that to u guys. I design the packaging.

[Mr. Lothario]

     I don't think HTML can really be called a programming language. For one thing, it's interpreted, not compiled. *nix shell scripting, which is also interpreted but has far better claim to being a programming language than HTML does, isn't (AFAIK) considered a "real" language.
     Second, HTML doesn't allow any kind of looping or branching without using something external like JavaScript. (Right? I'm not much of an HTML monkey, so my facts could be out of date.) Looping and branching, among other things, are necessary to be considered a "true" programming language. HTML is just instructions on what to put on screen and where to put it. ::shrug:: My two cents.

     Deadeye, what will the dominant language be instead of C++? And more importantly, why will that language supersede C++?

[Deadeye]

mr lothario, html is a language, just not a programing language.  it's a markup language, just like xml and uml.  there are markup languages, scripting languages and then a gaggle of high and low level programing languages.  

markup languages were (notice tense) just that.  a way to mark up text for viewing.  it was a structured way to view text.  the first being used for publishing, not the web (html was based off the one already used by the publishing business).  uml is the exception.  it is a modeling language (next step up from markup).  it's used to document models for object oriented programing.  uml 2.0 will actually be an executable language.  you draw the pictures, and it compiles it to an executable.  this should be out in 2003.

scripting languages are ones that need a program to actually execute them (vb, applescript, javascript, perl, php).  these can be some very powerful languages and are usually easier to learn then programing languages.  don't let the script kiddies make you think that these are just toys.

high and low level programing languages, running from assembler to j2ee and everything in between.  what sets these apart is that they are compiled for the os that they will run on.  they are self contained and only need the hardware (low level) and the os (high level) to run.

before anyone jumps on this, it isn't text book, just a simple exampel for people here.  i could find plenty of examples that blurr the lines, but i think this is good for here and now.

for what program will be top dog in 10 years.  i'll look towards either the latest incarnation of java or something new that we haven't seen yet.  my reasons are that the world is moving toward thin client.  everyone wants web based apps.  all the big coporate giants are doing all their new development work in that direction.  on top of that, i think that java (j2ee today) will beat out the .net stuff from microsoft.  not because i hate microsoft, but the better numbers are coming from the *nix/java solutions.  the question is what will stand alone apps like games (that haven't gone net based like everquest) use?  i think there will be less and less stand alone compiled apps like that, but it will be interesting to see what language gets used for them (c++ is the choice now, but you probably could use java for those.  i wonder how they'd perform.)??  

[:V:*Beast]

Assembler rulez (Atari 800XL 1983)

but that's a long time ago...

[Jeb]

its to bad java 2 is slow

[Mr. Lothario]

     Ah, I see what you mean, Deadeye. Thanks for the info. : )

     If Java becomes the dominant language, I would expect the speed issue to be resolved. R&D and Moore's Law will both work towards that end.

[Ace]

Personally I don't see Java ever realistically trying to replace C++ unless someone finds a way to speed it up a lot. C++ has an inherent speed advantage over Java because Java needs to run on a JVM. From all that I have seen, we will be using some form of C/C++ for the foreseeable future.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

actually j2ee isn't that slow.  i think more of the problem is people write sloppy code in java still.  

i look at java the way i look at html.  if you know html, and code it by hand (bbedit, text editor), then your page size is usually very small, and it loads very quick.  if you build the same page using a wysiwyg editor (front page, word, homepagemaker) then you usually get something that is so incredibly huge, that it takes forever to load.  we showed some guys at work this.  they used three different wysiwyg editors (word, front page, and homesite).  we all made a use case template.  mine was 12k, had comments and was very easy to read and follow.  the homesite was 32k, a little harder to follow and no comments (but overall, not bad).  the front page and word files were both over 140k, both used css for no reason, were impossible to follow, and had no comments.  obviously the 12k file uploaded so much faster and with fewer problems then the others.

java is the same way.  there are tools that help you code, and people are lazy.  a good (ok, freaking awesome) coder can usually get his modules down to half the size of others.  

if people were to model well first, then optimize in the model, then code, java would be a much better performing platform.  java has too many hacks programing in it.

it's still not as fast as c++ is today, but that will come.  and bad c++ programs are slow too.

-deadeye on buccaneer's computer.  he's playing moh on mine.