Changing direction (Again!)
Submitted by Earok on Sun, 08/23/2009 - 20:33Time to eat a slice of Humble pie.
I know only a week ago I had made up my mind about switching my 3D game projects to BlitzMax. But I have decided to change direction in programming, again.
When I made that post, I was under the impression that the miniB3D engine (which is intended to be a fully Blitz3D compatible engine for BlitzMax) was virtually complete and would make porting my existing projects relatively easy.
The problem is that it isn't as complete as I thought, and porting even my simplest games would require substantial re-writes. In Heart of Ice, for instance, the basic gameplay is still OK after porting to the miniB3D engine, but the background doesn't work at all.
So, after discovering the amount of work I'd need to do just to port my existing games between different versions of the BlitzBasic language, I decided it would be better for me to just invest some time in learning C++ and OGRE again.
Instead of jumping straight back into the OGRE tutorials, I'm going back to basics. I understand most of the concepts of C++, such as classes, methods and inheritance (all of which are present in BlitzMax) but I don't yet fully understand the syntax. I got a copy of C++ Demystified, which should help me there, though I may need to get a copy of OOP Demystified as well (Anyone with a copy I could borrow?)
Also, as Arran suggested, I need to find a C++ mentor. I have a few in mind, but I'm not sure if any of them are willing or able to provide the support I require yet.
So, until I've actually started making stuff in a different language and have something tangible to show, I'm just going to STFU about my projects.
Comments
After you've got some basic syntax down. Read 'Thinking in C++ vols I & II' - They're available free online as pdfs. I have physical copies of both. It will blow your mind.
And avoid 'The C++ Programming Language' - It basically assumes you are a computer scientist.
C++ is kind of a weird language to learn since it is more like a federation of languages rather than a single simple language. You have got (as a quick example)
regular c
c with classes
templates
stl
Even though all of these styles of code are in the same language they are really very different. There are also a lot of legacy in C++ which means there are a whole lot of quirky or strange ideas.
I have a copy of Accelerated C++ which I highly recommend, since it takes you though a very focused tour of the modern parts of C++. I second Thinking in C++, but I would suggest that as the second (or later) book to read since although it is excellent it is very concise and relatively slow going.
I am more than happy to help out with C++, let me know if you are interested in having a look at Accelerated C++.
@JoshuaSmyth, thanks for that, I'll check out 'The C++ Programming Language' when I get around to it.
@Malcolm, I wouldn't mind borrowing Accelerated C++, though I may not be able to get around to reading it for awhile.
I am a computer scientist.. So this C++ Programming language book intrigues me.
Given that the book is written by the guy who created C++, I'm shocked you weren't already aware of it.
See, it's a book on a programming language I don't really use. I have read the book written by one or two the (many) people who worked on the C standard. That was good.. Unfortunately it changed my opinion about 'libraries' for the worse.. And I wrote my own for most of Uni using sometimes unique bases. (Ie, a set of functions where everything was handled in a v(a?s(n?)?)printf esq manner, fun library.)
O_o I thought you did write in C++. What language do you use (just C?)
That was C talk..
Well I have done coding in C++.. But I don't claim to know it. :P