A clean slate... I hope

cheawick · 06-09-2006, 09:51 PM

A few of you may recall me, the poor bugger that kept mixing up c and c++. Well, I haven't touched code since I vanished and refused to even look at my friends projects to try and forget all my confusion. I'm rather surprised that my account still existed, I give SDE a bow and a tip of the hat for whatever the reason to make returning easier for me.
To keep this short and sweet, please treat me like a brand spanking newbie. They say old dogs can't learn new tricks, well with ya'll helping I hope to put that saying in the grave. Lemme have it. Is DevC++ still the prime compiler, what are the latest coding standards, I know there is a supplement or something for the ANSI folk out there. Next one to be released in 2008 if I recall.
Truelly, help me build from the ground up. I'm happy to see that not much has changed since I've been gone, people helping people and refusing to do a lazy bums' homework.
For other newbies, these folk will help with homework, just don't expect them to do it for ya. They'll give hints, examples and clues; but you still gotta understand that stuff and make the magic happen.
Sorry, too windy, good to be back, hope to learn C++ with a vengance!

redhead · 06-09-2006, 11:23 PM

Welcome back cheawick, it wouldn't be fair to ban you, since you obvius struggle hard and long with your problems befor comming here.
The reason we tend to stick stricktly to one language (C or C++) as defined within the ANSI/ISO standard, is to provide the students with the best and most videly used base within the language, but most importainly not to introduce them to bad programming habits.

I'm still sticking to the ANSI/ISO/IEC 9899:1999 for the C programming language (online draft), since I'm an old dog too, and like you said you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but more importainly it is what works for me...

I'm assuming Valmont will stick to the ANSI/ISO/IEC 14882:1998 for the C++ language, but I can't tell. For a good read theres CD2 of the C++ standard it is not the orriginal C++ standard, but very similar.

For me, any compiler which will support the C99 standard will do, which includes DevC++ if I remember correct.

You're more than welcome to address us with any problem you might run into, but since we try and bend people to conform with the standards, the comments which we provide might seem a bit harsh at times.

We're looking forward to the challenge your "windy" mind will provide

Valmont · 06-10-2006, 02:14 AM

Welcome back Cheawick!
Why would we remove your account? You didn't do us any wrong

.
Just feel free to do your thing.

I've left DevCpp aside and use Code::Blocks as my primary for this forum. The others are VC2005 .net and KDevelop.

cheawick · 06-10-2006, 09:57 AM

I'm just surprised the account didn't time out due to inactivity is all. It has been nearly a year since I've been on if I recall.

Code::Blocks, is that a downloadable compiler?

redhead · 06-10-2006, 10:28 AM

9 month to be exact. Your account will remain active, as long as a moderator dosn't disable it or you delete it.

Quote:

Code::Blocks, is that a downloadable compiler?

Code::Blocks

cheawick · 06-10-2006, 04:40 PM

Ah, learn something new every day. Thanks for adding that hyper link, now just wondering if I should hold off until the 15th for the next release.

Next step, please point me towards a C++ a good tutorial so I can get a solid grip of the basics. Hopefully one with out C references. =+}

redhead · 06-10-2006, 07:43 PM

There are several out there, it realy lies in the eye of the reader, but here is one to get started with, closely followed by this one, when you begin to have some grip on the language, this one will be very well worth the read.
And when you want to extend your knowledge to include STL, then this one will help you along.

Once you get experienced within the language, and you feel, all you need is a quick reference guide, then this one will be of some help.

It's nice to know, you've settled for one specific language, and plan on sticking to it

cheawick · 06-11-2006, 11:02 AM

My thanks again for those links. And yes, I figured since I will require what C can not deliver I must break away from my favorite and embrace what will work. Alas. But how the world works. =+}

cheawick · 06-23-2006, 03:35 PM

Grumble... Haven't had time to do anything. Next three to four weeks are to be worse, 12 to 16 hour shifts weekends included. So my friends looking for me to progress, I must apologize it will be awhile. Just giving an update so ya'll don't think I dropped that ball again. See ya'll when I can.

cheawick · 07-21-2006, 06:25 PM

Just to let folk know I haven't fallen off the face of the earth again. Work has been hell so no time to do anything yet. In a couple of weeks we're supposed to be getting some more help, I hope that lightens our workload. Take care all.

cheawick · 08-16-2006, 05:49 PM

Still alive with no time. Looks like it won't be until Novermber before things at work cool down enough for me to enlighten myself. Man, I hate terrorism. Makes my job that much harder. Take care all! =+}

cheawick · 02-13-2007, 04:49 PM

Yes, still alive. And still short on man power so we've been working extended shifts. We finally are down to being only two weeks behind so hopefully I'll be able to become more active and learn again.
I hope all are well and can't wait to interact with ya'll again. Take care gang, looking forward to getting set straight by the end of April or early May. =+}

cheawick · 04-12-2007, 04:22 PM

Finally! No more 12 hour shifts! Atleast for now... I hope everyone is doing well and has gotten even better at crunching code since I've been outta the loop.
I'm sure a lot has changed in the programming community, so I have to ask before I get going again: Is C++ still a good choice for my end goal of creating video games?
Also, I have lately started to dabble a bit more with LINUX and found a bunch of developement tools for programming that are included with it. I'm kinda wondering how the world of LINUX compares to Windows as far as end products are concerned. Thoughts and opinions are welcome. =+}
See ya'll soon!

Deliverance · 04-13-2007, 07:23 AM

Personally it is to my experience that these days you cannot do game development as a single person if you plan to put out a title that will be competitive and marketable. That said though, you can scale down your project a lot and work on something more basic for an educational purpose. I have done some Windows programming with DirectX and found that this was not too hard to grasp, but there's not much information out there on this subject. There's an excellent book you can get by Petzold i believe is the author which explains how COM works and starts you off with basic examples of using GDI (GDI+ is not covered), and I think it goes on to some introductory DirectX. Also the Microsoft SDK has some nice examples of various techniques that you can use included in the DirectX libraries, but you need to have a good system to run their latest examples. Look around orient yourself, and I hope you know your math. This has been one of my biggest setbacks in DirectX (specifically calculating the cross-product of vectors to simulate lighting on objects as they rotate around a light shining from a specific direction).

cheawick · 04-13-2007, 02:08 PM

I thank you for the reply, Deliverance. Actually I plan to try and keep away from the directX stuff and mostly use the games for educational purposes. Heh, learning to program is one example I will site, as well as math (which I profoundly suck at). =+}
Now, ofcourse there is the valid fact that I am ignorant on advanced gaming, which is why I was thinking in the lines of using C++ and something like shock wave (or a linux comparable) to create an end product. And I'm not self absorbed to believe that I can create a game of pure entertainment that could compete in this day and age single handedly. =+}
I'd like to think of this venture more as a way to learn the full attributes of a language in all available aspects. =+}