Learning to start coding from the absolute basics

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b1nd3r

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Hey guys

Im new to the forums here so if there is a post about this i apologise in advance but i couldnt find anything i was looking for using the search tool.

im 24 been in IT a long time but mostly on the support side of things never in a coding language. Ultimately i want to go into game development but i honestly have no idea where to start. the most coding i know is a basic html page. I dont have a lot of money so i cant pay for courses.

Does anyone know of any basic sites that teach you what i need to know. considering i dont even know which language to start learning.

Hope someone can help.
:)
 
Well, if your end-goal is game development, you'll probably have to look at C++ or similar. It's a tricky one. If you want to first get into the swing of things a bit, have a look at Python. There's an excellent FREE PDF available, though you can also get it in book form, called Learn Python The Hard Way. I found it pretty good and it goes into a bit of detail when explaining how things work. The learning curve is also pretty gentle. If you really work at it you can probably run through the entire thing in a weekend or two and it should get you going so that you can start experimenting with graphic libraries and whatnot for basic game development in Python.
 
Python is a good beginners language. C++ is probably a bit hard to teach yourself starting at zero knowledge, but once you "get" programming, switching languages is not too tricky, they all share the same basic concepts.*

I taught myself using Flash Actionscript, and that is a reasonable language to start making basic games, even though Steve Jobs has effectively killed it.


* almost all share almost all concepts, but there are exceptions
 
The "hardcore" games are developed using C++, but many smaller games are developed using tools such as Unity, GameMaker, Python, Javascript or Action script. These languages tend to make things easier for beginners.

I'd think about starting with something like Python, C# or Java. Just google tutorials, lots of them available for any language.
 
awesome thanx guys gonna start looking at python tonight and see from there :)
 
Don't start with C++ because it's what you would ultimately want to use as a game developer. Programming languages are tools for software developers, and there are tools that work best for particular tasks. C++ can be a difficult language to get your head around if you have no experience.

Start to learn the principles of programming using a language that's easily accessible and understandable, such as Python or even JavaScript (fire up Notepad and unleash the fury). A good developer selects the language based on what makes sense for the problem and solution. Developers certainly have preferences and competencies when it comes to languages, but good developers can learn to move between them if and when necessary.
 
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If you want to write games without any experience on your own, I would suggest Facebook apps/games. The userbase is massive and you can write them in any "web" language.
 
Check out 'thenewboston'. was recommended in another thread. awesome tutorial vids. should be just what you want. combine with a free pdf like 'how to think like a computer scientist java/python'.
 
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