Looking to learn a base language such as Java, curious to what everyone else has experience with?

Midgetmountain

Hi Guys,

I was just reading the post about starting to play with Unity, and it seems a lot people while super happy with Gamesalad are also looking to diversify.

Like most I have played around with a lot of different programming languages (javascript, python, ruby and lua). I have done a lot of online courses and tutorials but I am still not proficient in any language. My aim is to try and learn Java as it seem to be a great base language with an awesome amount of resources available, as well as been used by google for android development.

Anyway just want to know what programming languages everyone here uses, as well what kind of proficiency they have in it?

Mark

jamie_c

I've learned some Java and some Javascript, BASIC as well way back in the day.

KevinCross

PHP, JavaScript, VB, and AGK, to name but a few. Started out on the Spectrum

Quite competent in PHP and JavaScript. Couldn't get on with Java when I tried and struggled to get my head around all of the C langauages, especially Objective C.

Midgetmountain

@jamie_c, yep played with basic back in the 80's how things have changed.

@KevinCross Just sold my ZX81 and Spectrum collection! I am also the same with C, and Objective C, would love to go native with apple just don't have the time or head space.

LeonardDeveloper

I use Lua Mainly, I wouldnt ever consider myself proficient but its the one language I feel confident with calling myself even semi-proficient, Simply because its syntax is easy to use and the language itself is not to extensive + Its wide range of community & sdk added API's.

Midgetmountain

@LeonardDeveloper do you use this to develop with, such as with Corona sdk?

LoungeGames

I am the same way, I am good at using programming for basic statements and text, etc. but know nothing about using it to do anything interesting. If you want to learn a language Codecademy is a good resource.

youngster9

I am proficient in JAVA, and I know a bit of C#, HTML, Javascript, and Lua. I agree with LoungeGames Codeacademy is a great source. But also the best way to learn a language imo is to learn the basics and start messing around with it, start having fun and learn more and more.

SlickZero

I used to know Lingo from the Director program, but that's now extinct. I notice that Lua and Javascript are very similar to it, and I may venture off to see if I can learn one of those more proficiently.

gyroscope

Hi @Midgetmountain

Similar to @SlickZero, I used Lingo a lot in its day; also RunRev (now LiveCode), and before that, RealBasic (and before that, BASIC of some flavour or other on a Commodore 64).

Best of luck with learning a new progging language. :-)

SnapFireStudios

I'm pretty good at YAML, does that count? :P
I know quite a bit of Obj-C and some java. It's been a few years though.
- Thomas

Midgetmountain

@LoungeGames Used Codecademy to try and learn javascript and python, it's was good fun. At the moment I am going through the Udacity.com Java course which is ok but only surface deep.

The main problem I have is time, I have two small children (6mths & 3yrs), It's hard to find time and quite place to study. I find I learn lots of bits and pieces but never master key concepts, jack all trades and master of none. Plus being 38 I wonder if I am getting to old to master this now?

BoomshackBarry

You're never too old @Midgetmountain! I've been a bit like you I think - I know a little bit about a lot of things, but I never focused and became really proficient at any one particular thing. I'm making changes with that now and forcing myself to become more focused toward an end goal. You can do it, you just need to pick what you want to get good at and don't give up until you get there Surround yourself with motivational posters of rocky running up the steps, kittens clinging on to branches with slogans like "just hang in there", and go for it. **End motivational speech**

TheGabfather

I'm most proficient in C# plus the .Net library (useful for WP and basically Windows Desktop Apps).
Other than that, I do HTML5 plus CSS3 (for Web) and Java (Android).

You can pick up any of those if you have plans of developing for any of the above you can add Javascript and Python to your repertoire for Web development.

I've recently picked up on Oracle SQL and ultimately PL/SQL for work (Oracle Databases).

Around 2 years ago I was keen on starting to learn C++ for iOS development, but then I heard about Gamesalad and the rest is history

And as @BoomshackBarry said, it's definitely never too late to start with learning how to program in any language. Before going to college for computer science I had absolutely ZERO programming knowledge. You're not spoon fed programming skills in university by the way -- you tackle theories with professors in class and it's up to you to learn on your own how to implement those theories into working programs/code. All it takes is a goal to learn whatever language you want and from there you can do self study and it'll suffice.

ericzingeler

@Midgetmountain

I've worked with javascript, php, c++, and some lua. I did a lot of research before figuring out where to start. In the end I chose javascript. To me, javascript seemed like a pretty logical choice when taking into consideration learning curve and the projected future of language.

I'd recommend javascript if you plan to make stuff people might actually use one day. Although java is just about the most popular language... its benefits are not what they once were.

Midgetmountain

@BoomshackBarry I read your blog a while back and I think we are in a similar boat. I am now a full-time Gamesalad developer, not really by choice! I moved from Sydney, Australia to Slovakia so my kids could be closer to my wife's parents. I have not managed to find a job here yet, so have been head down working on some game projects, and trying to learn Slovak. Wages are pretty low here and the cost of living is pretty cheap, so if I make a little money from apps it would go a long way.

@TheGabfather I just completed a MBA last year, studied part-time for two years being a stay at home dad (yet again not by choice!). I kind of wish I did more computer science based topics, but had to follow the program I was in. Anyway Gamesalad is awesome, and so quick to work with and develop ideas. I am a visually orientated person, so be able to quickly layout ideas and see how mechanics work is great.

@ericzingeler javascript is fun, but it's kind of limited to web development. I play around with a lot electronics and micro-controllers, so java and C are better suited to my actual uses. I find I learn faster when can apply what I am learning to real world projects. I really liked javascript and python, but there are kind of limitations with stuff I would like to be able to do. Plus I kind of think Android is going to be the best platform to develop native apps for, not right now but soon enough.

scrapee_net

Once you learnt programming basics, everything gets easier... Without knowing C#, I started creating a game in unity, and I took about 1 month to make the game. Without knowing lua or corona, I created another game in Coroana.

Internet is there, to help you find anything you need. If the language is well documented, it is very easy to get things done.

LeonardDeveloper

@midgetmountain
Yes, Indeed - I'm actually a coronalabs ambassador for Ireland :-)

I've been using Corona for 2 years now, My primary interest is with utility/business apps, I have built a few Business apps for Local clients (Irish businesses) through my work in corona I have also created a basic knowledge of JSON. I'm now practicing Marmalde quick,

I would never use Corona over GameSalad for games mind you, I just prefer GameSalad for that sort of thing, Once you get over the "cool" factor of knowing a programming language you learn that for basic things, GameSalad can do just as good.

BoomshackBarry

@BoomshackBarry I read your blog a while back and I think we are in a similar boat. I am now a full-time Gamesalad developer, not really by choice! I moved from Sydney, Australia to Slovakia so my kids could be closer to my wife's parents. I have not managed to find a job here yet, so have been head down working on some game projects, and trying to learn Slovak. Wages are pretty low here and the cost of living is pretty cheap, so if I make a little money from apps it would go a long way.

That's quite a move! Good luck with it all, that would be awesome if making games staves off the need for you to get a job!

Midgetmountain

@LeonardDeveloper I have tried Corona, but it looks pretty expensive to use some of the feature I would like to get up and running with. Have you ever looked at Gideros?

matarua

So awesome to hear about the Sinclair Spectrum on here Basic - Machine Code - the Indie days of old.

BoomshackBarry

@LeonardDeveloper I have tried Corona, but it looks pretty expensive to use some of the feature I would like to get up and running with. Have you ever looked at Gideros?

Have you checked our Corona recently? It's gone free to develop now and you can do a hell of a lot with the free edition.

So awesome to hear about the Sinclair Spectrum on here Basic - Machine Code - the Indie days of old.

I was all about the Amstrad CPC and Locomotive basic back in the day, great memories

matarua

@BoomshackBarry and @KevinCross and @jamie_c and @Midgetmountain and @gyroscope you might like this >>>

Midgetmountain

@matarua I regret selling the ZX Spectrum, such a cool looking machine. I started with a Zx81 to a VIC-20 and then to Colour Genie (TRS-80 clone) and finally the ZX Spectrum. It funny how everyone is worried about load up times on modern apps, I remember the ZX81 took 45mins to load a game of chess!!

@BoomshackBarry Yes, I have the free Corona. Its ok to learn on but the cool feature like camera and file management stuff cost around $1200. Have you looked Gideros, it's pretty cool and has a nice set of tools. If I was to go down the Lua route this would be the one for me, as the price point and extendibility with plugins is pretty good.

matarua

@Midgetmountain I am a magnet for that stuff. Big collection. So many poignant memories and brain burners from those days. Be carefull however, or you may just get lost in...

jamie_c

@matarua, great video! I'm at work and can only watch the first 5 minutes but I'm going to finish it off tonight at home.

BoomshackBarry

Yeah same I can't watch it now (no audio on the computers at work) but it looks interesting, cheers.

And I haven't really looked much at Gideros, I'll take a look.

LeonardDeveloper

@LeonardDeveloper I have tried Corona, but it looks pretty expensive to use some of the feature I would like to get up and running with. Have you ever looked at Gideros?

hey, Yup as @boomshackbary said its free to publish now + You can even have your own custom splash-screen, But however their is a revenue cap & no pro features like iAds.


I looked into gideros a while ago, Its not as developed as Corona due to it being open source, IMHO I'd go with Corona first because of their vast API, Widget & Plugin library.

ericzingeler

Hey guys, thought I'd re-post here. I've finally nailed down the basics of Lua. Been developing a project with Gideros; lua is the language it uses. Lua is actually one of the most popular languages in game development... here's why:

Lua is an easy to learn, lightweight, super fast, multi-paradigm scripting language written in C. Lua is basically an API for C. So you could do something like make a iOS app in Xcode using Objective-C, include the Lua API, then code much of your app in Lua.

So why would you want to use Lua and not C? Because I forgot to pick up my computer science degree on the way to life. Lua and other interpreted languages alike make life easier in many ways. Some of the ways Lua is great:

- It's dynamically typed. This means you never have to define variables types. Just give a variable a value, example:

a = 1
a = "hello"
a = true
a = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, "hello", 1+2+3+4}

'a' can be a number, a string, a Boolean, a table...

- Syntax makes sense:

print "hello world!"
a = 5 + 3

- All values are first class citizens. This means all values can be stored in variable, all values can be passed to functions, and all values can be passed as results.

- Because it's dynamically typed and values are first class, you don't have to convert values before you use them. Like so:

b = "5"
c = 1 + a
>> 6

In the example above, 'b' is a string not a number. But you can treat 'b' as a number if you wanted to. You could also convert a string to a number if need be.

- Automatic memory management. For the rest of us 99% who don't have a software engineering degree, please don't make us allocate and deallocate memory each time I want to create and trash a variable. Lua has a garbage collector that will pick up after you.

- Fast! Lua is considered to be the one of the, if not the fastest scripting language on the planet. If you use something like Lua JIT... it's speed reaches static language levels. But in real world scenarios such as mobile app development, the standard Lua library is rarely the bottleneck.

*side note: GameSalad performance issues aren't because of Lua... CodeWizard has made it pretty clear that the existing problems were do to poor implementation in the past.

- Documentation coming out of the ears! http://www.lua.org/docs.html

- Open source

- Huge community with a lot of great scrips floating around. If a script doesn't exist, use a C script instead!

- Tiny footprint. Uncompressed, the full Lua library is only 960K and takes up only 20,000 lines of code. To put that into perspective, java library has 6,000,000 lines of code.

Theses are just some of the goodies Lua has. If your new to programing and want to take the plunge into coding, give Lua a shot. Lua is a very popular language in the gaming world and for good reason.

Also, Gideros is better than Corona in every way except for one... Corona has a better marketing team

micagordon

I'm a student of java.
I'm trying to develop a java bar code library with other classmates.

ravivc

I found a new free course of Java - Codegym. Learning is interactive, interesting and understandable for beginners. https://codegym.cc/quests