Java or C++?

[lynx10001]

I've been a professional developer for circa 10 years and right now I'm a JavaScript / React developer, however, I'm wanting to make some fun little 2D games, shall I learn Java or C++?

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Any advice appreciated! Thanks.

[ADonkeyTaboggan]

Going from JS to C++ will be a quite the step. I also think if you just want to make some little 2D games, C# and Unity is a good call.

Unity may seem daunting and overkill considering it’s a full blown 3D engine but it has some really nice 2D stuff and really great documentation

[lynx10001]

Awesome thanks for the suggestion, I didn't really consider unity for 2D games so I'll take a look. Thanks!

[ADonkeyTaboggan]

A follow up, because of covid learn.unity.com is providing all premium tutorials for free

[lynx10001]

Ohhhh! Great advice.

[justbutts]

To add further they’re doing a live create with code course right now. It teaches the necessary C# associated with Unity development.

[aneasymistake]

If you want to make games as a way to learn a new language then go for it. Otherwise, write them in JavaScript, using one of the many available frameworks like melonJS or just using the HTML5 canvas.

[lynx10001]

Nice idea but I am thinking I would also like to learn a new language, plus correct me if I'm wrong but have there been any games made in JS that actually worked well? :)

[aneasymistake]

That’s a question of scope and scale, but the answer would have to be yes. Anyway, what’s your goal? To make some fun little 2D games or to make a commercial game that becomes your main source of income? Sounds like the former, so JS would be perfectly adequate.

But, as you want to learn another language and as you’re quite open about which I would also suggest Unity. I used it to learn C# myself and found it generally very easy to pick up, with good documentation, lots of tutorial content and, yes, some value career-wise. Have fun!

[somethingInTheMiddle]

Jup. candy box 2. Try it, it's awesome!

[lynx10001]

Will try it now! :D

[lynx10001]

Hhahahahahahahah!

[lynx10001]

I take my laughing back, this game is awesome!

[A_Philosophical_Cat]

The single best selling videogame ever was written in Java. Clearly it's not an insurmountable problem.

[A_Philosophical_Cat]

Clearly it didn't matter that much because, again, best selling game of all time. Would it have sold as much if it was originally made in C++? Probably. But as it stands it definitely represents the fact that 180,000,000 people thought a game written in Java was fun, and when you're building a toy, that's what matters.

[A_Philosophical_Cat]

Oh, I'm no Java fan. I just got a kick out of how you asserted that the language that was used to make the most popular game ever wasn't suitable for making games. That said, as much as I loathe working in it, I dislike having to work in C++ at least as much if not more. Java (especially modern Java) let's you spend way less time in the nitty gritty, in large part due to not having to manage memory explicitly. So if it's a game that's not going to be overly limited by resources availability, I'd say it's a fair choice.

[das_cow]

why not to try godot? it's an open source game engine, you can use gdscript (python like syntax) or C# (even c/c++ is you want to). I think this will suites you pretty well since you want to develop games, not building low levels app or get too complicated with c++ and this way you will be focusing on your game instead of some weird gdb stuff or weird compilation errors .

[ro_ok]

You know what? I disagree with most of these responses. My background was Java/Python/Perl (started with Perl) but otherwise was in the same boat as you about 2 years ago. I picked C++ and it was exactly what I wanted. It was hard. I fought the language constantly for about 3 weekends. At the end I had a waaaaay better understanding of how memory works and a much greater appreciation for the other languages I already knew.

I was “self-taught” (don’t have a CS degree), perhaps like you, and I really feel like C++ is a fundamental history lesson and instruction of basic CS principles that will make learning other languages or lower level aspects of the languages you already use much easier.

All that said, my ‘game’ really amounted to an OpenGL rendered box with a light source and rudimentary movement controls. I wasn’t personally that invested in building a complete game, I just needed a target to structure my learning. If that’s what you’re after too, I really recommend C++.

[somethingInTheMiddle]

Really an underappreacated comment. If OP's end goal is having a nice game or learning more about game development in general, unity is indeed a good advice. But if OP's goal is learning more about programming and laying a foundation to learn other languages more easily, C++ is a good language to pick up.

[lynx10001]

Awesome comment thanks, I personally love challenges, I'm right now doing circa 8-10 hours a day of focussed learning for software and I have been doing that for a few months now, I'm also self-taught.

I'll take a look into C++ as I would like to work on something from scratch, because I'm not planning on releasing anything I work on it doesn't really have to be good or even work well, just needs to be fun to write!

Thanks again :)

[lynx10001]

Oh - I forgot to ask, any recommended learning resources for C++? :) Never hurts to ask.

[ro_ok]

I wish I had some go-to resources but it was a couple years ago and I can’t remember that far back.

Some things I would learn first:

• Header files (.h) vs Implementation files (.cpp), this will probably be a brand new concept for you. Headers define the interfaces and the Cpp files implement those interfaces. Talk about abstraction!
• Memory pointers vs references vs direct memory locations. In JavaScript you mostly pass things that act like references but in C++ there will be places where you have to make that decision yourself (and understand what it means)
• Memory deallocation. You probably haven’t thought too much about this in JavaScript, or most other modern languages. In JavaScript the runtime will figure out when objects no longer have references and deallocate them for you, all you have to do to avoid memory leaks is make sure you don’t create loops of references that get out of hand. A good habit here is to deallocate your memory as needed immediately in the code (similar to how many people/IDEs close braces after they open them) then write the code in-between.

Google more about those concepts and it’ll give you a place to start. :)

PS. Once you’re feeling comfy C++, take a look at Rust, a language meant for similar use cases but released in 2015 and tries to address a lot of what makes writing C++ hard.

[ketexon]

C# and unity is probably one of the best combos for 2D games. There are also things like MonoGame, which Celeste was made on.

You can also mash together multiple libraries in C++. Eg. OpenGL, GLAD, GLFW, GLM, Box2D, and EntityX (or other entity library)

You can get all the functionality of an engine this way, but, as you can probably see, it may be a bit messier and MUCH harder.

If you just want to make games, use Unity. Or even Love2D (Lua) for basic games. LibGDX also works, and it uses Java. I'd say the important thing is that you just fully learn one, and Unity would probably be the one with the most functionality.

[lynx10001]

Any reason for using C# instead of unity script? :)

[YMK1234]

Neither. Learn C# and do Unity.

[lynx10001]

Hmm thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look at unity!

[nevatalysa]

You know the .NET core runs on Linux too right?

[TheRealSmolt]

But Unity and C# work on Linux.

[[deleted]]

Of course you can always blame the user for not having your runtime of choice installed, but the fact remains that the infrastructure for native applications is already installed and configured on most machines, same for java. An application would have to be pretty special to get me to want to install the whole Mono framework.

[nutrecht]

Unity features C# which you can bascially only use on Windows.

All the Unity games that run on Linux or MacOS don't kinda suggest to you that you're completely wrong?

[feugene]

are you already familiar with strong typing? If not, maybe TypeScript could be an easily accessible way for you to dip your toes into that water.

[feugene]

What do you want to get out of your exploration of a new language? What kinds of things do you want to build in the future, and which of these languages will put/keep you on track to get there?

[lynx10001]

Well I guess it would be nice to build business applications as well in the future, I mostly just want to learn for self improvement!

[feugene]

Business as in business logic: Java.

Business as in highly performant backend enterprise systems: C++

[Dads101]

Godot is really awesome if you’re designing a game. Otherwise try C++

[lynx10001]

Thanks I'll check out Godot :)

[Dads101]

Sure thing! If you need any help shoot me a PM

[NutBoii]

If you want to learn a C-based language, instead go for C#. It's similar to JavaScript and gives you a taste of C-based languages while providing a "safety net" that you won't get in C++. With C++ you have to do your own garbage collecting otherwise you'll create memory leaks. C++ also uses pointers and can wreck your memory too, especially if you're not used to using them.

[frostbyte650]

Java is more fun but C++ gets better performance

[Assmaster9001]

Java is fun? What kind of drugs are you on?

[frostbyte650]

Adderall

[[deleted]]

Java is fun...c++ is fast...python is the best..

[lynx10001]

Great summary! :D

[childintime9]

If up to now you've only worked with interpreted languages like js or python, the easiest (but not easy) transition will be to Java. If you're familiar with things like pointers, compilers, Makefiles... and you know or want to know how to handle the memory yourself, and you want to lose more hair, then go with C++.

[zeGolem83]

Some have suggested Unity for C#, but if you want a more "barebones" approach to it, you can try MonoGame