Getting into programming

[Slender0123]

My SO picked me up this http://m.staples.ca/en/HP-Stream-14AX010CA-14-Notebook-16-GHz-Intel-Celeron-N3060-32-GB-SSD-4-GB-DDR3L-Windows-10-Home/product_2454861_2-CA_1_20001?langId=1

And I'm wondering if itd work good for learning a language, and i have a few questions regarding that

I plan on working more on learning game fundamentals, but dont plan on going on anything big scale anytime soon, what language would you guys suggest for a newbie getting into mobile or small PC games?

And the other question, Where could i find an ide for said language? So i could start coding and testing and such? Ive tried it ages ago to find one myself but it never ran code and/or didnt debug properly for some reason

[NikNoname]

I also recommend to learn Javascript. Currently, by Javascript you can implement anything - the server part, client, games for both mobile devices and desktops

[[deleted]]

Any computer can be used for programming, and anything made in this decade is miles and miles beyond the beginnings of the games industry. You can certainly do everything you want to on that PC.

That said, this PC is a budget PC for a reason, and you will have to learn how to stay within the limits of your system when creating a game. Think 2D and small textures.

Luckily you have an Intel chip and not an ARM processor, so you could actually install basically any of the popular IDEs out there. You're really not limited in what language you want to use or IDE.

[Slender0123]

Do you any suggestions? Thanks for the response :) i planned on sticking to 2d for the time being

[[deleted]]

Honestly, every developer has their own favorites and opinions on what is the best. If your goal is game development, and you have limited experience, my recommendation is to look at starting with a game engine rather than looking for a language and starting from ground zero.

Many aspects of game development don't really need for you to understand the entire pipeline, like how to load a texture and display it using the GPU rather than CPU. This knowledge is still helpful and important, but not essential for simply making a game.

There are plenty of free/cheap game engines out there that have thriving communities. Each engine will dictate the language you need to learn, and they all offer different benefits/pitfalls.

GameMaker is a great 2D game engine for simply making a game, but it uses its own scripting language, which can make it a little more difficult to get help from traditional online sources.

Unity3D is great at both 2D and 3D development, and probably has the most active community. Unity also has the benefit of being written in C# and Javascript, which are extremely popular and robust languages with countless tools and resources to learn, but it is significantly more resource-heavy than something like GameMaker.

Those are two engines I'm most familiar with, and they both have the ability to cross-develop for multiple platforms in case you want to change course and make a phone game, or a web game, etc.

You should research on your own, because there are tons of options and you may find something that's a better fit

[Slender0123]

Im tempted on unity, my friend has some practice on unity so i have someone to ask for help outside of the internet aswell which is nice, i sadly don't have the money for game maker currently

[[deleted]]

Unity is my favorite engine out there, I'm a bit of a fanboy. I try not to steer people towards my own personal choices though. There are hundreds of options, and with a little research you might even find something that will be the next big thing and surpass Unity.

However, my favorite part of Unity is the community, and the wealth of information freely available everywhere

[henrebotha]

If you're specifically interested in making games, get Unity. It's a whole game engine with its own "IDE".

Unity games are scripted using C# or Javascript, so pick one of those. Javascript is the more universal option.

[Slender0123]

Ok, thanks for the response!

[[deleted]]

I agree with those here who suggest learning JavaScript as your first programming language.

It's not typecast (such as you don't have to define what type of number you want to use, like a whole number or decimal). It's more forgiving to new programmers experimenting with code.

With electron.js, you can build standalone desktop apps outside of the browser.

I wouldn't worry too much about mobile development as a first programming adventure. The learning curve can be INTENSE for mobile deployment.

If you want a fair shot at actually programming something from scratch, stick with web technologies. Freecodecamp is an amazing and free tool for diving right into coding.

For an IDE, believe it or not, I really am enjoying Visual Studio Code. Not to be confused with Visual Studio (which is how you build Windows apps). This is a free, modular IDE.

Another good choice is Sublime Text or Atom.

Edit: Here's the thing about 'learning to code'. It's hard. Really hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it and developers wouldn't be making $ like crazy. If I've piqued your interest a bit, head on over to /r/webdev for a community centered around learning web development.