What is the best game programming langauge?

Question

There's tons of game programming languages such as C, C++, Basic, Java and more! What is the easiest to learn, but still get good results?

Answer 1

chris: "C++ is fairly easy to learn,"
No. It's a fairly complex language. Although it's compact, it's very difficult to master. It's a low level language, so any decent code needs to take into consideration how the system works.

"For easy 2-D games, I'd just use C++ or Basic. "
For easy 2-D games, I would only rely on a high level language with minimal low level language code.

"s you get more advanced, you may want to consider incorporating Direct-X or something like that."
DirectX is not a language. It's a set of APIs. You end up using it in 2-D games as well.

starryeyed: "My husband uses C++ and says once you've learned it, it makes learning java, VBC++ much easier! "
Notably, if you learn Java first, it makes C++ learning much easier. In fact, when you learn one programming language, it makes learning all others easier. Not really much of a reason to pick C++ in particular. In fact, I recommend multi-paradigm languages like Python or Ruby over C++ because they serve as better "launchpads".

Geoff: "it's full of holes and supports bad programming practices"
You're welcome to defend that idea with substantial support. It encourages strict programming while providing for good generic syntax.

So for Tony, the OP: "What is the easiest to learn, but still get good results?"
As your games become more and more advanced, you'll be forced to learn lower level languages like C++ and C. But initially, you can start with Python/Ruby as very high level languages or C#, VB.NET, or Java, which are bit easier than C++ to start with. I recommend starting with Python (or Ruby) because they are very easy to pickup, and extremely useful languages to know. C# and Java give better performance (although they aren't as easy and high level as Python) so you may use them as the main programming language.

If you feel like jumping into C or C++, read the book reviews at http://accu.org .

Answer 2

Personally, I use C++. Some people also use Visual Basic. C++ is fairly easy to learn, but I think it really depends on what type of game or how difficult a game you want to create. For easy 2-D games, I'd just use C++ or Basic. As you get more advanced, you may want to consider incorporating Direct-X into the program or something like that.
"Edit: Well, I said it was easy to learn, but I guess it depends on the individual and whether or not they can grasp the concepts easily or not. I didn't say anything about Direct-X being a language, hence the words "incorporating Direct-X into the program" not "using Direct-X as a language", Anyways, if you would just do it as a hobby, like I do, you may not need or want the "best languages used by top developers", just something simple, but once you learn the basics, some of the code is similar from language to language, just the way most of it is put together is different. Good Luck."

Answer 3

It depends what type of game you're programming. C++ is probably the most popular commercial programming language but it's not the best language to learn if you want a professional career with top-quality software development (it's full of holes and supports bad programming practices). Visual Basic is... basic. Java/.NET - forget it. Delphi - more structured than C++ but less supported.

The other option is that certain game types have their own development languages.

Answer 4

For a internet headquartered software, I could propose Java. Java is largely used on the net and will manage textual content headquartered programs comfortably. I left a hyperlink to an educational on how one can make Java applets for the internet.

Answer 5

The best is probably C, it is the fastest of the group. Tell you though, some really interesting games are programmed in Flash, and people are making a lot of money selling them.

-Dio

Answer 6

My husband uses C++ and says once you've learned it, it makes learning java, VBC++ much easier!
Hope this helps!