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When should I make the jump to other programming languagues?

 
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I have a pretty good handle on the fundamentals. Someone suggested I learn Data Patterns next. I wish to be a programmer, but college is not an option right now.

I want to be a programmer in video game development. At the very least, I wish to develop little games as just a hobby. But I know how competitive the gaming industry can be for jobs and I just want a career in programming at the very least with game development to inspire me.

Having said this, what's another good language to learn? I know C++ is very popular for game development. Is there another besides C++?
 
Greenhorn
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This post probably shouldn't be in this category but that's an issue for the mods or someone else to figure out. That being said I'd recommend looking into LUA. Also if you're interested in mobile game development look into Corona SDK. It's based on LUA and relatively simple to use. Also there's a good amount of help in their documentation and forums.
 
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Well, if by "jump" you mean to switch to another language as your 'default' language, then you should make the jump when you need it. Different languages are good for different applications.

You can program games equally well in C++ as you can in Java. Usually C++ has preference for most companies because it allows you access to hardware more easily. However, there are plenty of abstraction layers which allow you to do 3D programming in Java.

If you want to educate yourself in a language though, it's best to do it *now*. Pick a language, and just do it. I'm very curious about declarative languages, so lately I've been working with languages such as Haskell and Lisp.
 
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C++ is good for you. You can try with C# also.
 
Greenhorn
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I had given an interview in indiagames for the post of game developer
they grilled me on java's threading concept

so i would recommend you go for both C++ as well as Java(Threading with detail knowledge)
 
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While it's certainly possible to write games in Java, I don't think that's happening much, certainly not in the commercial market. So if the question has a job-related background, or if there's a chance that it might turn into one, then using Java is not a good approach to try and enter the gaming industry IMO.

Note that I'm talking about desktop games; web-based games may well have a Java backend.
 
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Hi,
Well game development certainly is the good approach as a career option and if you want to try some hands in programming,
switching to Java is really good as it has several API's that helps with direct hardware interaction that generally we are looking into C++.
And nowadays java seems good option for several 3d games and already mentioned earlier.
 
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