Here’s a brief history about my experience in programming. I walked down a path of many different programming languages where I got to adapt to platforms that were unfamiliar to me… I went from Visual Basic, to Java, then to PHP with MySQL, and then finishing with C++. Programming languages are amazing in my opinion and rather interesting. However, nowadays, it seems like things are getting a lot simpler for people to develop programs. Sometimes, you don’t even need to write a single line of code! Seeing as that is the situation, with the right documentation and tutorials, creating games or applications has become so simple to a point that anyone can do it. All it requires is patience and motivation.
Creating applications can be quite fun since everything is laid out for you but there are other times when it is better when you have that flexibility to create particular objects yourself. These third party solutions have led me to decrease my skills in development and I am forced to develop programs from scratch to keep myself up-to-date.
The last thing I created with a third party tool is a game written in C++ called Marmalade. They gave the opportunity that you can port your games or applications from C++ to any mobile device on the market. For my case, I was able to create 2 simple games and release it on the Apple App Store. This did give me the advantage to ease myself into C++ and use object oriented programming which was rather fun to code in.
Now that I am a web developer, I am forced to develop random stuff in my spare time so I do not forget the basic principles in programming; although I am aware that it is at the back of my head somewhere.
Not long after this development, I discovered Unity which was based more of a drag and drop development and minor effort of programming however, they do give you the option to code in C# which is rather nice. The good thing is that if programming is at its minimum, it just means more creative games will be released with minimal effort which is good and bad. Good that it creative ideas are shown quickly for others to see but bad because programmers such as me cannot appreciate the programming of the game, like the good old days…
Speaking of programming, it seems like the books are slowly disappearing from our ways of teaching. Books were a great source and now it is taken over by the internet. Don’t get me wrong… The Google search bar is an excellent tool and I probably use it at least once every day and it is free so why spend money if you can get information for free? It is the same question as why do we prefer internet news instead of magazines? It is because we don’t like to be using our screens all the time and our eyes need to divert to something else. Also, stumbling across something that you don’t know is highly likely just by flicking pages in a book… I believe books still have a big role at this present day so book stores… PLEASE DO NOT CLOSE DOWN!
To summarise, this is not me complaining about the way how things are, I am only just specifying how I used to program and learn and it has changed quite a big deal! Quick development is great but slower and optimising the code to every angle is a great accomplishment and truth be told, I haven’t had that kind of feeling in a long time. Maybe some point when I actually complete a project is where I will feel that sensation once again but I suppose time will tell…
For those who want to develop games or an application, there are loads of tools out there… Just search for them……. With Google….
