Hi all, I am studying Games Dev at Uni and I am having problems with Java, does anyone have any advice for me? I have books and all that but I was really looking for advice from someone who knows java and could perhaps share some insider info.

Many thanks

Kal

What do you have issues with? Is it a Java thing, or is it an OOP thing?

Learn C++

I hope you are just starting with Java, it's an uncommon language to use compared to C++/C#/Objective C and some scripting languages

its not an oop thing its just all the little things like what each thing is called and what it does, for example the Math class is a pain in the ass lol plus the whole variable thing and the ++x and ==x I just cant seem to wrap my head around it.

I dont think I am just starting with Java but is it an easy transition to C++ I mean could I do it myself just by reading a few books at home after I finish uni?

Thanks guys

Kal

Don't quite understand this bit. Just use the docs as a reference for working out what's available. Or is it that you don't understand how specific things work?


Any good uni course will teach you how to program, not how to program in a given language, so yes. You'd have to know some C, though, really, as Java has automatic allocation/initialisation by constructors, and garbage collection, and doesn't have a concept of pointers or referencing.

The best book I found for learning Java is HeadFirst Java (search amazon).

Very firendly way in to Java and programming principles in general.

If you want any specific help then PM me and I'll do my best to help you answer any specific questions you are having trouble with.

Or post here so many of us can help, and then we have an archive of the answer for future Googlers. Or there's always StackOverflow

Or in one of the techy software forums so that people will be able to find it in the future.....

True.

I just thought that whenever there is a question about Java the most popular answer is ... "Use C++"

Nope. Objective C FTW :p Or real C! (8-p)

Agreed

Only Mac programmers really use Objective C (iPhone/iPod touch)

Nothing wrong with real C or C#, C# seems to be coming into it's own now with XNA and Mono allowing support for it across mulitple platforms

Java isn't a games programming language, it does too much for the user and isn't efficient for games.

C# is similar to Java, however you can use pointers, write your own garbage collection etc. Same with C++ but C++ allows you to do a lot of things you shouldn't until you are a competent programmer.

Oh I'd absolutely take C# over Java any day of the week. Especially with .Net behind it. I just prefer Objective C to C++.

Thanks Guys, I will post any queries on this thread and hopefully someone can help me. As for choosing c++ or c# I cant unless the uni decide to throw it at me, something tells me I am going to have to study that one by myself lol.

Cheers

Kal

Well you really should ask why they won't teach you

Java is fine as an introduction to OO programming but for a games course you really should be looking at a more games oriented language.

It's easy to learn C# for XNA, the transition from any OO language is fairly simple, just look at the XNA stuff, and you can actually get compiling games to test on a 360. You can also learn dealing with controller inputs, as I'm guessing you haven't really done any proper game programming you can also learn about the game loop and things like that