General Development

Is it possible to start so late – andy_aoye

andy_aoye
Member

Posts: 35
From: Portland Maine USA
Registered: 05-01-2007
Hi
I'm just wondering if anyone out there could offer me some opinions to a question I would like and feel I need to ask. Right now I'm 28 almost 29 and I'm just beginning to start to learn programing, Right now in the ways of web development. I'm wondering if I am to old to begin. Like Anakin skywalker when he was to old to learn the force, we all know how that ended up.
Right now I'm starting to learn web development languages, such as HTML, XML and anything you can find at w3cschools.com
My real goal is to some day work on video game design so I wonder if I'm heading in the right direction.

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Apple of Your Eye.
Christian Entertainment

Faith_Warrior

Member

Posts: 490
From: So.Cal.
Registered: 09-05-2006
If you are too old to learn… I should just go check myself into the ol’ folks home and be done with it

At least for me, I seem to pick things up faster compared to when I was a teen and I certainly like learning new things. In high school I usually received C’s and D’s, not enough discipline or determination and every girl liked me which robbed my concentration. But late 20’s and through my 30’s I attended colleges and received A’s. People in their 70’s and 80’s work for and receive PhD’s, you think maybe 29 is over the hill for learning?

Actually it has become very common now to want to change careers around the time most people reach 30 or so. I think a lot of that has to do with how the global system is playing out. You know… we Americans “don’t want those jobs!” any longer and such (at least for the jobs that have been destroyed due to an illegal labor forces, but that’s another topic…).

At this point you should already know what you are better at (i.e. mathematics, art, writing etc…) so any learning curve you may experience will reflect on what you already are best suited for. So if you are trying to learn programming as your primary study than you must be best at math, perhaps? Me, I can do math but I don’t like it a whole lot (besides geometry), but I find my better learning gains when dealing with art, creative writing and music. Programming and scripting, yes, but I wouldn’t try to rely on it alone any longer to make a living, myself, because I’m just better at other things that I even enjoy more. Ultimately, you will do best with what you like and you will probably like what you tend to do best.

A little known secret about game development, you don’t need to learn how to program to make games, but you can be a great web developer and be involved in making games. You can be an accountant and be involved in making games. Actually to get onto a development team, programmers are generally required to have four year degrees (concerning big established companies) while artists, which can make a good deal of money, can skate in on two year degrees, certificates or even less sometimes. There are just so many different jobs associated with game development, if that is your ultimate goal than it’s best to get there in the way that suits you best.

[This message has been edited by Faith_Warrior (edited June 07, 2007).]

kenman

Member

Posts: 518
From: Janesville WI
Registered: 08-31-2006
I didn't care for the old folks home deal, but the idea is right. It's never too late to learn. I think you are on the right track, start small with web design and move up. You don't need to tackle C++ your first week, you will get discouraged. There are alot of tools and helps (you are already here) that you can find for free that can get you in the right direction.

CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
quote:
Originally posted by andy_aoye:
I'm wondering if I am to old to begin. Like Anakin skywalker when he was to old to learn the force, we all know how that ended up.

No one is ever too old or too young to learn. For starters I suggest you try out the following languages:
Python
Boo
Lua

I can't remeber the links atm, but Python has tons of sites on game development so you can get started with that right away (but I'd suggest you write some hello world programs first). You'll find tons of newbie friendly docs at http://www.pygame.org.

I can recommend a good learn-to-program-in-Python website too: www.byteofpython.info

Lua has some good docs too, but they're not very newbie friendly: http://www.lua.org/docs.html

Boo also has some newbie friendly docs: http://boo.codehaus.org/Tutorials

Of all the languages, Python has the best newbie tutorials and eBooks. Once you get a grasp of the basics of programming any other language will begin to make sense.

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All Your Base Are Belong To Us!!! chown -r us ./base
"After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless.'' -- Tao of Programming Book 2

"Oh, bother," said the Borg. "We've assimilated Pooh."

"Socialism works great... if there are no people involved." -- Pastor David Ginter, Union Church of Guatemala.

My Programming and Hacker/Geek related Blog

CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
Double post quirk. Ignore this.

[This message has been edited by CPUFreak91 (edited June 07, 2007).]

andy_aoye
Member

Posts: 35
From: Portland Maine USA
Registered: 05-01-2007
thanks for the replies

Python is a language I've been encouraged to study before. Right now I'm learning web development languages so I can build a career in web design. A for game design I probebly will stay away from 3d game design. my interests are more into 2d. is python well built for that?

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Apple of Your Eye.
Christian Entertainment

kenman

Member

Posts: 518
From: Janesville WI
Registered: 08-31-2006
Look at python and pygame. You can put some cool 2d stuff together pretty easy. FYI some linux servers allow for python server side stuff too.

FYI: Server side stuff is a very technical term

CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
quote:
Originally posted by andy_aoye:
Right now I'm learning web development languages so I can build a career in web design.


Well you're in luck. Python is used in web development too! I'm currently building my own web site with Pylons. Pylons lets me embedd Python into files with html syntax.

quote:

A for game design I probebly will stay away from 3d game design. my interests are more into 2d. is python well built for that?


Python is very well built for 2D. Pygame has a fast 2D rendering library, which is what most people use to create 2D games in Python. If you want to touch 3D at any time you will find that it is just as well supported as 2D but you will need to look into other libraries such as Soya, Panda3D, Irrlicht, or Orgre.

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All Your Base Are Belong To Us!!! chown -r us ./base
"After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless.'' -- Tao of Programming Book 2

"Oh, bother," said the Borg. "We've assimilated Pooh."

"Socialism works great... if there are no people involved." -- Pastor David Ginter, Union Church of Guatemala.

My Programming and Hacker/Geek related Blog

[This message has been edited by CPUFreak91 (edited June 08, 2007).]

andy_aoye
Member

Posts: 35
From: Portland Maine USA
Registered: 05-01-2007
I think python is a good idea for me, seems to be all around what I'm looking for in a language thank you very much for the suggestions guys. If there is any websites I should know about or would help me in learning python, seeing how I'm a non programmer at the time being (sept html) would be well appreciated.

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Apple of Your Eye.
Christian Entertainment

CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
quote:
Originally posted by andy_aoye:
If there is any websites I should know about or would help me in learning python, seeing how I'm a non programmer at the time being (sept html) would be well appreciated.


Like I mentioned above, A Byte of Python is great: http://swaroopch.info/text/Byte_of_Python:Main_Page

And you can find a ton of tutorials and free eBooks here: http://www.awaretek.com/tutorials.html

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All Your Base Are Belong To Us!!! chown -r us ./base
"After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless.'' -- Tao of Programming Book 2

"Oh, bother," said the Borg. "We've assimilated Pooh."

"Socialism works great... if there are no people involved." -- Pastor David Ginter, Union Church of Guatemala.

My Programming and Hacker/Geek related Blog

[This message has been edited by CPUFreak91 (edited June 08, 2007).]

Lava
Member

Posts: 1905
From:
Registered: 01-26-2005
quote:
Originally posted by andy_aoye:
Like Anakin skywalker when he was to old to learn the force, we all know how that ended up.

Haha, don't forget Luke...he was almost twice the age of Anakin and look how HE turned out, lol

steveth45

Member

Posts: 536
From: Eugene, OR, USA
Registered: 08-10-2005
quote:
Originally posted by andy_aoye:
Right now I'm starting to learn web development languages, such as HTML, XML and anything you can find at w3cschools.com
My real goal is to some day work on video game design so I wonder if I'm heading in the right direction.

Not really. Web programming is not going to help you much with a game design job. Learning Python would definitely be a step in the right direction, especially if you are making games. Making 2D games is a great way to start out.

I think the difficulty of getting into the video game industry is way overstated. It is only necessary to have a related degree if you have absolutely nothing else. From chatting with the people who do hiring where I work, I think they'd rather see a game you programmed yourself with a printout of the source code than a Computer Science degree any day. Programming a game is vastly easier and cheaper than going to college.

If you are applying for a programming position, write a 3D game from scratch in C++, and that's an easy in for an entry level position. If you are starting from zero knowledge, you should be able to pull that off in 6 months to a year of concerted effort. I don't know of any other industry where you can get paid well for a skill that can be picked up so quickly. There's really nothing magically difficult about programming games. If anything, it's easier than web programming.

For a game designer position, you need to design a game. Things like Torque Game Builder would be a perfect tool for this. You'll probably have to do a little scripting and create your own art to get your game working, but these are important skills for designers.

Game developers also need to be culturally literate. Perhaps this is the reason that so few Christians actually work in the industry.

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bwoogie

Member

Posts: 380
From: kansas usa
Registered: 03-12-2005
You're not to old to learn. My dad started programming in php a few years ago and he's in his mid 50's now.

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~~~boogie woogie woogie~~~