Thread: what language should i use to

What language should i use to make little games? like a language that is easy to make games for.

Why would you ask this on a board devoted to the C/C++ language?

Perhaps you already know the answer.

Originally Posted by roobert

What language should i use to make little games? like a language that is easy to make games for.

Experiment around with different languages until you find one you like. That's what I did and why I picked C++. I just couldn't get used to any other language.

If you have some programming experience but not much, but would like to create a game simply and quickly. Then Java is a good place to start, as it will allow you to get into programming and hide some of the complexity like memory management. Although you can play about with the garbage collector or force it, but that’s not important to you. I re-created the Mega-Drive computer game Streets of Rage 2 in Java, work great. Did it for my final year project at UNI. Plus java is fun.

Originally Posted by mmarab

Although you can play about with the garbage collector or force it,

You can't force the GC, at best you can hint it (and doing so is usually counterproductive in that it forces the GC to (if it runs on the hint at all) perform a full GC cycle rather than an incremental GC cycle, consuming unnecessary CPU cycles, and can be forcibly ignored through JVM configuration).
Just about the only time you may want to do that is when you have an application that you know will require a lot of memory for a longrunning operation. Just before consuming that memory you might want to try and get the GC to run so you have as much free RAM as possible, hopefully reducing GC overhead during that expensive operation.

Originally Posted by mmarab

Plus java is fun.

It is, and productive as well.

Example of kind of forcing garbage collection but using runtime: But i agree, using something like System.gc() is just a hint, and it does not guarantee immediate action, but actually it could slow your app down.

Code:

/*
* This Java program shows you how to force garbage collection
* Author: Megh Thakkar
*/
public class CollectGarbage {

   int ASIZE = 1000000;

   void useMemory() {

      int[] intA = new int[ASIZE];

      for (int i=0; i<ASIZE; i++) {
        intA[i] = i*2;
      }

   }

   public static void main (String[] args) {

      CollectGarbage gct = new CollectGarbage();

      // Get a Runtime object
      Runtime r = Runtime.getRuntime();

      // Collect garbage at the start of the program
      r.gc();

      // Let's see how much memory we have at the start
      long availMem = r.freeMemory();
      System.out.println("At program start we have : " + availMem + " bytes");

      // Let's use some memory
      gct.useMemory();

      // Let's see how much memory is left
      long availMem1 = r.freeMemory();
      System.out.println("After running the program, 
we have :  " + availMem1 + " bytes");

      // Collect garbage
      r.gc();

      //Let's see what we have now
      long availMem2 = r.freeMemory();
      System.out.println("After collecting garbage 
we have :    " + availMem2 + " bytes");

      long freedMem = availMem2 - availMem1;
      System.out.println("Garbage collection 
freed :    " + freedMem + " bytes");


   }
}

I've been working professionally in Java for almost a decade and never missed the ability to explicitly handle memory...

The reason why calling Runtime.gc() slows down your system (usually momentarilly) is the heavy operation it triggers (if it triggers anything of course).
When letting the JVM do its own thing it runs at a constant trickle in the background, consuming only spare CPU cycles when it can and not pushing itself into the limelight unless it has to.

Originally Posted by mmarab

Then Java is a good place to start, as it will allow you to get into programming and hide some of the complexity like memory management.

You can do the same under C++. You just either have to find a garbage collector library or code your own.

http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/
http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/Cplus...r-C-plus-plus/

but why go to the trouble when Java has one built in as standard that just works?

if you look at modern games like forza motorsports 2 on the 360. what language is that made in, does anyone have any ideas