Best course for programming?

[tedelex06]

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well, im wondering f anyone could tell me, what is the best (or one of the better) courses to do if i want to end up with a job in programming (software).

im mainly interested in games programming (NOT design), but i figure that its probably best to get a general programming-ish degree wich leaves my options open, then work for a few years, get some refrences and apply at a games house. dont laugh, im not one of those teenage boys who plays video games and is like "oh, i like to play them, so im going to make them. its just like playing them...". i have programming experience, so limit the flaming.

help would be greatly appreciated




Thanks



Zen.

[withoutaface]

If you don't care about design do a 6 month tafe course move to India and enjoy being paid $5/hr.

[tedelex06]

i would appeciate a useful response

[withoutaface]

Originally Posted by tedelex06

i would appeciate a useful response

That was a useful response. Software is all about design, and in particular OO which is by far the dominant paradigm nowadays. If you enjoy programming chances are you'll not be averse to the design stuff at uni that goes hand in hand with it. Do a Bachelor of IT or a Bachelor of Computer Science.

[Affinity]

Originally Posted by tedelex06

well, im wondering f anyone could tell me, what is the best (or one of the better) courses to do if i want to end up with a job in programming (software).

im mainly interested in games programming (NOT design), but i figure that its probably best to get a general programming-ish degree wich leaves my options open, then work for a few years, get some refrences and apply at a games house. dont laugh, im not one of those teenage boys who plays video games and is like "oh, i like to play them, so im going to make them. its just like playing them...". i have programming experience, so limit the flaming.

help would be greatly appreciated




Thanks



Zen.

Computer science course at a reputable univeristy picking hardcore subjects + have your own projects.

Doubling up with mathematics is probably useful too given that modern games usually requires some maths to work out the graphics and physics

[blerkles]

CSU's gaming one is at Bathurst from memory...

[semper fidelis]

for hsc subjects,

u should choose software design develpoment (SDD)
or information proccess tech (IPT)

make sure u hav a good teacher or u wont learn anythin

n learnin to program is hard unless u tryin to learn real basic or some really easy thing

[dvse]

The best degree for games programming is honours in pure maths + a computer science minor.

[Ben1220]

Originally Posted by dvse

The best degree for games programming is honours in pure maths + a computer science minor.

whew!! That would be one hardcore game developer...

You're probably right though, computer graphics uses alot of maths, and on top of that, most areas of computer science use maths, and some such as Algorithm analysis and Theory of computation use alot of maths... Graph theory, Combinatorics... Discrete Maths

[dvse]

Originally Posted by Ben1220

whew!! That would be one hardcore game developer...

Game development is way more challenging than the vast majority of business programming, especially if one is working on core code.

[dumarab]

Most unis don't have a "programming course"

Developing software is far more complex then just "programming"

[Ben1220]

Originally Posted by dumarab

Most unis don't have a "programming course"

Developing software is far more complex then just "programming"

Yep, you can pick up basic programming skills by yourself in a few weeks if you want to, or even in a tafe course or 4 week course. Software Engineering includes things about project management, working in teams, software testing and so on... Computer Science on the other hand is much much more then just programming. Its the science behind computing, so there is a lot more theory in wide ranging areas, including the theory of computation, discrete mathematics and combinatorics, analysis of algorithms, Information theory, Networking, graph theory, computer graphics, artificial intelligence and intelligent agents, distrubuted computing, cluster and grid computing... Some areas of computer science overlap considerably with mathematics

[dvse]

Originally Posted by dumarab

Most unis don't have a "programming course"

Developing software is far more complex then just "programming"

Actually this is a fiction that university departments like to tell...

Developing most software is indeed little more than "programming" together with a few vague rules of thumb. If you could teach yourself to program on your own, then doing a computing degree is a waste of time - you will easily pick up all the concepts in a matter of days/weeks. After a computer science / software engineering etc degree you will be able to do little else but to "develop" software - a remarkably boring and monotonous activity.

If you want not to "develop software" but to do cool things with computers, mathematics is the only way to go.

[Hakz]

I recommend doing a Computer Science Degree. Now UOW is a pretty well known uni for its informatics course, which include comp sci, soft eng, IT etc.
With uow comp sci you can do a major in games design. If you want to be safe and also have additional knowledge for another field of computing or something different like maths, arts, commerce etc you can do a double major, so its pretty flexible.

[bregitta]

Monash University offers a Bachelor of Information Technology and Systems that allows you to major in Multimedia Games Development.
But I'm not sure how focused that is on programming, you'd have to do your own research there!