[Theory] Game Programming

[aewarnick]

NoteMe, are you saying that C# is completely compatable with Linux, not just Windows?

[NoteMe]

I would like to get someones opinion here, about VB6 and VB.NET. And I dont want the "its just better" answer. I have been programing with VB6 for 2 1/2 years. Working on small projects for myself, small games, etc.

I am hearing all this talk about how VB.NET is so much better than VB6. I would really like an good answer as to which is really better. I understand that they each have thier ups/downs. I have glanced at code for VB.NET programs and it looks nothing like VB6, more like my JAVA or C++ work I did in school.

None of my games are massive one, or graphics heavy, so I dont use DirectX. So I dont see moving to VB.NET but if I had to in the future, I would really like to know what I am getting into.

VB.Net is a more powerfull language then VB used to be. More object oriented, and they are getting all sorts of advanced stuff like operator overloading and so on. This is all nice feautures if you know how to use them. If you don't and you don't care, then they will just scare you away. Since it is a more powerfull language it is of course also more difficult to learn. And yes,as you started you self, it doesn't have many similarities to VB6 and earlier versons. But I won't agree that it looks like Java or C++ code. It is still the Basic syntax with "if then", "end sub" and so on. C# on the other hand has the C syntax. Wit { } and so on.

RapchikProgrammer said that since both C# and VB.NET is using .NET they are going to be equaly fast. This is not entirly true. Differnet syntaxes makes the the compilers have different difficulities with different stuff, and will therefor optimize the code a bit different. And since this is an open standard, then everyone can make their own compiler, something many others are doing at the moment. And different compilers will optimize differently. This is also a new thing for VB programmers. Since VB have always only had ONE compiler, and it has been the one that shipped with VS. C++ has had many compilers for differnet platforms, and C++ coders all ready know that different compilerrs can have a huge impact on the speed of the finished code.

An other thing is that the VS compiler doesn't write pure .NET code yet. Something other compilers like Mono does. That means that if you write some code in VS and compiles it, you might not be able to run it on other platforms, since it will input some ASM code into the files. When VS 05 is out, this will be improved, but it will stilll not be perfect.

Over to game programming:
As I have all ready said, VB.NET is a more powerfull language then VB6, mainly because you have more functionality that VB6 lacked, and people are usualy using VB6 because it lacks all the advanced stuff. So you can make small nice apps in an easy way. But DX has never been easy before. And it might not be easy today either. But Managed DX is a LOT easier then the normal DX that has been out for many years all ready. The thing is that to use MDX you have to use a managed langauge. You can choose VB.NET or C# or C++.NET. So there you go again. Medium to Advanced languages, but an easy API. So there you have your choice.

Just to name a few of the changes between MDX and DX:
- In MDX, MDX will try to restore lost devices for you. You still have to fill VBs and so on after the device is lost, but except that it tries to help you as much as you can.
- If you are running in windowed mode. And you resize the window. MDX will do the work for you. It has events to cary out most tasks like this for you, so you don't need to write the boring code as you had to in DX.
- Advanced topics are not so advanced anymore. Things like loading and drawing meshes used to be really advanced. And you should have been doing a bit of DX before you would start something like that. These days in MDX it is just a few lines of code. They are also approaching more OpenGL like drawing of common meshes, like spheres and boxes to. There is buildt in functions for drawing stuff like this, so it can be done in a few lines.


Well I could be talking for hours about this, but I am going to watch some footy now. So ask if there is something I forgot to cover...


- ØØ -

[NoteMe]

NoteMe, are you saying that C# is completely compatable with Linux, not just Windows?

...yes..they are still working on it though. C# and VB.NET and .NET is constantly renewed. .NET 2 is soon out, and C# 3 is designed, so there is always some updating to do, but yes, I can write you a small game in VB.NET or C# in Linux and then send you the "exe" file, and you can run it on your machine...'


[Edit] As long as you have the .NET framwork installed that is...

- ØØ -

[neicedover1982]

Thanks for very elaborate explaination NoteMe, and thanks to everyone else. I am probably going to keep programming my stuff in VB6. If in the future I get alot of demand or something for any of them, I might go and change the game into a new language. But for now, VB6 does everything I require so far.

[BodwadUK]

.net framework on linux?

Cool

[NoteMe]

Thanks for very elaborate explaination NoteMe, and thanks to everyone else. I am probably going to keep programming my stuff in VB6. If in the future I get alot of demand or something for any of them, I might go and change the game into a new language. But for now, VB6 does everything I require so far.

No problem, just happy to help out......if you think you got some good answers in this thread, you are allowed to rate them..

[NoteMe]

.net framework on linux?

Cool

You can get .NET framework on any OS where someone have had the time and guts to port it. Havn't checked it out, but I think it is more or less ready for Mac also...but don't quote me on that..


- ØØ -

[Dissonance]

Are you guys referring to The Mono Project?

[CornedBee]

Yes, we are. Nice gravedigging.

[NoteMe]

OMG, yeah. This one goes up on the Hall of Grave digging...


PS: D# compiles in Linux now...ohhhh..

[Carl Foster]

Well, a bit of gravedigging again

I've been learning VB.NET for a few months now, but not game programming. My interest has been peeked into game programming though, as it offers the opportunity to learn a lot of programming concepts.

My friend is working on a game and I would like to help out a bit while learning. He knows VB6 but he wants to code the game in C++ as he says it is better for game programming.

After reading this thread though and seeing how VB.NET has come a long way into implementing real OOP, I feel that you could get the same results using VB, just easier. Is this true? Would VB run a lot slower and limit the graphical displays etc?

[CornedBee]

C++ is still the #1 choice for any serious game programming, but for hobby programming, VB.Net ought to suffice.

Not that the lack of OOP was really an obstacle for VB6 - C was for a long time by far the most popular game programming language, and its OOP capabilities are nil. I think the main problem of VB6 was a poor OS interface. Managed DirectX should enabled VB.Net to do much better there.

[Carl Foster]

Thanks for the reply

[CornedBee]

Oh, and did I mention that this thread starts closely resembling a zombie?

[Fromethius]

This thread is over 3 years old?