

Learning the art of creating computer games can boost student skills - toni
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100121101124.htm?

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tokenadult
I'm amused that the submitted article, which spells "boost" in the expected
way in the article text, has a headline with the word "boot." That word is
subject to both a favorable and an unfavorable interpretation. I guess
spelling skills may not be boosted by all computer games.

P.S. Obligatory disclaimer--my oldest son likes to program roguelike and other
computer games, and almost any computer science class he has taken has
included assignments to program what are in essence games. I think game
programming is great--but I don't think it is sufficient to constitute a
complete education.

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alttab
I think a lot of the guys here probably got interested in computer science
because of games.

I started by making websites using a textarea on tripod and writing HTML for a
Worms website. C++ and DirectX were just another 4 years away (I was 11).

I did 4 years of game programming in high school before going to college where
I finally sat down next to others that wanted to learn. Some of them had never
programmed before. But things that making computer games taught me intuitively
instead of in a text book (and therefore understanding it deeper because I
made the mistakes that called for these concepts):

\- Polymorphism / Interfaces

\- Large Project management and organization (main.cpp:10045 anyone?)

\- Problem decomposition / abstraction

\- "Full stack" multi-tool pipelining (photoshop->custom sprite sheet
editor->low level image loading->memory management framework->abstraction
layer->game logic) \- The interaction of a full system.

These things gave me an edge in school, and I'm not (just) beating my chest
when I saw I wasn't really challenged until the second semester of my
sophomore year. This is more likely because I had 200,000 lines under my belt
by the time I got to school but its games that got me there.

I strongly encourage game programming as a way to start because the first time
you get a picture moving on a screen you're going to want to do more, and
it'll bring you back every time.

~~~
kiba
I am in the last of my high school and I am still writing games. I only have
somewhere around 70K loc under my belt though.

The peers that I have in AP Computer Science seem to be also inexperienced as
well.

Being able to start programming earlier than most of your peers definitely
give you lot of edges. This is more so when you already have lot of
projects(not necessary all successful) under your belt.

~~~
alttab
Just remember that the best line of code is the one that's never written ;)

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mark_l_watson
I spent a few years doing 'game AI' for Nintendo games and some Disney VR. I
like to mention to young gamers that to prepare for this kind of work, ideally
one should study: math (especially linear algebra and calculus), physics,
computer science, art, and literature.

Not very many people have all of these skills, but the president of Angel
Studios once mentioned that he liked to see as many of these skill areas as
possible.

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wheaties
Is it me or should that read "boost" not "boot?"

