macOS What language to use?

[7031]

I moved to Mac about 2 years ago, and the only languages I know are DarkBasic pro, HTML, CSS and some PHP.

If you have any ideas of a language I should learn just to get started for very basic App/Game development, please let me know.

Thanks
Joel.

 

[Cromulent]

I moved to Mac about 2 years ago, and the only languages I know are DarkBasic pro, HTML, CSS and some PHP.

If you have any ideas of a language I should learn just to get started for very basic App/Game development, please let me know.

Thanks
Joel.

C for the game development side (OpenGL is much easier in C imo) and Objective-C for apps. Alternatively you could just use C for everything and just write Carbon apps.

 

[cmaier]

Flash

 

[lee1210]

Flash

I'm feeling pedantic, so I'll mention that Flash isn't a language, but a platform. ActionScript would be the language one would need to learn to build things on the Flash platform along with the bindings to GUI objects, etc. At first I was thinking this suggestion was a bit of dry humor whose tone was not clearly conveyed via text, but thinking more this is a good suggestion for game development.

My only real concern is wider applicability of the skills learned in building a Flash game. Perhaps one might never outgrow Flash, and if that were the case it would be perfectly suitable for basic to more involved games (see Portal: The Flash Version ).

I suppose the real barrier to entry here is the cost (~ $700 US), but otherwise it might be a good way to get your feet wet.

-Lee

 

[liptonlover]

you said to get started in basic app/game development... if you're serious about this learn C and from there openGL, C++, ObjC/Cocoa, etc.. But if you aren't going to get THAT serious about it, BASIC is always easy to learn, and you can be serious too. Have you heard of fairway solitaire? It was released about a month ago... made completely in a powerful BASIC environment called Blitzmax. Blitzmax is nice because you can make GUI apps, 3D apps, it's BASIC, it's fast, it makes stand alone apps, and it's cross platform. Barring GUI apps, if you make something in BASIC on a mac, and then send that program to a pc with Blitzmax on it and compile it there, you're golden you've got yourself a cross platform application. It's what my dad uses, though he's never been serious about programming it's just a hobby, and it's what I used to a lesser extent before I decided to learn C and all the other stuff I mentioned.

 

[italiano40]

C++ with Open GL