[BBeck]

j0n1n, on 04 June 2012 - 06:44 AM, said:

Excellent i will do that...just having a look for a few c# books...
there are many, but from what people are saying...a good place to start is a book
like Sams teach yourself c# in 21 days...

also will i just download

Visual C# 2010 Express

to use as a compiler?
is there a difference between c# and visual c#?
or does ms just call it visual c#?

your info is invaluable!!!

C# is Visual C#, especially when talking about XNA. XNA is a Microsoft Product and Visual C#/Visual Studio/Visual C#.Net is Microsoft's C#. If I remember correctly, Microsoft invented C# (probably to compete against Java). There "may" be a C# out there that isn't Visual/Microsoft C#, but I haven't seen it yet, if there is.

[BBeck]

j0n1n, on 04 June 2012 - 03:47 AM, said:

thanks for your time...any books you can recommend on c# XNA? or am i better off just looking at MS material for XNA?

thanks again for the help...

Kilorn is right about learning C# first.

Most of the stuff I could recommend is a little outdated and more advanced level.

XNA 3.0 works with Visual C# 2008. XNA 4.0 (the current version) works only with Visual C# 2010. I'm pretty certain that you can download either still, or both (and maybe that's the best way to go if you've got the space on your computer - because you'll come across a lot of old XNA 3.0 tutorials but not so many XNA 4.0 tutorials).

So, when buying XNA books you want to pay attention to which version of XNA it is. (XNA 3.1 and 3.0 are basically the same).

Most of the beginning books are going to focus more on 2D programming and more of the advanced books are going to spend more time on HLSL and 3D. So, you probably want to look for those that focus more on 2D.

Starting out, you need to see how the code in the book fits into the overall program. So, you want a book that either has complete source code listings (kind of rare) or gives you complete source code that you can download.

Here is a "tutorial" on the basic code that XNA generates for you. Writing XNA programs is pretty much just modifying this code using C#:

http://xna-3d-101.co.../BareBones.html

Just taking a look at that code may make you go "Wow, none of this makes sense. I need to go back and learn C# so that this makes sense." There's a lot there that's specific to XNA, but most of it's just C#. So, if you look at that and don't know what a namespace is, what a void data type is, what a class is, or what a method or field is, then you need to go back and learn C# first. It will make a whole lot more sense once you understand C#.

I ran across this book in the bookstore the other day and it struck me as maybe being good for someone starting out in XNA:

Microsoft XNA Game Studio 4.0: Learn Programming Now!: How to program for Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360, Zune devices, and more

http://www.amazon.co...818219&sr=8-6#_

Maybe it's even at a level where you could go through it while learning C#, I don't know. It wasn't what I was looking for at the time (I was looking for something that focused on 3D and it didn't really cover 3D hardly at all). But I remember thinking that it looked like it might be really good for someone just starting out.

My own approach is to just keep buying every book on the subject that I find until I know enough to no longer need to continue to buy books. :-) So, I own most of the XNA 3.0 books. But, the ones I really like are the advanced ones and I haven't really read the others enough to tell you whether they're really good or not.

I find that every teacher has their own viewpoint and will focus on different aspects of the subject. So, getting multiple teachers is more likely to give you a good understanding of the subject. That usually means buying multiple books when talking about learning to program.

One of the things that drives me crazy about Microsoft is that they don't believe in documentation. I'm pretty certain it's "against their religion". ;-) The XNA documentation from Microsoft is absolutely terrible. I mean, you will want to go to MSDN and look at their documentation; it's better than nothing. But unfortunately, it's pretty close to nothing. Generally, the reason that Microsoft products sell so well despite the lack of documentation is because there's always a pile of books out there that other people write to document it. So, take a look at the MS material, but just realize there's not near enough there to adequately explain it; you'll almost certainly have to buy some XNA books.

I also wish I could recommend a C# book to you, but I only own a few of them, they are all C# 2008, and I'm not sure any of them are so great that I would recommend one of them to someone just starting out. Out of all the C# books I've got, I would come closest to recommending this one to someone just starting out:

http://www.amazon.co...38820705&sr=8-1

I've never read it cover to cover. I usually use these books for reference just when I get stuck on a problem. But this one seems pretty approachable for someone starting out and contains some good information. Having not read it cover to cover from a beginner perspective, I can't say for certain that it's a good place to start. But it's probably the best I know of.

Of course, web tutorials can be helpful, and I hear there are some good XNA 2D video tutorials out there. Riemers has some really good XNA tutorials.

http://www.riemers.net/

His book is pretty good too, although maybe a little more advanced and written for XNA 3.0, not XNA 4.0. Otherwise, I would recommend it to an XNA programmer who had been doing XNA for awhile.

The problem with a lot of the books and tutorials is that there are some very significant differences between XNA 3.0 and XNA 4.0 and code written for one probably won't work with the other. And a lot of the websites have either a mixture of the two or may not have XNA 4.0. Just be aware that you really need to match them up to the version that you have.

This post has been edited by BBeck: 04 June 2012 - 07:55 AM

[Serapth]

j0n1n, on 04 June 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:

Excellent i will do that...just having a look for a few c# books...
there are many, but from what people are saying...a good place to start is a book
like Sams teach yourself c# in 21 days...

also will i just download

Visual C# 2010 Express

to use as a compiler?
is there a difference between c# and visual c#?
or does ms just call it visual c#?

your info is invaluable!!!

C# is the programming language, while Visual C# ( or Visual C# Express ) is the IDE, which means Integrated Development Environment. Basically, its a collection of tools you use to develop in C#, but it is by no means the only choice. ( There are also MonoDevelop and Sharp Develop for example ).

It is however your best choice, so carry on.

[j0n1n]

just downloading ms package..getting cracking tomorrow...can i PM you with any questions if i get seriously stuck...dont worry...i wont bother you (too much)

again thanks for all your time...muchly appreciated...

j0n1n

[BBeck]

j0n1n, on 04 June 2012 - 03:08 PM, said:

just downloading ms package..getting cracking tomorrow...can i PM you with any questions if i get seriously stuck...dont worry...i wont bother you (too much)

again thanks for all your time...muchly appreciated...

j0n1n

I wasn't sure who you were talking to. But I don't have any sort of PM or Instant Messaging setup. But I'm very active on the XNA subforum here at DreamInCode and would be glad to answer any questions you ask there. We XNA programmers have our own seperate forum from the Game Programming forum. It's all C# and XNA in that subforum.

Actually, I'm not sure if there's a way to send a private message to someone on the Dream In Code forum, but you are welcome to do that if you know how. I just haven't seen it done. And it's also helpful to ask the questions in the appropriate forum so that other people that have the same question can get the benifit of the answer.

There's a C# forum and an XNA forum, but I've never seen a C# question turned away from the XNA forum. But I haven't been here that long either. But I think the XNA forum is pretty open to C# questions. But they don't really like XNA questions in the main Game Programming forum since XNA has it's own private forum.

This post has been edited by BBeck: 04 June 2012 - 05:11 PM

[ButchDean]

PMing for support is actually private tuition, and that is a service that people should be paid for.

This is public forum where everyone is supposed to benefit. Let's keep it that way.

[Kilorn]

I'm with ButchDean here. I'd be happy to help with any and every issue that you will inevitably run into in your quest to become a game developer, but I won't answer help questions through PM's or emails. The reason we came here was to offer help to people who need it and if you post your issue here and we solve it, it might help another person down the road who runs into the same or a similar issue.

[j0n1n]

thanks all so much for the input...you guys are great...

[BBeck]

j0n1n, on 06 June 2012 - 03:07 PM, said:

thanks all so much for the input...you guys are great...

Glad to help.