Programming 1 - programming test [warning: this blog contains mild programming language]

So I took the "programming" programming test on Saturday, so far all the quizzes have been written, but with this tests you are given a task to build a program from scratch. The goal is to create the game Connect Four, all on the text based console. But one catch is that the teacher has already written the "calling" program aka "main" so you have to write the program to fit the way he is calling it in his program. It was challenging to do, took me about 2 hours to finish the core of the program then I messed around with the extra credit which was very challenging. I did figure it out - some in class and the rest when I was driving home from the test. It's pretty well documented that most ideas come to you when your relaxed and a test environment is not very relaxing.

Over all I think I did well, I cant say the same for a lot of the other students who are brand new to programming, you could tell they were really sweating. There are so many little things that aren't necessarily related to the code we've been learning that can help you succeed in the class and on the test. If you know how to think in code and have some experience debugging code and working within the visual studio things will get a lot easier.

For instance one student who is brand new to coding was having major problems because he couldn't figure how to debug his code during the test. This was due to the fact that the teachers code was already written, he couldn't just run the debugger because there were all kinds of functions that the teachers code was calling that he [the student] had not created. Thus this alone would create all kinds of errors. I got around this just by commenting the teachers code out. Creating my behind the scenes code then un-commenting the corresponding piece a line at a time. Just knowing this allowed me to create the program with a lot less stress. Also I could have created a mock environment to test my code before putting into the real program, which is another technique that's very handy for testing code. These an many other tricks are things you learn just playing with programming, thinking of something you would like to building then building it. It just can't be taught in class room environment.

[Future students]
So if you want to go through the game developing course at Full Sail and are new to programming I would pick up a C++ for dummies book, read it, and WRITE CODE. It's not going to help you to just buy it and it wont help much if you just read it you gotta get your hands dirty. In fact you might as well buy the book we are using in class which is: C++ Primer Plus - fifth edition by Stephen Prata. Its a good book, easy to read (for a programming book) and pretty extensive in the topics covered. Also my favorite programming book is Thinking in C++ by Bruce Eckel [BTW the e-version is free - http://www.mindview.net/Books/DownloadSites/]. It's wonderfull book that really does what it says it gets you thinking in C++. It teaches more than just code it teaches how to write safe code, it teaches a lot of little caveats that most books don't mention because they are a bit esoteric. Or so it seems till you run into a wall where knowing some of this behind the scenes info can get you unstuck or put you on the track to get unstuck.

[BEWARE]
If you go to Full Sail and you fail the Programming 1 or the Calculus Trig twice they will pull you out of the program and you either have to switch degrees or go home :(.

This fate is easy to avoid by taking the time and prepping for the math and programming. If you are passionate about this career than it should be no problem to find the motivation to do this. If you do have a problem finding motivation to program or to learn some math then maybe you should look at the newly launched Game Art bachelors degree program, still dealing with games just not all the code. But the nice thing about coding is that it pays better, so if you love to code and you love math then make it your job and be ready before you get here.