[gameprogrammer] Re: Fast development over multiple platforms, which language?

  • From: Scott Harper <lareon@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 12:02:31 -0700

You asked for opinions, so here's what I have:

First, last I heard was that "Java is slower than C++" is a rumor, and 
the only ACTUAL experiment performed showed that they're the same 
speed-wise in most things (Java did better in some areas, C++ better in 
others, but only by small amounts each time).

So, I use Java.  I currently am working (hobby-time = less than 
part-time ^_^) on an object-oriented game framework in Java, which uses 
OpenGL, whereby you can expand it to do 2D or 3D graphics.  I haven't 
done anything very complex with it yet, but nothing I've done so far 
has slowed it down.

The key is to utilize the newer java fullscreen commands, as well as 
tighter garbage-collection maintenance, so you never get random moments 
where the system cleans up your dead objects.

I've also found Java to be far simpler to understand what's going on 
than C++ -- I've always, in projects earlier on -- gotten lost in the 
pointer variables.  Java doesn't have them, so that's great.  
(Everything barring primitives are passsed by reference.)

If you want C++, however, I strongly recommend SDL.  It's a very tight 
api for doing graphics/sound/input/etc... across many platforms.  The 
same code should (theoretically) work across Windows, MacOS, and Linux. 
  (And I think a few others.)  The great thing is you can use OpenGL for 
that, too -- which I highly recommend, as it allows you to do SO much 
more to your images without adding a lot of overhead to the processor.

--Scott Harper

On 07 Mar, 2005, at 11:12 AM, Jason Clark wrote:

> I know that OS, language, and platforms can be an almost religious 
> subject to some, but I am interested in hearing some opinions.
>
> I have a few ideas for small, yet hopefully entertaining games. I am 
> trying to decide what I should write them in however. I am completely 
> agnostic on the subject and always looking for excuses to learn new 
> things, so open to any suggestion.
>
> What I do know is that the vast majority of users will be on windows, 
> with some on Mac, and very few (who would pay a penny) on *nix OS. 
> That said, using the web as the medium of choice would be easiest for 
> players and the abilities of SVG would be great...  that is if it 
> currently had much support.
> Java would be great because of its wide distribution (as opposed to 
> Python and many other scripting languages) but even with all the 
> advances in their RTE Java is still very slow and not particularly 
> what I am looking for.
> I love to write C/C++ recreationally, but once you have a compiled 
> language you have to test and build on all kinds of platforms, and 
> with the constant changes to Windows and such, it doesn't seem that 
> you would, without paramount effort, be able to keep the games going.
> I know nothing of Flash, so I can't comment on that.
>
> I remember way back when you would include an OS (or at least it's 
> fundamentals) in your game, so that you could throw in your disk and 
> just boot on it, not worrying about it. I wonder if that isn't a 
> doable option nowadays, though for what I'm thinking, I doubt the 
> users would want to go through that much effort.
> I can see the use of setting up your own run time environment, or 
> creating a core system you can distribute, but that is like 
> reinventing the wheel, something I'm trying to avoid.
>
> Does anyone have any success or failure stories for particular 
> languages or build/distribution processes that you'd be willing to 
> share?
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