c++ or c#

For an accurate look, take a peek at the game programming jobs listing and see what employers are looking for.

With C# you can land a job as a tools programmer in a games company. With C++ you have more chances to be able to work on the engine, gameplay, etc... Games themselves are mostly written in C++.

I prefer C++ for game development.

Best thread on the subject in my opinion. Check out what Saruman has to say.

Fixed link ;)

Thanks, I just solved it too.

Mat Noguchi from bungie is a big advocate of c# so some of the industry is beginning to turn. There was mention of it a month or so back on sweng-gamedev mailing list IIRC.

C++ is still the most commonly used language in the industry, and probably will be for a while to come (mainly because current programmers are already trained in C++, and many companies 500,000+ line code bases are still written in C++). As was stated above, C# is very useful for tool development and other auxilliary components for the game, and it is making signifigant inroads in the business app/GUI development field, thanks to the capabilities of the .NET framework.

if your using c# arraylists to manage your textures your gonna get a performance hit.

using realloc and a stack to remember which array indexes are empty is fast.

c# have an unsafe allocator aswell so you can use that. But then your gonna have as much coding to do as c++.

is C# available now for ps3 or ps2?

I prefer C++ because I have been using it for 4 years. C# is really easy to use, and very similar to Java. I think one day C# will start to make a bigger impact in the game industry but right now C++ is the main language.

Quote:

Original post by adam23 I prefer C++ because I have been using it for 4 years.

So next year you will prefer it because you have been using it for 5 years?

C# isn't available for any consoles yet. There's been some word that MS is working one something to have C# on XBOX 360. Possibly just GUI stuff. I remember reading something on it, but I can't find the page right now.

Quote:

Original post by nickwinters C# isn't available for any consoles yet.

Incorrect. At the last GDC, they had a Managed DirectX demo running on an Xbox 360.

Are you asking becuase you want to know which one to learn? If you are, learn both. If you learn on picking up the other shouldn't be to hard either(Which is true with a lot of languages, they all have the same base things). I prefer C++ becuase i find it more portable(probably every major system has a c++ library for it).

Personally, I started game development (well..samples etc) in C++, making a basic RPG, and now I prefer C#.

C# is simpler, and easier to manage then ++, and in programs such as games (which you will want to re-use the code for later / make changes during development) this is essential.

I don't know much about the current state of the market, but my guess is the game industry needs to keep pumping out games, so they use what they know.

I can't imagine in 10+ years people will still be using ++, or another unmanaged language to create games.
Microsoft created C#, and they are also currently creating what will be the most advanced, and widely used OS in the world, thats got to mean something :)

James

As others have already said, C++ is still the main jazz in the game development industry. However, for hobbyist projects and learning purposes, there's absolutely nothing wrong with C#. It's quite capable of creating games of reasonable intensity. A handful of commercial games have already been created with C#, so the industry is still not 100% C++ dominated. There's still room for the aspiring .NET coder, I say! [smile]

I would personally go for C++, but C# has it's uses too. It's a very much used language here and there, especially in the tools sector for games. I dont think any commercially shipped games use C# or any .NET language yet.

It would be very beneficial to learn both of them, preferably.

Nomatter how will be... allways "C is faster than C++ and C++ is faster than C#/Java".