I . Follow the link above and watch the video.

J ames Madine, an instructor at Pittsburgh Technical Institute, USA, speaking about computer programming department.

II. True or False?

James Madine says that …

1) … computer programmers are commonly thought of as nerds;

2) … in fact, computer programmers work by themselves in dark room with no windows;

3) … in some of their classes they do Internet programming and server-side programming;

4) … they also have 2 gaming classes: text-based adventure-type gaming and 2 D animated gaming;

5) … game programming is not very serious and is the least intensive in computer science work;

6) … his students are very hardworking and can stay up to 3 in the morning to figure out and solve problems;

7) … every electronic device has to be programmed;

8) … about 50 % of a programmer’s job deal with pure programming;

9) … graduates can work in web and database designing, data administration;

10) … programming is so much fun; it’s like putting the puzzles together.

III. Speak about programming classes in your university (what programming techniques you study, if it’s also fun as j. Madine says, etc.)

Summary Writing

Text C. Video Game Programming

You can program a working video game all by yourself. It takes a lot of work and it takes a certain amount of proficiency with either a programming language or a game development platform. But this article doesn’t focus on this. This article focuses on what it takes to become a programmer with a game design company. I give you a basic idea of what programming for a game is, what kinds of jobs there are, what you can do to see if you like it and what you can do to prepare yourself.

What exactly is Game Programming? This is a bit of a vague question because in the past it meant everything. A programmer cranked out a complete game from start to finish. But the game industry is now mature and it takes a whole team of people with a variety of skills to make a completed game. And this division of labor is roughly broken down into two distinct disciplines: The Artists and the Programmers. The Artists handle all the artistic aspects of the game from graphics to textures, backgrounds, models, characters and animations. The Programmers handle the code of the game. This could vary from writing the actual engine that the game runs on, writing and maintaining the database or even designing the behaviours of artificial intelligence in the game.

Programming is a very math oriented discipline and it usually requires at least a bachelors degree if you want to break into the industry. So you should focus on a degree in programming and be heavily loaded in the math and the science courses. Programming requires concentration and an extraordinary attention to detail. Imagine writing a novel and having one letter wrong and because of this nobody can read the novel. This can happen in programming. You can write a program that is tens of thousands of characters and if one letter is wrong the program won’t work. Now don’t let that scare you. Programmers have been dealing with this forever and there are ways to watch for this, avoid it and correct it. It’s a normal part of the process of programming.

There are a lot of different paths that a game programmer can take and there are a lot of different opinions about what you should learn and why. Different games are programmed with different applications and that also adds to the confusion but here is a solid recommended path that will take you to your goal of being a professional game programmer. This path assumes you are starting from not knowing any programming at all. Here are some tips for what to start with.

• Learn the basic concepts of programming with a language that is relatively easy to learn. The fundamental concepts of software design are universal and once you understand these rules you will be able to adapt and learn other types of languages. One of the variations of a language called BASIC is perfect for this first foray into programming. I suggest you start with a program DarkBASIC 3D Game Creator. It is a good tool made to teach you programming and the fundamentals of game design at the same time.

• Advance your Skills into a professional level visual programming language. You should move on to an industry standard programming language like Microsoft Visual Basic. This also gives you an introduction into skills like programming specifically for the Windows operating system.

• Complete your path to becoming a programmer by learning C++. This is the de facto programming language for serious programmers. Gaining competency in this language takes time but it is professional level and if you can harness the power of this language you have a very marketable skill in the programming world.

(from http://www.stormthecastle.com)