Computer Programming for Kids

Q:What would your advice be on the types of college or technical degrees for students who are interested in computer programming?

Tim: A degree in computer science with as many programming classes as possible. Taking math along with your other courses will help when building games that are math intensive such as Quake.

Q:What programming languages do you feel are the best for beginners?

Tim: Java is a nice language, because it is ideal for the internet and enforces good habits for programming. C/C++ are fairly flexible, but they carry the remnants of an older language that makes it more complex.

Q:What programming languages do you feel are the best and what do you think the future holds for programming.

Tim: The most powerful language is C/C++, but they are burdensome. Java is a modern language that is gaining strength and could be the language of the future if the windowing system gets straightened out. Visual Basic and its relatives are pretty much tied to the windows platform. It is a fairly simple language to learn, but the market is shifting away from desktop applications and leaning towards netcentric ones. Languages like Perl are good for Unix programmers, but you should spend time learning C and shell programming to better your understanding of Perl.

Q:What are your plans for the future?

Tim: I want to start my own game company. I have been working with a lot of talented people and am ready to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. I want to be able to put entertainment on other people's sites, so I am testing games out now on my own site called Flyingwasp. I think up ideas for a game and then put it on my game site, that way I can see if there are any problems with the game and how well it works for players with different computer platforms and browsers.

Q:Your career in computer programming sounds really interesting and fun, any final words?

Tim: Computer programming can be a fun career but it can also be frustrating at times. You need a lot of patience and an analytical mind to build games.

If you would like to learn more about programming or find out if it may be the career choice for you, visit the sites below. If you would like to learn Javascript programming The Javascript Primers are a good place to start.

Amateur Game