First of all, sorry for the bad title.. It's a swedish saying ;)
Now, onto the subject; All of you probably know about C#, most of you have probably tried it, some of you probably like it, and some probably hate it.
Would you predict that C# will get bigger than C++ eventually?
What's your opinion on C# (perhaps compared to C++)?
My personal opinion on the matter is that, well... I'm frequently getting panic.
The more languages you know, the better - but what if I'm better off trying to master C#? Maybe due to it getting more powerful than C++, or C++ losing it's general value and userbase.
I don't want to think back and say: "Hey, I wasted my time with C++ when I could have mastered <insert language here>!".
And because of this, I have entered the evil circle of thinking that C# is for "noobs" and kiddies who want to program games effortlessly, which I do know is incorrect, but that has become my thoughts on C#.
Does "Rice or Rose" mean "Useful or Just Pretty" or something like that? Because many people depend on rice for nutrition (which is a shame, because it doesn't provide that much of it) and it's a very useful plant; whereas roses are just to look nice and don't really do much else (except photosynthesise).
What do you mean by that jsmith? That .NET killed it? cause I thought C# was .NET compatible, and .NET was widely used on the windows market
OH: and on angel's first post...don't ever think of your time on C++ wasted. it teaches you values as a computer scientist that are indisposable, and it along with C have been used as the model for a lot of modern languages.
I don't see C# taking over game development anytime soon even if it could achieve the same performance as C++ simply because the code base and talent pool is mainly C/C++.
The benefits of C# in game developement are mainly in tools development. Most AAA level editors are .Net, typically C#, but I've see some in C++, it just depends on how robust the tool set is.
I agree with Grey Wolf, if you plan to do .Net development stick with C#, C++.Net doesn't make sense.
C# is growing in popularity in indie game development thanks to XNA. While it can result in some somewhat decent games, I haven't seen one that was up to par.
What I hear is that with .NET, C# is essentially dead.
Huh? That doesn't make any sense.
And also, I've never really grasped what .NET is and what it's used for...
Simple explanation/crash-course anyone?
This is a very simplified explanation:
Imagine .NET as a very big utility library, containing methods for graphics, communications, and many other things. Languages such as C# and VB.NET act as interfaces to it.
C# is used in game development through script language. The engine, or rendering, language is and it will be C++. And C# is not restricted to MS. You can use Mono plataform and program in C# even on MacOS.
By the way, there´s this picture. I don´t know if the C++ picture is something good or bad, but I´m sure the guy likes Python.
I've been using C# to program an XBOX Live Indie game with a friend of mine so that we can fatten up our portfolios to get hired at a game development studio. I wouldn't chose C# by choice over C++ or even Python given the opportunity, but it is a nice language to use.
Comparisons to Java are inevitable, and while both languages are very similar I would say that I prefer programming in C#. It does things that I like, and that Java usually restricts from me. Operator overloading for example, and it's generic programming features are much nicer.